Ow..lumpectomy

Make sure you keep the pain relief up, paracetamol every 4 hours, ibuprofen every 4 hours as you say do you can take the meds every two hours, I write down the time I took my medication so that I don’t loose track. I would see if you can manage the codeine if that’s what they gave you? It is far more effective as a pain killer. Re dressings, I have had a mastectomy with diep but was told not to get the area wet at all, just flannel wash with rest of my body for first few days. Did they not offer any guidance on that? It does hurt, you’re not a wimp, big hugs x

They probably did gave guidance but I've forgotten everything now.   I can  phone up my breast care nurse on Monday if I still feel like this.   My lowest day yet in this journey I think.

Er on the side of caution and don’t wash! It won’t kill you x I’m sorry you’re having a crap day xx

I had a Lumpectomy and removal of two nodes back in September. 

I refused morphine and controlled mine with paracetamol and Tramadol,which I am on for smother reason. 

I remember that pain well and still get it from time to time even now. 

Please don't get the dressings wet I used a wet flannel to wash the rest of my body until I could take my first proper shower, and what a blessing that was,especially being able to wash my hair properly.

 I was advised not to use sports bra's as they tend to be quite firm. I bought an after surgery bra which are soft. I now have 3 and the best being from M&S. Just order your normal size bra. At night I wear a vest top inside out and no bra. This stops the seams from rubbing it's a tip I picked up from someone on this site.

Another thing is look at it, all you'll see at the moment is dressings, I had two one where they removed the lymph nodes and the other where they cut to remove the cancer, don't worry about the size of the dressings, mine were huge and I have a 2/3 inch scar in my arm pit but the dressing was twice as big plus the same size where they removed the cancer.

Oh and when I removed the dressings I did this while having the first shower, mine was about 10 days after my op. 

I was given a booklet called Your Operation and Recovery. It's from breast cancer care you can ring them on 08088006000 or on line at breast cancer care.org.com  the hospital I'm under gave it to me. Plus there is always the macmillan help line. 

You will get through this and no your not a wimp just someone who is going through the unknown like the rest of us.

I washed with a flannel and then about the fourth day got in the shower, turned the affected side away from the water and held a hand towel over my wounds which still had plastic dressings on them. I actually managed to stop the water getting onto the dressings. Although, I was able to put my shower head down the pole so it was not flowing over my upper body too much. If I thought I got any water on the wounds I put a low heat hairdryer over them. I kept taking pain relief every 4 hours, and found the lymph node wound hurt the most. Also, had such weird pains I had never experienced before! I did find that the exercises helped after a while. Maybe get a post surgery bra. I found a bra at Sainsburys called smooth scoop neck bra and I now have quite a few. I didn't look at myself for a long time and even now my treatment is finished I tend not to look too much. We're all different and you could just take it step by step at the speed you're comfortable with. I'm sure if you have any worries your BCNs can help or post on here and others will give their experiences for you. As for being a wimp, join the gang - it's normal! X

Thanks every one...I'll keep it dry .    Yes pains unusual and I agree under arm worse even than boob.    

My diagnosis, lump size and op exactly same as yours. I left it for 7 days before showering, used flannel to wash. Wounds look amazing once everything's removed. Don't be afraid. Weight of my boob/gravity seemed to make things worse. M&S post op bra, front fastening was best for me. I am 15 days post op now, exercises hurt at first, but do get easier. Not in too much pain now. Sleeping better too. I am HER2+,19mm lump and sentinel nodes removed. Heard on Thursday margins and nodes are clear, so really positive. Frustrated that still have to have chemo, radiotherapy and Herceptin but that's how it is. We CAN do this, keep on, keeping on 

Hi. Click my name as there a lot in my tale. I have 2 scars one from sentinel nodes removed and the other the lump - internal stitches and glued, then steri strips on top. Covered with waterproof dressing.  On top of this I had a massive pressure wad which I was allowed to remove 72 hours after. That's when I had a shower.  Kept my back to shower, didn't soak boob but did have to lie down afterwards as I got very dizzy. Felt much better as I could wash hair too. My sister helped me dry it as holding a hairdryer was hard.  Was told I could remove the waterproof dressings after a few days but think I left them on for a week and the steri strips stay on until they fall off but they are industrial strength NHS stick so kept having to trim the ends. The scar where the nodes were removed smarts and stings even now (I had surgery in June).  I'm pretty ok with pain and regularly take painkillers but for me, I'm just fed up with feeling off and tired.

You're not being a wimp. Surgery is classed as major surgery and everyone is different. I know I have been lucky and I read tales of people who have had it much worse than me but its not good mindset to compare yourselves to others. Dont be afraid to look at it. Mine looked quite neat and the have been moisturised and I've had radiotherapy so the scars are quite pale now. Remember how thye look now is not how they will look in a few months down the line.

Keep going... take it one day at a time x

I had the same surgery as you on 27 Jan and I had my first shower on Friday just gone. My surgeon didn't put any dressings or steri strips on my wounds just stitched inside and glued on the outside. Before I could shower I was just using a flannel to have an all over body wash.

I seem to be in more pain under my arm than on the breast and i worked out yesterday that some of that pain is caused by my bra not being supportive enough so I adjusted the straps to take some more boob weight and its relieved it somewhat. 

I found that the time post surgery has been more testing emotionally than pre-surgery but what we've been through and are still going through is tough and traumatic. We've got this, we're not being wimps -  we're just reacting normally to a tricky time in our lives. xx