4 Tips for Taking Care of Yourself After Breast Cancer Surgery

2. Be prepared for some pain. To control pain, your doctor will give you a prescription-strength pain reliever, but "many people get away with taking Extra Strength Tylenol," says Ingrid M. Meszoely, MD, assistant professor of surgical oncology and clinical director of the Vanderbilt Breast Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. She's found that nights tend to be the hardest times for pain, so be sure to have something on hand in case you need it.

3. Take care of your drains. Instead of allowing the area around your surgery to swell, your surgeon likely installed clear hoses to gradually drain fluids. You'll need to track how much fluid is going out so that your doctor knows when it's time for the drains to come out, usually after one or two weeks. Don't worry that your drain will come out by accident; it won't. Women who have a mastectomy with or without implant reconstruction will have one or two drains, plus another if you had your lymph nodes removed. "And if you have a TRAM flap reconstruction you'll have drains on your belly and chest," Dr. Meszoely adds. (If you have only a lumpectomy—with or without a sentinel node biopsy—you won't have to deal with a drain at all.)

4. Watch out for lymphedema. This is one of the more likely side effects of a mastectomy, though it affects just 25% of patients who've had the surgery. The arm on the side where you had lymph nodes removed swells up and retains fluid. See your doctor for treatment.

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