Any guitarists who have had mastectomy and reconstruction

LWK

I am a 70yr old guitarist and guitar teacher recently diagnosed, requiring a mastectomy. In considering reconstruction I've been unable to get good answers about the effect on guitar playing. The surgeon says there shouldn't be any, but he's not a guitarist.

eric95us

My wife plays the banjo and guitar..and had a BMX with minimal reconstruction.  She said that after a few weeks after each surgery, she was fine for playing. The banjo is heavy and it hurt to pick it up.

She also said the Taxol chemo made her fingertips feel numb...like she was wearing thin gloves....for a couple of days after each infusion.

Jelson

Not only don't I play guitar but I haven't had a mastectomy either! however, I remember that there was a guitarist on here who had problems after mastectomy related to lymphedema - finger swelling and frozen shoulder - however she has not been on the boards for several months. If you use the search function - and look for mastectomy guitar you will find some other postings, but nothing recent - and most problems related to effects of chemo. Perhaps you should post on the Breast Reconstruction board and the board for women choosing not to have reconstruction?

Here is to many more years enjoying playing guitar!!!!

ChiSandy

I’m a guitarist and dulcimerist who had a lumpectomy and SNB this past September. Only 4 nodes were removed--2 ea. sentinel & non-sentinel--and all were negative. I developed a sizable seroma at the SNB site, and it ruptured three weeks post-op and had to be sutured (so far so good). BUT after I started radiation, my tumor-cavity seroma (theretofore invisible) began to swell massively and the subcutaneous capsule around it eventually fibrosed. My breast now has a hard bulge at the side which will likely be permanent and forced me to go up a band and cup size (to 40H or I). I am obese but only mildly-to-moderately so (wearing a size XL-1X in tops & dresses and size 16 in jeans).

Shortly after finishing radiation I developed some tightness and soreness (and a palpable knot) on the inside of my forearm. I followed my surgeon’s nurse’s precaution and wore a compression sleeve & gauntlet on a couple of long int’l flights--on the return, I noticed some finger swelling; and for a little while when I was in the mts. in Sicily my arm felt heavy and slightly tight--but normalized at sea level. Upon my return I made an appt. with a lymphedema specialist but felt sort of silly about it because by the time I saw him my symptoms had disappeared. He measured me and declared I didn’t have LE and with only 4 nodes out he wouldn’t have prescribed compression, but because I had had cording symptoms he was diagnosing me with Stage 0 (subclinical) LE so that Medicare would cover therapy sessions, and because I mentioned finger swelling in-flight with a gauntlet he prescribed me a glove instead for altitude and strenuous exercise only (the gauntlet would be okay for normal exercise, he said).

Two sessions into therapy I began experiencing subtle swelling and return of the cording pain on non-therapy days; just lifting a heavy guitar case and carrying it five feet resulted in some exacerbation of pain, so I wore kinesio-tape, sleeve & gauntlet to my next gig; the next day I grated some hard cheese and scooped some hard ice cream--by morning the swelling was quite visible and I couldn’t bear to dorsiflex my wrist with my arm raised, touch the inside of the arm when stretched, or even do my self-MLD massage. My therapist told me I was now officially at Stage 1 (mild) LE, with cording (the cords are hidden beneath the subcutaneous fat but can be slightly palpated) and for the next 2 wks I must wear compression now during my waking hours (except for showering and doing MLD). I can play with the gauntlet on, but not with the glove--it’s too stiff and the fabric hits the strings (I have short fingers and the less-restrictive gloves are way too long in the fingers--the only way to get those with short enough fingers is to buy a child-size, which may otherwise be too tight).

I have committed to several concerts in the coming months (including one next week) and am terrified that I will either be unable to play or would exacerbate my LE by playing w/o compression. I’d love to hear from the original poster (will PM her in case she doesn’t lurk on these boards any more) to find out how she fared.