perfect bathing suit for me!

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cheryl58
cheryl58 Member Posts: 182
edited June 2014 in Living Without Reconstruction After a Mastectomy

Hi Everybody,

I haven't posted in quite a while, but I do check in every now and then to see how everybody is doing.  So, Hello to my old friends from 2006 and Hi to any new friends out there.

Anyway, I wanted to share something in case it can help somebody down the road.  I have always been a bit shy about a wearing a bathing suit.  I don't know, just did not feel comfortable.  After bilateral masts and no reconstruction, I pretty much figured that was it for me.  I would occasionally check them out online but really never thought that I would get one.  Well, we have friends that from back home that want to meet halfway and get together.  They want to rent somewhere with a hot tub, golf course, etc.  I am really bad at golf, I can't drink because it gives me migraines so I figured I had better find something to wear in the hot tub! 

Kathy at Heide's Mastectomy shop is just a wonderful person, and I happened upon her quite by accident.  I was looking online and she had a very bargain-priced Anita swimsuit listed.  I thought, "what the heck, I will get that and at least then I have something".  It turns out the suit was out of stock, but she loaded up a box of suits and sent them to me to try on.  In doing this, I discovered a style that fits wonderfully. 

If there is anybody out there that has that bit of flabby stuff by their armpits (if you have it, you will know what I mean), then try a "grecian-style" suit.  I found that any tank top with less straps than the grecian only pushed on this flab and made it more pronounced.  I just hated the way that it looked.  The grecian style tops (you can mix and match with pant bottoms or skirt bottoms) have a wider strap that actually covers part of this flabby stuff.  I absolutely love my new bathing suit and am thinking that I will wear it even when I don't have a place to swim because it is so beautiful and looks so good.  The name of the suit I bought is Amoena Pago Beach T (and I got it with a little black skirt....again, I have issues!)  There is another one out there called the Amoena La Paz and another called the Amoena Palm Beach.  All three of these prints make the grecian style suit (top) with the wider straps. 

I hope that this helps someone else!  I have not even thought about a bathing suit for the past (almost) four years.

Take care, 

Cheryl

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  • BoobsinaBox
    BoobsinaBox Member Posts: 550
    edited February 2010

    Cheryl,

    Thanks for sharing this info.  The suit is lovely, and finding a good place to shop is very helpful.  Welcome back.  I am a 2006 survivor also.

    Dawn 

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  • bobcat
    bobcat Member Posts: 681
    edited February 2010

    Cheryl - I was just asking about this issue in another discussion and a friend sent me to your post.  Thank you so much.  I haven't tried finding a suit or even thought of wearing one since I started this journey but we are planning to take our little sail boat out this summer and I want to look and feel comfortable.  I have dreaded the thought of trying on suits and dealing with this new body I have.  I did have reconstruction and it's all the other age related issues that I've ignored that are going to be a factor too.  I like the idea of a little skirt coverage, that underarm skin thing and I have midriff issues - don't we all??  I will check out these suits online and probably do what you did - have some sent and try them all.  Someone also suggested Land's End and I will check them out also.  Again, thanks for posting the suit tips.  Hugs, Bobbi

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  • Faith316
    Faith316 Member Posts: 2,431
    edited February 2010

    Thank you for posting about this.  I just had uni-mx two weeks ago and was already wondering about swimsuits as I have a pool in my backyard, plus when we travel, I like being able to enjoy the pools at the hotels. 

    One other thing I have wondered about, do you use your regular prosthesis for a swimsuit or buy something different made just for use in pools?  Obviously, being only 2 weeks post-surgery, I am still just in a post-mx camisole with the little soft fiberfill pad on the mx side (I still have a drain in) so I have not pursued looking for any type of prosthesis yet.  If anybody has any tips for what to buy to use in a swimsuit or just what to buy for your regular wear prosthesis, I would sure appreciate hearing about it.  There are SO many different types, etc., that it is extremely difficult to even know where to begin.

    Thanks to anybody for any replies.

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  • cheryl58
    cheryl58 Member Posts: 182
    edited February 2010

    Hi Dawn, Bobbi, and Faith316,

    Dawn, nice to meet you (from 2006) and congratulations on your survivorship!  Sometimes, it seems like yesterday this all happened because there are always all the ongoing issues, and sometimes I have a hard time remembering if it was 2006 or 2007 (it was 2006!).

     Bobbi, I am not sure if I explained the hanging, loose skin thing (I think the girls here call them "dog ears" or something).  Anyway, if I had boobs, they would sort of pull it down and with a bathing suit top on, it would just look like my "gigantic" (not really...never was but always wanted to be..haha) boobs were trying to escape out the sides of my suit.  Without the boobs, the skin kind of bulges out instead of down (I guess it is skin with fat tissue yet or something).  That has been one of my biggest issues with wearing any sort of bathing suit.  Up to this point, it was shorts, tee-shirt and toes in the water and that was it.  With the grecian style bathing suit top, the straps are wider and kind of very loosely scrunched so they spread out a little instead of pushing on this fatty blob like the skinner straps would do.  I absolutely love this grecian style and with the little skirt (which I bought separately from JC Penney...just plain black), it is great!

    Faith - That it great that you have a pool - good exercise!  Congratulations on making it through your surgery and for thinking ahead to better times!  As far as the prosthesis, I had a real problem with that.  There are some really creative girls on here that make swim boobs out of bath poofies!  I could never do that and I did not want to spend the money on swim prothesis (I had a bilateral). I did break down though when I found this suit and purchased the Amoena Tria swim form.  I purchased it from Park Mastectomy online.  She has them listed for $79.99 each.  I am hoping that they work out well.  I cannot remember what my regular prosthesis are right now and the box is in the bedroom with my sleeping husband.  I think you would get a lot of responses though if you just posted that question as a new, separate topic under this same forum.  These girls know their stuff.  There is a great girl on here named Barbara (I think her sceen name is Erica) who has a separate site where she lists favorite prostheses, etc.  I cannot think of the name right now, but if I find it, I will post back to you.

    Take care everybody, and I hope that this really does help somebody.  It took me so long to find something I was comfortable in (almost four years!!)

    Hugs,

    Cheryl

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  • cheryl58
    cheryl58 Member Posts: 182
    edited February 2010

    Hi Faith,

    Barbara's site is called breastfree.org  She also has a place there for comments or questions.  You could ask her directly on her site.  She was a GREAT help to me when I was first searching for advice.

    Take care!

    Cheryl

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  • dreamwriter
    dreamwriter Member Posts: 3,255
    edited February 2010

    If you have  had lymph nodes removed.... hot tubs are a no-no.  Dont want to poop on your parade but the heat can inflame the lymph nodes causing lymphedema.  Sorry to be such a worry wart but I did all the right things and still have one arm twice the size of the other.

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  • 2Hands4me
    2Hands4me Member Posts: 484
    edited February 2010

    Faith - I'll bump the swimming poofy instructions to the top for you! They aren't that hard once you get the idea. I had made one after my right mastec. and now made two smaller ones after my November mastectomy. I sewed black (matching) slick fabric to the inside cups of my usual swim suit, left one side open of each cup, added the poofies, and hand sewed the fabric closed. They are soft, drain quickly and well, and work great!!!!

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  • Faith316
    Faith316 Member Posts: 2,431
    edited February 2010

    Thanks!  I appreciate it!

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