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Mondor’s & Cording

I was diagnosed with DCIS February 2023 and had a lumpectomy last April and a re-excision in June followed by 21 sessions of radiation. I had a weird rope like cord stretch under my breast into the side of my stomach I noticed February 2024. My breast surgeon put me on a high dose of advil for a week and it did nothing. I also started physical therapy for cording that was under my arm and in between my breast and armpit, and she worked on the other area that she thought was abdominal cording. It seemed to be getting better then the breast dr did an ultrasound and confirmed it was mondors, so the pt stopped working on that area. Now that PT has stopped the mondors cord has gotten larger and way worse. Several cords stretch across my ribs and into my abdomen and it’s very painful. My breast dr referred me back to oncologist because mondors usually doesn’t last this long. The oncologist said she didn’t think it was cancer related but really wasn’t much help on what to do or what she thought it was. Cording and mondors are treated differently and I just was wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar and did it last a while and resolve on its own? I keep getting different answers and most drs I talk to have never heard of mondors. Thanks in advance for any advice!!

Comments

  • snm
    snm Member Posts: 109

    @lgh524 sorry to hear about your painful situation. I had similar problem after my mastectomy and my superficial vein thrombosis was very painful just as you described - I took aspirin 325 mg daily for 7 days along with topical heat pack application and it went away. Hope you feel better soon.

  • lgh524
    lgh524 Member Posts: 5

    @snm They have me on baby aspirin once a day now, before they had me on 2400mg of advil a day for 1 week and now it’s worse months later. Thank you for your reply, I’ll try adding a hot compress and maybe that will help!

  • snm
    snm Member Posts: 109

    For pain relief I also applied a topical NSAID cream like voltaren. I think the aspirin is key as like you I had tried ibuprofen without help. Mine recurred a couple months later but went away with some heat and aspirin. After that it has not come back, thank goodness! Good luck!

  • lgh524
    lgh524 Member Posts: 5

    @snm that’s great yours hasn’t come back! Thank you so much, that’s so reassuring to hear since you had a similar experience and gives me hope it will go away and is nothing worse since I’ve heard so many conflicting things from dr’s without much help or advice.

  • tb90
    tb90 Member Posts: 289

    I had a mastectomy and radiation way back in 2013. I had cording/mondors. I did not know there was a difference. Everything I read then used these terms together. I had these symptoms on and off in my arm for a few years. It got milder and I never needed pain relievers. I got relief by stretching out my arm. Don’t worry about this being something sinister. This is quite common and can last awhile. You have had enough to deal with. The discomfort may continue, but it is so much easier to deal with when you don’t have the worry associated with it. Take care.

  • lgh524
    lgh524 Member Posts: 5

    @tb90 thank you