Surgery is happening...reality is hitting hard

aweate

insurance approved my preventative bilateral mastectomy. Opting for no reconstruction so I can move on with my life with no additional surgeries (fingers crossed). Now the reality hits and questions are surfacing.

How bad is the pain right after? I heard not as bad as say a hip or knee replacement?

I have a month off work. Will I need longer? I have the time because I have never taken any type of leave except one maternity.

Is a recliner the best to sleep for a while? I sleep on my side and I know that won't be possible because of the drains.

What is the shock value on seeing the scars? I know this is different for everyone but a gauge would help.

Any tips for the night before? Should I request something to help relax?

Any suggestions or words of advise are so appreciated,

Aw

beach2beach

Hi,

I had a double and also had direct implants. Personally for me, I think all my nervousness and adrenaline got me through. I wasn't given any pain meds except for Ketolorac(heavy duty Tylenol)..and that worked fine. Me the pain was just stiffness with moving my arms. I was walking that night around the floor. I walked out hospital next day. I rested, but I also kept moving when I was up. I did not have a recliiner, but I propped myself up with pillows and one of my kids, I guess you would call it a gaming pillow too. I had the drains for a 6days,,couldnt wait for that to be out. I work in the school system and I had been dx and surgery during late July and surgery early Aug. 3 weeks later we started back, and I was given the ok if I felt up to it.

I would say you won't know unfortunately until you have it done. You may be surprised that you handle it very well. The scars aren't pretty but neither are my stretch marks ,,,battle scars from pregnancy and now BC. They have some great stuff for improving the scars. I'm 6mths out and they are purplish but they are fading. I hate the node scars the worst. Just can't hide them if you wear a tank top, but I have to look at it that I'm still here.

They will give you a list of what meds and otc that you have to stop taking before surgery, but I would ask your surgeon if something to relax you, like Ativan, the night before would help you to at least get some sleep.

I wish you an uneventful surgery and a hopefully not so bad recovery.

aweate

thank you so much for your response. Best wishes.

Luckynumber47

My dr did a couple things that helped me a lot. The first was recommending a guided imagery tape. I downloaded one from the library and it help me so much. I listened to it over and over. Got me through the couple weeks of waitingwithout needing Ativan.

The second was prescribing a klonopin the morning of surgery. I was able to relax and go with the flow. No fear.

Since this is prophylactic I suspect they don't need to remove lymph nodes so your arm movements won't be impacted, but if they are just keep everything at counter height for a while.

I used a recliner all day but slept propped on pillows at night. As soon as my drains were out I was able to sleep on my side and a pillow propped along my ribs made it very comfy.

I could do most everything by 4 weeks but the fatigue hung on for quite a while. I took lots of naps, which is not like me at all.

I had incisions that look like an anchor and it really didn't look too bad when they took the bandages off. I think they use a lot of glue and not many stitches so it wasn't really ugly. About a year after surgery I had 3D nipple tattoos (no other reconstruction) and I'm pretty happy with how I look. (Well, OK, I hate the 2 lumps of tissue my lousy PS left behind but I've learned to accept them and move on because I don't want any more surgery)

You sound like you've got a good handle on planning. I think that really helps.

Denise-G

One thing that really helped me was to cover all my mirrors with brown wrapping paper before I left

the house for surgery with just a little peaking edge on the side. When I was ready to peak, I did.

But I did not have to be staring at those scars until I WAS READY.

aweate

I did it and so far so good. It was a hard choice bug I am happy! Drains are drying up at the week mark so hopefully those come out soon. Thank you so much to everyone that helped me with this choice. I know that the surgery and living flat is what is right for me. On with life!