Neck pain after mastecomy and partial breast reconstruction

HeatherAnn77

Hello lovely ladies. I am 5 months post-op from a double mastecomy, and had the tissue expanders/spacer put in when I had my initial surgery. As of 9/13 /16 I am at 560 CC's in the expanders and I have noticed my left one has shifted upwards, and it is causing significant pain in my collarbone area, and it radiates up the left side of my neck ( my tumors were in the left breast), it is a debilitating pain that has no resolve with pain meds/anti-inflammatories/hot and cold therapy etc. I can barely function it is so bad. My medical team doesn't seem to think it is a big deal, and all they have done is sent me for an Xray which showed some disk changes that most likely were present before the onset of my breast cancer. At any rate, I live with extreme pain in my neck.. ha literally ever day and it is affecting my day to day living, taking care of myself, for example buttoning a pair of jeans, working, cleaning whatever the case may be. Surgery to have the spacers swapped out and replaced with the actual implants its not until November 5th and in the meantime my medical team just doesn't seem very interested in finding out the cause of the pain, they just keep prescribing me new meds that I don't want. I am exhausted physically and mentally and don't want to keep taking narcotic pain relievers or other meds that barely help or just mask what's really going on. Anyone else with a double mastecomy with tissue expanders experiencing these same issues? I was lucky enough to land another job after going through all this cancer stuff, and I am already missing working yet again.. Ideas anyone!?!

Meadow

So sorry to hear of your pain! I am guessing your Oncology team is not thinking it is cancer, sothey are not going to get concerned...not really helpful is it! I have had disk fusion in my neck, a long time before bc. You are going to have to get their attention...you need and MRI on your neck, would be my opinion. I am not a medical person, please continue to be noisy about needing a referral to an orthopedic specialist for evaluation. Let us know what you find out, hugs to you!