As of today, it's been 18 days since the surgery.
My surgeon must be brilliant, because my scar is really pretty good. It's red of course but pretty smooth and will settle down as scars do. Not just the scar is red, but the area above and below the scar is red, probably caused by the steristrips. There is swelling (more on that later) and it's numb. So it certainly doesn't hurt, it just feels odd. There isn't a moment when I don't know I've got an incision. I wonder how long it will take for that feeling to go away.
Finding a sleeping position was awkward at first. I had to basically sleep flat on my back, because I had incisions in both breasts and a drain coming out of my right breast. On top of spending most of the day flat on my back, feeling a bit dopey from the anaesthetic, I didn't feel like sleeping at night on my back. My husband put lots of pillows under my knees, which helped. On the third night though, I was able to at least turn a bit onto my left side - it didn't really hurt on that side although it pulled on the right, so I had to be careful. But at least I could move a bit!
Dealing with the drain I found yucky. I don't deal well with blood so emptying out my drain was distasteful.
The instructions for the drain are that when it slows down to a certain level, it gets removed. This happened 5 days after my surgery. My flow had not been large and on day 4 and 5, it was slow. The flow was always red, it never turned any other colour. I was apprehensive that this was too soon to get the drain out, but the nurse seemed to think nothing of it.
It was a relief to get the drain removed. It is a bit awkward to deal with, awkward to sleep with and I hadn't realized how long it was! I guess it works kind of like a weeping tile around the house that collects water and gathers up fluid along the incision site. But getting it out meant I could now turn a bit onto my right side when I lay down, so that helped with my sleeping.
For the first few days, for washing myself, my inventive husband found an old shelf from a bookcase and we were able to put it over the sides of the bathtub to create a seat. We had a wand gizmo attachment that allowed me to at least sort of spot wash myself, which felt great. I was leery of getting my incision wet, still had the drain in and felt a bit wobbly so didn't want to get in and out of the tub.
After the drain was out, I got into the shower and was just careful and it too felt great.
They had dressed the incision with steristrips, and I had internal stitches, so I didn't have staples and didn't need to worry about getting stitches out. As I continued my showers, I deliberately got my steristrips wet in order to loosen them up. They were starting to pull on my skin, and 10 days after surgery, I pulled them all off. That did not hurt a bit - I think the showers helped with that a lot.
I had gone to a women's cancer supply store in town before my surgery, and it was fabulous - I am glad to name them! It's Compassionate Beauty. They have an amazing store. Not only do they have products for cancer patients - underwear, bras, swimsuits, hats, and more - they also have services. There are separate rooms for various functions - one where you can get your head shaved and wig work done, one for getting makeup tips and pedicures and manicures done (special and careful procedures must be followed so the practitioners are specially trained), one for the tattooist, one for the the massage therapist (I got a lymphatic massage, which was terrific - more about that later) and one for getting prosthesis fitted. All of the people who work there are specially certified in their fields, are caring and super helpful. The store itself is nicely set up and decorated and I felt comfortable from the first time I walked in.
My first purchase from them was a camisole style bra/top. See it here. I got the one on the right. Camisole It was to be worn under clothes, zipped up the front, had a padded insert (falsie) and pocket for it and best of all, a Velcro attached pocket for the drain! It is made of Lycra so is stretchy and held everything in. It is very comfortable. I am still using it. I don't need the drain pocket of course now. And I can't get a real prosthesis until my swelling goes away and I am all healed - which I guess will take a month or so. So in the meantime, this camisole is great. It's not cheap, and is not covered by my insurance plan, but I'm glad I got it. You can order products through their website or just phone them - they will help you out with no problem, I'm sure.
I found out that having the pocket for the falsie was a good thing. One day, I wore just one of my old "normal" bras and stuck the falsie into the right side. OK. The problem arises when you go about your day and the falsie kind of moves around. At one point, I looked down and saw that the falsie had moved towards the centre of my chest, so that looked really weird. Not a great solution for me! Falsie pockets are good.
Another day, when getting dressed, I couldn't find either of my two interim falsies. I had taken them out during the day and later found them in different places in the house. I had almost texted my husband with a message of "boob alert - have you seen my falsies?", but found them before I needed to do that. Perhaps finding random falsies around the house was going to be the new norm.
