Cancer Survivors Network

I have felt exactly the same way. I was told to take ALEVE. My really tough pain ended around 4 weeks time. I did heating pads, but it didn't help me much. I found a lot of comfort in a therapy pillow propped under my arm held tight to my chest. SQUISH was the name of the brand. A squishy pillow with little beads inside. It was great to mold to the area.

Hi .Had recurrent early BC after 2 years so decided on double mastectomy with expanders. Surgery was Oct 24,2009.

Alieve seems to help me more than anything
Try alternating ice pack with warm packs.

Make sure you drink plenty of water and try walking if only a little. I am seeing physical therapy and she suggested diapramatic deep breathing prior to getting up in am and at bedtime.
It is not the pain so much as the swelling and muscle spasms which are almost continuous.
Your body has a foreigh object inside that should not be there.
Alos try a lightweight streatchy camasole not too tight.They can be bought at Ross or K Mart. yoga
Try Tie Che or slow yoga .
Let me know if any of this helps.
I wish the nurse in my plastic surgeons office had issued instructions or suggestion

Hi, I also had a recurrent early BC after 1 year and had double mastectomy surgery with expanders on Oct 21, 2009. I had a lumpectomy surgery followed by chemo and radiation this time last year. Now after this surgery the radiated side is not healing as well as the non radiated. I have been having a lot of swelling from fluid intake. My doctor request that I reduce my fluid intake by half of my normal. I am more comfortable wearing a sports bra that has a slight compression to it, not alot. I feel that I need regular water intake to help me heal so I am slowly increasing my fluid intake as the swelling in reducing.

I too have tissue expanders and I am experiencing everything mentioned. I had my bilateral mastectomy on 10/6/09. It helps me to know that I'm not the only one feeling this way, feeling the tightness, spasms, the strange feeling of chills and the foreign feeling inside my body. I have had two expansions and will be going in for another on Monday. I can't imagine having the expanders in for a year. I told my plastic surgeon I wanted to have my original size D back but now I'm having second thoughts, I don't know if I'll be able to stand these expanders in my body much longer. What types of lotions etc. have your doctors recommend you use on your skin to help with the stretching?

Yes ladies, there is life after expanders. I had bilat mast with expanders put in nearly 16 months ago. I had the expanders throughout radiation and got the "new girls" in April. I had some rippling issues and had them redone in August. The process is worth it!! Our bodies are smart to sense something foreign. The whole purpose of the expanders is just that to expand and stretch that skin. Have any of you ever been pregnant? Remember that belly stretching, the tightness, the itching, etc? I hated feeling those rock like expanders but the implants are so different. My radiated side will never be as comfortable but so be it. To help with the expanders, I found massaging to be the best. Don't stop those arm exercises either. Anyone into yoga...that was really helpful too. good luck and feel free to ask questions

dawn

Thanks for the insight, much appreciated.
Sandy

Looks like there are several of us all in the same boat. I have had 3 expansions 60ccs each time and go for my 4th this Monday. This week, though, has given me the most trouble. I thought it would get easier not harder. Maybe it's just that I have been doing almost everything (7 weeks post op).

Dawn,

Was the second surgery to get implants as traumatic as the first one when you got expanders? I am really starting to get anxious about recovery time. I am told we'll be doing the switcheroo from expanders to implants in March. Just wondering how the surgery and recovery was for you???

JENNA

Hello to everybody. Ohhh It is so good to hear I am not the only one with this problem. I am almost 8 wks post op. Just had 3rd filling Thurs and am also slightly disappointed that it does not get easier. My left breast was damaged from previous radiation and have most problems with left side. I understood that after the implants it would be better. I am hoping and praying that first it is successful and then maybe that it will feel normal someday. Right now everything seems too much and am taking it one day at a time. Marilyn

I had a tissue expander implanted at the time of my mastectomy (unilateral)in November 2007. Although I did have some pain, it was rather minor. I also had large breasts so I did not have to have any skin stretching, just the muscle. I was able to keep the tissue expander in until just prior to starting radation. The expander was replaced with a saline implant in June 2008 in a day-surgery procedure. I recall waking up in the recovery area and reaching up to feel my new breast. It was so great! I was laying there any smiling when the nurse came over to sak me why I was smiling ( she said she didn't think she had ever seen anyone smiling in recovery before). I told her, "I LOVE my new boob!" Having had that darn tissue expander in for 7 months, the softness and more 'normal' feel of the implant was WONDERFUL!!! Because the area has little feeling after the mastectomy, there was very little pain. The muscle was no longer under any stress so it did not bother me.

For me: this surgery was a breeze. Ladies, I hope that your's will go equally as well!
God bless,
Rita

I, too was concerned about the whole exchange process. I remember the surgeon telling me it like stuffing pooh into rabbit's house. The expanders do their job so the muscles and the skin aren't shocked. That being said, it is another surgery and things are moved around and repositioned. My surgeon did some extra work to help with appearance of cleavage so my sternum was sore but nothing like the first surgery. My pain was minimal within a day or so and my activity level was good. Honestly I had more constipation problems from the anesthia than anything. Any physical limits I had were based more on having the sutures than pain. It's great to have a softness to the body again!! hang in there

dawn

I went in for my 4th expansion yesterday too. Wow, I seem to be more uncomfortable this time around than in the past. Good to know I'm not alone also. The switcheroo seems to be what we should be looking forward to.

Sandy

Everyone is different. That seems like the BC mantra at times, doesn't it?

One friend told me that the first expansion was the worst and that it would continue to get easier and by the end it would be a cinch. Well, my expansions were just the opposite. The first ones were a non-event, just felt a little tight but no discomfort at all. They got more painful with each expansion, and the last 3 were challenging, discomfort that lasted 5 or 6 days; right when I was feeling OK, it was time to go in for anther expansion. I'm not saying this to scare anyone, just to let you know what my reality was. (and, FYI: my expansions were 50 cc each)

There are some things you must realize, that made my surgery different from lots of yours: my tumors were just under the skin, from 9:00 to 1:00 on the breast (looking at it like a clock face) so a huge amount of skin had to be removed to get clean margins. Normally my plastic surgeon fills the expander approximately 50% on the operating table but my skin was so tight that all he could do was put the expander in with no fluid - putting any fluid in would compromise the skin integrity and possibly cause skin death.

Lots of others have told me that the next surgery, removing the expander and inserting the implant, is "a non-event". I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they're right!