A list of things that may help you get through this!
Hi all,
I am 32. I was diagnosed in April. Went through double mastectomy and am about to finish chemo.
Breast cancer was devastating for me. The hardest part for me was that I feel like no one prepared me to life with cancer, especially not how to make my day to day life comfortable. I felt like doctors didn't care about stripping me from all sense of dignity. I had to figure out a lot of stuff on my own that made my life bearable (mostly through hours and hours of research online and reading forums)
So why am I posting in the "just diagnosed" section?
Because I collected in one document all the tips and tricks (which I call my comfy list) that made my life better. If I had had that when I was just diagnosed, it would have helped me so much. So here I am, sharing it. And hoping that it will help some of you!
Also, I am of course very open minded to updating the list so if you have suggestions or find out new things as you go through this experience, let me know!
Bccomfylist.blogspot.com (not sure why I'm not allowed to post a link)
Hopefully, it will help some of you!
Comments
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Hi Chocobo and welcome to Breastcancer.org! Thank you very much for sharing this valuable information!
For security purposes, new members are not allowed to post links right away. Have you considered copy and pasting your list into your opening post? We're sure this list will be super helpful to many members who are just starting their journey!
Thank you again for sharing and we look forward to hearing more from you soon!
--The Mods
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Ah, I thought there would be a length limit, which is why I did not post it directly here. So here it is!
Breast cancer comfy list aka: what I wish I had been told to prepare and make my life easier while dealing with breast cancer
This does not treat the medical aspect, there is plenty online on this (and your doctor should of course be your #1 source of information). However, what there isn't is a list of things to know or do, that will make your life better.
This worked for me, I went through double mastectomy + egg retrieval + chemo + reconstruction. I was 32, married, no kids, and had breast cancer stage 2, one 3.1 cm tumor, negative lymph nodes, BRCCA 2 positive.
I am not pretending this list will make this ordeal easy, but hopefully, it will help a bit.
Stuff to get/do as soon as you have been diagnosed:
- A notebook with a pen attached to it: take notes, write down your appointments (even if they're on your phone), write questions you have, and keep this on you at all time. It's going to be a whirlwind, you can't possibly process it all at once, so write it down!
- A folder where to keep all the receipts/insurance stuff/ paperwork. It will pile up in a hurry!
- Don't hesitate to ask your doctor to repeat something. You will zone out during conversations, that's ok. But don't miss anything they say, it's all important.
What to buy pre-surgery:
- Get a reclining chair/couch: get one on craigslist or whatever it takes but get one. After the surgery you will be in excruciating pain and sleeping in a bed will be near impossible even with a mountain of pillows. A reclining couch will be a lot easier to adjust your back level and also to prevent you from sweating etc. It took me 9 weeks after the surgery for me to be able to sleep well in a bed.
- Get a bidet seat. There are manual ones for $50 on amazon. You will not have the use of your arms for at least 2-3 weeks. You will regain bodily functions (meaning you will poop) after 4-5 days. And you won't be able to wipe yourself. So unless you don't mind asking your partner/kid/parent to do it for you, get a bidet seat. A double mastectomy is already an humiliating process, you don't need to add to that a complete loss of dignity. Mentally, this helped me tremendously. It's also much more hygienic as you will not take a shower for a while.
- Buy plastic plates that are microwavable and won't heat up in the microwave. You won't be able to carry anything at first, and you don't want to burn yourself. Also you're going to be wobbly so get plates that have an edge. Last thing you need is to spill your plate on the floor.
- Buy small pillows to fit under your arms. You won't be able to even lift your arms and no matter where you sleep you will want a pillow under each arm.
- Buy very loose clothing, especially buttoned up shirts. You won't be able to get dressed on your own for a few weeks. Also, you might not tolerate anything on your breasts. T-shirts and tank tops can be very hard to put on and can be very heavy on your breasts, so your usual clothing won't cut it. Loose clothing also hides your now non-existing breasts (yeah even with reconstruction)
- Make sure you have disinfecting wipes. You won't take a shower for a while. So clean yourself like that.
- Buy dry shampoo!!! Your hair will be disgusting because of the pain induced sweat, and it will hurt horribly to wash your hair.
- Buy a travel pillow (the ones you take on the plane). They may or may not help, but in my case they did, especially at the hospital.
- Make sure you have slip on shoes. Needless to say you won't be able to tie a lace for a while.