Swelling. Well, I was not prepared for this at all. Right after the surgery, I had the red angry incision but I had no swelling. As I mentioned, the drain came out after 5 days and then I started swelling. And it was really uncomfortable. Not painful but uncomfortable. And I got concerned. Had I gotten the drain out too soon? How swollen was it going to get? It felt like my incision was getting really stretched in the process. the swelling was above and below my incision, and extended under the armpit. I called the nurse navigator a couple of times and even dropped into the clinic (who were fabulous and saw me even without an appointment) but got told this was normal, don't be worried and it would go away in time - perhaps a month, perhaps six months! I also found out that it is normal for the swelling to start about 10 days after surgery. How come I hadn't read about this? One person described it as feeling like you have a tennis ball under your arm, which was a great description.
The swelling was bugging me though. It was uncomfortable and made wearing my camisole impossible because it chaffed too much under the arm. This meant I had to wear an old undershirt which I had to cut to open up the armhole even more. And it's not a terrific solution. Wearing an undershirt means that one breast is loose and hanging while the mastectomy side is flat, so it does look weird. I could do that around the house but was glad the weather was cool enough that I had to wear a jacket when I went out. Even wearing any tops at all was uncomfortable because they irritated at the armhole. And I didn't get it. I hadn't even had any lymph nodes removed - I had just had the sentinel node biopsy. Why were the lymph nodes seemingly not working well? I didn't have any of the "danger" signs that I'd been warned about - this was not blood that was pooling. I was told to watch for blotchiness, redness, fever and the swelling getting worse. None of those things happened - and the swelling wasn't in one particular spot - it was general in the area of the incision. So there wasn't anything of immediate concern.
Getting the answer of "just live with it" never suits me. So I did two things last week - I went for acupuncture one day and then back to Compassionate Beauty for a lymphatic massage. I always like acupuncture and feel it is very helpful. The massage was really interesting and I believe very helpful too.
Lymphatic drain massage. The practitioner had me lie face up, natch. What she does is to massage the lymph nodes, first in the shoulder area and neck, then in the chest area. It is a very gentle massage, and very relaxing. She also massaged the incision site to make sure that the scar was not sticking to the underlying tissues. The whole procedure felt terrific. I was most relaxed when it was over.
What I found out was that the radiation done 15 years ago had probably affected and damaged my lymph nodes - which might explain why I was having this swelling problem. The lymph glands were having some trouble "re-routing" this time around and so the massage would help to create new pathways in my body. Since I am visual, I saw it as a river that encounters a blockage. It backs up for a bit and then has to find another route to move forward. That's how I understand this lymph situation.
My swelling is down a bit - so that I am more comfortable. Was it the acupuncture? The massage? A combination? I don't know. I just know that I will get both procedures again next week to take care of myself. These are both things that I have to pay for and will not get reimbursed for, so I'm glad we can afford it.
I'm also putting Vitamin E oil on my incision. I'd read somewhere that it was helpful in hastening the healing and lessening the redness and lumpiness of the scar. Just sticking a pin in a gel cap of Vitamin E and squishing the contents onto my finger and smearing it around. Don't know if it will help, but at least it feels like I'm doing something. Figure it can't hurt and it's not expensive.
One of the things I had been told in the recovery room, but forgot about (go figure!) was to take deep breaths to clear my lungs. I only remembered this about 4 days later and was glad I did. My lungs almost had a kind of minor congestion in them so breathing deeply and coughing cleared them out in about another 4 days. Even now, I have to remind myself to take deep breaths a couple of times a day. I wish I had been reminded of that when I got discharged, when I had more chance of remembering it! Or if that piece of advice had been included in literature I'd been given.
In terms of getting out and about, I kept a hair appointment 4 days after my surgery. My husband drove me and picked me up, since I was still a bit shaky and still had my drain in. But it felt so good! To get my hair washed and cut and looking good. As soon as I saw my hairdresser, I said that keeping the appointment was in large part psychological. I simply wanted to keep the appointment to show that I was going to resume my life. And I was really glad I did.
