Wow, thank you so so much for this helpful and kind comment, I appreciate so much that you’ve taken the time and energy to share your experiences! I really feel much more confident now about going into surgery.

Thank you so much for the reassurance!

I’m like you, had abdominal hysterectomy/bilateral oopherectomy and when my pain meds ran out on day ten or was it day fourteen, I was so angry that they hadn’t given me at least one week more of meds, it was plain awful for me. I slept in a recliner for two weeks because I couldn’t lie flat without pain and it was a good two months before I felt like myself again. Even then I still had twinges here and there for a few more months after that. It was just awful to recover from.

I was really afraid this surgery would be bad like that, but my surgeons said I wouldn’t even need any pain meds except over the counter. One of my two surgeons said they will use a super lidocaine thing that will keep me totally numb for three to four days, but that I would have some “discomfort” for a few days after that time. But she said it should be very easily manageable with Tylenol alone.

I do know that I’ve had three breast biopsies now and had no pain afterwards, and I had a surgical excision, I guess a minor lumpectomy, about fifteen years ago to remove a benign something or other that kept growing. It was an area maybe a little bigger than a grape, taken out. No pain at all, never needed the pain meds they gave. I think I might have taken a Tylenol the first day, but I can’t remember. I do know I never needed the strong stuff and by a couple days later I was back to normal like nothing had ever happened.

So that experience gives me a little bit of hope.

This surgery is going to take out a lot more than that plus with the lift, there will be big incisions. And then I don’t know how things will feel with a lymph node or two being removed. My cancer masses are on the inside part of my left breast, which I guess is unusual. So I’m guessing the lymph nodes they will need to take will be on the inside part too, closest to the tumors, and not in the armpit like most people have.

On the right side, atypical ductal hyperplasia that will be removed. So no lymph node removal on that side as the biopsy didn’t show cancer. Who knows what the lab will see once all of it is removed, though. I figure there is probably a twenty percent chance I will have to go back for a second surgery, one way or another.

The surgeon already said, if we don’t get clean margins, it will be a full mastectomy for the second surgery. I will want both sides done if that’s the case.

Not sure if I want reconstruction, because I really hate pain. But I prefer the idea of looking normal when I wear my clothes.

I wonder if the super lidocaine the surgeon talked about, is an anesthesia pump? She made it sound like I would not feel a thing for at least three days, maybe four.

Gosh if they can do that, that’s pretty cool…maybe they can extend that so patients won’t feel any pain for seven days or longer, then.

But she seemed extremely confident I would not have much pain at all once the super lidocaine stuff wore off. And she does these breast lifts/reductions all the time, and apparently has never run into a patient needing pain meds yet, so maybe that is a good sign.

But my other surgeon, the oncological surgeon, talked about possibly keeping me overnight if they couldn’t get the pain well controlled.

So I felt there was a major disconnect there, and wondered which surgeon to believe.

I guess I will find out, if I am numb for three days, or else delayed at the hospital because my pain is extreme.

I will be sure to try to do whatever arm exercises they tell me to do. I don’t want that freezing up, because I bet it made everything impossible, when that happened to you.

My husband is taking a week off after my surgery to help me. He did the same thing after my hysterectomy and as bad as that surgery was, I was okay on my own after the first few days.

So I am hoping I will be okay on my own after the first six days, with this surgery.

I have my special mastectomy pillow that shields my chest and supports my arms, that I will use coming home from surgery and really I suppose for at least the first week or two, to keep that area well protected.

I already know I will be sent home with drains (ugh) and my first post op appointment is ten days post op, then a second post op with the oncological surgeon fourteen days out.

I’m getting the feeling between the treatments and everything else, I am going to have a whole bunch of medical appointments for a couple three months.

I’m hoping I won’t wake up from the surgery in pain. Other surgeries I’ve had (had endometriosis so had a couple other abdominal surgeries), if I was in pain they were great about giving me something in my IV to stop the pain.

But I don’t know, with this addiction crisis in the US, if they still do that, or if they feel it is better to just let the patients be in pain, and not risk addiction?

I guess I will find out.

I’ll write about my experiences post surgery, in the hopes I might be able to help someone else.

Thank you again for generously helping me. I appreciate it more than I can express, and I hope so much you will never have a recurrence.

I am sorry your range of motion never fully returned, and for the nerve problems, too. I have multiple sclerosis and had Transverse Myelitis that left me with permanent spinal cord damage so I understand about nerve problems.

Thank you again so much, and I want to thank the community in general for being patient with me with my questions and my anxieties.