Welcome to part two of my Mastectomy breakdown! If you’re new to the blog, I had a Prophylactic Bilateral Mastectomy (nipple sparing and OTM with expanders) on November 18th. Click here to see my post breaking down why I had it and here to read about the surgery itself.
I’ve learned a lot over the past few weeks and I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to get all of that info across. After a few attempts at this writing and structuring this piece, I decided the best thing to do was just to be as straight forward as possible!
So below are all the notes I took the first month – it covers everything from my appetite, to showers, to meds, to exercise. If you want some live footage of how the first month went, you can also check out my Instagram highlights here 🙂
The First Month
Meds: I had minimal pain during my first month post-op and I think that was from being really consistent with my meds!
The day after I got home from the hospital, so day two post op, the medicine they gave me to prep for surgery and to initially recover (a nerve blocker, pain meds, etc.) began to wear off and my discomfort amped up a bit. Once I got onto a new schedule, I was actually pretty comfortable. I rarely felt pain during the initial healing process, it was more discomfort than anything (my chest felt sore and tight, the tissue expanders pulled (read more about those here), there was breast sensitivity, etc.).
To start I was on a super strong antibiotic, percocet, muscle relaxers and stool softeners. By the end of week two, I had switched over to Aleve, muscle relaxers and stool softeners and only took percocet if needed (typically at night). By week four, I just took Tylenol when needed.
Tip: Make sure that you take everything as prescribed, even if that means waking up in the middle of the night to do so. You don’t want the pain to sneak up on you.
Also, these meds may make you very bloated. See below – this was 2 weeks in and I legit felt pregnant lol
Appetite: I didn’t have much of an appetite during the first two weeks post-op. Even when I was hungry, nothing really sounded appealing. I ended up eating some really random things…Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bobo Bars were my go-to breakfast, pears were my snack and I would have these vegan nuggets and mashed potato’s for dinner. None of these things were a big part of my daily diet pre-surgery, but they all sounded good during the weeks after and sat really well!
My doctors also recommended 60-80g of protein a day to help with healing, so Ben would make us protein shakes in the afternoon and tried to incorporate protein into meals where he could (protein waffles became an apartment staple). Around the three week mark, I started craving some of my old go-to food items again!
Tips: For the first two weeks, eat what sounds good. It might be really weird and random food items, but that’s ok! You want to make sure your body has enough calories to help you heal 🙂
Nausea: Everyone seems to have a different experience with nausea, but for me it came and went over the first two weeks, but wasn’t bad at all! I would usually get it in the morning, but a quick anti-nausea pill (prescribed by my doctor) and a bland breakfast would typically knock it right out.
Drains: Ah the drains. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t find the drains all that bad. Click here for a full breakdown – I go into more detail on how long I had mine in, how I managed them and the removal process.
Sleeping: Unless you’ve always been a back sleeper, it may take a few weeks to get used to your new sleeping style. My doctor told me to stay on my back until the 6 week mark, but that might be different for everyone!
I’ve always been a side sleeper, so I had a hard time adjusting to this, especially during the first two weeks. Once we found a pillow combo that worked (mine was a wedge pillow, a couch cushion (random, I know), pillows stacked on top and then a half moon pillow for my legs) things got so much better.
Tip: A lot of people will rent a recliner or even a hospital bed for the first two weeks. I can definitely see the appeal! If you don’t have that, you may have to spend time adjusting and readjusting your pillow tower at night to get into a comfortable position. It can definitely be frustrating, but I promise you’ll find that sweet spot!
Movement: Getting in and out of bed/on and off the couch the first week can be a challenge. Half the time I would try to roll up, I would instantly roll back down lol so unless you have a rock hard 6 pack, you’ll probably need some help getting up and down. The bright side is this phase will pass quickly – I was shocked at how fast my strength started to come back.
One thing that also helped me during this time was soft PJs, they just made sliding in and out of bed so much easier. These were my holy grail for the first month – I bought 4 pairs!
Hygiene: Hygiene was tough the first two weeks, but I was lucky to have Ben there to help me wash my face and hair.
I would 100% recommend make-up wipes for your face – even if you don’t have make-up on they give you that “fresh washed face” feeling. I also used a hydrating cream at night as a one-stop-shop nighttime regime. It made my skin feel so refreshed and kept it from getting dry.
An electric toothbrush was also a big help because it limited that side-to-side arm motion that you need to do with a standard toothbrush. Ben and I have had these electric Quip toothbrushes for a few years now and they’re amazing!
