9/1/19: (9 Days Post-DMX) Should I Be Doing Arm Exercises?

After realizing how great the massages from Ken felt, I wondered if I should be doing any sort of arm or shoulder exercises.

According to posts on the Facebook support groups, there is a wide range of experiences. Some women got physical therapy information at the hospital before discharge, including both exercises to start immediately and exercises to do after drains come out. One person posted photos of the printed instructions for post-mastectomy exercises that they received in the hospital. Another posted photos of the pamphlet they received for exercises to do after a sentinel lymph node biopsy.

On the other hand, some women got no exercise information from the hospital. A couple people said they never felt the need for physical therapy, and the exercises they did on their own were sufficient. A few others said they started physical therapy about 2 weeks after surgery. Still others said they had to request physical therapy a few weeks after surgery when they felt they needed it.

I have not gotten any exercise instructions. I wish I had thought to ask about it in the hospital. It's on my list of questions to ask when I get my drains out, which I still hope will be this week.

In the meantime, I downloaded and printed the instructions other people posted. They are clearly labeled as post-surgery exercises, in one case with the hospital's name, so I feel like they are legit. But I'm also definitely wary of doing too much. And maybe my hospital purposely doesn't mention arm exercises until drains come out for a reason? Or maybe having the DMX and bilateral sentinel lymph node biopsy together means that exercises recommended for just one procedure or the other aren't wholly appropriate when you get both?

Well, it makes me feel psychologically better to have printed instructions in case I want to refer to them. It's useful information to have; for example, I had already tried gently reaching my arms over my head, which one set of instructions said I should not do with drains!

I won't bother with any formal exercises until I talk to someone in the Breast Center. I'm certainly more conscious now of the muscles that are stiff, and will try to engage in movements that will address my range of motion comfortably within my limits. Like I can easily do head rolls a few times a day. And I'll ask Ken for more massages. Haha.