My physical therapist works out of my hospital's Cancer Center, so all her patients are cancer patients. All the breast surgery referrals in this location go to her, which makes me feel confident that she is a good match for my needs.
She said my range of motion is within reason for where I am post-surgery. She gave me 7 exercises to do daily.
I mentioned that there is a particular tightness in my right underarm. It feels like there's some kind of connective tissue stretched taut. She said it's cording. It's treated with stretching and massage, but the massage isn't something I can do myself because you need two hands to massage the "cords" in a particular way. She massaged the area for a few minutes, and some of the cords "snapped", which is a good thing. You would think I'd get ticklish with someone massaging my underarms, or that I might feel a bit of pain or discomfort with the "snapping", but that whole area is still numb! So I didn't feel a thing.
(Incidentally, I'm reading a book on breast cancer that says the numbness in my underarm area is caused by nerves being cut or stretched during surgery. If it's still numb after "a few months", it may be permanent!)
She said based on just my range of motion, she would typically schedule me for another appointment in a week. But because of the cording, I've got two appointments next week.
I'm sorry you're still numb there! I was once told that a good masseuse should not feel ticklish. =P
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