Reconstruction or reduction

Hi Dale,

I missed out on the breast care nurse, so missed out on so much info that was needed. Hope you have had contact? 

Your BC Surgeon will refer you to a plastic surgeon, mine was not interested in size difference, in fact when I mentioned it to him, he said, "yes, thats what happens with lumpectomy".......? They all deal with their speciality and thats it.

Get yourself the berlei bra through the BCNA, BC Nurse will fit you.  It is a horrid looking thing but with no wires and wide straps, it was the most comfortable. 

I used Moo Goo udder cream, made my appointments first thing in the morning, got zapped and applied Moo Goo in dressing room, then in the middle of the day and at night.  My skin was very itchy, so Rad Onco gave me two types of cream on script, and I took antihistamines (I later found out that this gave me bad itching down below, apparently it dries everything out, I thought at the time it was the tamoxifen putting me into menopause, there is a blog on this search - Tamoxifen side effects please help.  Nipple was really sore, used the sorbolene cream on this. Week 5 I had broken skin in the underside of breast and two big blisters where they did the booster shots (last week of radiation), Rad Onc gave me a surgical cream for this.  

Having a warm shower on the boob is a great relief, but have to watch that you don’t overdo it as this can dry out the skin.  Everyone’s experiences are different, I had sharp shooting pains which lasted for  about 4 months after treatment,now have the odd one every so often, I have just realised that my breast doesn’t heat up anymore, had my own hot water bottle through winter.

I have a seroma in the surgery site, not sure if this would have happened anyway or if the radiation encouraged it?  This has then caused lymphedema in my truck, no one tells you about these things until they happen, apparently I should have seen a physio straight after surgery, normally arranged by the bc nurse.

The bc road is full of pot holes; we just have to make sure that we don’t dig the holes any bigger.

Feel free to add me as a contact, and ask any questions.

Viv