After less than a day, I can't wear my new forms or the bra.

anianiau, I'm not a good person to reply to your question, but you've been waiting a long time.  I do understand how difficult this must be for you.

My mast/SNB was a year ago, and I still have difficulty wearing a bra for long periods of time.  Most of my old bras don't work at all anymore, because the band is too tight.  I've shopped until I dropped, trying to find a bra that fit properly and did not put too much pressure on my chest wall on the mast side.  It's easy to tell when the bra is too tight:  even if it fits fine when I first put it on, by the time I take it off I can clearly see a band mark cut into my skin on that side.  I finally found some bras at KMart that are soft and cottony and do not cut in.  But, they're not mast bras.

I was fitted for a prosthesis and mast bra a few months ago, at a highly regarded breast cancer-specialty store.  All the women working there have had BC and understand what we're going through.  The woman who measured me and picked out the bras insisted that I should be wearing a 34B, which is what I wore before my dx and surgery.  I pointed out how tight the band was, and how puffy my under-arm tissue was already, but she said the bra would be fine.  So, I bought 2 bras from her.  She wanted me to buy all 4 that my insurance allows, but I declined.

Like you, I cannot wear the bras she sold me.  Even after an hour or two, the band cuts in and my chest wall and under-arm area start getting even more puffy.  It may be chest/truncal LE.  I don't know.  What I do know is that I paid (well, my insurance paid) $75 for 2 mast bras that I cannot wear.

I like the breast form (prosthesis) she sold me, so I'm thinking of sewing pockets into my soft, cottony bras to allow me to use the prosthesis with them.

A lot of this is trial-and-error, unfortunately.  It can get expensive.

otter 

You shouldn't be stuck with your breast forms since you just bought them. Where I was fitted they told me that I could return my forms within 30 days if they weren't comfortable. I was led to understand this was standard.

However, from what you say, it sounds as if the bra, rather than the breast form, is the main problem (though I know it's sometimes hard to sort out exactly what is causing sensitivity or swelling).

Perhaps you can call your fitter and ask what the policy is on returns.

I'm another sensitive person and (even before bc) always had a hard time finding comfortable bras. I've come to feel that, for me, finding the right bra is even more important than what form I wear. By the way, I have a pair of Climate Lights in size 3 and find them very comfortable.

I'm 65 now. diagnosed at 63, then they found more ADH, so i had a left mastectomy 8/29/08. Was fitted for prosthesis after 7 or 8 weeks - surgeon said 6 weeks, but i waited a bit longer because i was so sore. Really good advice from this site, plus a good fitter, so i'm quite happy with the amoena prosthesis.

Bought 2 bras the same day i was fitted - 1 with underwire (which is all i wore for 45 yrs!), one without because i may have some truncal lymphedema from the rads ... i already had 2 very soft 'leisure bras' from after my earlier lumpectomy, because i was told not to wear underwire bras during rads.

Until about 4 months after the mastectomy, i couldn't wear the underwire more than one day in 3, and was sore by evening unless i wore the leisure bra (only that doesn't give my remaining breast any suppport - i'm 34 D, down from 34DD 2 yrs ago - and i hate having my breast flopping around!)

Unlike many women on this forum, i really really need to "look good" - i can't face the world without that -- i don't wear makeup, and won't color my hair, but i've always had a good figure, and i need to keep as much of that as i can at 65! Vanity of vanities and all is vanity -- but that's how i am.

Now i wear the underwire bra 5 days out of 7, the leisure bra otherwise - but the poofy rides 2" higher than my breast - not good. I almost never wear the tight-band bra without underwire!

Take home message -- try things out. Save some of those insurance-paid bras for a second try.

And remember -- you bought bras with your own money before all of this. Sometimes it's worth it?  Not saying we don't deserve the insurance -- but if i have to buy one of these $75 bras on my own, instead of 4 of the $20 bras i used to buy, i'll do it! Because. I like sleek shirts, and i do need to look good. Even tho i decided on the mastectomy (in a borderline situation - my local onc didn't think it was necessary; the 2nd opinion thought that it was), even tho i would do it again -- it's been hard enough to cope without looking like a bag lady.

You're not me; don't take any of this as truth for you. It may take a while to work out what works for you -- take tim efor that!

And good luck!

mouser 

It was 5 months before I could even be fitted for a silicone prosthesis. I had constant lymph swelling right from when I had my mx and couldn't bear anything tight over my scar. During that time I had regular LE massage and kinesio taping. When I did finally get a prosth., I had to 'break it in' slowly by wearing it for increasing periods each day. Eventually, I got used to it but in hot weather I don't like the feeling of having it strapped to my chest and it comes off (and my bra) as soon as I come through my front door. My prosth is an ABC assymetric design.