I also drove myself to the doctor's office the next day (so 5 days after the surgery) to get the drain out, and I learned from that, that driving was not yet a good idea. I was still a bit woozy and driving with a drain was definitely not a good idea. If I had needed to make a sudden movement/motion while driving, even though I was wearing the camisole, with the drain fairly well secured, it would have been a bit tricky. Fortunately, the office wasn't too far away and all was fine.
But the next day (6 days after the surgery), I got a friend to drive me for my appointment with the clinic psychologist and another to drive me home. Getting friends to drive was a good idea.
The next day - one week after surgery - I was able to drive myself around, and I was glad.
Thirteen days after surgery, I went to the yoga class that I had signed up for previously. It is a very gentle, restorative yoga and I had taken a class with the instructor before and found her fabulous. So I told her about my surgery before the class, and she checked on me constantly through the class to ensure I was fine - and I was. It felt good to move around and be part of a "normal" class.
Another consistent piece of advice is to "take it slow and easy". And I have found that to be true! For the first week, I basically stayed at home and watched videos. I wasn't up to doing anything else and found I was too tired to even read. Week two, I could really go out to do errands only once a day. More than that (and I tried it one day) and I whacked myself out - I was really tired. For that first week too, I had a nap or at least a lie-down every afternoon. I knew I was making progress when I didn't have to have a nap! But I still have a "down" period every afternoon when I really need to keep quiet and just read.
Talking on the phone is also tiring. Again, week one I just e-mailed my friends to give them my update, but I found it too tiring to talk either on the phone or in person. I still (3 weeks later) limit my phone conversations and in-person chats to one hour. And only one of them a day! We certainly don't plan on doing anything in the evenings - I am just too bagged.
I know that I need to get out and exercise. What's stopping me? Well, I find I am protective of the incision. I have to watch that I don't hunch over and am constantly having to square my shoulders and straighten my back. I seem to be afraid that I will injure my incision somehow, which is pretty unrealistic. I also find that my breathing is really shallow, as I mentioned above. I had to remind myself to take deep breaths numerous times a day. And I know that exercising will probably give me more energy. So I don't exercise and I am lacking energy - it gets to be a bit of a vicious cycle, doesn't it? I just have to get off my butt and do something. But I'm going to yoga once a week, so that's a start, I guess.
My surgeon must be brilliant, because my scar is really pretty good. It's red of course but pretty smooth and will settle down as scars do. Not just the scar is red, but the area above and below the scar is red, probably caused by the steristrips. There is swelling (more on that later) and it's numb. So it certainly doesn't hurt, it just feels odd. There isn't a moment when I don't know I've got an incision. I wonder how long it will take for that feeling to go away.
Finding a sleeping position was awkward at first. I had to basically sleep flat on my back, because I had incisions in both breasts and a drain coming out of my right breast. On top of spending most of the day flat on my back, feeling a bit dopey from the anaesthetic, I didn't feel like sleeping at night on my back. My husband put lots of pillows under my knees, which helped. On the third night though, I was able to at least turn a bit onto my left side - it didn't really hurt on that side although it pulled on the right, so I had to be careful. But at least I could move a bit!
Dealing with the drain I found yucky. I don't deal well with blood so emptying out my drain was distasteful.
The instructions for the drain are that when it slows down to a certain level, it gets removed. This happened 5 days after my surgery. My flow had not been large and on day 4 and 5, it was slow. The flow was always red, it never turned any other colour. I was apprehensive that this was too soon to get the drain out, but the nurse seemed to think nothing of it.
It was a relief to get the drain removed. It is a bit awkward to deal with, awkward to sleep with and I hadn't realized how long it was! I guess it works kind of like a weeping tile around the house that collects water and gathers up fluid along the incision site. But getting it out meant I could now turn a bit onto my right side when I lay down, so that helped with my sleeping.
For the first few days, for washing myself, my inventive husband found an old shelf from a bookcase and we were able to put it over the sides of the bathtub to create a seat. We had a wand gizmo attachment that allowed me to at least sort of spot wash myself, which felt great. I was leery of getting my incision wet, still had the drain in and felt a bit wobbly so didn't want to get in and out of the tub.
After the drain was out, I got into the shower and was just careful and it too felt great.
