Nerve Pain before and after surgery
Hi everyone! Before I was diagnosed back in April, I'd been experiencing nerve pain and thickening down my left side (cancer side), mainly the arm into my hand but also down my breast, ribs and into a dull ache in my leg. A few weeks after this was when I found my lump and was then diagnosed with cancer. I had a lumpectomy in May and the nerve pain disappeared for 3 months whilst my surgery healed (I had a nasty infection that delayed the healing process) Since its been healed completely and I've been going through chemo, the same nerve issues have come back. My oncologist seems to think it may be mild lymphedema (I only had 3 nodes removed- all clear) and has referred me to see the physio next week but I'm perplexed as this also happened before my diagnosis. It doesn't bother me a huge amount but obviously any ache and pain in that area now panics me a bit although my oncologist doesn't suspect anything suspicious due to clear margins/no node involvement/tumor removed/smashing chemo. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Could it be that my original breast tumor was pinching a nerve and now the scar tissue filling that void is doing the same thing? Stay strong x
Could it be Lymphoedema
Over the past month I’ve had pain on the left rib cage near where I had a lumpectomy with sentinel node biopsy and radiology treatment. There doesn’t appear to be any swelling but it hurts when in inhale but not exhale. It’s probably just muscular but It really hurts when I sneeze. I’ve had a chest X-ray and all clear and they’ve checked my blood in case it was a clot
Lumpectomy: exercise, OT etc.. before surgery ?
I have completed neoadjuvant chemotherapy (July-Dec 2019) and I'm scheduled for a lumpectomy next week and most likely full axilla clearance. There was no advice from my doctor regarding seeing an occupational therapist or physiotherapist prior to surgery. I would like to find out what others have done prior to surgery to improve outcomes and avoid lymphedema, cording etc..
Lymphodema Swelling During Chemo
Hi All i had a simple mastectomy with auxiliary lymph node removal at the end of February and had my first TC chemo on the 26th March. On Wednesday I noticed that the veins on the inside on my wrist weren’t as prominent on the arm that had the nodes removed and so I measured my arms for comparison and they appear to be about the same size. My lymphodema physio says that it may not necessarily be lymphodema as she see patients with swelling like this during treatment. She has given me a sleeve to wear as I willl need one for flying in the future but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this?? Thanks xo
Exercises for patients that have not had a mastectomy or reconstructive surgery
This was the sheet the physio gave me the day after surgery and I kept these up for 6 weeks. BUT I should have kept them up for longer as at about the 9 month mark I noticed this weird "CORDING" as I learned from Dr Google. Since diagnosis of lymphodema I now have to lie down and elevate my arm for 20 mins twice a day - at 90 degrees and then massage the WHOLE AREA of the breast, underarm, side, down to bottom of ribs and wear a sleeve to control the lymphodema. No sleeve on whilst elevating or massaging. Here's the two sheets of exercises for those who would like to do them from the beginning and/or those who would like to perhaps prevent lymphodema or keep it to a minimum. primek This is basically the exercises I had after mastectomy and reconstruction http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/breast-cancer/treatment/surgery/breast-reconstruction/exercises-implants
Starting chemo tomorrow - a couple of questions
Hi all I had a lumpectomy a few weeks ago and three lymph nodes were removed. I have a seroma, which has been drained but needs to be drained again. I also had a major surgery on my nose 2 weeks ago to deal with an infection prior to starting chemo. I start chemotherapy tomorrow. With the 2 surgeries and many tests that have gone on, I'm feeling like a pin-cushion, which I know is only going to get worse with chemo. Yesterday, when I was having bloods taken, the nurse was having trouble taking blood from my left arm and asked to take it from my right (the side where the nodes were removed). I asked her not to but she had so much trouble and hurt me so much that I ended up giving in and she took it from my right arm. When I was having my nose surgery, I had a canular in my left arm and the nurses insisted on testing my blood pressure every 15 minutes from my right arm. My question is, how fastidious should I be about protecting my right arm? The nurses I've mentioned have all said "it's only 3 nodes, you'll be fine" but others have said I shouldn't let anyone touch me with a needle or bp monitor on that side. My other question is: Has anyone experienced problems with seroma while having chemo? I've read other threads that mention chemo being delayed but that didn't come up at all with my oncologist. Would love to get your thoughts, Ladies. Thanks Libby
