Clnd healing

The recovery time will vary with the individual but here's what I remember from my CLND:

I didn't do much lifting at all the first two weeks but did do a stretching exercise that a breast cancer survivor friend suggested I try. I ran the stretching exercise by my surgeon and she gave me the "green light" on it so I made sure I did it. Every day my range of motion got better. This was the exercise:

I placed the fingers of my left hand on top of my left shoulder and moved my elbow so it was in line with my body. Then, I "walked" up my shoulder as far as I could without any discomfort and then "walked" back to the starting point. I started this the day after my surgery and could not even make it to my neck. After two weeks, I was to the top of my head. As you're doing this, you want to make sure your elbow is in line with your body. This nice thing with this simple stretch is that you can do it sitting, standing, or lying down. The goal is to be able to stretch to the point where you can touch the tip of your right ear. I got to that point after about 3 weeks.

My drain was removed two weeks after my surgery. At that point my discomfort was minimal and after the drain was removed, it was non-existent.

Once the drain was taken out I started taking showers again. That's when I took advantage of the "wall crawl". I used the shower tiles as a guide. First, I measured where I could stretch with my right arm to set my goal. Then I started doing the "crawl" with my left arm. Didn't get too close to my goal the first few attempts but after about 2 weeks I was just about at that goal. So, that would bring it to 4 weeks or so after my surgery.

You will always have to be careful how much weight you lift with that arm. Hopefully, your doctor familiarized you with a condition called lymphedema. If he or she didn't, then shame on them.  The lymph vessels of that arm are now compromised because of the surgery and this leaves you prone to swelling in that arm. Lifting heavy objects will aggravate it. That's the bad news. The good news is that this is a manageable condition. What I would do is seek out a physical therapist who specializes in lymphedema. This person will give you exercises you can do to strengthen that arm and to keep swelling to a minimum. If you travel by plane, you will need to get a compression sleeve for that arm. The compression sleeve will also help if you have to do any lifting.

Since you have a small child, you will want to seek out one of these therapists ASAP to learn how to safely lift that child without your arm swelling.

The recovery time will vary with the individual but here's what I remember from my CLND:

I didn't do much lifting at all the first two weeks but did do a stretching exercise that a breast cancer survivor friend suggested I try. I ran the stretching exercise by my surgeon and she gave me the "green light" on it so I made sure I did it. Every day my range of motion got better. This was the exercise:

I placed the fingers of my left hand on top of my left shoulder and moved my elbow so it was in line with my body. Then, I "walked" up my shoulder as far as I could without any discomfort and then "walked" back to the starting point. I started this the day after my surgery and could not even make it to my neck. After two weeks, I was to the top of my head. As you're doing this, you want to make sure your elbow is in line with your body. This nice thing with this simple stretch is that you can do it sitting, standing, or lying down. The goal is to be able to stretch to the point where you can touch the tip of your right ear. I got to that point after about 3 weeks.

My drain was removed two weeks after my surgery. At that point my discomfort was minimal and after the drain was removed, it was non-existent.

Once the drain was taken out I started taking showers again. That's when I took advantage of the "wall crawl". I used the shower tiles as a guide. First, I measured where I could stretch with my right arm to set my goal. Then I started doing the "crawl" with my left arm. Didn't get too close to my goal the first few attempts but after about 2 weeks I was just about at that goal. So, that would bring it to 4 weeks or so after my surgery.

You will always have to be careful how much weight you lift with that arm. Hopefully, your doctor familiarized you with a condition called lymphedema. If he or she didn't, then shame on them.  The lymph vessels of that arm are now compromised because of the surgery and this leaves you prone to swelling in that arm. Lifting heavy objects will aggravate it. That's the bad news. The good news is that this is a manageable condition. What I would do is seek out a physical therapist who specializes in lymphedema. This person will give you exercises you can do to strengthen that arm and to keep swelling to a minimum. If you travel by plane, you will need to get a compression sleeve for that arm. The compression sleeve will also help if you have to do any lifting.

Since you have a small child, you will want to seek out one of these therapists ASAP to learn how to safely lift that child without your arm swelling.

