Forum Discussion
Swelling - how much and how long?
Hi. I was diagnosed with stage 2B breast cancer in July 2018 when I was 40. I have completed 6 months of chemotherapy and 5 weeks of radiotherapy and 2 weeks ago today, I had a bilateral mastectomy ...
Hi @Chev, two weeks is still very early days and as @kmakm said, it can be a good six months or so before your new breasts are settled into place and all the fluid and swelling that happens with the surgery has gone. As you've also still got a drain in that does indicate that there is still quite a bit of fluid to get rid of.
After all we've been through having reconstruction can add a level of extra anxiety about whether we've done the right thing, how will the new breast/s look etc and I know I was second guessing myself quite a bit in the first few weeks. I'm now 5yrs on from my DIEP recon and am happy with how things turned out, although there were a couple of revision surgeries that followed the initial one and I also opted for nipple reconstruction down the track. Hang in there, hopefully you'll feel more confident with your new look in the coming weeks.
Feel free to seek more support via the choosing breast reconstruction group (which you are now a member of :)) Jane xx
After all we've been through having reconstruction can add a level of extra anxiety about whether we've done the right thing, how will the new breast/s look etc and I know I was second guessing myself quite a bit in the first few weeks. I'm now 5yrs on from my DIEP recon and am happy with how things turned out, although there were a couple of revision surgeries that followed the initial one and I also opted for nipple reconstruction down the track. Hang in there, hopefully you'll feel more confident with your new look in the coming weeks.
Feel free to seek more support via the choosing breast reconstruction group (which you are now a member of :)) Jane xx