Very nervous about Mastectomy surgery

Hi livenlaugh. Your name sounds familiar. I'm usually on the fibro site. Maybe that's where I know you from.

I had my first mastectomy in 2012 and I was sacred to death. So many unknowns at that time. My recovery was not too bad. I took the pain meds as directed and just took it easy. I did use extra pillows in the bed and in the lounge chair. My husband was a big help. I stocked up on lots of stuff to read and my sudoku puzzles. I also stocked up on TV dinners (which we never had before) and a lot of easy to fix food.

Strangely my fibromyalgia wasn't any worse. Maybe because of the pain meds. I did have chemo and a year of Herceptin infusion because I was HER2 positive. This was after a biopsy of the removed breast. I did not know what any of this meant until after surgery when I did lots of computer research.

I am cancer free now. I did have the second mastectomy earlier this year. Not because of cancer but because of symmetry issues. My remaining breast was heavier than the breast form I used on the other side and I was always uneven. Also my shoulder hurt from the bra strap on the remaining breast side. I recovered fine from this surgery too although I had a little more pain from the drains this time but nothing unbearable.

I dealt with the surgeries kind of like I deal with fibro. I tried to keep busy and slowly increased my activity level. I also tried to keep very positive. I had one small cry in the beginning and then just planned on what I was going to do to get well.

Good luck to you. I know it is so difficult just waiting. That was the worse part for me.

Hi Lisa. No my fibro did not get worse. I think the pain meds helped. I had the sentinel nodes taken out too. Thank goodness they were ok.

I know it was not the smartest thing to do but my husband and I went dancing when I still had the staples in my incision! Very carefully of course. So I must have been feeling ok.

The waiting is horrible and all of the unknowns