- Buy a belt made of light cloth on which you can attach a safety pin. See "What to expect after surgery", point 5.
- Buy a massage ball! You will be so tense, if no-one around you can do massages, get that ball!
- Buy a pregnancy pillow! The huge U shaped ones work wonder. At week 9, I could still not sleep in my bed. Couldn't sleep on my stomach or on my side. The bed was just excruciatingly painful. I bought one of those pillows and it changed everything.
What to do pre-surgery:
- Make sure you have at least 2 weeks worth of clean laundry, including bed sheets, towels etc… Especially if you have no one around to help you.
- Make sure you clean the house thoroughly before the surgery, and make plans for somebody (friend/family/professional) to come and clean the house for at least a month afterward (no way you can vacuum on your own). When healing from the surgery you need to live in a clean environment as you need to minimize the risk of infection. This point will be even more crucial if you go through chemo.
- Seek a support group or find a therapist if you feel you might need it.
- If you don't have kids, and you go or may go through chemo (which you may not know for sure until after the surgery), call the fertility clinic ahead of time to talk about the possibility to freeze your eggs/embryos (which is painless and a walk in the park in comparison to what you just had). Also, shop around, some of them will offer a cycle for free for cancer patients (CNY clinic in NY state is wonderful). For example, I did fertility treatment and egg retrieval week 5 and 6, and started chemo week 7. It's important to make early contact and know what to do and who to call as you may need to move really fast as you will likely not have much time between the moment you learn about cancer treatment and the start of said treatment. For example, my oncotype DX test came back week 4 which told me I needed chemo. My oncologist wanted me to start it on week 7, so I had barely 3 weeks to get through the fertility treatment.
- Look at pictures of breast pre-cancer, post-surgery, and post-reconstruction, and prepare yourself. Look on internet, ask your surgeon. But prepare yourself psychologically as much as you can.
What to expect after the surgery:
- Your breasts will look horrendous. Like stumps of breasts. They will look horrible and feel horrible. It's ok. They will look better with time, a lot of time. Pretty much until the reconstruction, which whether you are going through chemo or not may well be 6 months later. Apparently, after talking to friends who went through the same thing, the smaller the breasts, the less horrible it looks. With bigger breasts to start with, the surgeon will leave more skin for the reconstruction, so you will have skin hanging and bunched up and wrinkled. With smaller breasts you won't have this problem. That said, it won't be pretty either.
- With the expanders (aka torture devices), your breasts will be asymmetrical and have no shape, and just look very wrong and distorted. As you fill, it will get better, but it will not be good until the reconstruction.
- Tissue expanders, no matter what the plastic surgeon says, are torture devices. They are painful and uncomfortable. By week 11, my lower back was hurting horribly, because of me changing my posture to accommodate them.
- The tissue expanders will feel like you have a coconut bra inside you. They will push in and out and will be horribly uncomfortable and terribly painful, especially if you had bigger breasts to start with. It gets better as your tissue heal. They still feel horrible until the reconstruction.
- You will look like an octopus for a week while the drains are there. Get a cloth belt to attach them so that you don't have to hold them all the time. Also, the drains are actually stitched in and they go a good 3 inches inside your body so it's pretty impossible to tear them out, so don't worry about that.
- Expect swelling and don't panic when it happens. It will go down with time. If it's not red and hot, you're fine.
- The plastic surgeon should start filling the expanders every week or every other week. It will not be painless, especially at first. Truth be told, for me, the fillings provoked very acute pain for 2-3 days. Some people claim it feels like sore muscles. It never did for me. The pain was from the expanders digging into my bare flesh.
- 6 weeks recovery is 6 weeks recovery. It's not an exaggeration. It's not 2 weeks and you're fine. No. It's 6 weeks. By week 5 I stopped the pain meds altogether (including ibuprofen), although still in pain, but tolerable. By week 5, I could somewhat go back to work, very slowly.
- Following point 8, BE PATIENT. I was an idiot who didn't know better. By week 5 I felt so good (in comparison to what I just had gone through) I asked for more saline solution in the expanders. Instead of 60cc, they gave me 90cc (I didn't ask for that much but did not say no). The plastic surgeon should never have accepted. Why? Because my tissues weren't healed, and I went back to the level of pain of week 2. Almost unbearable. Back to tons of pain meds for a solid 5 days. Back to not moving my arms. I literally felt my tissues rip inside my chest. So take it slow, because if you don't, you're going to pay for it.
