Worried skin pain or rib pain

Gunnie, no you are not mad! It is 6 months since I had surgery (only 1 node removed) and 3 months since I finished rads but i too have tenderness in my side (ribs or skin). It still hurts, not bad, but enough to make me poke and prod! Unfortunately we tend to think bad things with this darn BC with every little ache and pain.Things take time to heal and hopefully everything is OK with you and your onc can set your mind at rest. I will mention mine when I see my onc next month but I suspect it is likely just the result of treatment and will hopefully resolve. Sending good thoughts your way!

Gunnie, I would ditto Ariom. Mine is ribs and skin area also, right where the drains were. I've had it since surgery and it's been 11 months. Mine feels like it's bruised all the time, but of course it's not. Ki

I can recommend massage too. I have been having a massage every 2 weeks for about 18 years for rheumatoid arthritis, but after my Mx the massage was especially good, for releasing any adheasions and keeping everything supple. I was religious with the stretching exercises I was given from the Hospital PT, I did them 4x a day for many, many months and know they helped enormously, but I still have this small area that hurts, so although I believe it is where the drain was located, I am still hoping that, like all the other weird sensations and sore spots I have had over the past 2 years, one day it will just not be there any more!

Gunnie, I am so sorry you are having a rough time. Hugs to you!

You say you have tenderness, with a line under your skin? Is it fairly taught and hard to the touch and like a branch? I am wondering if you have what I had, Mondors Cording? I am sure your Doctor will tell you if that is what it is. Should it turn out to be that, don't worry yourself, it will resolve on its own. I know it must be feeling like one thing after another, but I am sure it will get better.

Take it easy and let us know how you get on. M x

Hi Gunnie, it sure sounds the same, but you'd need to have a Doctor Dx it for you. I am no expert, but it is possible to have it just on the one side. Mine was only on my Mx side. I tried to research it when my Surgeon told me, in all his years of doing this kind of surgery, I was only the 2nd case he'd seen. What I found, was that it isn't really uncommon in women who have breast augmentation, but I didn't find much about post Mx surgery, or Lumpectomy. The main theme of the things I read were that it is caused by trauma to the breast and although there have been some studies done and when biopsied, these cords can be either veinous or lymph, so there is a crossover with the axillary web syndrome too. It is similar to a varicose vein. Everything I could find, which wasn't much, concurred with my Surgeon, that it was self limiting and would resolve on its own. It can return, as mine did, very briefly, some months later, but it disappeared fairly quickly.

I hope this may help you, if you find Mondors is what you have. I know what you mean, I had a seroma and a hematoma, undissolved stitches, a dog ear removed and then way down the track, found a lump which needed another biopsy, but thankfully turned out to be a cyst. It feels like you never really get away from thinking about it!

I wish you all the very best!

Edited to add a couple of points I forgot to mention.

Hi Gunnie, it was a tight branch like thing, that could be seen through my skin if I stood up straight and leaned back a little. It was sore and kind of burned a bit. I could push up under my ribcage and feel that it started up there and ran down over my abdomen, where it branched off in a couple of directions. I really was pretty gross.

I normally tell people to stay away from Google, but in this instance I found some information and photos of Mondors, they all say it is self limiting and can take 12 weeks to disappear. I know mine hung around for a long time, disappeared, came back for a short time and then was gone and I haven't had it again.

If I were you, I would simply ask your Doctor if this is Mondors? Just say you have a friend who had the same kind of symptoms and that's what she was Dx with. It probably isn't unusual for a Doctor not to be familiar with this. My Surgeon has been doing Mx surgery for many years and although he just took one look at it and said "You have Mondors Disease!" I was only his second patient to have it.

gunnie when my rib pain was at its worst I felt like something moving under my skin. It sounds crazy but it was like being pregnant and having a baby kick inside. Don't know what it was - if it was just these muscle knots or if I had gall stones at the time. It hurt very much when I was doing the budwig diet plus something else.