Hello Wibbles…please don’t exercise to the point where they hurt…it might be you’re pulling on the internal stitches which might be causing the pain. Go gently on yourself…it really is slowly, slowly catchee monkee! I know you want to run but it’s really baby steps first. Take care. 
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Only taking it to stretchy hurt then stopping not raw agony, its my first go at the advanced excercise and even though I did them and strengthening physio for six weeks before surgery Ìt still was darn hard. Not quite as bad as doing them after a rotor cuff injury though.
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Hey there @wibbles i had a couple of tough days where i tried to come off the codeine too quickly and the nerve pain was so uncomfortable and the burning in my chest so ive halved and now quartered my dose of codeine and taking paracetamol and ibroprofen reguraly (have alarms set) as prescribed … i eat at the same time - lots of small snacks which i think helps sustain me too. Today I feel alot better, apart from numbness/sensitivity along the inner upper arm, just below the armpit — around the bingo-wing area. It feels like sandpaper rubbing against my skin when i brush against anything - really annoying, but i have started mindfulness for pain management Meditation App - Jon Kabat-Zinn only £2 per month and the body scan i did today was lovely - it was tough at first as all the pain was signalling but at the end i had no discomfort but of course you then go about day to day and it does start up again! I’m now a week since surgery and feel its such an achievement to be able to get into a routine and manage myself better. The exercises are getting easier, which is an indicator that i can now start the more challenging ones - thank you for sharing again with me and your encouragement. x
Hello @notagain2 thank you for your lovely message it was so helpful! Yes i believe not to push myself over the pain limits - like you said the internal stitching that we cant see may be damaged as a result so i feel a tug or the beginning of a sting, and i ease off, but i like to stretch the uncomfortable numbness of the nerve pain (hope that makes sense)! I dont know how many lymph nodes were taken out and i still have my drain as its been at 50 ml the last few days - i waiting for it to be below 30 ml for two days before the district nurse will take it out - im happy to wait as I believe my body will say right we’re done with this stage. Thanks again - i just did my mindful body scan, and it helps - Meditation App - Jon Kabat-Zinn 
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Sorry ref the driving; that too was helpful. Mine is all on my left side mastectomy and axillary clearance so i need to work this all out in my head and then do a practice drive lol
I did look and i did cry for the loss but its getting easier x
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I haven’t seen or remember how long ago your surgery was @angelc but first time round for me in 2002 I was in hospital for around 10 days with a drain! It seems things have changed so much since then. Mind you, although being in hospital all over Christmas wasn’t overly bad, at least all us ladies on the breast ward of 6 didn’t have to worry about cooking Christmas Lunch etc!! Just concentrate on relaxing and waiting for the drain to stop, before they let us home. I must say, I did feel very cared for, whereas this time (March this year) I was in at 7am and out at 7pm!! No drains fitted, just told to do the exercises as soon as possible and take the dressing off after 10 days!!! Whilst it does free up the beds, I did feel rather abandoned by the system at that point! And as I’m squeamish about dressings etc, I booked in to see the nurse at the local health centre as the GP surgery couldn’t do it as, at a guess, it comes under a different budget!! The nurse was quite dismissive and just took it off, just like that!!! In the event, I could have done it myself but I was afraid I’d yank the tender wound area and open it up again, wimp that I am!
I do hope you progress well and the drains come out soon
. Sending mending hugs!