- You won't be able to drive for a VERY long time. I drove only on week 6 and I shouldn't have. My right arm was not doing well and turning my head all the way to check my blind spot was difficult.
- One of the worst side effect of the mastectomy is phantom itching. Nobody tells you about that but at some point your breasts start itching inside. It's relentless and because you have no sensations no matter how much you scratch it still itches. It's maddening. I have had 24h straight of itching. It can drive you literally nuts and prevents you from functioning. Gapabentin, which is a nerve pain medicine, helped! Apparently the itching is from the nerves expecting your tissues but not finding them and thus going haywire. It tends to happen around week 6, when your tissues are healed. This comes and goes, sometimes for long period, sometimes for a few minutes. One other thing that helped for me, was tapping my breast with my fingers, sometimes quite strongly.
What to do during recovery time:
- Do whatever the heck you want but REST! You deserve it, you just paid a visit to hell and came back from it!
What to ask your doctor for, when you leave the hospital (just in case):
- Anti-anxiety meds such as lorazepam before you leave the hospital. Even if you have never taken such meds (I hadn't) and are mentally strong (I thought I was), you will break down at some point (for example the first time you look at the remnants of your breasts). Nights are especially tough. Especially the first 2 or 3 after you get home. I took lorazepam for 2 weeks after the surgery, at night, to help me sleep well (rather than waking up every 2h). It's very important to sleep well and get good rest, it helps your body heal.
- How to wean off the opioids. Seems obvious, but not so obvious when you come out of surgery and are in a fog (because, in part, of the opioids). Also, try to wean off them early on. The pain was really unbearable for me the first 3-4 days. But the opioids kept me in a constant fog and my mind was never sharp. I hated it. As soon as I got off them I felt better (after feeling horrible for a night because I stopped them abruptly), mostly because I felt I had my mental functions again. By the 5th day, I was ok pain wise with ibuprofen, acetaminophen and muscle relaxers. I also got some tramadol in case I'd get in really really bad pain, but I only used it a few times.
- Muscle relaxers. You will be so sore and tense, you will need them.
- Gapabentin. For when you get a sudden onset of phantom itching!
So your friends/family ask you what they can do to help, here are some ideas:
- Be there for you and for your primary caretaker (spouse/partner/kid) as this will be tough for him/her too (maybe even more so than for us cancer patients). Bring him/her some food at the hospital or keep him/her company while you're in the operating room.
- Come for an afternoon in your home and take care of you, giving your primary caretaker some much needed time to breathe.
- Take your caretaker out for a meal, and listen, and help him/her talk/vent.
- Stock up the freezer with pre-prepared meals that you can just throw in the microwave/oven (if you can even open the oven). That is all you will have the strength to do.
- Do some laundry for you, especially bedding.
- Clean the house (although some companies offer their cleaning service for free for cancer patients).
- If you have kids, ask your friends to host them for a while, you don't need kids running around and bumping you every 10 seconds, you need rest and quiet.
- Plan a day out that will not be too tiring nor requires too much driving. You have to balance rest and outings very carefully (and potholes really suck…).
- Drive you around! Yes. you will need a chauffeur for a while (note that if you get into an accident while recovering you will likely be deemed the one at fault because you're not supposed to be driving… also you just put your body and mind through enough, you don't need to put them through more).
- Go grocery shopping and fill your fridge.
- Ask for a very gentle shoulder massage. I had been so tense for 2 weeks that my shoulders and upper back were killing me. Good thing for my husband's skill with massaging!
- Buy you chemo hats if you're going through it, or any of the items listed in this list!
Some more random facts that can be useful:
- The first 2 weeks post diagnosis will be a whirlwind, it will calm down afterwards. Take some time to digest the news.
- Time between diagnosis and surgery is ~2 months. Other than the first 2 weeks of that time period, you should be able to work semi-normally (everybody is different, some will take a leave of absence if they can, some will dive into work even more, whatever works for you).
- The surgery is ~6-7h for a double mastectomy + reconstruction if all goes well.
- The word reconstruction is misleading. At first, your breasts will not be reconstructed at all (also, you won't have a nipple). You will have tissue expanders placed. These are made of a rubbery, stiff material. They feel hard and unnatural and have no shape. They will be filled little by little to expand your muscles until the desired size (they're placed under the chest muscle). The real reconstruction happens months (between 2 and 8 months depending on your treatment) after the mastectomy, when they take the tissue expanders out and put in the permanent implants instead. These will feel a lot different, and a lot better, but you will never regain full sensation in your breasts. If you go for nipple reconstruction, it will be another surgery after the reconstruction.
