your advice on post surgery arm pain

Hi Katmy
I had a lumpectomy with nodes removed and I still have arm pain. In my case I was told it was nerve damage. Alway check with your doctor. Also be careful with that arm.
Kathy

arm pain
I had a lumpectomy and node dissection on 3/22/11. Mostly I have had stabbing pains in my arrm down to my elbow, and lots of numbness. But even this has decreased since surgery. At times I have felt as though my armpit had a lump in it but this too has reduced since surgery. I try to lay on my non surgery side each day so my arm and lumpectomy ar above my heart. I was checked two days ago by the surgeon to see if there was any liquid build up in my breast or arm. He stated all was good. I told him that I had been taking those measures since the surgery since I know this is the principle to reduce swelling from an injury under normal circumstances. I asked if this principle still applied with the lymp nodes gone. He stated yes it still was the principle to use. He also stated earlier that some of the numbness may not go away.

It sounds like your pain is further down the arm. I don't know about that since I never had numbness or stabbing pains past the elbow. I would check with the doctor. The sooner, the better.

scaredagain said:

arm pain
I had arm pain soon after my mastectomy and lymph node removal. I happened to be at MD Anderson to seek treatment advice for BC, and saw a physical therapist while there for the arm pain and limited motion ability. I was told I had cording inside my arm and the treatment was breaking the cords by the therapist applying pressure on my arm until the cords snapped. Once the cords were broken, I regain full use of my range of motion, with the help of physical therapy.

I was told that cording after lymph node removal is not common, so I feel fortunate to have been at a big cancer center that had experience with this problem, since it might have been difficult to find a physical therapist who even knew what cording was, much less how to fix it. Apparently, the sooner the cords are broken, the better the outcome for regaining the most range of motion.

Good luck!

Band or Cord
Reason doing the exercises so important is so that these bands or cords do not become tight and cause loss of movement and pain. Once they form they take work to get rid of from my understanding. It is well known that this can occur and is not as uncommon as you think.

Tara