OMG

Hi Kerry, I too am a nurse, so understand what it is like from that side of the fence. One month before my diagnosis, I enquired about a job at the SAN in their oncology suite. I didn't have the oncology experience to for the job, but little did I know, that I would gain this experience first hand in a month or two. After chemo, I realised that this would be a great place to work. The nurses were so great and very compassionate. One day I might venture into this area, but will need to do study in this field first. Please don't worry too much about the surgery, as it isn't as bad as you might imagine. What type of reconstruction are you having with your mastectomy? Tonya is correct re the lymph node removal being worse than the mastectomy. It does take awhile to get full movement back, but the physios are great and it does come back. The mastectomy is fairly superficial as opposed to say, abdominal surgery. When I had reconstruction, I had tissue expanders put in at the time of my second mastectomy. ( called delayed and immediate reconstruction ). This was only slightly worse than the straight mastectomy, but really only involved a bit of extra tightness of the chest muscles, as the expander was also inflated at the same time with 200mls of normal saline to begin the stretch. There is adequate pain relief, and I was on panadeine by about day 2 to 3. After 3 weeks, I would go weekly to the plastic surgeon and he would add another 100mls painlessly. There would be a slight sensation of fullness, but this would pass in a day or two. As far as driving, you should be good in 3 or so weeks. Everyone is different, and your surgeon will tell you when you can drive again. All the best for Monday, and we will be thinking of you. Love Chris xx