They had dressed the incision with steristrips, and I had internal stitches, so I didn't have staples and didn't need to worry about getting stitches out. As I continued my showers, I deliberately got my steristrips wet in order to loosen them up. They were starting to pull on my skin, and 10 days after surgery, I pulled them all off. That did not hurt a bit - I think the showers helped with that a lot.
I had gone to a women's cancer supply store in town before my surgery, and it was fabulous - I am glad to name them! It's Compassionate Beauty. They have an amazing store. Not only do they have products for cancer patients - underwear, bras, swimsuits, hats, and more - they also have services. There are separate rooms for various functions - one where you can get your head shaved and wig work done, one for getting makeup tips and pedicures and manicures done (special and careful procedures must be followed so the practitioners are specially trained), one for the tattooist, one for the the massage therapist (I got a lymphatic massage, which was terrific - more about that later) and one for getting prosthesis fitted. All of the people who work there are specially certified in their fields, are caring and super helpful. The store itself is nicely set up and decorated and I felt comfortable from the first time I walked in.
My first purchase from them was a camisole style bra/top. See it here. I got the one on the right. Camisole It was to be worn under clothes, zipped up the front, had a padded insert (falsie) and pocket for it and best of all, a Velcro attached pocket for the drain! It is made of Lycra so is stretchy and held everything in. It is very comfortable. I am still using it. I don't need the drain pocket of course now. And I can't get a real prosthesis until my swelling goes away and I am all healed - which I guess will take a month or so. So in the meantime, this camisole is great. It's not cheap, and is not covered by my insurance plan, but I'm glad I got it. You can order products through their website or just phone them - they will help you out with no problem, I'm sure.
I found out that having the pocket for the falsie was a good thing. One day, I wore just one of my old "normal" bras and stuck the falsie into the right side. OK. The problem arises when you go about your day and the falsie kind of moves around. At one point, I looked down and saw that the falsie had moved towards the centre of my chest, so that looked really weird. Not a great solution for me! Falsie pockets are good.
Another day, when getting dressed, I couldn't find either of my two interim falsies. I had taken them out during the day and later found them in different places in the house. I had almost texted my husband with a message of "boob alert - have you seen my falsies?", but found them before I needed to do that. Perhaps finding random falsies around the house was going to be the new norm.
Swelling. Well, I was not prepared for this at all. Right after the surgery, I had the red angry incision but I had no swelling. As I mentioned, the drain came out after 5 days and then I started swelling. And it was really uncomfortable. Not painful but uncomfortable. And I got concerned. Had I gotten the drain out too soon? How swollen was it going to get? It felt like my incision was getting really stretched in the process. the swelling was above and below my incision, and extended under the armpit. I called the nurse navigator a couple of times and even dropped into the clinic (who were fabulous and saw me even without an appointment) but got told this was normal, don't be worried and it would go away in time - perhaps a month, perhaps six months! I also found out that it is normal for the swelling to start about 10 days after surgery. How come I hadn't read about this? One person described it as feeling like you have a tennis ball under your arm, which was a great description.
The swelling was bugging me though. It was uncomfortable and made wearing my camisole impossible because it chaffed too much under the arm. This meant I had to wear an old undershirt which I had to cut to open up the armhole even more. And it's not a terrific solution. Wearing an undershirt means that one breast is loose and hanging while the mastectomy side is flat, so it does look weird. I could do that around the house but was glad the weather was cool enough that I had to wear a jacket when I went out. Even wearing any tops at all was uncomfortable because they irritated at the armhole. And I didn't get it. I hadn't even had any lymph nodes removed - I had just had the sentinel node biopsy. Why were the lymph nodes seemingly not working well? I didn't have any of the "danger" signs that I'd been warned about - this was not blood that was pooling. I was told to watch for blotchiness, redness, fever and the swelling getting worse. None of those things happened - and the swelling wasn't in one particular spot - it was general in the area of the incision. So there wasn't anything of immediate concern.
Getting the answer of "just live with it" never suits me. So I did two things last week - I went for acupuncture one day and then back to Compassionate Beauty for a lymphatic massage. I always like acupuncture and feel it is very helpful. The massage was really interesting and I believe very helpful too.
Lymphatic drain massage. The practitioner had me lie face up, natch. What she does is to massage the lymph nodes, first in the shoulder area and neck, then in the chest area. It is a very gentle massage, and very relaxing. She also massaged the incision site to make sure that the scar was not sticking to the underlying tissues. The whole procedure felt terrific. I was most relaxed when it was over.
