Ideas for relief of armpit pain after a double mastectomy?

Re: washing hair - I wore a drain pouch on a lanyard and leaned over to bring my head down toward the center of my chest to shower; with my back toward the water. It took several weeks of showering/washing hair this way before I felt comfortable to raise my elbows to my shoulders - and arms above my head. Be patient with yourself, both fears and physical abilities.

I had my DM in 2013 so some of the details have faded away. It seems like I only had the drains in for a couple weeks. OT/PT started bringing back decent range of motion pretty quickly. I had about 20 visits in a couple months.

I had my ovaries and tubes removed at the same time due to BRCA2 mutation and had terrible pain from that and can’t take any pain meds so that hindered my movement that is needed for healing. Two weeks after surgery I added painful shingles. Two weeks after that an off leash dog caused me to fall and break my dominant wrist so the DM was the least of my problems.

You’re doing great! The fact that you’re researching and on this chat shows you’re strong and looking for ways to speed up healing. Ads are created by marketing teams not patients. You’ll be back to your normal life in no time. Don’t be afraid to let friends and family help. They walked my dogs for me 3x day (no yard) and helped me with food and shopping the first couple weeks. My surgeon advised me not to turn down help because it makes others feel helpless. “Yes” is good for everyone. Hang in there! Things will just get better and better from here.

I had lymphedema in my left arm, as well as cording. I have massage therapy for the lymphedema and that greatly helped. I also developed a painful seroma in my arm pit that my surgeon kept draining with a syringe. It was not effective . I ultimately went to Mayo where interventional radiology inserted another drain and after 10 days, I finally got rid of it. It has been almost 5 years and I still have some lymphedema in that arm, but much better now.