Hi all,
I had a mastectomy of my left breast with strattice reconstruction and an expander 2 weeks ago. I’ve been experiencing a lot of pain at the top of my ribs under the implant which I assumed was the drain, however I had that removed today and the pain is still there. It appears also that the valve for the expander is positioned at the base of my implant on the outer edge (near my ribs). I was surprised about this as was the nurse who removed my drain, she said they’re usually positioned at the top of the implant. You can really feel it under the skin and that, coupled with it being so close to my painful rib area is causing huge discomfort. Has anyone else had this pain and has anyone else had a valve positioned in that area? I don’t think I can bear this discomfort if I have to tolerate the valve being in that position for months while I’m going through chemo!?
My valve/ portal is on the side. Everything was pretty sore for a while and certainly sleeping on my side was not possible for quite a few weeks. Think how sor you would be if someone punched you in the chest( before any of this happened). How much bigger an insult is a mastectomy and reconstruction to your body…I don’t feel the valve any more. I think by the time I got to chemo, it was sore if I was squeezed but wasn’t a major problem. Having said all this, everyone is different and I don’t know exactly where your valve is. Mine is about 4" below the lower border of my axilla.
Breast cancer brings to us so many things that we don’t think we can bear, but we do…
Am thinking of you.
Dear Zia. My valve is positioned in the same place as yours and I had the rib pain also. I am now 6 weeks post ops and the pain has since stopped. I used to take paracetamol and press the ribs with a hot towel to reduce the pain. I have a seroma so I press both the ribs and my breast. Both hang in there as the pain will clear with healing.
Zia I had mx and strattice and implant in September, I had rib pain and my surgeon told me it was where she put in stitches inside to stitch the membrane and pec muscle. It’ll settle down.