Planning for a Mastectomy: Necessary Items & Recovery Tips
I’ll admit it, before my surgery I searched high and low for lists on “How to prepare for a mastectomy.” I was thirsty for knowledge and wanted to know what I needed before going into this major surgery and didn’t want to do so blindly. I’m the type of person, that likes to gather a bunch of information on a topic and for me, I almost like seeing the information confirmed by multiple people, so I know that it’s accurate. Well, after searching on Pinterest, I only found ONE blog post before my double mastectomy. Thank God for that one blog post and my breasties/ fellow pink sisters which gave me the low down on what I would be needing. But I also found some things independently that were necessities. My hope in writing this blog post is to pay it forward and to help women who are looking to prepare for their double mastectomy.
Me taking a stroll in the hospital with my mom.
Here are some necessary items and recovery tips that I found helpful (in no particular order):
1) Button up shirts or zip up hoodies. You are not going to be able to lift your arms up over your head, so putting on regular shirts over your head is out of the question. Button up and zip up hoodies will be your best choices. I luckily had some loaned to me from a breastie and then I went to good ole Old Navy to buy some button up flannels to get me through. Also, a drain camisole is a good idea if you want to hide the drains when you are out and about in public.
2) Sports bras. You’ll be given a surgical bra in the hospital, then your surgeon will let you know what kind of sports bra to wear after being discharged. I wore a front close sports bra for the first few weeks, then once ok’d by my doctor I was able to switch to a more visually appealing and comfortable sports bra. You are going to be in a sports bra for 24 hours and for the full 6 weeks you are recovering. The compression bras promote recovery and you are to wear no bras which contain underwire. After you are able to wear your own sports bras - I recommend Victoria’s Secrets sports bras (without wires). These seem to be the most supportive sports bras I have found that helped me (although they can be a little pricey, but they are worth it).
3) Pillows, pillows, pillows. You are going to need pillows on pillows on pillows. Not even exaggerating. I bought a wedge pillow system, but my two young sons basically highjacked it and used it as an expensive ramp to push their hot wheel cars down. Thank god I bought additional regular pillows and in fact, one of the best items I bought was a travel pillow. You are not going to be able to sleep on your side, only your back as you recover, so the traveling neck pillow really came in handy with comfort while sleeping on my back in the hospital and at home. I’ve also heard of women buying recliners to sleep in as they recover. However, if you are going to share your bed with your significant other, you need to place a pillow in between you and them just as an extra safety precaution. Also, if you have pets, make sure they can’t jump on the bed or on you in the middle of the night.
4) Buy a back scratcher and/or a back scrubber for the shower. I didn’t realize that I wouldn’t be allowed to shower for a solid week after the surgery. That coupled with the pain meds, made for an itchy back. Thank god for my sister who brought up a back scratcher to the hospital, but if I could do it over again, it would’ve been packed in my hospital bag from the get-go. Also, when I was home, and could shower, my shower back scrubber really came into handy as well.
5) No straws. Don’t use straws in the hospital. My plastic surgeon warned me, but I thought I knew better or that the rules didn’t apply to me and used a straw anyway and low and behold, they make you MORE NAUSEOUS. Before, during and after the surgery, you will be pumped full of heavy-duty pain meds (hello, morphine) which can make you nauseous, so using straws should be out of the question in an effort to avoid bringing on more queasiness. My nausea got so bad from the pain meds, that I was gifted sea-band nausea wristbands, which seemed to help combat the sick feeling.
6) Get up and get moving! Walking helps get the blood pumping and helps you recover faster. They will have you get up and walk the halls of the hospital. You don’t have to do anything crazy but it does and will help. Also, if you know your surgery date ahead of time and have enough time to build a base and get in shape ahead of time – do it! People that are more physically fit and active or who are within a healthy weight range recover faster! It can take about 6 weeks to recover from a double mastectomy, so it is important to be as healthy as possible going into the surgery. It is also imperative that you do the arm exercises that the hospital and/or physical therapist give you to take home.
If you are a friend of someone who is having a mastectomy and you are here for ideas on what to buy them, first off, kudos to you for being such a good friend! Secondly, sometimes company alone is such a nice gesture. Just sitting with your friend and doing nothing, watching television or visiting with them in the hospital feels great to the patient. However, if you would like to buy them a gift or bring them something, following is a short list of suggestions:
My son and I enjoying some frozen yogurt a friend brought us in the hospital.
Gift card for a blow-out at a hair salon (if they still have their hair). I basically had a shaved head when I had my surgery, but in the weeks after when I was recovering, it was hard to hold my hands up and wash my hair, so I can only imagine how hard it would be to wash and style longer hair.
Maid Services: Cancer affects the entire family. One parent away from the daily life and needs actually pulls both away. A voucher or gift card for maid services for when they are home from the hospital recovering is beyond helpful.
Bring them food! How can you tell who your real friends are? They bring you food up to the hospital so you don’t have to eat crappy hospital food. Another suggestion is to participate in a meal train (and/or buy them restaurants gift cards or pre-make casseroles or freezer meals for a later date in time). Meal trains were a huge help to me. I am the sole cook in our house, so when I am down, my family is a little lost as to what to cook or eat. This takes one more thing off the patient’s to-do list so they can focus on healing.
Bring them things to do while recovering and resting which include: magazines, adult coloring books, a journal and any and all beauty products (face masks, lip balm, lotion, essential oils, nail polish, etc.). Most things people gave me were items I would have not necessarily picked out for myself but I ended up trying and loving them!
Offer to take their kids or babysit! This was so valuable to me. Family and friends offered to take the kids to the movie or out for an activity and this was great for an hour or two to rest without having to worry about entertaining my boys.
Me receiving my first tissue expander saline injection.
Most women opt to have immediate reconstruction, which is when you have the implant (tissue expanders) inserted at the same time as the mastectomy occurs. If you go this route, a few weeks after your mastectomy you will have your first saline injection to the tissue expander. You are awake for this small in-office procedure and while it sounds scary, I promise you it’s not. After each injection, you might feel some pressure or pain for a couple of hours, but it is usually gone by the next day. Once the skin stretching is complete and your doctor obtains the optimal liquid into the expander, you will schedule the surgery to swap out the tissue expanders for the permanent implants. This short surgery is about an hour and is much less involved than the full double mastectomy. My swap out surgery was done in an out-patient facility and I was home the same day!
And there you have it! I hope this post helps alleviate concerns, fears or questions you may have around preparing for a mastectomy. I plan on updating this post as I receive comments and questions from readers. But if you have questions or concerns that you would like to address privately, please just email me – I’m an open book!