How do I care for my relative who is having a mastectomy today?

[PlanetBev]

10. I underwent a mastectomy on March 10th

I still have the drain in and am still on antibiotics. The reason is I have a defibrillator on the same side (right side) as the mastectomy and the doctor was worried about infection around the defibrillator. They’re going to start reconstruction in about a month with an expander and “gummy bear” implant. It took me five days to take a shower because I didn’t want to see what was under the bandages. They did a skin-sparing procedure, so I realized what it looks like now is only temporary. I got these clear, see through, waterproof surgical bandages to keep the drain in place when I shower. Got them from Amazon and they work great! Make sure your relative eats fiber, fruits and veggies and takes stool softeners because those pain killers can cause some big time constipation.

I had Ductal Carcinoma In Situ and after two lumpectomies, they just couldn’t get clean margins. Kind of weird because it was Stage 0. It just involved more ducts then they originally thought. I had some bad days when I heard they had to do a mastectomy, but the good news is that the final pathology showed that it was non-invasive and had no lymph node involvement.

I’m 71 and feel a lot worse for younger women with invasive disease. I’m also grateful that they have made so many strides in catching cancer earlier stage and they do amazing reconstruction work now. The outpouring of love from friends and family has been amazing. My warmest wishes to your relative and to you for taking care of her.