Hi, I'm new to this board but I am trying to locate as much information as possible relative to post-lymph-node-dissection pain syndrome. I had two lumpectomy surgeries, one in October and a re-excision in December. Along with the initial lumpectomy, I also had a sentinel node biopsy. The surgeon removed three lymph nodes. After the second surgery, I woke up in a lot of pain. My cancer (DCIS, Stage 0, high grade) was located very close to my chest wall. I also had six weeks of radiation.
I have had numbness, tingling and burning on the underside of my right arm, beginning at the armpit. The tingling has decreased, but I still have discomfort down the right side of my chest, my right shoulder, and my right shoulder blade - wierd stuff. My arm pit is still numb and I expect it will remain that way. About a week after I finished radiation, I experienced pretty bad pain that started in my back, under my right shoulder blade and then seemed to travel around my rib cage and under my breast. I tried Motrin, per my radiation onc's direction but it didn't do squat. She had me come in to the office and sent me for x-rays of my rib cage, which came back clear. We thought it might be inflammation of the cartiledge in the rib cage, costochondrities, which I had many years ago, and she prescribed tylenol 3 with codeine., which I took for a few times and it seemed to help. I hate taking pills, and I also have a fairly high pain threshold, which may or may not be a good thing.
My surgeon told me some of the pain will probably be permanent. I am lucky in that I don't let it impede my daily routine. I have found, though, that the pain gets worse if I am in a car for a long period of time, even as a passenger. I still get pain under my breast too that shoots around from the back. I know, compared to other BRCA survivors, I am lucky.
When I went in for my six month mammogram, I thought I was going to scream. The tech was trying to capture the location where my cancer was. Well, guess what? Unless I could remove what's left of my breast and plop it down on the tray, there was no way that a mammogram was going to get an in-depth view. I was called back into the room at least six times. Finally, the radiologist ordered an ultrasound. My breast is still pretty sore in that particular spot, but at least the ultrasound got results. There is some fluid there that the doctor wants to keep an eye on, so I'll go back in six months for another ultrasound. I see my surgeon again in two months and I will definitely make it clear to him that ultrasound is the only way to go with the affected breast.
Hugs,
Linda, (dx. 2006, stereotactic biopsy 9/06; lumpectomy & sentinel node biopsy 10/06; re-excision 12/06; DCIS, stage 0 (comedo), nodes negative; hormone receptor neg.; radiation therapy (30 zaps).