What I found out was that the radiation done 15 years ago had probably affected and damaged my lymph nodes - which might explain why I was having this swelling problem. The lymph glands were having some trouble "re-routing" this time around and so the massage would help to create new pathways in my body. Since I am visual, I saw it as a river that encounters a blockage. It backs up for a bit and then has to find another route to move forward. That's how I understand this lymph situation.
My swelling is down a bit - so that I am more comfortable. Was it the acupuncture? The massage? A combination? I don't know. I just know that I will get both procedures again next week to take care of myself. These are both things that I have to pay for and will not get reimbursed for, so I'm glad we can afford it.
I'm also putting Vitamin E oil on my incision. I'd read somewhere that it was helpful in hastening the healing and lessening the redness and lumpiness of the scar. Just sticking a pin in a gel cap of Vitamin E and squishing the contents onto my finger and smearing it around. Don't know if it will help, but at least it feels like I'm doing something. Figure it can't hurt and it's not expensive.
One of the things I had been told in the recovery room, but forgot about (go figure!) was to take deep breaths to clear my lungs. I only remembered this about 4 days later and was glad I did. My lungs almost had a kind of minor congestion in them so breathing deeply and coughing cleared them out in about another 4 days. Even now, I have to remind myself to take deep breaths a couple of times a day. I wish I had been reminded of that when I got discharged, when I had more chance of remembering it! Or if that piece of advice had been included in literature I'd been given.
In terms of getting out and about, I kept a hair appointment 4 days after my surgery. My husband drove me and picked me up, since I was still a bit shaky and still had my drain in. But it felt so good! To get my hair washed and cut and looking good. As soon as I saw my hairdresser, I said that keeping the appointment was in large part psychological. I simply wanted to keep the appointment to show that I was going to resume my life. And I was really glad I did.
I also drove myself to the doctor's office the next day (so 5 days after the surgery) to get the drain out, and I learned from that, that driving was not yet a good idea. I was still a bit woozy and driving with a drain was definitely not a good idea. If I had needed to make a sudden movement/motion while driving, even though I was wearing the camisole, with the drain fairly well secured, it would have been a bit tricky. Fortunately, the office wasn't too far away and all was fine.
But the next day (6 days after the surgery), I got a friend to drive me for my appointment with the clinic psychologist and another to drive me home. Getting friends to drive was a good idea.
The next day - one week after surgery - I was able to drive myself around, and I was glad.
Thirteen days after surgery, I went to the yoga class that I had signed up for previously. It is a very gentle, restorative yoga and I had taken a class with the instructor before and found her fabulous. So I told her about my surgery before the class, and she checked on me constantly through the class to ensure I was fine - and I was. It felt good to move around and be part of a "normal" class.
Another consistent piece of advice is to "take it slow and easy". And I have found that to be true! For the first week, I basically stayed at home and watched videos. I wasn't up to doing anything else and found I was too tired to even read. Week two, I could really go out to do errands only once a day. More than that (and I tried it one day) and I whacked myself out - I was really tired. For that first week too, I had a nap or at least a lie-down every afternoon. I knew I was making progress when I didn't have to have a nap! But I still have a "down" period every afternoon when I really need to keep quiet and just read.
Talking on the phone is also tiring. Again, week one I just e-mailed my friends to give them my update, but I found it too tiring to talk either on the phone or in person. I still (3 weeks later) limit my phone conversations and in-person chats to one hour. And only one of them a day! We certainly don't plan on doing anything in the evenings - I am just too bagged.
I know that I need to get out and exercise. What's stopping me? Well, I find I am protective of the incision. I have to watch that I don't hunch over and am constantly having to square my shoulders and straighten my back. I seem to be afraid that I will injure my incision somehow, which is pretty unrealistic. I also find that my breathing is really shallow, as I mentioned above. I had to remind myself to take deep breaths numerous times a day. And I know that exercising will probably give me more energy. So I don't exercise and I am lacking energy - it gets to be a bit of a vicious cycle, doesn't it? I just have to get off my butt and do something. But I'm going to yoga once a week, so that's a start, I guess.
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