What you feel after the mastectomy with expanders surgery

ThinkingPositive

Has anyone had any swelling below under the arm which seems to feel like a ledge under your arm... its soft to touch..just wanted to know if anyone has experienced this and what the outcome is ...feels weird....also had expander put in and was wondering what your incision site feels like afterwards...just want to know if what I am feeling is normal... swollen...no real pain just discomfort more than anything and feels swollen to touch.  Wondering if what I am feeling is normal.  I am questioning everything at this point as to whether its normal or not..  Help.  

mdg

I have an area of scar tissue under my arm pit from where my sentinel nodes were removed.  Could it be that??

Blessings2011

mdg - If I'm not mistaken, ThinkingPositive just had her MX and TE done a few days, ago right?

So no time for scar tissue build-up yet...

ThinkingPositive.... were you going to see your Plastic Surgeon today?

What did he or she say about your concerns?

Thinking of you....

ThinkingPositive

Just had mx and te on the 23rd...still very swollen under arm and around towards back... going to the ps today.. leaving in 15 minutes..drains still red.. have not looked at anything yet...still feel very drained and tired.. no pain meds needed though...just dealing with discomfort.

ThinkingPositive

Saw my plastic surgeon today..took bandages off, said everything looks great... drains possibly coming out next Tuesday.  See the Breast Surgeon on Friday.  I am more nervous about that appointment... original biopsy was DCIS stage 0.. then mri showed two additional areas each being 2mm and 3mm that were suspicious...so opted for the mastectomy and sentinel node biopsy... wondering if the pathology report could end up being so totally different that what was originally thought.  I guess anything is possible.   Taking one day at a time.. but its hard knowing that prognosis was the best that it could be at first with  just a  lumpectomy, radiation and a pill then to mastectomy and pill - but waiting on that pathology is hard and I try to stay positive.  

msphil

hang in there sweetie, things will get better, I know its overwhelming.  msphil(idc,stage2, 0/3 nodes, L mast, chemo and rads and 5 yrs on tamoxifen).