Breast reduction questions

Hi, i had a therapeutic mammoplasty 5 weeks ago with reduction on other side.  I slept on my back, propped up abit with a v shaped pillow for just over 2 weeks. I am healing well, bruising gone, sutures dissolved and I just have abit of swelling on breast where tumour was removed.  I did not have any drains and was in hospital overnight.  Can I ask the size of the area you are having removed, and what have they said about yr lymph nodes.  Best wishes xxxx

A very interesting question about physio. I found that I had a lot of pain in the arm which had 2 ops for breast implant but not at all affecting the arm with the mammoplasty. I found there was no automatic referral, although Breast Cancer Nurses had the ability to refer. Personally I had to really push this hard, as the Physiotherapy Dept does not come under my health authority but seems to be a community organisation which was very slow to act indeed. Muscles and tissue can get very tight and if there is a problem of mobility it is better to get this sorted sooner rather than leaving it, as muscles can seize up. My Physiotherapist is fantastic and manipulated my arm (even though it hurt in some positions) and gave me exercises to do different from standard. So glad I persevered, as radiotherapy has been needlessly uncomfortable and the time taken by the Radiotherapists much longer to get the positioning right.  They also said physiotherapy was necessary for me. The referrals made were urgent, but slow action by Physiotherapy Dept even though they actually had appts free to offer. I asked if there was a Physiotherapy representative on my MDT team but still don't have an answer !

So glad you are healing well Shaz52, my Lymph nodes are clear, thankfully and they are unlikely to have to go into them. I had two previous ops for DCIS and am now also having a mammoplasty  with a reduction on the other breast. I’m a KK cup at the moment and have asked that I be reduced to as small as possible. I have a tiny frame and at a rough estimate they are hoping to reduce my breasts to a E or D cup. Like you, they think I won’t need drains and hopefully only one night in hospital. 

Thanks for the tip about a v shaped pillow, i’ll Have a look on Amazon and see what I can find. 

Oh my! Having to push for physio after your op is hard work, I’m glad you got some help in the end.

knowing it’s not automatic that you get physio really helps, so thank you for that. I’ll talk to my breast nurse ahead of the op as I’m hoping for a big reduction and I’m sure that’s going to have an impact on my body.

I’m fortunate in that I have a good osteopath that I’ve been going to for a long time so will talk to them ahead of the op too to get some advice.

Thank you for taking the time to reply, it’s much appreciated.

Hi, you will be given some exercises to do, and gradually build up on them. So that's what I did, but if I struggled to build up onto the next week's I stayed on the same week as before.  I was a gg cup and now I am a d/e just waiting for last bit of swelling to go down on side I had tumour removed, other side is fine.  I get the tingling pains of the nerves rebuilding but they are fine.  I never took no pain relief but complete rest, and slept on my back, no stretching or reaching or lifting.  Best wishes xxxx