- The recovering period post surgery is 6 weeks. Count on being incapable of doing anything for 2 weeks, incapable of going back to work for at least 3 weeks. If you can take the 6 weeks off, do it.
If you need to go through fertility treatment:
- Fertility treatment is expensive. Count $5000 per cycle. But some clinic offer a free or discounted cycle for cancer patients. CNY in Upstate NY is wonderful.
- If you need to go through fertility treatment and chemo, the last 2 weeks of recovery will be a whirlwind with a doctor's visit literally every day (between the fertility clinic, the oncologist and the plastic surgeon). Be ready, it's exhausting.
- The fertility treatment itself is a piece of cake. You will self inject a drug once or twice a day. Considering what you just went through, it won't be an issue.
- It will make you hormonal and moody. PMS on steroids! I didn't even notice it myself because of all the other stress I was under, but my husband said it required a lot of patience on his part!
- Wait to be done with the fertility treatment before starting chemo. Specifically, wait to have your period (it will come at most 10 days after egg retrieval), then start the chemo. My first chemo treatment was a nightmare because my period from the fertility treatment happened at the same time. Burning and cramps like I have never had before. Horrible pain throughout. It was unbearable.
If you're going through chemo:
- Chemo lasts a long time. For me it was 1 treatment every 3 weeks. I felt horrible for a week, ok-ish for 1 week, and ok for 1 week. I did not fill the expanders the week of the chemo, but only the off weeks.
- Plan ahead and buy some hats/wigs/scarves for when you lose your hair (actually doing some shopping while recovering was very therapeutic for me!). Wigs are crazy expensive, but some insurance DO reimburse them. I personally found that scarves worked the best for me.
- Everybody is different when it comes to chemo. So you just have to wait and see how your body reacts, but count on being fatigued… very very fatigued…
- The chemo hell fog lasts only a few days, right after treatment. Don't drive nor do anything during that time, your brain doesn't work.
- With chemo, they give you a bone marrow stimulating drug. This HURTS! It feels like your bones are growing inside! Apparently the younger you are, the more it hurts. Take claritin. For some reason it helps. For me it didn't do enough though. What did it for me was raw hemp oil. This is a legal pill made from the extract of a cannabis plant (it does not make you high!). One reputable brand for it is Endoca (it also works wonders if you have any sort of arthritic pain).
Cost $:
- Hopefully, you have insurance. So the bulk of the cost will be covered. That said, between co-pays, meds and stuff to buy, I spent about $2000. I'm sure you can do less, but cancer is costly.
- Consider throwing a cancer shower, pre-surgery! Your friends (most of them want to help but don't know what to do) will be happy to chip in and offset the cost of all the stuff you need to buy to make this experience a little more comfortable for you!
Points to take home:
- This will probably be the worst time of your life.
- You will get through it, somehow.
- The reconstruction is worth it but is terribly painful and painfully slow (count 2 to 8 months from surgery)
- Take it one step at a time and remember:
- When dealing with cancer, no news is good news!
- Ask for help. Don't hesitate. Don't be shy. And don't be ashamed. There is NOTHING to be ashamed of. People are actually really kind when it comes to cancer and sometimes it's those from whom you expect the least that will give you the most.
So here you go, I think that's about it. Of course, this list is deeply personal as every one of us is different and copes with breast cancer differently, but I hope it will at least provide some help.
On that note, good luck, you're going to need it.
Should you need help/moral support/have questions/a friend to talk to, feel free to join my facebook group: Capital Region Breast Cancer Friends and Support (I live in the Albany, NY area)
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Very, very helpful! Thank you!!! and welcome again!
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thanks for this helpful list!
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Thank you so much Chocobo. This is really helpful. My wife just had a double mx yesterday and I'm trying to make sure we have everything she'll need at home. I think we both missed a number of things in the pre-planning so this is very very helpful. Thank you for sharing.
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I think this list represents worst case scenario and I hope not everyone reading this will think this is what post BMX looks like across the board. This process is stressful enough without added worry.
I had a BMX on Aug 31. I have had full use of my arms and was fully capable of all aspects of self care including dressing myself from day 1. I have also been sleeping in my bed from day 1. The drains came out Monday and I went back to work this week. I also started driving this week: 6 speed manual Challenger Scat Pack Shaker
I have also finished 6 months of chemo and never had nor needed bone marrow stimulating drugs. It's a case by case basis.
