How soon after surgery?

Hello Everyone,

I had a mastectomy and sentinal nodes removed five days ago. I've only been doing a little walking on the treadmill and some stretching exercises. I normally take lots of dance and fitness classes and was wondering when is it best to start again.  Also, how soon is it ok to return to work? I was thinking along the lines of two to three weeks, but was told today that six to eight weeks was the norm.  How have you addressed these issues?

Thanks for sending good wishes. So sorry you had to suffer through an infection. That just makes recovery all the more difficult. Since I have diabetes, I've been very watchful of any symptoms that might signal an infection. So, of course staying out of the public and crowds for now is best. I still have the drain in, so feel I won't return to work until that's removed.

Chest is still sore, so no driving especially in the horrid traffic of this area. I'll see my BS tomorrow, so this will be at the top of my list of things to discuss. Barring any infection, I may feel ready to return to school in another two weeks.

I've begun walking on the treadmill for about 15-30 minutes almost everyday and always feel so much better afterwards. Otherwise, I just fel so tired and spend a lot of time taking naps. I suppose this too shall pass.

Hi Marion,

Yes, I agree that there is no reason to rush things and risk complications, infections,etc.  My first experience with a mastectomy happened late in the school year, so then I had the summer to recover, begin chemo. I was off for about 3-4 months, Then I started back with a slightly reduced schedule.

This time, I have started to walk about 15-30 minutes each day, just so I don't lose more muscle tone and energy. And also keep things moving around in the body. Some days it's really hard to get up the energy to do it, but I feel so much better afterwards.

You've had quite a long journey. Great that  you're exercising and even working out with a personal trainer. I decided not to have immediate recon because I wanted to heal from this surgery first. I know recon takes awhile to bounce back from. I had a Latissimus flap (recon # 2) about 6 years ago and it took many weeks and lots of drains to recover from that one.

This year I felt I just could not face the bc surgery and then spend my whole summer recovering from recon. I hope to regain strength, energy and then do the recon next year. I'll be starting Hormonal therapy, so hope I'll have the energy to do any kind of working out once that begins.

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. Best wishes on losing the weight, but it sounds like you're doing the right things.

At the moment, I don't own any pets. I had a cat for years but she  was elderly and died last spring. I'd been putting off getting another. I'm glad I did after hearing your story.

I think the drain will be removed this week, so that'll be one less thing to worry about.

I hope this gets out of your system soon. Take care and get well soon.

I began walking almost daily after my surgery on April 14th. After about two weeks, I began doing the strengthening excercises for my arm and chest that were prescibed by the lymphedema therapist. Plus, I resumed yoga and stretching, but have not returned to my gym or dance classes yet. I hope to do so next week. . I returned to work after being at home for four weeks. I was advised not to lift anything heavier than 10 pounds.

I find that if I overdo things, I do get some pain and a feeling of tiredness on the surgical side and end up needing to rest and sleep a bit more.

It's my opinion that you have to do some exercise, or muscles will atrophy and lose strength.

 few weeks ago I returned to Body Pump classes and an Abs class at my gym. In addition, I try to walk at least a mile or about 30 minutes everyday. At first I felt really wiped out after workouts, but am beginning to feel a lot stronger. My surgery ( mastectomy) was back in April.  I've had several visits with a Lymphadema therapist and things seem to be progressing normally.

The next step is that I have to see an oncologist who might put me on hormone therapy, which I'm dreading. I'm starting to feel so back to normal now and just hate to have to relapse due to side effects from hormone meds. I've now lost both breasts (have one reconstructed one) and just can't bear the thought of having to deal with this anymore, If possible, I want to have some type of reconstruction to replace the recent loss.

So feeling better,, looking forward to reconstruction next year and want to keep feeling better, stronger and not worse due to HR. I'll probably see the oncologist next week.