Q: My Sister has had her right breast removed and reconstructed in the same surgery. She is now suffering from extreme numbness in her right arm and hand. IS this a common result of the surgery?
Gerry, I wouldn't say this is a common result, but a possible one. She could be suffering some nerve damage. Has she spoken to the surgeon about this? If not, she should have the conversation ASAP. S/he needs to know about this symptom. If nerves have been cut, not sure what can be done; but if there's scar tissue pressuring nerves, further surgery can relieve it. Also, if your sister is recently out of surgery, it just may be that the swelling needs to subside, and that will do the trick. But bottom line: she needs to discuss this with her surgeon. Good luck, hope she finds out what's causing it soon - PJH
Hello. I also had my enitire right breast removed May 2011 and have had numbness in my right arm as well. In addition I have also had problems with trigger finger (thumb) in left hand and now it is in the right hand. I have ready many articles and other people who have experienced the same (say chemo was cause for trigger finger). I manually massage my right arm several times a day and have noticed a small improvement over the months. Best of luck to your sister and wish you & her all the best.
It is common to have a weird sensation running down the back of the upper arm after a mastectomy. I had it and have heard of a lot of other people who did too. It gradually gets better. As PJ says, the important thing for her to do is to discuss this with the surgeon who can evaluate how serious this numbness is and what can be done about it.
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And best of luck to you, too, Nicole. Thanks for taking the time to post here. I hope your trigger finger gets better - that's painful! I've had some numbness in my arm/armpit ever since my surgery/reconstruction, too; I'd guess it's pretty inevitable, given the extent of what the surgeon does, to have some nerve damage. I'm glad the massage is helping - PJH