Severe Pain under tissue expander, 2 weeks since surgery

Hi, RED8840 - So sorry to hear you are in such pain, but I wanted to welcome you to the forum.

I had a bilateral MX in December w/ immediate placement of TEs. My pain was never in control in the hospital, because I didn't want to take morphine.

So when I got home, the pain from the TEs was unbearable. I cried every single day for three weeks. It wasn't sudden onset, it was always there, like some horrific red-hot iron bear trap clamping down on my chest.

I finally listened to the wise women here and started taking the pain meds I'd been sent hom with. I took them regularly, around the clock. My DH even set his alarm for my 4 am Norco dose. That, plus Valium around the clock helped.

It also helped to have him massage the muscles in my back, and to take a hot shower (when I was able) before bedtime.

However, what helped me the most was getting fills. I got 180 ccs in the OR, and got to 620ccs in only five visits. Once I started getting fills, the TEs moved around underneath the pectoral muscles, which moved them away from the nerves they had been irritating.

SpecialK is right...in the case of pain, you should always contact your doctor first.

However, I am wondering if years of chronic pain, and taking "regular pain pills, muscle relaxers, nerve pills because of fibromyalgia, anti depression meds, etc." for so long means that they have stopped working for you.

I ask this because I went through a Pain Management Program years ago for many of the issues you described. After a while, nothing works any more.

You also say that you "do not have any other pain at the moment from the tissue expander or the mastectomy surgery, just this one horrible pain under my breast." Is the pain in the same breast where you had the surgery?

If so, how can you be sure it's not from the MX or the TE? There is so much trauma to the entire breast area when it is removed, and during the insertion of the TEs, the pectoral muscle is separated and sutured to make room for the hard-backed expander. It's a pretty agressive surgery.

Two weeks after my surgery, I was in no condition to ride around in a car, much less go into stores! I vegged out most of the time, only venturing out for my Post-Op appointments.

So please do give your doc a call tomorrow....perhaps it's just part of the healing process.

Hope you feel better soon!!!

hello, I too had that kind of pain and called my doc and they sent me to the E R and mine had hardened and I had to have (MINE) removed my body rejected it and cause infection, my body considered IT a foreign body. I now wear a prothesis and am a 18 yr Survivor(Praise the LORD GOD), so call the doc .  msphil( idc, stage 2, L mast, chemo and rads and 5 yrs on Tamoxifen)