After Mastectomy - 2 weeks later - internal scar tissue

Mimi- internal healing can take several months. Remember you have a ton of internal stitches. SOunds like you're only 2 weeks out. I was told not to lift my arms above my shoulders at all. I can't remember how long it took for me to get my arms straight up again, but I remember WEEKS of walking my fingertips up the wall.

You'll have scar tissue from the drain that takes time to resolve. After ALND, I never got feeling back in my under arm - but some people do.

These are questions you need to address with the doc. When do you see the surgeon again? Or can you send an electronic message or call?

J,

I had mastectomy and developed a big hematoma under my left arm (cancer side). It was an uncomfortable picnic for a while. Very tender and swollen and it dissipated sloooowly. The drain on that same side stayed in longer than the opposite. Pulling it out was quite a tug and that created a new inventory of hurt and tender to heal.

And then funnily enough, the dear doctor who placed my port roughed me up on the opposite side of hematoma side.

Things went back and forth for a while but settle down eventually. But even to this day there is tightness. I do have what I think is full mobility. There are limitations though at times.

Where they removed three lymph nodes, the cancer side, felt so red and raw and angry. But the skin was intact. That also dissipated over time. I had my surgery mid-October and by the end of January I was swimming in the pool a little bit.

There are so many folks on this site that were up and running much much quicker than myself.

Lots of peace,

A

Mimi I too had a hematoma on my cancer side. Thankfully mine resolved without the additional surgery, but it sure complicated the healing process. I wound up with a significant amount of scar tissue, cording, you name it. I also had a very angry armpit where the lymph nodes were removed. My PS gave me a shot of cortisone in there to assist the healing process.

I needed physical therapy to release my shoulder so I could get my arm overhead again. It was several months of exercise and massage before I had free movement. The healing process can be slow for sure. Speak up about any issue you are having with your doctors and massage therapist because the sooner you work on these scar tissue problems, the easier they are to reverse.

Mimi - yes, I mean I never regained feeling - but then I was told I probably would not. It's really weird applying deodorant when you have no feeling. Others may have different results. Since you are only TWO weeks out, I do urge patience.

Minus, I feel the same way about deodorant, and don't get me started on how weird it is to look in the mirror to shave under my arms. Since I have to do one that way on the cancer side, I just do the other one that way too, although I do have feeling on my non-cancer, non-lymph node side.

MIMI, for me, the feeling that I do have came back so gradually that I didn't really notice until it was somewhat significant. I had a re-excision surgery to address a close margin and additional skin was taken right near my underarm. That caused some range of motion issues. Thanks to the women on this board, I pushed for PT. It helped immensely. Please be patient though and give yourself time to heal. Your body has been through a lot.

Mimi, I'll second MinusTwo's advice. I remember reading somewhere that it takes 6 weeks for skin that's been cut and stitched back together to regain 90% of the original strength of the skin. This is why anyone who has any major chest or abdominal surgery is told to restrict physical activity for 6 weeks. Our chests gets pulled and pushed by any movements we make with our arms and even are impacted when we sharply turn our heads. After a couple of weeks, I know I felt good enough to do anything, but my plastic surgeon kept reminding me of the 6 week restrictions.

It is important to exercise our shoulders and arms to regain range of motion, but at least for the first 6 weeks after surgery we should only do exercises given to us by our breast surgeons or plastic surgeons, or a physiotherapist recommended by one of these doctors, someone who is extremely knowledgable about restrictions after mastectomy surgery. What you want to do is promote healing and mobility, not cause harm that sets back your recovery. So do the approved exercises only, carefully!