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Gosh 2002 and ten days in hospital to now the non care system - i can imagine the sense of neglect - i had that feeling from the district nurse this week gone after i had a leak and was worried about it so called and was told i was not a priority as they had people dying on their list! I quietly said im not sure that was the best way to go about telling me that and she changed her tone - the next district nurse that turned up was very kind and said that had not been fully representative of the serivce. All in all ive had good support but the basics sometimes are missed and they rely heavily on you having people at home who care and common sense! Thank you for your kindness and sharing your thoughts with me … i am pondering on whether to go back to teaching teeneagers next Tuesday or take another week off - im not physially ok to go back this week but maybe that will improve this week but i also dont feel mentally there yet as i will have to have the energy to teach for 3 hrs at a time. Oh the joy of making the right decison hey. You mentioned about the sentinel nodes (SP) sorry! How would i know if that happened to me - i have my pathology meeting this Thursday
Sentinel nodes is standard practice now, so I would assume you did. It means they inject a dye or more likely nowadays, a radio active isotope. This travels to the first few lymph nodes in your armpit and the surgeon then removes them… three or 4 only. They are then examined for traces of cancer, and if clear, no more are taken. Doing this preserves the rest which will eliminate the risk of developing lymphoedema, something I dreaded more than the cancer itself!! In 2002, whilst I was in the Sentinel Node Trial, I wasn’t selected via the random selection process, so first time round I had about 11 removed out of 25 or 30…so not TOO many! I did implore the surgeon not to take too many!! Thankfully, I didn’t develop lymphoedema! Good luck with your pathology results…keeping fingers crossed for you.xx
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@angelc worked as a council youth worker. Teenagers are tbh hard work. They can be both lovely and caring then utterly stupid and verbally viscous all in moments. It’s good you feel able to think of work but if it’s possible maybe take an extra week so you can relax and more fully recover from initial recovering before walking back into working with a cross between cuddly teddies and a rampant bears pit.
I think if you extend your current sick leave it will be okay. It’s taking two weeks off then going back discovering you need a few more days and then having to take another week off that causes issues. Check your sick leave entitlement and conditions first as l know they can vary.
May all go well whatever you decide is best for you to do.
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Sorry for later response .. so I had the results or some of them … the cancer took up most of my breast it was a large mass and all together was 11 cm and 9/20 nodes had cancer full clearance though. They took the brown tape off so now I’m getting used to the scar and this part of healing. It’s been up and down today is day 15. I went very up and down after the clinic emotionally. Honestly I feel I was underprepared as the surgeons said it’s a straightforward operation and this may sound silly but not once did they refer to me as going into major surgery untill the pathology meet where she said oh this nerve pain is all normal due to what we all now know is major … on top of this after starting the stage two exercises and going for a longer half hour walk my nerve pain ramped up and when I told the surgeon I didn’t want to take codeine she didn’t listen to me asking her about nerve pain meds she just wrote another prescription for it … so I just started taking it again when the pain pulls through. I don’t know whether to ask my GP about nerve pain medication or not. Work were really good I’ve been signed off for another two weeks but I think I will just need one more week - HR seemed to be abit cut and dried with me on Thursday but tbh I was extremely irritable after not much sleep.
I’ve just been for a beautiful walk to calm my nerves in general and I was grateful and felt so relaxed for a time but I do feel I’m not as positive as I was … I have 4-6 months of intravenous chemo coming up then radiotherapy… I’m waiting for the oncologist appointment in two weeks to find out more … thanks for letting me off load. 
I keep reading your message back and am amazed that you didn’t need anything stronger … I know we shouldn’t compare but I am curious … physiologically if we are similar? I am carrying a lot of weight due to peri menopausal 13st 12 and I do wonder if trauma can make people more sensitive to pain as it’s all from the amygdala signalling. I do mindfulness and breath work to counteract this I also try to stay active to almost walk the pain away 
I have just read your previous message to notagain2. I am so sorry, you are really going through it. It doesn’t sound as though we are similar physiologically (or if that is even relevant? I am not sure…). I am 67 years old so very post-menopausal and weigh around 10st. I have never been particularly sensitive to pain but I have actually had more discomfort in later weeks than I did at the beginning. I have only taken the occasional paracetamol and ibuprofen because it’s mostly nerve pain and nothing seems to work anyway. I have had a lot of pain and discomfort with seroma and six weeks later, this is still the case up to a point. The seroma was pulling on my chest where I wasn’t healed internally, that has passed now but I have some cording into my chest which is very uncomfortable. They have drained the seroma once but are reluctant to do it again so I’m trying to put up with it, it’s actually more around my side and under my arm than on my chest now. I also feel I didn’t fully appreciate how big an op it is, my tumour was 7 x 5 cm. I think having a full lymph node clearance also complicates matters. I am also very active and walk a lot but haven’t been able to get back to my usual activities such as Pilates, sadly
@evieb1 that makes a lot of sense with the seroma. If I sit too long in one position I feel that puts pressure on my chest too. I don’t have a seroma yet. Gosh it is such a lot isn’t it. So much to absorb and figure out .. what we’re going through is unique to each of us individually as we are all different .. either a slightly different type of cancer or our life experiences and our coping mechanisms are also shaped differently… thanks for sharing 
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