Tightness in the wound and Costochondritis after mastectomy

lks123

I was diagnosed with DCIS and got my mastectomy on the right breast in 5/31/13 and I did reconstruction right after. However, I had the trouble with the expanders. I had trouble breating and had chest pain with the expanders so I took it out three weeks ago before the surgeon could put in the implants. I did not go through chemotherapy or radiation after. 

My wound and stitches on the right breast hurts and feels extremely tight and pressured. Also, it's hard to breathe especially after walking. My surgeon and my primary doctor told me that this difficulty of breathing is  probably the result of the inflammation on the cartilage in the rib cage or Costochondritis. Did anyone experience this after mastecomy? Also, did anyone take out the expanders before the implant surgery because of pain?

My surgeon did not recommend me tamoxifen. Is anyone with DCIS taking these medicines?

I really do not know a lot about breast cancer. Thank you so much!

Moderators

Hi lks123, and welcome to Breastcancer.org.

Sorry you didn´t get any real answer yet.

Until some other members come along to post, I wanted to make a suggestion: On the left hand side of this page, you can see a blue box, and a line that says "SEARCH." If you click on that, and type in Costochondritis in the box that comes up, you will come up with a lot of posts on this subject.

Hope this helps you find other threads and other members with similar experiences than yours.

Best wishes.

---The Mods

MaggiPgh

Hi, I also has DCIS in left breast but opted to have a bilateral mast. I had expanders in and waited until I had implants put in. I did not have chemo or radiation. I thought the expanders were cause of my burning pain and extreme tightness in chest And sternum. But no , when I had everything removed my pain stays. I learned its caused baby nerve damage during the surgery ans the tightness is caused by formation of scar tissue and adhesions. U need to stretch and breathe or it will get worse. I have other ideas but know that the actual surgery caused your pain. Please believe me. I've been dealing w this for 5 yrs. maggi

farmerlucy

I had trouble breathing about two months past my mx. My PCP physician wanted to rule out a pulmonary embolism, so I had a ct scan of the lungs. They were clear but there was fluid around them. He thought it was from the mx trauma and that it would clear up on its own. It did. Hugs to you!

I was so tempted to remove the expanders during the reconstruction stage. It was very hard for me. I decided to go ahead with the exchange figuring if I really hated it, I'd have them removed. Within a few weeks of the exchange thing started to settle down. I'm glad I didn't have them taken out, but I know I would have been just as happy without them.