Best Of

First of all, thanks you to the many women who have contributed to this topic! I have spent the last month or two reading all the way through this and I have learned a lot from the rest of you.

I had a right side mastectomy on 4/26/18 so I am still in the healing stage, which also is the "wondering what will work for me and how soon I can try it" stage, at least for me.

I got a little puff form from the cancer society store, and it was a crazy unnatural shape on me. Using my art background, I began removing fiberfill a bit at a time and created a much more natural shape. Alas, this more natural shape is now for someone much smaller than me and the foob just looks silly next to my natural 34C.

Then I tried out a microbead form from the same website, and it may work well for me later in a more structured bra, but in the compression-type sports bras I am wearing now, it looks like I am wearing one boob and one cinnamon roll, which, over the course of an hour, is trying to work its way up to my mouth.

I ordered a trulife unweighted foam form from ebay, and it looks more boob-like, but I ordered a size that is clearly smaller than what I need. Today however, thinking about some of the folks on this list who used Coobie pads to augment or replace a foob, I tried placing a folded AB pad behing the foam foob and the result is the best one I have seen so far for myself. I have been using these AB pads (I think that is medical supply terminology for abdominal pad) under the compression bras to fill in the concave area and make myself more comfortable. They have also been handy to cushion elastic at the armpit that was clawing away at some swelling there.

I'll see my surgeon later this week for a 4-week checkup and see what advice she has about when I should schedule a fitting for a silicone prosthesis.

As far as interim bras go, I tried the Champion zip-front model and the elastic nearly killed me. Ouch! Then I tried Jockey's similar looking model and found it more forgiving, although the elastic at the bottom tends to roll or just scrunch up so it gets less comfortable as the hours go on. I tried Fruit of the Loom's many-hooks-up-the-front model. I saw reviewers had recommended going up a band size in these. I did that and it was tolerable for sleeping. Then it occured to me that going up two sizes might be even better, so I did that and it WAS even better. At some point when it was cutting into the bulge at the lower front of my armpit, I had the idea to unhook the top one or two hooks. Instant relief. And later I tried unhooking the bottom one or two hooks for further relief from bra bite. I'm thinking I may want to try going up still another size. At $12 for a package of 2, I can afford another experiment. These Fruit of the Loom bras are pretty good to wear during the day when I want to go half flat (although the compression on this bra flattens out the natural boob a lot, too). I do have to tuck a few folded AB pads in there to fill in the concave part, but I am comfortable going out for a walk with this arrangement. I have been sleeping in these most nights; this is where I have tried unhooking top and/or bottom hooks. I reckon that under clothes, this would create some serious lumps and bumps.

I was reading a review on Amazon about these bras with their many hooks; the reviewer recommended that those using these post-surgery whould be sure to don the bra before taking their Percocet, as connecting all the hooks and eyes required some coordination. I'm only using Tylenol, so I can't blame the drugs, but I need serious light to fasten this bra, especially the black version where it is harder to pick the eyes out of the black background.

Virginia