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@integragirl: Good for you. Apparently you have had the best case scenario for the BMX, but obviously, not everyone is as lucky as you. There is no harm in having a list that warns of what may happen. It's better to be informed and then pleasantly surprised than the other way around. But you're right, every case is different and depends on many things such as age, breast size and breast density. I had very large breast (F cup!) and extremely dense breasts which is why the mammogram didn't even pick up my tumor. So maybe this has something to do with why my case was so bad. That doesn't mean that everybody else will have it as bad as me or as "easy" as you.
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Chocobo,
You covered everything!!! Very impressive. I love Albany NY. Miss apple picking a lot. I tried so hard to get a job there after SUNY Albany graduation. No cigar.
If I may add my two cents in terms of how to pay for it excluding fertility treatments. I read every single word under benefit section of my medical insurance. I paid small bills first for the reason negotiating small bills is not possible. Big Bills say anything more than $500 I did not pay intially. I told them I will what I could and when I could. I wound up getting 25 month int free pymt plan on $6000.00. I have a second bill of $1000.00 which I am paying $25 per month. please remember you have to be alive and well first to worry about bills.
Mimi
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I think that each persons experience is unique. There are" good", bad and middle of the road experiences in everything in life. This is a difficult diagnosis for anyone to hear. Then we are faced with numerous decisions. We each have to make choices that we feel best suits our own individual situation. None of the decisions are easy. There is a lot of information coming at you, that now you try your best to make sense of...and that process in itself is exhausting. I strongly feel that knowledge is power. There's a lot to digest. I got copies of ALL of my reports, looked over every word, researched myself and made my (long) list of questions up from there. I asked lots of questions. There are many helpful threads on this site as well. You will be able to hear a variety of experiences that give personal perspective in addition to and aside from medical studies. I looked at many web pages and trial studies and tried to analyze all of it to come to my own conclusion. I tried to weight the pros and cons of all treatment options I was offered. I also looked at risk vs risk...short term and long term, to look at it from different perspectives. The really important point to keep in mind is to listen to your gut. After surgery, I thought that when I looked at my scars in the mirror for the first time, that I would burst into tears. When the time came, it was quite the opposite. I looked at myself, and I was PROUD. I made a decision that was exceptionally difficult. A decision I never wanted to make. BUT, I made the decision that was right for me...and you will make the decision that is right for you. I wish anyone reading this peace of mind and a smooth recovery.
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Thank you so much for the helpful tips.
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this is incredibly helpful and makes me optimistic. Thank youfor posting it.
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do you have a list of questions you recommend based on your research? I. Still too overwhelmed to look stuff up and my bs appt is Monday. Thanks.
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Hi Kahnartist. I'm sorry that you have to go through this .In my situation, each time I had a mammogram, a needle biopsy or lumpectomy, my results kept getting upstaged. After my lumpectomy,where DCIS was detected, the beginning of many decisions started. I met with the breast surgeon, followed by the oncologist and I asked to meet with the radiologist. It is definitely a lot of appointments and information in the beginning of the diagnosis. Starting with my first appointment, I asked for copies of all of my reports so that I could highlight things that I had questions about. I also asked for copies of my imaging (both mammogram and MRI along with their reports). In my case, I had very dense breasts, which led to more questions about future screening. Of course, I don't know how to read the imaging disks, but I wanted to read the reports and look at my breasts myself. I found that often times at the doctors office, they tend to give you the overall summary/ or final diagnosis. Although the bottom line is important, I found many of my questions(and answers) within the details of my reports. The medical information is very confusing in how it is presented and may be presented slightly different from doctor to doctor. I would cross reference information(asking repetitive questions) with the next doctor on things that didn't make sense or to confirm information. At times, It progressively gets more confusing because when asking about risk factors, at times they speak in percentages and others in " two fold" or" four fold", other times..1 in 8 women..or 2 in 1,000 women... or they may present it as .6% per year. What I wanted to know, was the straight forward risk percentage in my lifetime, for my specific diagnosis. I also have a tendency to want to know a few steps ahead of the situation as to where my decision could lead(short term and long term). With both lumpectomy and mastectomy you are faced with many forks in the road.
