Regaining Muscle Strength and atrophy
I am early in this journey. I had my first consultation with the plastic surgeon yesterday. I'm 66 and opting for a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. The oncologist will take one lymph node on the right side. I am concerned about the recovery time and loss of strength in my arms as I am a ceramic/ clay artist and need the strength for throwing on the wheel and such. Can anyone give me a bit about their own recovery and experience with regaining strength?
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My surgery was over 13 years ago so please forgive my memory. I had a bilateral mx, with one step implant reconstruction (no tissue expanders). It was surprisingly less painful and difficult than I imagined. I did have a complete ALND. I have very,very mild lymphedema, no one else would notice, and it is well managed. I followed post op instructions, and pretty much moved along the expected healing timeline . I know that I felt fairly strong after a few weeks and have no memory of any muscle atrophy or any other physical issues that weren’t expected. I was somewhat strict in following post op instructions because I wanted my body to heal without pushing it or creating problems due to my own impatience. There are no prizes given out to those who get back to normal quickly, even though we’ve had some members feeling like they were functioning normally after very short periods of time. This is major surgery and I don’t see any advantage to pushing yourself beyond what is typical. And drains… mine were not painful but just annoying. They were removed after 10 days (this can vary a lot depending on output).
Now that I’ve said all that, everyone is different and your experience will be yours. Overall, my concerns going into the surgery were far greater than the recovery actually was. Take care0
