[StephN]

Dear Leslie -
Variations of this problem can occur at almost any stage of diagnosis AND treatment for breast cancer.

My AWS occurred after my excisional biopsy and lumpectomy with sentinal node biopsy. This was without any further node dissection - just a third biopsy as they kept missing my small (but very lethal) tumor. Somehow that brachyial nerve got bothered by that surgery, which was also on the right and affecting my right arm.

So when I went for my second opinion I LOVED the med onc and agreed to interview the surgeon he worked most with. That man was so careless when he examined my AWS area. When I asked him what he would do about it (as it was shown that my sentinal node was cancerous and the axilla would need to be done), he said, "Oh, just snip it!"

I said "thank you very much, I will get back to you if I need your services" and never saw him again. When going back to my original surgeon (a thoracic specialist) he said he would take the extra ten minutes to free up that nerve which runs through the axillary nodes area. That way I would have a still intact nerve, just badly bruised.

After performing the exercises for 3 months I had my full range of motion back. A TIP: I found that doing the exercises in the shower under very warm running water helped me progress faster. I also massaged in some cream for sore joints and tendons to help the area around the healing nerve.

Hope this helps. The main thing is that I wanted to have feeling at the back side of my arm and if that nerve had been severed it would never have been normal again. I know several women who say they don't have feeling at the back of their arm as the nerves were cut in the surgery.