Post Surgery Days
Hairy Armpits!
Not sure whether it's the case for all ladies who undergo lumpectomy surgery but I was told by the discharge nurse that I was to wear my surgical sports bra 24 hours a day. At first I thought that, that would be uncomfortable and would as the saying goes "get on my tits!", yes pun intended there! However, it turned out to be a God send. Once the anaesthetic had worn off my breast and underarm did feel a little painful but two paracetamol regularly did the trick to take the edge off. My surgical sports bras definitely helped to take the weight of my boob and ease the pressure - and I have relatively small boobs (34D in case you were wondering!).
I was given a booklet by the nurse which was produced by Breast Cancer Care and it detailed the exercises that I was to carry out several times a day for the next two weeks before I was due to see the Consultant / Surgeon for a post-op check up. The exercises were pretty straight forward although I could feel the muscles around my breast, underarm and shoulder "moaning" at me each time I did them and if I am to be really truthful - I only did the exercises half the time which is why I'm suffering with shoulder and underarm stiffness now. So if you're reading this and are due or have just had surgery, take it from me - do the exercises!
Now I'm not going to lie, I did start to have pain a few days after surgery but it was nerve pain. It's kind of hard to describe but it's like a tingling, dull ache almost like toothache but it was relentless and seemed to flare up anytime I moved my arm. I'd had my surgery on the Wednesday and on the Saturday we visited the in-laws for a cuppa and a biscuit with the dogs. I remember sitting on their sofa and was beside myself with the dull ache under my arm, it felt like no matter what I did, I just didn't seem to be able to ease it. I took more paracetamols and then after half an hour it was a case of us going home. One thing I found that did ease the ache was if I put something under my arm like a pillow or a ruffled up scarf as keeping my arm and my breast apart strangely seemed to help! I did have friends and neighbours offering me various strong prescription painkillers from their own bathroom cabinets but I declined - I didn't fancy floating on the ceiling for days on end!
Now one thing that drove me crazy for those two weeks post surgery was not being able to shave under my arm - by the time my dressings were removed I swear you could have plaited the hairs together, they were that long! I also wasn't supposed to wear deodorant but I ended up using my roll-on around the dressing areas as the dressings started to have a whiff about them after a week or so. The sticky edges of the dressings started to peel down after a couple of days so after using a couple of the dressings given to me by the hospital to put over the top which still failed to retain their stickiness, I decided to use the microporous dressing tape that you can buy at any chemist or supermarket. Unfortunately I painfully found out that I had an allergy to the tape so ended up with bright red, blistered rashes on around the dressing areas - honestly, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried! It took nearly three weeks for those blisters to go and they were helped along with anti-histamine tablets.
I eagerly opened the card and found that the flowers had been sent by the Directors at work, I felt really touched that they had arranged for the flowers to be sent to me. Once our post arrived later that day I was inundated with "Get Well Soon" cards - it was pretty overwhelming and brought home the realities of the surgery that I'd had.
Exactly a week after surgery my aunt and uncle arranged to take me for an Afternoon Tea at Blacker Hall Farm in Wakefield (if you're ever in the Yorkshire area then pay the place a visit - it's fab).
As it was the October half term holidays, my nephew, Alex came with us as well. He was only 14 at the time so a typical teenager who wanted to spend more time on his phone chatting to his mates than having conversation with us but, that being said, he's a cool lad.
The afternoon tea was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed it - it was just what I needed! It was also the first proper time that I had been outside since the surgery so it was nice to have some relative "normality" and to have a taste of my life pre-diagnosis and before I knew whether I would be heading down the chemotherapy route.
The hospital had told me not to drive for two weeks after the surgery so that I didn't cause myself any further injuries following the surgery. For those two weeks I felt like a caged animal unable to go anywhere on my own in the car without relying on others to drive me places. So armed with a woolly hat under the seat belt to offer a cushioning effect, I did a small drive to the inlaws and it was like pure heaven - I had my freedom back!
I was given a booklet by the nurse which was produced by Breast Cancer Care and it detailed the exercises that I was to carry out several times a day for the next two weeks before I was due to see the Consultant / Surgeon for a post-op check up. The exercises were pretty straight forward although I could feel the muscles around my breast, underarm and shoulder "moaning" at me each time I did them and if I am to be really truthful - I only did the exercises half the time which is why I'm suffering with shoulder and underarm stiffness now. So if you're reading this and are due or have just had surgery, take it from me - do the exercises!
Now I'm not going to lie, I did start to have pain a few days after surgery but it was nerve pain. It's kind of hard to describe but it's like a tingling, dull ache almost like toothache but it was relentless and seemed to flare up anytime I moved my arm. I'd had my surgery on the Wednesday and on the Saturday we visited the in-laws for a cuppa and a biscuit with the dogs. I remember sitting on their sofa and was beside myself with the dull ache under my arm, it felt like no matter what I did, I just didn't seem to be able to ease it. I took more paracetamols and then after half an hour it was a case of us going home. One thing I found that did ease the ache was if I put something under my arm like a pillow or a ruffled up scarf as keeping my arm and my breast apart strangely seemed to help! I did have friends and neighbours offering me various strong prescription painkillers from their own bathroom cabinets but I declined - I didn't fancy floating on the ceiling for days on end!
Now one thing that drove me crazy for those two weeks post surgery was not being able to shave under my arm - by the time my dressings were removed I swear you could have plaited the hairs together, they were that long! I also wasn't supposed to wear deodorant but I ended up using my roll-on around the dressing areas as the dressings started to have a whiff about them after a week or so. The sticky edges of the dressings started to peel down after a couple of days so after using a couple of the dressings given to me by the hospital to put over the top which still failed to retain their stickiness, I decided to use the microporous dressing tape that you can buy at any chemist or supermarket. Unfortunately I painfully found out that I had an allergy to the tape so ended up with bright red, blistered rashes on around the dressing areas - honestly, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried! It took nearly three weeks for those blisters to go and they were helped along with anti-histamine tablets.
Feeling Spoilt
The day after surgery there was a knock at the door and there in front of me was a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
I eagerly opened the card and found that the flowers had been sent by the Directors at work, I felt really touched that they had arranged for the flowers to be sent to me. Once our post arrived later that day I was inundated with "Get Well Soon" cards - it was pretty overwhelming and brought home the realities of the surgery that I'd had.
As it was the October half term holidays, my nephew, Alex came with us as well. He was only 14 at the time so a typical teenager who wanted to spend more time on his phone chatting to his mates than having conversation with us but, that being said, he's a cool lad.
The afternoon tea was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed it - it was just what I needed! It was also the first proper time that I had been outside since the surgery so it was nice to have some relative "normality" and to have a taste of my life pre-diagnosis and before I knew whether I would be heading down the chemotherapy route.
The hospital had told me not to drive for two weeks after the surgery so that I didn't cause myself any further injuries following the surgery. For those two weeks I felt like a caged animal unable to go anywhere on my own in the car without relying on others to drive me places. So armed with a woolly hat under the seat belt to offer a cushioning effect, I did a small drive to the inlaws and it was like pure heaven - I had my freedom back!
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