advice wanted
Hello,
I am newly diagnosed, I have had two operations the first one removed a lump and 18 lymph nodes of which 4 had cancer. the second one removed some ductal type left and now I have been told ...
Forum Discussion
Hi Julia,
I had a lumpectomy in early December followed by a mastectomy and lower third axillary clearance 3 days before Christmas. Though no lymph nodes were involved, I had an aggressive grade 3 tumour, much larger than the small 4mm lump they were looking for. I also needed to have chemo, which I finished 3 months ago. I was very lucky and only had mild side effects from this. It was no where near as bad as I had imagined.
I now have full movement back in my arm, and only a very small amount of numbness left under my arm. I did attend physio at the hospital, and that helped. Just using my arm helped me to regain my movement, but in the early days it did feel like I had barbed wire wrapped around my shoulder and underarm. I'm doing really well now, and contemplating reconstruction. My hair is finally starting to grow, but I still need to wear a wig or hat as it is very short, and very grey.
I had a hormone positive tumour so will need to be on Tamoxifen for 5 plus years. No obvious side effects from this, though the hot flushes are no fun. I've had these for several years now, so really can't blame the Tamoxifen.
Hope all goes well for you.
Chris