How did you deal with pre surgery anxiety?

No words of wisdom but my surgery is scheduled for the 17th and I'm getting a bit anxious too. I'm doing a lumpectomy and an oncoplasty. Just letting you know you aren't alone.

Valium and meditation (and I'm not usually anxious, but why suffer?). Also, at my first appointment with the surgeon, I watched his hands and was comforted that he didn't have a tremor.

Hi 9lives70, I swear you are describing me, just this side of control freak. Funny thing about this cancer, though - there is no way to control it. No matter how hard I try, no matter how much I've learned I can't control it away. I can, and did, find a great surgery team, educated myself enough to know what were the right choices for me and then I gladly went into surgery knowing I had done everything I could and that the surgery marked the beginning of my healing.

I spent a lot of time preparing for surgery. I bought soft, button up the front jammies, a robe and slippers (I wore them all for my overnight in the hospital instead of those nasty hospital gowns. I felt like I deserved the pampering) I went to the thrift store and bought lots of soft, button up the front shirts. I bought a few front closure sports bras. I bought 2 mastectomy camisoles to hold the drains. I made sure I had plenty of pillows so I'd be comfortable propped up in bed. I made a chart to record all my meds and times and had a clipboard for the sheet to record drain output. I put my Drs numbers on the clipboard in case I got horribly sick so my DH didn't have to look around for contact info and Ibought a thermometer to keep track of my temperature.

I took care of every project around the house that I was afraid I'd be too disabled to do after surgery. I tracked down some tv series I thought I'd like to watch and organized the kitchen so I could reach everything I thought I'd need.

I also discovered guided meditation and found that unbelievably calming. Well, that and the klonopin they gave me the morning of surgery.

Trust me, you will get through this. You will be fine. It took me several months after surgery to stop obsessing about the cancer. Now, after 9 months I've learned to coexist with the uncertainty and life isn't much different than it was pre diagnosis.

from variable: "Your deep analysis of every possible situation and scenario has done nothing at all to influence the outcome".

That is so, so true. And so, so hard to accept.

From another control freak, thank you for pointing out the obvious that I always have so much trouble seeing!

I went from heading to my chemotherapy appointment to being rushed to a bilateral mastectomy (tumor grew more than two cm between treatments), so no time to think.

That being said, I think those who say there is a sense of relief after the surgery are right. Yes, it stinks. Yes, I've grieved over losing a breast. However, it is done and you just have to push forward.

You'll have good days and bad days, but the anxiety about it happening seems to be the worst part.

I am yet to get my surgery scheduled.  I'll need to meet with my PS first and then the surgery date will be arranged.  Like others have mentioned, I tend to busy myself to keep my mind off of the current cancer situation.  I have been burning candles and incense, using essential oils, and cleaning to calm myself.  Work keeps me busy too.  Taking in some exercise, long walks helps some.  This weekend I plan to start setting up some meals to freeze so that my family has something easy to eat on while I recover.  I love baking.  Maybe I'll do a little of that too.  Treat yourself to a nice robe or pajamas for the upcoming surgery recovery.  Breathe.

For me, it was “retail therapy.” Immediately went out to Second Act Boutique and bought the prescribed compression sleeve & gauntlet as well as a few Amoena camisoles with built-in bras. Then. because I was told I would have to sleep in a bra for awhile, I went online and bought a few Leading Lady soft front-close “leisure” bras (not enough support to look good, but enough to keep “Thelma & Louise” secure). I had a drawer full of very expensive European underwire bras in various colors (my size, 38 I, isn’t carried in most department stores) but was warned I might not be able to wear underwires for quite awhile, so I went to Kohls and bought some wire-free Playtexes in the “sister-size” of 44DD or 42DDD, expecting to have to remove a couple of inches from the back bands. I was warned that I wouldn’t be able to pull anything on over my head, so I bought a bunch of button-up shirts and PJs.

Also went to Staples and bought some ARC system punched paper, binding discs, covers, dividers and pocket folders and started a binder with sections for pre-op, post-op, radiation, chemo (if necessary), hormonal therapy, bills, receipts, handouts, after-visit summaries.

Well, I was able to pull off my PJs over my head the next morning after my lumpectomy. so I went back to T-shirts and nighties. 4 weeks post-op I began wearing underwires again, and though I was warned I’d probably have to go braless during and for a while after radiation, such was not the case. I didn’t even get irritation, and the underwire didn’t touch the surgical or biopsy scars nor the radiation field (I had targeted partial-breast rads).

My advice? Buy the bare minimum of what you’re told you will need, and if it turns out you need more, there’s always online. Spend the rest of your “retail therapy” budget on fun stuff you really want, rather than what you think you might need.

I always feel better after yoga. Or a long walk or bike ride. I have never been super sporty, but I have noted for years that physical movement will always pull me out of a funk or obsessive thinking spiral. I wake up and think "shit! I have cancer and I'm going to have surgery!" but then I start moving around and that anxious feeling dissipates.

I talk to people as well, but hands-down the physical makes the difference for me. I am worried about not having it post surgery. But I guess that time is more about managing pain or discomfort and less about the anxious uncertainty I am working on now.

Surgery should give you great relief after it is over. The cancer is gone and for me reconstruction was exciting. To have fantastic results and a flat tummy.

Prayer got me through i asked The Lord to go into surgery with me i will Always keep Us All in Prayer. msphil idc stage 2 0\3 nodes Lmast chemo n rads n 5 yrs on Tamoxifen Praise God i am now a 23yr Survivor