Hello -question about auxiliary clearance

The infection definitely wouldn't have been helping the pain. Hopefully on the mend now, and hopefully clear margins this time 😊

Good luck with your follow up appointment, hopefully you're on the mend now with antibiotics👍

Hi everyone 
thank you for your tips and advice, I appreciate them all.  
My arm is starting to feel less sensitive now.  I have just spent the past 4 nights in hospital as my breast had a abscess and I had to go in for it to be cleared up (as well as more of a margin taken from one of the lumps).  I don’t think the infection helped with my pain!  Anyways, I’m on some strong antibiotics and follow up appointments this week.  Thank you 😊 

I had my underarms lasered on advise from a lymphodema physio.

Good news is I seem to only have half the hair follicles in the underarm now. I use and electric shaver when it grows long but because I have a dent under there I have to sort of pull the skin across to get the shaver head over it.
Pain with lymphodema is just something I live with. I doesn't help that its my main writing arm and arthritis in the opposing thumb on the other hand makes some tasks very difficult. Thank goodness for keyboards.

@Olivia_JL2019  Be very cautious about shaving under your arm particularly with numbness as the last thing you want is to provide an opportunity for infection.

Hi Lucy, I had axillary clearance and bilateral mastectomy 4 weeks ago. I have had a lot of pain swelling and have had very limited range of motion in my arm. I got referred to a Lymphoedema specialist, I don’t have lymphadema but have pretty bad cording from my underarm to wrist. The pain has slowly travelled from a burning sensation if the back of my arm got touched. Then a few days later it hurt at my elbow joint and then at my wrist. I still can’t lift my arm high enough to shave under my arm. The Lymphoedema specialist is doing weekly low level laser and massage and I am seeing improvement in range of motion and pain. I have done all of the exercises as directed by the hospital and the specialist has added a few more. It might be worth getting a physio to check if you have some cording also. It took 2 weeks to get my results back, hope you get positive results very soon. Olivia 

Hi Lucy hope you're results were good! I had an axillary clearance 3 weeks ago today, I've had better movement and less stiffness over the last couple of days. I've been doing the exercises given from day 10 as I had a drain in. I also went to a lymphatic physio on monday and that was amazing, I had a lump under my incision and she used a laser to free it up, gave me a massage and so much more knowledge of lymphatic system too. I still have numbness and get the sharp pains but overall these last few days have felt so much better. 
I'm always moving my arm above my head whether just a wave, stretch or exercise my son thinks i've gone crazy!!!! I too wondered when it was going to get better but it has onwards and upwards 😊

I had a couple of sessions of specialist physio for cording which sorted out the pain part - which for me felt like a pulling sensation from armpit to wrist. I am still numb down the back of my upper arm but it's improved a little bit over 11 months.
Definitely get some measurements taken as reference for lymphedema. If you catch it early it's much more likely you'll be able to get on top of it. You can put together a treatment plan via Medicare with your GP which means you get a rebate on a certain number of sessions with your physio.

I like @kezmusc’s ‘flabby feeling’ - I still have a bit of that. But my arm was perfectly strong and mobile almost immediately after and has remained so even though I have lymphoedema. Long term pain or weakness is worth checking out.