Hi @staceycholmes99 - I had a unilateral mastectomy last May. I only had one drain - pretty easy to deal with. (@susan7656 - I can imagine 2 on each side was really no fun!!) I healed quickly and they were able to take the drain out after only one week, which I understand is pretty fast.

What I found fortunate about having a unilateral mastectomy (vs. bilateral) was that I had full use of my other arm/hand at all times. The healing process was pretty chill. My big advice is to not over do it. At one point a couple of weeks in, I was putting a lid on a tupperware container and managed to somehow strain my mastectomy side. So dumb!

Just follow doctor's orders and you'll be fine. The drains are kind of weird and a little gross (I mean, who wants tubes hanging out of your body?) but they aren't painful. I used a mastectomy drain holder belt thing from Amazon as well and just wore a very soft, oversized button up flannel shirt with nothing else on top for a couple of weeks. The flannel was cozy and soft on my skin and wearing a button-up with easy access was helpful. With my dominant hand on my non-mastectomy side, I was able to empty the drain myself.

Something else - be prepared to have various skin sensations over time as you heal. I never had any actual pain, but because they end up damaging the nerves during surgery, I've had numbness (still do, after all these months), skin that is super sensitive to different fabrics, and at one point a spot on my side felt like sandpaper on a sunburn - that was probably the worst (but it only lasted less than a couple of weeks and then went away).

Be brave - you've got this! Give yourself time to heal. It'll be over with soon.

Cheers,
Mary