Showers: My doctors told me to shower daily (starting on day 3) and to clean my breasts and my incisions with unscented soap, so that’s what I did. The first 3 showers I took I actually sat in a chair to make things easier (standing = getting out of breath really quickly). Ben used the detachable shower head to hose me down after I soaped up. Our set-up was actually very comical and slighly horror-movie-esq lol see below for a visual.
By the end of the first week, I nixed the shower chair but still enlisted Ben’s help. We decided to do the “hose down” method until my drains were out to help speed up the process and to keep water away from my drain sites. You definitely don’t need to do this, but that’s what worked for us!
Tip: Showers can be mentally draining the first few weeks. For me, it was the one time of day that I undressed and came face to face with my new body. I had to see and feel my deflated chest, the bumps and lumps from the tissue expanders and the new loss of sensation. Looking back, I’m glad I did this though. It helped me accept this new me and not run from it. Seeing myself daily and getting comfortable touching this new area was definitely helpful for the healing process 🙂
Fatigue: When people said I would feel “fatigued” after surgery I just pictured being a little sleepy – it’s actually way more than that. For the first month, everything made me tired (walking around the apartment, talking on the phone, showering, etc.). The first week or so I took multiple naps a day due to that and the meds, By week four, the fatigue was still lingering, but much more manageable!
Exercise: Week two is when I started exercising! And by exercising, I mean I spent 10 minutes a day walking around my kitchen and 15 minutes doing arm stretches. Your doctor will let you know when you’re cleared to do this, but we looked online for some good exercises and made a list of the top 5 for me to do 2-3 times a day (see my Recovery story highlights for a breakdown)! You’ll feel so much better once you start doing these and get some range of motion back.
Constipation + The Bathroom: This section may be TMI, so feel free to skip through, but I had no idea what to expect here, sooo I’m going to share….
First up, the bathroom. One of my biggest concerns pre-surgery was how the bathroom would be. I didn’t want to have to rely on anyone to help me and I spent hours and hours stressing about this. I can happily say that I was able to handle my business on my own. Plus, pain meds = constipation, so the situation was way less *shitty* than I thought 😉
Speaking of constipation. I had never taken prescription pain meds before and so I had no idea what pain med constipation felt like…but man, was it rough lol. It was honestly one of the hardest parts of recovery.
Pain meds will 100% make you constipated and, no matter how proactive you are, you’ll most likely experience a rough patch or two. Trying to push with expanders in your chest is a mind trip – pushing can hurt during the first few weeks and not pushing can be freakin’ uncomfortable for your stomach. I spent so much time trying to work through this and there were a lot of tears from the discomfort it brought. At one point I even pushed so hard that I pulled an expander stitch lol and that led to a full day of stabbing pain under my left boob. It eventually went away #praise, but that was a fun one to explain to the doctors!
For me, the main constipation issues happened at the end of week one and into week two and then quickly tapered off. Hallelujah.
Tip: I think constipation is pretty inevitable, so I would just be as prepared as you can for this. Take stool softeners, drink a lot of water and use Miralex, an enema, or Magnesium Nitrate if needed (but always ask your dr. first).
Breast Changes: During weeks three and four and I started to notice breast sensitivity, little pings of pain here and there, itches that couldn’t be scratched, breast acne and breast dryness.
The sensitivity felt like I had a bad sunburn and the pain felt like a little bee stings. My doctor told me that those feelings were normal and should go away on their own – it was most likely the nerves trying to regenerate. They were right, by week five, those feelings were basically gone! The unitchable itch stuck around a bit longer, but would come and go.
My doctor also told me that the dryness could be from using Hibiclens (the anti-bacterial soap they recommend you use before and directly after surgery) and then the acne was due to hormonal changes/my breast skin just being extra thin and therefore more sensitive. I’m still experiencing these issues at week seven, but they’ve both definitely gotten better too!
Tip: These things may last longer for some people or not even be a problem to begin with. Don’t get discouraged if this happens to you and you don’t follow the same timeline!
Tissue Expanders: Click here for a full post on tissue expanders and fills!
Work: Going into surgery, I heard that there was a 4-6 week recovery time. I was overly optimistic and thought I’d be fine once my drains were out after 2-3 weeks. No idea why lol. After 3 1/2 weeks I went back to work (remotely) and, while it was a nice break from my hours of TV binging, I probably should have waited the full month. It was just hard to concentrate all day and the fatigue was definitely still lingering. My personal advice would be to wait at least 3-4 weeks before returning to work if you have a remote job, 4 weeks if you have an office job and 6 weeks if you have a job that requires lifting.
And that’s it so far! I’ll continue to update this if I think of anything else or get any common questions that I forgot to address! If you have any advice, leave it below to help another sister out 🙂
