'The gift that keeps on giving'

Hi to all that read this and thanks in advance to anyone who responds.

 

I experience a lot of discomfort in my post BC breast and struggle with knowing how much to put down to ‘the gift that keeps on giving’, so was wondering what level of discomfort other people experience and consider to be normal? 

 

I am now 14 years post diagnosis and treatment - WLE and rads age 41 at the time - and have been told by my consultant that things would be different now - research really has improved BC management during what is a relatively short time - although I wouldn’t have been given the ‘choice’ about mastectomy and chemo that I was given at the time they would have been part of my treatment package regardless.

 

The discomfort I experience ranges from a dull ache (75% of the time - but not enough to wake me at night), to sharp stabbing type pain mainly behind the nipple but also beneath the incision area (experienced most days variable amounts - but definitely painful enough to be very distracting when it occurs) to throbbing discomfort that feels very much like the mastistis I experienced 18 years ago when feeding my youngest son but without any redness or visible swelling (although it feels swollen in my head [if that makes sense!]).

 

I have discussed this with my consultant and it is his phraseology that gave the subject title! and I can accept that - to an extent! I think I need to know that I’m not the only person who feels like she has been saved from the evil of BC only to be left with a boob that constantly reminds me! It certainly doesn’t help with the anxieties that abound connected to every other ache and pain that happens with age etc.

 

So there’s not really a question  - more a hope that someone can reach out and reassure me that I’m not on my own.

 

Kathy x

 

 

Hi Kathy, so sorry to hear you are still suffering, it’s really quite shocking that you have had to put up with this for so blooming long, have you not had a referral to a pain management team? I am almost two years post treatment, so much more recent than you, but the pain is constant in one place or another and gets worse with any kind of physical activity. So far under the pain clinic consultant I have had escalating doses of Gabapentin and also four nerve bock injections but sadly none of it has worked. Going back in a couple of weeks time to see what happens next…

Like you, it is a constant reminder of what’s been and what could be in the future. I got the ‘these things can happen’ speech but am determined that one way or another it will be sorted out so that I can move on. It is not a quick process by any means but I keep being told that there are plenty of options and I just have to try each one til a soultion can be found. 

Take care of yourself and will keep everything crossed that we both find an answer.

Sue xx