Hi all, I am 43 and had a lumpectomy 11 days ago. I am managing to do fairly ok in the mornings but come mid afternoon I am still shattered. Am I being too impatient? I assumed after the first week I would be getting there. Is it normal to feel this tired still?
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Hello @blue80
In a word “yes”: whilst your external scars will be visibly healing there are a lot of internal repairs going on inside too.
Your body is amazing, it will heal but it uses a lot of energy to do this and that is why you are still feeling so tired.
Please be patient, it does take time but you will get there
AM xxx
Yes. If you’re feeling tired that’s normal x
I’ll be 3 weeks post op on Monday and feel the same. It’s not only the physical healing taking place but it’s emotionally draining as well. Fatigue seems to be common with a diagnosis of cancer as your brain has a lot to process.
How well are you sleeping? Having to sleep in a different position because of the wounds can be challenging and I find that I have disturbing dreams which wake me up.
I try to pace myself and not to be tempted to do too much while I’m feeling ok. I prioritise what needs to be done, let my usual standards slip a little and rest after each activity.
It’s early days and our bodies and minds are working hard. Be kind to yourself. x
Good advice. Thank you. I am sleeping “ok” but not as good as normal. Very weird dreams too! Dreamt my boobs were stuck together and that one had 2 nipples and the other had none 
Thankfully the actual result, whilst very battered and swollen, isn’t quite that disastrous! X
I am the same after op coming up to 3 week ago. Healing well but so tired. My results were supposed to be last week but was cancelled i think the waiting is the thing that is dragging me down. Do you habe your results yet? The not knowing is the mentally exhausting x
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Hi again @blue80
Recovery times can be variable - it takes as long as it takes. If you know you’re going to be tired later in the day then if you can - schedule a time when you can either have a nap or chill out with some music or an audio book for an hour .
I was back to relatively normal activity after about 3 weeks but during that 3 weeks to 1 month time when I was trying to walk about normally and thinking I was ok I fell over twice which isn’t normal for me - so I probably was still not quite right. The first fall caused a rotator cuff injury to the "good " shoulder which has never been quite right since so my advice would be not to push it ( which is what we all tend to do) .
Take care
Joanne x
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Hi Jolow, I am 4 weeks post op and physically no problem or tiredness, but mentally is a whole different story. I got my results this week which weren’t great and got to go back in next week for another op full axillary this time which has knocked me for six if I’m honest. Hope you get your results back soon x
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I did get my results. I was very lucky they were pretty quick. I was shocked they were back so soon. Also very lucky that, although cancer was bigger than initially thought, they did get good clearance and confirmed my initial treatment plan of tamoxifen and radiotherapy. I am feeling lots of different emotions which probably is draining in itself I suppose. I do feel like this has been something lifechanging and that I need to do something positive to stop drifting through life after this. Feel like I have been sleepwalking for years and this is a kick up the backside. I don’t quite know what yo do with myself…but need a bit more energy first 
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Hello again @blue80
I literally could have written your post myself two years ago when I was at the same stage of my treatment which was the same as yours lumpectomy radiotherapy and tamoxifen
There are a couple of things that immediately jump out: you say your diagnosis “has been life changing” absolutely it is, but you are at a very early stage of treatment and the effects of the treatment will change your life further so be prepared for that
Secondly “kicking yourself up the backside” is a feeling pretty much every woman can relate to we all spend our lives thinking we should be doing this and should be doing that: as a result of my diagnosis and treatment I wanted to take positive steps to drop the word “should” from my vocabulary: it has been a game changer but it didn’t happen overnight
My advice for now is stop! Sit on the sofa and listen to your body, please allow yourself to be ill and let your body heal. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and allow people to do so (so what if they don’t do things quite the way you do?) Concentrate on what you can do: top of the list your arm and shoulder exercises make sure you do them every day, if you can make a habit of doing them now maybe you will find the time to do other exercises in the future? Take a walk outside every day, it doesn’t matter how far at first but you will get stronger and again it might help you to build another habit. Thirdly “eat the cake!” Now is not the time to start the diet, your body needs nourishment so do not deprive yourself of what it craves, but if you want to make a small change think about including just one more piece of fruit or a vegetable in your daily diet (as well as the cake!)
Finally please please please be patient you have got a life ahead of you and plenty of time to make the changes.
I can highly recommend the advice which Professor Annice Mukherjee gives in her book the Complete Guide to the Menopause: I found it incredibly helpful and empowering to make changes which I am now reaping the rewards of feeling that my lifestyle is so much better than it was before my diagnosis. She has also just done a podcast with Dr Liz O’Riordan (the breast cancer surgeon who has had breast cancer herself and her books and social media accounts are really informative) so maybe one to listen to whilst sat on the sofa or on your daily walk?
Sending you lots of healing hugs 
AM xxx
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Hello, my nurse told me to make sure I went to bed every afternoon for at least two weeks after my lumpectomy and I did and used to sleep for at least two hours so yes it’s perfectly normal. Best wishes for a speedy recovery x
I was back in hospital the week after my second surgery (done because the original lumpectomy didn’t take away all the cancer). That was on christmas eve, as my surgery was on 18 December (2003). I can assure you I was absolutely exhausted and we used to have afternoon and morning rests. Weird at 47!
Any surgery is invasive, and I think lumpectomy is more painful than mastectomy as mastectomy removes nerves so you have a numb area where the breast was rather than pain from remaining tissue. Sorry to be a misery guts but I had a mastectomy and diep reconstruction just over a year ago but that was better than the first surgery because I had time to plan it, and went to a different hospital, a centre of breast cancer excellence which was able to offer me more. As I’d had surgery and radiotherapy when I had a recurrence the sole treatment was mastectomy. I am happier than I expected as I prefer the shape of my reconstructed breast this time and I prefer the hospital. Plus I got married in 2013 and my husband looked after me and likes the new me. A lot has changed medically since 2003 for the better as far as breast cancer is concerned but women haven’t - we all have a relationship with our breasts going back to puberty, and we are all subject to society and how it views us. I had little experience of ops, in fact I don’t think I had had anything apart from a frozen shoulder freed under general anaesthetic in a minute or so. And six teeth out at the dentist when I was 9. I was definitely shattered after that! Nowadays that kind of treatment is only done in dental hospitals…
Seagulls
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I was a good 2 weeks with a “nanna” nap in the afternoon… probably longer if I hadn’t gone back to work…
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