Nerve pain down arm after Phyllodes surgery

leighbea

Hi,

I had an excisional biopsy on Dec 21. The pathology came back as benign Phyllodes. In light of the dx, my surgeon here at Vandy wasn’t comfortable with the margins. So, she went back in on Jan 18 to get clear margins.

My first surgery was super easy. This second one has been tougher. I was more tired and have had much more pain.

My follow-up is on Friday and I’ll obviously talk to her about this but I’m interested in others’ experiences. I have nerve pain that originates in my arm pit and goes directly down my arm to the middle of my palm. It tingles and all, just like typical nerve pain. My pain meds help it some but not completely.

Is this normal? My lump was fairly big (5cm x 3 x 4). It was in the outer area of my breast, near my arm pit. My surgeon told my parents that there was a lot of fluid in the cavity that she might have to remove when I see her on Friday. Other than that, the surgery was straightforward and went as expected.

Thanks!

Lisa

Silbar

I hope your doctor will be able to explain the nerve pain for you. Most likely it is normal due to the insult of having had two surgeries and the swelling from them. Nerve pain takes a few weeks to a few months to resolve after all of this, especially if you have some fluid buildup in there.

leighbea

Thank you!! I ended up sending a message to my surgeon. She called me. I saw my orthopedist on Monday (I have a torn rotator cuff we have been waiting to treat until the breast is healed). My surgeon and ortho are working together. They both think my nerve got damaged because of positioning in surgery. My surgeon has been so caring and so sweet!! I’m taking a steroid dose pack to help heal the nerve. It hurts but I know this is a process. I’ll heal. :-