Double mastectomy on Wednesday. How to mentally prepare?

Hi Danee,

While everyone’s experience is different, I think many will agree that a bmx wasn’t as painful as we imagined. I did not have TE’s, but had one step implants, so I just had healing skin to contend with. As to your comment about Lupron and Aromasin, they are not horrendous for everyone. Folks who are having no issues tend not to post so, in general, you’ll see far more negativesbecause people are looking for support regarding those issues. I have been on Lupron (before bc) and am currently on Exemestane (Aromasin). Neither of those drugs prevented me from living my life as I wanted, so horrendous is not a word I would use to describe those drugs. And if you go into this assuming you will have bad side effects, you probably will. Focus on things going well. I am an optimist by nature but I spent a lot of time focusing on the best possible outcomes. I faced some adversity but am still living fairly normally after over 8 years at Stage IV. Wishing you all the best!

Danee, of course you are scared and overwhelmed but as the others have said, take one step at a time and focus on the fact that you are doing what you can to rid yourself of bc. The surgery, while not easy wasn’t nearly as painful as I expected and I have many years on you (68), so recovery is likely to go much easier than you think. You will have to grieve and this is a good place to come for support. As for taking Klonapin on surgery day, check with your surgeon first to be sure it doesn’t interfere with or exacerbate the anesthesia. I don’t think it has a very long half life and if your surgery is later in the day, they may agree it is a good thing to help w anxiety. If surgery is early, they may want you to forgo any anxiety medication. My sister also had bmx and her anesthesiologist gave her a pain blocker and it significantly improved her recovery process—she took only otc Tylenol and made Christmas cookies on day 2, so it may be worth asking about this. If she had gone before me I would have asked for it! Hang in there and move forward one step at a time.

I woke up thrilled to have that over with. My PS surgeon filled me to 200 cc so my first thought was “ hmm looks pretty good”. I tooksome pictures and we even made a bust of my bust before surgery day. Later when I was a bit more healed emotionally, I deleted the pics and threw the bust out LOL. It was cathartic and it helped, so what the heck. You’re going to get through this. I promise. One step at a time. Just focus on the next step.

I want to throw one thing in here. Although we all wish for a fast, easy recovery, remember that your body needs to heal after major surgery. I was very active from the the time I got home from the hospital but with a modified meaning of active. I started out with walks around the block and built up my walking time as I regained stamina. I made sure to get plenty of sleep and took rest breaks during the day (not my usual habit). Be very kind to your healing body by finding a balance between activity and rest

I just had my bmx and immediate implant reconstruction on Feb 25th. I am writing to highly encourage the nerve block—though there are pros and cons. The benefit is that post surgery my pain has been manageable. Now two days after surgery i have some occasional shooting pain on the sides of my torso which I think is near where the drains are....but its hard to tell because my whole breast/chest area feels very vague. Since waking I have not needed the Oxycodone and am trying to get bye with Tylenol and Aleve. The downside of the nerve block is that the two blocks are basically catheters inserted on either side of the spine. When the doctor was injecting the original numbing solution and the plastic catheters I had a vagul (Vagal/) response that has been the worst part of this whole ordeal. I felt like i had the worst combination of hangover and morning sickness and overwhelming nausea. Felt like I was going to die. My pulse went down to 47 and BP to 75/51. The nurses said it was a normal response, and pumped ephynephran (sp) into my IV and I felt better. Not everyone has that response. I still am glad I had the nerve block as the nurse on rotation in the hospital said she can really see the pain experience difference between those who get the block and those who don't. I am in pretty good health overall so they discharged me just after noon on the second day because they seemed more concerned about what infections could be floating around the hospital. Best of luck t