Anyone else have little to no post-op pain?

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ravzari
ravzari Member Posts: 277

I'm slightly confused that I haven't had anything I'd rate as 'painful'. I do have a fairly high pain tolerance, but I was expecting this to be way worse than, say, a 5 hour tattoo session that included my upper inner arm and, in all honesty, the tattoo pain and healing was significantly worse.

It's not a bad confusion, just more of an, "I was expecting so much worse!" confusion.

Short backstory: I've had constant, chronic, stabbing/burning pain in both breasts since puberty, which I just attributed to 'growing pains' as that's what everyone told me it was, and put to the back of my mind; by 36 the 'growing pains' still hadn't gone away and had become markedly worse; I started to think maybe it wasn't normal. Looked into family history and found both that and breast cancer by 40-45 was common on both sides of my family. There was also a history of calcified deposits in breast tissue and 'extremely fibrous' (my plastic surgeon and general surgeon both told me my breasts felt 'woody' after exams!) breast tissue.

Awesome.

Since the chronic pain didn't leave me with a good relationship with my breasts (in all honesty, I could never stand to have them touched, even lightly, as it'd trigger stronger shooting pains), to put it lightly, I didn't think twice about having them removed since my insurance covered it for high cancer risk.


My general surgeon and plastic surgeon were both great, with neither of them trying to push me into reconstruction/implants when I made it clear I wasn't interested.
We ended up going with the bilateral mastectomy with free nipple grafts to have the lowest risk of a perpetually perky nipple as the non-graft method may have produced that due to the size of my breasts and the amount of extra skin that would be 'folded' in.

That was all done on June 30th of this year, and I'm miffed that I've had so little pain.


The worst part was stiff shoulders for 3 days, and I haven't at all needed the narcotic painkillers I was sent home with, and didn't need any of the painkillers the nurses offered when I had my overnight stay.

I haven't even needed plain old Tylenol.

It just...doesn't hurt.

After the shoulder stiffness went away, I found I have a great range of motion as well; about the only thing I can't do is reach higher than shoulder height, or it pulls on the incision sites. Aside from that, I have an otherwise full range of motion with no pulling.


The only thing that causes any real pain that makes me stop and wince slightly is stripping the left drain; the extra suction makes it sting for a few seconds where the drains are internally. It doesn't bother the right one. Even that fades after around a minute or so.

Now and again, the drain sites sting (usually if I bump them with an arm), and the incisions and grafts get really itchy for a few minutes but I expected that; they're already down to producing less than 30ml in a 24 hour period, today was 14ml on the left, and 14.5 on the right) and will hopefully be coming out on Friday (which cannot come fast enough, these things are annoying). I'm not yet sure if she'll remove the bandages from the nipple grafts, but I've been preparing myself for how hideous healing nipple grafts look the first few weeks so I'm not terribly worried.

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop in terms of pain, but have been incredibly happy that it hasn't.

I'd done a lot of research prior to surgery, including talking to friends who have had either one or both breasts removed due to actually having cancer, and was expecting a LOT more pain and discomfort than I've had based on that reading up and those conversations.

Some part of me thinks I'm reasonably abnormal for having little to no pain (note to the cosmos, that's not a complaint! :) ) ; even the plastic surgeon asked my parents and husband if I was just 'trying to be tough' or if I really meant it when I said it just felt like a bad chest bruise. I can safely say I really meant it, it just felt badly bruised.

About all I can think of that makes any sense is that I was so used to the 8-10 on the pain scale chronic pain from my actual breasts/breast tissue, that the surgery pain seems mild in comparison.
I'm also pleased to note that that chronic type pain is 100% gone, so that's a nice...gesture..toward previous doctors who told me it wasn't breast pain and was 'muscle pain' when I knew very well the difference between chest muscle and breast tissue pain.


Has anyone else had the experience of having very little to no post op pain or am I some kind of anomaly?


I guess here's to hoping the drain removal isn't painful either! :)

Comments

  • Artista928
    Artista928 Member Posts: 2,753
    edited July 2016

    I didn't have much pain either. I did do Norco since bs said you want to be ahead of pain but I quit after 3 days when I saw I am fine. Drains get pulled so fast that you don't have time to feel anything.

  • Smurfette26
    Smurfette26 Member Posts: 730
    edited July 2016

    Very little pain for me too. I had nothing stronger than paracetamol from the day after surgery.

    My breast nurse advised me to take some pain relief before drain removal, which I did. Didn't feel a thing.

