My experience was very good, mine was against my chest wall. Minimal pain and fast recovery time. The worst was the lymph node dissection, lots of bruising and kind of sore. But none of it was excruciating. You'll do well!

I could not wear any sports bras as the stitching on them covered my sentinel node and put pressure on it. I may be an exception to this. The stitches one the sports bras were rough too….
Go online and read if people say to buy up one size bigger for the sports bras or if they fit properly.

About your return to work, this is the problem, lifting and pulling could cause problems. Not having pain is one thing but the lifting, carrying, pulling is another. They ask for 4-6 weeks before returning to normal activities but women can't always get off a month but I would suggest at least 2 weeks

I didn't buy it because they OR people put it on me before I came out of it. I woke up with it on. You can google Breast surgery Bras, Lumpectomy Bras. Well I did go back to work 2 days after surgery but then wound up having to quit altogether, I wound up in the ER 5 days after surgery for pain between Breast and thats when sternum mets was discovered so I knew if it was pain then, it was only going to worsen

Thank you for the info! I've never worn a sports bra before (always an underwire) so I have some shopping to do. Any specific brands any of you recommend? Barbara66: Glad to hear you could get back to work so quickly. In my job I'm on my feet all day and doing heavy lifting so I wondered how much time to request off work--Im thinking one week??