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Post Operative Care
MASTECTOMY WITH OR WITHOUT LYMPH NODE DISSECTION
Your first post operative visit will be approximately one week after surgery unless other instructions are given. Please call the office to make this appointment.
WOUND CARE
- Remove outer dressing 24 hours after your surgery (if you have one)
- You may then shower as normal
- Leave the steri-strips in place (thin white strips). Allow these to fall off or we will remove them in the office at your first post op visit
- Sutures and/or staples will also be removed at your first post op visit
- It is not unusual to experience numbness or a burning sensation of the chest wall or the inner, upper area of the affected arm
- You may also experience discomfort and some swelling as you return to your activities of daily living
DIET:
ACTIVITY:
- Do not exercise with the affected arm until you have been given permission by the doctor. This will be after first post op visit or after meeting with Reach for Recovery
- You may use your arms normally for daily activities except reaching above your head until you have been instructed
- Do only light housework
- If you had an axillary dissection (removal of lymph nodes) do not allow your blood pressure to be taken, insertion of and IV or blood to be drawn in that arm
- After you stop taking the pain medication, you may resume driving
CALL OUR OFFICE IF:
- You develop any unusual sign and symptoms such as increased tenderness, redness, bleeding or drainage from the wound
- You develop a temperature of 101 degrees Fahrenheit or above
- You have nausea and/or vomiting that lasts longer than 24 hours
FOR DRAIN CARE: click the link below to get further information on Drain Care Instructions.
Please call our office if you have any questions or concerns at 713-756-8555.
Downloadable Resources
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