Introduce yourself

Hi Alan

It's great news (relatively speaking of course) that it was caught so early for you - not having to do chemo/radiation etc is a good outcome as the side effects from those have lasted more than the surgery; for example the radiation killed off almost all of my chest hair on the side that was blasted - probably a boon for ladies getting treatment (not that I'd dare suggest they had any to begin with!) but for myself as a fairly hirsute chap it is now my most obvious eye-catching reminder of my treatment - the scar where my nipple used to be doesn't bother me at all really but I'm more keenly aware that walking through the gym change room without my shirt means the large square bare area of my chest will be more likely to draw attention).

I found my energy levels for the week or so after surgery were pretty low - I spent the time on the couch and didn't have much energy for conversation etc.  I wasn't allowed to drive while the bags where in, which meant I had to get my dad to take me to appointments as my wife had just had knee surgery a month prior to my diagnosis and wasn't allowed to drive either.  What a pair we were at the time - both of us couch ridden and unable to drive - and then my wife discovered she was pregnant a couple of weeks post surgery (we're both in our 30s) so that made for more interesting times over the coming months as well :)  We now have a 10month old son.

For the first few weeks after the surgery there are some exercises they give you to do (stretching arms up/forward/back etc) which are to keep the arm and shoulder from getting too tight - you do them a few times a day every day and after the first couple of times I found I was pretty much able to reach to full extension again (if a bit slow and tenderly).  Since then my arm extension has stayed as it was and hasn't created any big issues - there's a slight feeling of the skin being tight near my armpit at full extension but it doesn't stop me from moving my arm to full stretch.

I'd probably guess you would need a month or two before getting into full golf swing but your breast care nurse and surgeon would be able to advise on that through the follow up visits as it will depend on how you go with the stretches and how the surgery site heals up overall - it can take some months for the seroma fluid that builds in the wound site to settle down too but again that will depend on your own body's reaction to the surgery.

Between surgery and chemo I was booked in for a torso CT scan and also a full body bone scan so they could check for presence of any tumours elsewhere as a precaution, which maybe was due to my diagnosis finding some cells in the lymph node - my wife wanted me to push for a full body PET scan too which can be more detailed in its search, but isn't routinely prescribed (I guess for cost vs realistic usefulness reasons).  I didn't worry about that one as I was pretty comfortable with the low risk level for myself so I can't really comment further about whether it's advised.

A couple of things to consider re finances - if you have income protection already set up then check into their handling of trauma situations (ie cancer) as this can involve a one time payment (could be tens of thousands) to help with those situations.  I was unfortunately always forgetting to sort this out so we had to rely on our own finances but we did so - once you get to a certain threshold with medicare then about 90% of your costs get refunded, and your private health cover if you have it should cover the surgery hospital stay (I went in on a Friday and was discharged on the Sunday).

Re my strength post-op - nothing long term has been impacted - my surgeon told me that he didn't remove any pectoral muscle so it was just the breast tissue itself that was removed - assuming this to be the case for yourself, the raw strength should be okay, it's just more keeping your flexibility up and trying to keep the scar tissue from limiting your motion.

I recall the first month or two post surgery it was still a bit tender around the site, and even now there's some numbness and sensation of tenderness in some spots where the nerves were damaged but it doesn't change what I can do - I go to gym a couple of times a week, use the weights and cardio machines and it's the same as before.  I have a bad shoulder on the same side as the surgery which I've had for about 10 years and that causes me more issue than the mastectomy.

I think if you allow yourself to build up slowly in the weeks following surgery with the provided exercises you'll soon see improvement and get back to where you used to be with your arm motion. 

cheers

Chris