I wanted to know if I chose lumpectomy with radiation and tamoxifen-
how much of an area of my breast will be removed?(they showed me on a tape measure)
what is my recurrence rate if I choose lumpectomy? vs recurrence rate for mastectomy?
would surgery change the look and/or feel of my breast?
long term, could I experience different sensation to my breast in the area of excision? (ie numbness/discomfort/tingling)
will I be able to feel a lump where the scar tissue is?
what is the likelihood of my diagnosis being upstaged after surgery?
is the surgery done under twilight sedation or general anesthesia?
where on my breast will you make the incision?
will you be removing lymph nodes?
how long is the surgery?
how long is the recovery?
how many pathologist look at the sample?
when do I get my results? How am I contacted about the findings?
who do I meet with to discuss results?
after surgery, what are my limitations and for how long?(ie exercise/ lifting/showering/driving/work)
will radiation change the look/feel of my breast?
will radiation make it more challenging for reconstruction in the future?
if I have radiation now and I have a local recurrence in the future, what is the plan of treatment at that point? can I have radiation to the chest area a second time?
what are the risks short term and long term of radiation?
can radiation effect my heart, lungs and/or bones?
what are the risks with taking tamoxifen(or other meds for ER+)(long term and short term)?
how long would I take tamoxifen(or said drug)?
if I am prescribed Tamoxifen now, is there another medication to follow at the end of the time its prescribed for?(ie tamoxifen 5yrs..followed by 5 more years additional meds)
how will I be screened and how often?
If I chose mastectomy-
if I chose mastectomy, what is the risk of recurrence?
would I still need tamoxifen(or said drug)?
radiation?
how would I be screened and how often?
if I chose unilateral mastectomy am I at increased risk of developing a new cancer in the "healthy" breast?
if I chose unilateral mastectomy, do I still need to take tamoxifen(or said drug)?
if I chose bilateral mastectomy, do I need Tamoxifen(or said drug)?
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Chocobo,
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I've just been diagnosed and am preparing for surgery (single mastectomy + reconstruction).
I'm usually a very organized person, but find my mind bouncing around like a ping pong ball. Your comfy list is SO VERY helpful. Lots of things I didn't think about.
Thank you for taking the time to write it up and post it.Very much appreciated.
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I would like to add, it may be very possible this indepth of issues was related to having immediate recon started. I also never came close to that many issues. My kids were a HUGE help, my husband stepped up and I never had a problem getting dressed or washing my hair. Now standing and useing a flat iron wasn't going to happen...but I didn't care either. I thought I would lose it seeing my scar, I was actually plesantly surprised it was not that bad compared to the pictures I saw prior. I am 8 weeks out and have very little nerve issues, no complications, no itching ect. We are all different!
I have read and had my own PS strongly recommend not getting immediate recon due to your body trying to recovery from major surgery. My surgen refused to even discuss it, it was about my life not my boobs at that point. Immediate recon can cause a very high chance of comlications, symetry can be hard to accomplish ect. Radiation messes everything up and you may have to start over to begin with. I could not imargine dealing with recon right after my mysectomy, though I know some do it and are just fine. I am planning on my 2nd mysectomy in January, 8 weeks later (after there is a normal sergical risk and I have healed) start the recon process. Flat, healed and done with cancer treatments.
If you can, for sure plan meals ahead, clean house ect. For me, I didn't get that opportunity and it was still OK!!! We can only do so much, but we do have the strength to do this regardless of our expirence after the fact. Don't let minicule issues overwhelme you. The house work, food, kids will all work out, it will not be the end of the world if you can't add that stuff to your plate as well. Get the facts from your doctors, make a desision and don't look back. We are all different and deal with this differently---but we ALL can do it!
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thank you, this was helpful..
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- 171 Sex & Relationship Matters
- 9 The Political Corner
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- 394 Bonded by Breast Cancer
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- 806 Prayers and Spiritual Support
- 285 Who or What Inspires You?
- 28.7K Not Diagnosed But Concerned
- 1K Benign Breast Conditions
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- 4 Survey, Interview and Participant Requests: Need your Help!
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- 586 Alternative Medicine
- 255 Bone Health and Bone Loss
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- 2.7K Complementary and Holistic Medicine and Treatment
- 775 Diagnosed and Waiting for Test Results
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- 50 Immunotherapy - Before, During, and After
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- 591 Pain
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- 109 Welcome to Breastcancer.org
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- 11 Info & Resources for New Patients & Members From the Team