6 months after Mastectomy

Hello, I had my mastectomy June 22 plus lymph node removal and finished 3 weeks radiotherapy Sept 22. I am slowly improving but still have pain in my arm, armpit & chest.

It's probably normal but if you are worried speak with your Team at the hospital 

Best wishes x 

Thanks kitty hope you feel better soon

I’ve been talking about this with some other ladies who’ve had the same treatment as you have had , I’ve had the same 

we all experience the same symptoms, pain , tightness , stinging bruised feeling and partial numbness. My nurse said it was probably due to the RT and everything healing and quite common 

I had my mastectomy in November 2022 and RT in January 2023

However if you’re still concerned ask to have it checked out , don’t let yourself sit and worry 

Hugs xx

Hi Kitty1

Thank you for your reply, I have asked a couple of times and they did say that its part of the healing process but you just wonder why it seems worse. Also I have a dry cough sometimes,  they say this is probably from the radiation too. I have an oncology telephone appointment tomorrow so will check again. 

Much love xx

Thank you Dollydimple xx

It seems to take a long while & for me comes in burst of pains & then progress.

I'm told its a combo of damage from surgery & scaring from radiotherapy

Hope you call goes well x

Hi Jenflower

Have things improved for you?. I’m  3 1/2 months post surgery and 1 1/12 months after finishing radiotherapy and feel like you did in your first post. Very tight under arm and across the scar, sore underarm and sometimes very difficult to wear a bra. My scar is still very red. ( I didn’t really get any radiotherapy side effects until last week like the redness and fatigue). I’m really struggling now with just how tight this feels. It’s frustrating because I’ve been doing all the exercises. I’ve seen the physio twice but she doesn’t wast to do any massage as the redness looks quite ‘angry’. She’s given me a few extra exercises but still no relief. I’m planning to go on a cruise at the end of this month - I thought I’d be ok by now when we booked it - I’m now worried I won’t be able to enjoy it.

Hi BethS,

I have been having trouble with this site as in not receiving messages for a couple of months so not sure if your message is a really old one or 5 days ago? However, I still have tightness and what feels like pressure on my chest when I wake up but after being up and moving it does ease a bit. 

I myself at the moment are just thinking, well maybe this is the new me for a bit, I have spoken over the phone to others, moving on group its called, and the way it sounds is we could always be more restricted with our arm movements, just part of our journey I guess. 

Still I hope you still enjoy your cruise. Enjoy just being away somewhere different and being alive xxx

Thanks for your reply. It was only 5 days ago I posted. I was hoping you’d say “all better now”.

I was told by the oncologist that the thinner you are the more likely to have the tightness due to there being less excess tissue under the breast. Not sure how true this is. I don’t mind a little tightness but at the moment it’s still very tight. Seems to get tighter as the day goes on. I thought it was due to swelling - it does feel a little swollen under the arm still. I’ll keep doing those exercises in the hope I will get a bit less tight as time goes on.