I look for other flat chested women. A rant.
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THREE CHEERS FOR THE AMAZONS!
I went to check out camisoles today, couldn't find any that didn't have a whole lotta spandex. Yuck. So, I went to Old Navy,as I was walking by it in the mall, and got some 100% cotton tops with spagetti straps, instead of sleeves, they FEEL good, and look well, they FEEEEEEEEL good - fine under a shirt, which I can keep open. They cost $3.50. My kinda price.
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Welcome Alison. I love the fact that I can turn over in bed and not have my breasts get in the way. Giving hugs is nicer too!
Sunflower, Jockey, Khols and JC Penney have some nice camisoles, but they are more expensive than your great bargain.
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Kath - geat, I know where there's a Penney, and Target. Tried Wal-Mart yesterday, they didn't have many, must be a smaller WM) and they were all very spandexy. What I got can be worn under a shirt - in case anyone has an Old Navy near them - lots of good cotton.
Has anybody made their own prothesis (sp?) using micro beads? I just wanted to try something VERY VERY little, making concave flat kinda look) and looking at online sites the "official ones" are SO expensive - whew! Gotta be a way around that.
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Sunflowers, indeed some people have made their own microbead forms. Here's a link to directions:
http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/82/topic/754464?page=2#post_1909548
There's also a lady who makes microbead forms for a very reasonable price. You can find those on the "Items for sale" tab at the following link, which also is a treasure trove of information and solutions that I think you'll find valuable. Edited to add that she also has directions on her site for making the forms yourself:
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RR - wonderful links, THANK YOU!
I had some micro beads from a pillow I made, and when I decided to make the pillow smaller, I was, ah, well, introduced to their tendency to GET ALL OVER - so this time I wil be more careful. Didn't knwo what was in the pillow until I opened it, thank goodness I was outside. wow...
BTW, I am deliciously happy with how I feel after the explantation, don't mind the concave at all. The "fat ridge" under the old implants is going down, wish I could say the same for the LUMPS OF FAT under my arm. wow, hadn't noticed them so much before...anyone have a suggestion for the best exercise to reduce what we used to call 'dog ears' - anyhow, I am THRILLED, HAPPY, so, so FREE FEELING after explantation.
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Sunflowers, you sound so happy! It's great!
Honestly I don't get why anyone would have an implant put in their body, when you can put one in your bra and choose when to wear it, what size, dress for the occasion so to speak, and take it off when it gets uncomfortable!
That said, I've never bothered with a prosthesis at all. Just get a padded bra, the kind where the cup holds its shape regardless of whether anything is in it or not. I also found some cheap sports-bra type ones at Walmart, they have a pocket and a removable foam pad. I just put 2 or 3 of the pads in one bra, and it holds its shape just fine. If you wanted more you could add some padding. But I was/am only a AA anyway, so that's plenty.0 -
P. S. I had some lumpiness around both ends of my scar at first, was unhappy with the way it looked, but it has really smoothed out over time a lot. There's just a small lump at the top edge now and it vanishes if I stretch my arm up. So give it time, like several months, and see how it goes, you might be pleasantly surprised too.
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Hi Ladies, quick question, so last yr for my follow up I had a mammogram on my good breast, but since that, ive had a mx and so whats the normal for screening? since you cant do a mammo, what do ppl request?
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I think they do ultrasound. Don't know how often.
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I had a bilateral mastectomy (one side prophylactic). My oncologist and surgeon (I see both still) give me a patdown, and my oncologist does bloodwork. No imaging tests at all.
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I get the "pat down" and the bloodwork on my mx side so wouldn't it just be twice the "pat down" and the same blood work for bmx? The ultrasound is not always reliable at detecting recurrence. The oncologist having a good feel/prod/poke is always very reassuring.
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I get the pat down, not even any blood work. Have "graduated" to a once a year visit, from quarterly, then twice a year - and now once. Had a good giggle when I "graduated" to once a year - kinda like "graduating" from kindergarden. I'm at Dana Farber in Boston, my oncs never did tumor markers either.
Tossup what feels better: finishing my 5 1/2 years on Arimidex, or being explanted. Both feel GOOOOOOOOOOD.
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Ok thanks ladies - I get the pat down and blood work - thanks ladies
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I get a pat-down twice a year, but it seems sort of strange that we are cancer survivers and there is no real test other than a pat-down. It seems odd. Just saying.
