Hello KatieA, Firstly sorry for your diagnosis but what great news that there was no lymph node involvement. I had a left nipple sparing mastectomy with immediate implant last August. (Stage 1, grade 1 IDC, 3 nodes clear)
i really feel that 2 weeks is overly optimistic. I was still black and blue and every other colour in between for the first 3 weeks. It is painful. The pec muscle is separated from your chest wall for the implant to go under and this takes quite some time to heal. I was wearing the straight jacket surgical bra for the first 6 weeks. I had loads of sick leave so ended up taking 11 weeks off work but I can truly say I wouldn't have been physically comfortable retuning to work under 6 weeks. The other weeks gave me time to fully regain my strength and be ready to mentally face my work routine. Of course we all heal differently and it does depend on the type of work you are doing.
You have already have the discomfort of node removal behind you where I had nodes taken out at the same time as my mastectomy which added to the recovery time.
But the reconstruction was a great success. I'm very happy with the cosmetic result. The scar is under my breast and my surgeon has done a perfect match - other than the light blue node dye marks you would never tell the difference.
You said you were low on sick leave, I wonder whether you have any long service leave you can take. It might also be worth checking if there is income protection within your super that you could access. Wishing you all the best KatieA, the whole process is stressful enough without the extra worry about leave. Take care, Jane xx
