Recovering from a bilateral mastectomy

Home after my mastectomy ! An old breast feeding pillow was a great idea.

My priority after surgery was to get moving again. I wanted to be able to lift and cuddle my kids.

The first time you look at your new body when part of it has been amputated is terrifying. Luckily, I didn’t get much time to psych myself out. My surgeon visited me on the day after surgery and just whipped off the dressing to examine me. Done ! I forced myself to look down. In place of my little boobs were two, neat, horizontal scars. It wasn’t so much the no breasts that shocked me, it was no nipples.

Recovery from surgery was quicker and easier than I had imagined. With medication, the pain was very tolerable and luckily I sleep on my back. I used an old breastfeeding cushion and lots of pillows to prop myself up in bed and stop myself rolling over in the night.

The hospital physiotherapist had me doing mobilisation exercises from day one. And the nurses sent me out for walks along the corridor and then around the outside of the hospital on days two and three. I felt surprisingly OK.

The biggest hassle was the drains. Inside each wound was a long plastic tube, which is there to drain off excess fluid into little bottles that hang by your sides. The drains sometimes need to stay in for a couple of weeks and I had to learn to manage them. A dressing gown with low pockets became my daily outfit, as did button up shirts as it took a few weeks to get my arms above my head.

I walked as soon as I could. By the end of week one, I could hike for 30 mins.

I was lucky that on the healthy side, the drain could come out after just 3 days. But on the cancer side, I had had a full lymph node clearance, which meant that the drains stayed in for longer. I had to go home with that drain still in, which I’d really hoped to avoid. A lasting memory is of my little boy, crying in the doorway. He refused to come anywhere near me until it was removed. My little girl was the opposite. She was fascinated and wanted to know everything ‘Mummy, is that blood?’ ‘Mummy does this go inside you?’ ‘Mummy can I put a plaster on?’.

Initially, it felt like I had an ‘iron bra’ constricting me. Breathing felt harder than it should and it made me feel panicky. My physio reassured me that the pain would fade and had me doing mobilisation exercises 3-4 times a day. I’d lie on the floor and try to make snow angels. Then walk my fingers up the wall in front of me and to the sides. I rolled my shoulders and gently tried to move my arms in all directions.

It didn’t feel like it, but I made little micro progress daily and by the end of each week, I could see a difference. The snow angels took the longest to master. It literally felt like someone was burning a line across my chest every time I tried to slide my arms across the floor. But I persevered.

By the end of the first week, I could go for a thirty minute walk outside. By two weeks, I was walking 5-6 km daily. By three weeks, I was back on the turbo trainer (gently) and tried a little jog (gently!). By this point, I could do most things around the house, wash my hair without contorting myself into a weird upside-down pose. And, most importantly, I was able to cuddle my family. But I didn’t yet have full range of motion back.

Two weeks post surgery. The fluid on the left took 3 months to be reabsorbed.

By six weeks post surgery, I was almost back to normal. I could lift the kids and started rock climbing and swimming again. These two things are probably what helped me the most in the long run. Climbing did wonders for stretching me out in all directions. And swimming was incredible for range of movement and reducing swelling. It’s something I’ve carried on at least once a week and ’m sure it has helped prevent me getting lymphoedema, which is a common side effect of lymph node removal.

How did I recover so fast and so well? I was absolutely dedicated to doing my physio exercises and to moving every day. I did those boring exercises religiously, several times a day. It became my job. I’m absolutely certain that is what got me back so quickly and what has left me with complete range of motion, in spite of the full lymph node clearance on one side.