My doctor got very ill (ALS) so someone new is taking over his practice and I feel so uneasy about the next pat-down. I often hurt (when touched) where the lymph nodes were removed, and I always feel afraid this new doctor will make a big deal out of it and "dig" at the area even more. I am still traumatized by it all.
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wow!
This is truly inspirational. I would recommend finding more about the SCAR PROJECT, a campaign aimed at doing exactly what you have described. Making breast cancer survivirs feel like heores and creating public awareness that one can be beautiful without breast. See Life Without Breast. Looking at breast differently.
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I just had R PMx last Thursday, lefty was 2 years ago. Aside from slight discomfort from drain, looking forward to being flat and free. I don't plan on recon either, I don't see the need for it!!!!
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Lynne - welcome to the totally flat club!
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Just a note to others who are explanting. It's been a month, and I feel better & BETTER. Went to see PS, and she still wants me to wait "2 more weeks" for strenuous exercising of pec muscles, I smiled & said I'd give her 1.
Notice my posture has improved, but still looking for GOOD exercises to improve posture. On anothere thread someone suggested looking for "chest opening" in Yoga poses - any one DO exercises to improve posture. I've always been a "huncher" - unless I am VERY mindful, which isn't often.
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I have been doing a selection of these yoga poses: http://sciatica.org/yoga/12poses.html
They are meant to help against osteoporosis, but they also help posture, breathing and circulation.
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YEAH, Momine - thank you for the linkie
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Very welcome! I am not a yoga-type person, but I have found these poses really helpful. I have a bad back and various other annoyances, and doing just ten minutes a day of this has helped a great deal. They also help your balance, which is more important than I had realized. I leave out the ones that strain my lymphedema-prone arm too much.
I also lift small weights, which can help develop your musculature in the shoulders and back.
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I love the Lebed Method DVD (I've linked to the Amazon site where it's sold). It's intended to help women who have lymphedema. I don't have lymphedema but started using the DVD because I had a small pocket of fluid that still hadn't dissipated three years after my surgery. Within one week of starting the exercises, the fluid was gone! I was thrilled about that but also found that these gentle stretching exercises were great for my posture and also for my range of motion and tightness (especially on my radiated side). I've continued doing them and always feel better when I do.
There's a 15-minute start-up, which is the most important--slow stretching exercises, which I find particularly helpful for posture, then a series of easy dance exercises. The DVD is a little hokey, but I've gotten past that. Here's a YouTube video that gives a preview (though not of the warm-up 15 minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTTlVe9kGJs. There are other Lebed segments up on YouTube but in my opinion, they're way too slow-moving and not nearly as good as the DVD. But if you want something free, they're available.
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My PT has me stretching with a door frame (hands on frame, step into room) and arm exercises with a exercise band to strengthen back and shoulder muscles. I have one set for posture and another set for rotator cuff tendonitis, but they're very similar.
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My PT had me do those same type of exercises, Wren!
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I would like to endorse the door frame exercise Wren wrote about - I call it "hanging on a door frame". If you hold both arms up (1 arm L-shaped and the other reverse L-shaped) on the door frame while standing almost in the door frame and then lean forward so you are "hanging on the door frame" the stretch is terrific. I find that one a real lifesaver. It's also easy to do lots of places. You don't even look terribly wierd while doing it.
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I'm starting with door hanging. Will check out the Ledbed method - thank you!!!!!!!!
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I've done the door stretch, too. Works pretty good. Also wall walk with fingers. Shoulders are not doing all that well right now - but going back to my post surgery exercises seems to help.
Sun - glad you're feeling better.
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Alexandria - acunpuncture for your shoulders? My knees wouldn't be working without it.
AMAZED, honestly, how much better I feel without the silicone lumps ( and they were SO SO SO small) maybe 300cc. Freer, standing TALLER, breathing DEEPER, really, I AM surprised at the difference. Now, of course, regret waiting so long to explant - my excuse, well, just couldn't FACE more surgery, and attributed so much of the discomfort to Arimidex.
Apologies to Arimidex.
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Maybe. I'll try it if the exercises don't work.
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I am thinking about taking up bellringing. Should be good for the missing muscle under my right arm.... Here in the UK there is a team of women who have had mastectomy who row up and down the river. They are called the Worcester busters. It was started by a women whose breast surgeon (male naturally) said rowing would be too much for her. So she immediately did it!!
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