The recovery time will vary with the individual but here's what I remember from my CLND:

I didn't do much lifting at all the first two weeks but did do a stretching exercise that a breast cancer survivor friend suggested I try. I ran the stretching exercise by my surgeon and she gave me the "green light" on it so I made sure I did it. Every day my range of motion got better. This was the exercise:

I placed the fingers of my left hand on top of my left shoulder and moved my elbow so it was in line with my body. Then, I "walked" up my shoulder as far as I could without any discomfort and then "walked" back to the starting point. I started this the day after my surgery and could not even make it to my neck. After two weeks, I was to the top of my head. As you're doing this, you want to make sure your elbow is in line with your body. This nice thing with this simple stretch is that you can do it sitting, standing, or lying down. The goal is to be able to stretch to the point where you can touch the tip of your right ear. I got to that point after about 3 weeks.

My drain was removed two weeks after my surgery. At that point my discomfort was minimal and after the drain was removed, it was non-existent.

Once the drain was taken out I started taking showers again. That's when I took advantage of the "wall crawl". I used the shower tiles as a guide. First, I measured where I could stretch with my right arm to set my goal. Then I started doing the "crawl" with my left arm. Didn't get too close to my goal the first few attempts but after about 2 weeks I was just about at that goal. So, that would bring it to 4 weeks or so after my surgery.

You will always have to be careful how much weight you lift with that arm. Hopefully, your doctor familiarized you with a condition called lymphedema. If he or she didn't, then shame on them.  The lymph vessels of that arm are now compromised because of the surgery and this leaves you prone to swelling in that arm. Lifting heavy objects will aggravate it. That's the bad news. The good news is that this is a manageable condition. What I would do is seek out a physical therapist who specializes in lymphedema. This person will give you exercises you can do to strengthen that arm and to keep swelling to a minimum. If you travel by plane, you will need to get a compression sleeve for that arm. The compression sleeve will also help if you have to do any lifting.

Since you have a small child, you will want to seek out one of these therapists ASAP to learn how to safely lift that child without your arm swelling.

HappyGirl,

I'd like to emphasize Linny's point about the stretching exercises.  I got absolutely zero instruction about that when I was discharged from the hospital after my axillary disection.  Essentially for 2 weeks until I went back for my follow up appointment my arm hardly left my side.  I think because of that I still have range of motion problems 3 years later. 

As far as your adjuvant treatment question, unfortunately I think it's going to be a while before these are available for 3A patients.  There are some adjuvant trials now but the problem with adjuvant trials is it takes a long time for the data to mature and determine if there is a worthwhile benefit to the drug in the adjuvant setting.  The early results of Ipi in the adjuvant setting were released at ASCO 2014 and did show some benefit but I think it will be a while before it's available due to a plethora of other issues.  Have you considered looking at clinical trials for an adjuvant trial?  They are hard to find but there are some out there.

Brian

HappyGirl,

I'd like to emphasize Linny's point about the stretching exercises.  I got absolutely zero instruction about that when I was discharged from the hospital after my axillary disection.  Essentially for 2 weeks until I went back for my follow up appointment my arm hardly left my side.  I think because of that I still have range of motion problems 3 years later. 

As far as your adjuvant treatment question, unfortunately I think it's going to be a while before these are available for 3A patients.  There are some adjuvant trials now but the problem with adjuvant trials is it takes a long time for the data to mature and determine if there is a worthwhile benefit to the drug in the adjuvant setting.  The early results of Ipi in the adjuvant setting were released at ASCO 2014 and did show some benefit but I think it will be a while before it's available due to a plethora of other issues.  Have you considered looking at clinical trials for an adjuvant trial?  They are hard to find but there are some out there.

Brian

HappyGirl,

I'd like to emphasize Linny's point about the stretching exercises.  I got absolutely zero instruction about that when I was discharged from the hospital after my axillary disection.  Essentially for 2 weeks until I went back for my follow up appointment my arm hardly left my side.  I think because of that I still have range of motion problems 3 years later. 

As far as your adjuvant treatment question, unfortunately I think it's going to be a while before these are available for 3A patients.  There are some adjuvant trials now but the problem with adjuvant trials is it takes a long time for the data to mature and determine if there is a worthwhile benefit to the drug in the adjuvant setting.  The early results of Ipi in the adjuvant setting were released at ASCO 2014 and did show some benefit but I think it will be a while before it's available due to a plethora of other issues.  Have you considered looking at clinical trials for an adjuvant trial?  They are hard to find but there are some out there.

Brian