Full node clearance, pain today after bra fitting

TeePee

Hi All
I had a mastectomy and full node clearance on 6 September. Pain hasn't been too bad and movement of arm has been pretty good - until today. I got fitted for the mastectomy compression bra and my arm (and underarm) has been in agony since and I can barely move my arm at all without severe pain. The exercises I was able to do easily yesterday I can barely do now and they hurt a lot!

I don't see my surgeon until Weds, do I keep wearing the bra (the ladies said I need to wear it as it promotes healing and reduces swelling) or ditch it until I see the surgeon? Any other remedies would be great fully received, can I use a heat pack?

yours in pain

TeePee

AllyJay

Hi there @TeePee , not too sure who the ladies are that you mentioned, but I had a bilateral mastectomy with full node clearance on the left and sentinal node on the right. My skin was super sensitive afterwards, felt like my skin had been sandpapered, extending down the underside of the left arm for quite a few weeks. I never wore a bra, and was never instructed to do so, either by my surgeon or my breast care nurse. I was advised to wear a tight fitting sports tee shirt which would give even, gentle pressure all around. I would think that the pressure from this bra which you are wearing over the limited area it compresses, might be causing the pain. A warm, but not hot heat pack will probably be soothing, but I might run that past your breast care nurse or even your GP. Other than that, I found gentle rubbing, not massage as such, with Moo Goo helped to re educate my damaged nerves not to be so super sensitive and also to relax the underlying traumatised tissue.

Sister

I think that I wore that bra once or twice - so uncomfortable.  I don't know who told you that you had to wear it as I certainly wasn't told that.  After surgery, I went mostly braless because of the pain - it felt like my skin was being rubbed raw.  When I did where a bra, it was one of the Kmart Ah Bra knockoffs with the soft form and then later with a knitted knocker (thanks @onemargie).  My GP also gave me the large soft non-adhesive wound dressings plus some of the soft feltlike material that they put under casts - I would line underneath the bra with those.  Actually, I've just remembered that for awhile, I used to use medical tape to stick a strip of that fabric under my arm because even soft loose clothing hurt.  Stroking the area under the arm, particularly under a warm shower helped (or at least made me feel like I was doing something).  I should stress that although the area was a little red, I don't think the skin was ever really damaged - it was all about the nerves, and that takes some time to heal.  I have never regained the feeling in that area - I have numb spots and areas where the signals get scrambled, but the pain I experienced after surgery has long gone.

Afraser

Horror of horrors, I wore the bra post mastectomy (with a pad) as I did before mastectomy. With a wire! It didn't impact directly on my scar, which healed very fast and felt perfectly comfortable. I only changed when I (finally) could move to a prosthesis. There's lots of different advice, all well intended, but in the final analysis, hurting is a pretty good sign it's not working well. Ditching the bra that hurts is unlikely to do any harm, keeping hurting is miserable and dents your confidence. Chat about it when you next see your surgeon. Six years after, I still have some loss of feeling in my underarm, that's not unusual. Best wishes. 

TeePee

@AllyJay Sorry, the 'ladies' referred to the ladies at the Breast Care WA shop.

Thanks so much for your help everyone. I just spoke to the Breast Care nurse and she said to ditch the bra (I stupidly bought another one as I thought I needed to wear it for the next while!)
The bra in question is the post surgery bra from Berlei you get for free from BCNA.

Sister

Yep! Not sure anyone actually likes that one @teepee - for comfort or looks.