Spring surgeries
Comments
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One more thing I'll share here. I went clothes shopping today for the first time since becoming flat chested. It was super interesting and actually pretty fun. I can wear some styles now that I never could before, and I actually bought a new summer dress that I like a lot. :) One of the women working in the store was a breast cancer survivor, too, so we bonded over that.
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Hello Everyone! Hope you all are doing well:) I received my bra from The busted Tank and love it, so thank you for that. I liked it so much I bought a couple more!! The fabric is very soft.
@devoinaz did you do the icing mittens and socks during your chemo treatments? Is that something they have at the cancer center or do I need to buy them? My first chemo is June 30th so I want to be prepared. I am back and forth on the cold capping. Seems like a lot of work and it also adds more time being at the cancer center. I am leaning towards not doing it but haven’t made a final decision yet. I mean I can get some really cute wigs, my hair will grow back.0 -
@flowergirl1975 glad you like it! I am going to order more too. I’m finding I don’t t like anything on my chest.
I appreciate the info on chemo on cold capping. I won’t know until the oncotype comes back, but goood to be prepared.,
@devoinaz. Glad you found a dress you like!0 -
@flowergirl Yes, I did the icing mittens and socks. They didn't have them at my cancer center - had to bring my own, which required a cooler and extra ice packs to replace the mitten ice (it got warm for me about halfway through - I just used regular ice packs that I had in my freezer for replacement).
And yes, the cold capping does add a couple of hours each time, which isn't the best. And wigs could totally be fine and even fun! Or nice scarves/beanies. Some women even rock the bald look and that can look really good, too.
I heard from a friend that for her, the hardest part of chemo was becoming bald. I think this influenced my decision on the cold capping. I also really have appreciated not drawing attention to my health situation with the way I look. I stand in front of groups of people regularly in my job, and I think I would have been pretty self conscious if I had been bald.
It's interesting to me that I'm thinking I'll just be flat chested most of the time going forward, and I'm less concerned about how that will look... I think it's because (1) being flat is less obvious than being bald, and (2) I'm finished with active treatment now, so I'm not otherwise weak and sick-looking.
Anyhow, best of luck to you on the 30th! I hope your treatment goes really smoothly and you don't feel too bad!
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Hi ladies :-) Thanks for the info on the icing mittens and socks. I will have to check them out. I have decided to do the cold capping (dignicap for me). I ordered my hat today. I spoke to the nurse and yes its going to add 45 min before my treatment, 3 hours during my treatment, and 2 hours after my treatment. I envision myself feeling like I am stuck in a freezer while doing chemo treatments… LOL. I will only have to do this 4 times so I guess I decided it was worth a try. Did you just constantly loose a small amount of hair with each treatment? When treatment is done for me Im not really sure how I will feel about reconstruction. Its a lot to think about for sure.
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Yes on feeling like you're in the freezer during chemo - bring a good blanket!!!
On hair loss, I lost a huge amount around the time of my second treatment, and that week accounted for most of my hair loss for the whole chemo experience. So if you lose a lot around 3 weeks in, don't think that you'll be bald by the end. The hair loss is not constant.
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@devoinaz Hello, I hope this message reach you. I had bilateral mastectomy 4 weeks ago. One side develops hematoma. It doesn’t looks so bad on skin, but when I touch it, it is like a large patch of play dough underneath my skin. The surgeon was not so concerned, she called it mild until she touched it. She recommended warm compression. Did your hematoma feel like that? How long did it take for it to go away? The weird thing is that the warm compression seems to move the liquid to different spot.
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@myyoga I haven't been on this site for a while (I'm doing great, though!), but I got an email when you mentioned me, so here I am! My hematoma experience was perhaps more extreme. It happened just a couple of days after my surgery, and when my surgeon saw it, she said I needed to go back to surgery to get the blood cleaned out. Fortunately, she had time to do the hematoma removal that same day, so it got fixed quite quickly. She said that with the size of my hematoma, it would have taken many months or possibly longer to resolve on its own. I didn't do much pushing on my main hematoma because I was still super sore from surgery, so I'm not sure what it felt like. I can say, though, that it was really large and it made the surgical drains stop working, so the swelling was getting worse. I also had an extra lump of liquid (blood, I guess) that formed in my crotch area. And yes, that lump of liquid did move around, and had crazy purple spots that went with it, but that all went away on its own within a couple of weeks after my second surgery.
I don't think this is too helpful for you, though. I'm guessing yours will resolve on its own with time, but it may take a bit. I actually had a smaller hematoma after my initial cancer-finding biopsy, and that one took a surprisingly long time to go away. Good luck, and hang in there!
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@devoinaz omg! That was a massive hematoma. Mine is confined to my breast. It was a badly bruised and the color is lighter now, but the patchy play dough still doesn’t go away. That side is bulging out as if my breast tissue were still there. I had 2 drains on each side and that side did produce much liquid, just stringy dark red. Now it too late and you’re right i have to wait a long time for it to go away. Doesn’t hurt, just annoying. Btw, how did your surgeon drain the hematoma? Did she use needle or she open the wound to clean it😱? Thank you for your response!
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