Kelly, it was not painful. I didn’t take any meds. If they do a nerve block while you’re out, you won’t feel a thing when you wake up. It’s more the overall fatigue on your body from the surgery shock. I needed help getting up to the bathroom for 2 days. After that it gets progressively easier. No driving for 3 weeks. My advice is to stay in the hospital as long as you can. Preferably several nights. I am shocked when women say they went home same day. I could barely move in my bed for several days let alone go home. It’s crazy that they do this. So take your time. Bring wet wipes, basic toiletries, bathrobe and water to hospital. You will mostly be in your gown pretty much.

I had a bilateral mastectomy 2 years ago. There was a lot of pain initially, but pain meds helped. The drains were uncomfortable, but by the time they all came out, the pain was pretty much gone. I had part of my incision that opened and had to do dry-packing with saline bandages until it closed up, but it wasn’t painful.

Not painful

I had the single mastectomy, and honestly- they cut through so many nerves- it was not as painful as I had imagined it would be. I had an Rx for pain- but found that Tylenol was just as effective. It did help to have a couple of ice packs handy- as I would fall asleep- then wake up when the meds wore off. Having the ice packs for a few seconds on, then off, then on... helped bridge the gap until the next dose kicked in. Having a small U shaped pillow (neck pillow or small folded towel) to place under the arm was a great help! It helped reduce the pressure and friction of my arm against the incision site where the lymph nodes were removed. Wishing you every success with your upcoming procedure! Hugs!

I had pain after my double mastectomy which also included expander implant surgery at the same time. It was pretty bad the first couple of weeks and I have been on hydromorphone ever since that surgery. I think part of the problem was I already had implants that had to be removed and during the surgery the doctor detached one of my chest muscles from my sternum. In all fairness my 1st reconstructive surgeon butchered me. My incisions opened up 3 times because of stupid mistakes made by him and his staff, like injecting saline to expand the implants before my incisions were fully healed, not removing my single stitches once the incisions were closed which caused the stitches to get tight and pull which made holes in my incision line, etc.