  • cjafarm
    cjafarm Member Posts: 44
    edited July 2016

    I declined the pain medications in the hospital because I just didn't need them. Two days after surgery I could put my arms straight up in the air. Couldn't do it as easily with something with weight in my hand. Removal of drains was simpl

  • wrenn
    wrenn Member Posts: 2,707
    edited July 2016

    I think it might be a different experience for a cancer patient since the psychological component is there. Although I had very little pain it was a nightmare not knowing what the outcome was going to be and how quickly I could heal to be ready to start chemo.

    Glad it was easy for you.

  • ravzari
    ravzari Member Posts: 277
    edited July 2016

    I'm actually really glad to hear that it's not uncommon to have little to no pain; I'd got myself all psyched up to be miserable for weeks at a time that it seemed...kind of wrong that I wasn't?
    I know that doesn't make much sense, but I almost feel like I've done something a bit wrong in the healing process by it not being painful.


    I think I will be sure to take something prior to my drain removal appointment, just to have swelling and whatnot at a minimum, but it's good to hear that it doesn't appear to be painful to have them pulled out.

  • ksusan
    ksusan Member Posts: 4,505
    edited July 2016

    I had very little pain (my BS predicted that I wouldn't). My pain was from the binder hitting my underarm, and itching from the drains (which were removed without pain). I took only Lorazepam (for muscle twitching) after surgery. I had aching when I leaned forward without putting pressure on my chest for several weeks.

  • Hopefloatsinyyc
    Hopefloatsinyyc Member Posts: 211
    edited July 2016

    I think many of the pains people deal with aren't from the BMX itself, but from the reconstruction. I had little pain even with immediate implant reconstruction, but the tightness was definitely there and required Advil for the first week here and there. Happy to hear you didn't experience any pain! My PS said its patients like me he most worries about- since pain's purpose it to protect... And since I had such limited pain, he was worried I would do too much or cause internal injury without knowing.... So make sure you not overdo it!

  • ravzari
    ravzari Member Posts: 277
    edited July 2016

    I'm being very, very careful not to overextend myself; even if it isn't painful, I don't want to accidentally pull any stitching loose or anything like that.

    I'm sure I'll be asking people to lift things or reach things for me for several weeks just to be safe.

    Edit to add, I'm endlessly happy that my employer is super flexible and is letting me work from home for as long as I need to; I took this week off and will at least be working from home for the week after that. I'm hoping to be back at work after 7/15 but it'll depend on how up to it I feel and how 'but will this be overdoing it' I'm feeling as well.

  • ksusan
    ksusan Member Posts: 4,505
    edited July 2016

    I did have tightness, but it abated.

  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited July 2016

    I didn't have any pain either. In fact, the night of the surgery I told my surgeon that and he said it's just like a big paper cut really. There are no bones, organs or muscles involved with a BMX so really it's just the stitches you have to deal with. 10 days after surgery the zapping started as nerves began to heal and it was more annoying than painful.

    Gals who get reconstruction have a lot of pain as there is more digging around and muscles are moved.

    I went back to my full-time job in sales 2 weeks after surgery the day my final drain came out.

  • bride
    bride Member Posts: 382
    edited July 2016

    I took one narcotic painkiller for the two plus hour drive home. I had a MX with an ALND. Very little pain. OTOH, I had some significant dental work done and used painkillers for three weeks.

    Guess it is one of those "it just depends" things.

    brid

  • Annafighter
    Annafighter Member Posts: 1
    edited July 2016

    I did a mastectomy recently on the right. I am quite amazed that I have had no pain. I had stopped taking my painkillers because I was experiencing nauseousness as I felt they were causing the nauseousness. However, I have resumed taking one of the painkillers late at nights just before bed. I decided to do this because, not only are the tablets painkillers but they also help against inflammation after surgery. I also have read that eating pineapple helps against inflammation. I am again quite amazed that there is no pain.

  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited July 2016

    Hi Annafighter, and welcome! We're sorry for the reason you're here, but glad you found us and decided to post about your no-pain experience too, great!!

    Wishing you all a quick and nice recovery!

    The Mods

  • Kawigirl1260
    Kawigirl1260 Member Posts: 60
    edited July 2016

    I had rmx, no recon, on June 2 and had very little pain. Took the Rx for about 2 days, then switched to Tylenol. What was most irritating was the drain tube just under my skin, then the compression bra rubbing me under my arm. I'm back to riding my motorcycle and taking hikes with my DH. I had good range of motion pretty soon after the surgery and am doing quite well with my stretching and strength exercises. I just get tired a bit more easily these days.

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