Bump
Anyone else got opinions on this?
HI, where I had my treatment they gave you a kind of sleeveless v necked garment that went to below hips, had velcro at tops and sides and was of good firm material so you felt properly covered up - you kept it with you for time of treatment and it made me feel fine about the very small amount of “being seen in public” that happened between changing and treatment etc.
You should ask for better.
I thought the gowns were a great idea.
The rads waiting room was always very friendly and mainly full of old people. It never occurred to me to feel uncomforatble about it.
Hi iam onto my 8th Rads and i was given a tabbard-like top with velcro flaps that peel down only to show the breast that is treated it was given to me at planning session and is mine to take home after every session untill Rads finished.I must also say that the 2 female radiographers alway make sure im covered over and my dignity intact before any of the male staff come into the room ( i always think ah bless them whenever she covers me up )i feel much less exposed and vunerable. its a shame we dont all have the same experience you suggest what people have in other areas and it might not happen for you but future patients may not have to feel that way and have the same awful experience , xxx Julie
Cheshire Cheese wish you could email me your gown! Had a male radiographer the other day and nearly died when he started rubbing his hands together to warm them up before marking me with the pen! He was very nice and professional and I pretended to be relaxed. I thought if an older lady had the same radiographer she would be even more embarassed. When I spoke to an older lady the next day she said she was embarassed too, she was a retired nurse and said we should have been asked first. Anyone else been in this position? Not that it matters really as long as we get the treatment but wouldn’t have been so embarassed if we had gowns. Not brave enough thought to ask why we get the blue paper towel and not a gown!
Worse to come though - they weighed me today 
told them NOT to tell me as put loads of weight on! Anyone else get weighed?
Kiti xxx
Kiti xxx
Hi Kiti,
I am on day 11 of 15 rads and on the first day they gave me the usual gown which I put on back to front, like I did when I was having my ops. They politely asked me to put on like a coat, which I did and my right breast was exposed! Great! A lovely male radiographer said best to bring my own dressing gown as their gowns were not that good, so I have been taking my own since day 2 and don’t feel at all out of place in the waiting room; we are all wearing our own (except for the new people, who haven’t been told yet).
I just slip my arm out before the treatment and slip it back in when it’s all over. I had no idea what a breast gown was until I read the forums.
I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if you took your own
xxx
Hi misscally
Bumped this up so you can see all the earlier comments.
Sarah x
Thank you, it seems to me that everyone is uncovered for treatment - I am still being covered when they have finished the marking up and leaving the room for treatment. However, I am getting quite red now so I know that it is getting through!
It is very kind of them to think about my dignity and modesty, I just find it funny (ha ha) that they cover me up when they leave the room!
The last two sessions I’ve had two male radiographers, but they are so lovely I don’t feel too embarrassed.
Hi everyone
I am being treated in St James Hosital Leeds. I get changed into a hosital gown in a little room right next to the treatment room. As this is an internal room you don’t have to go through the waiting room whilst in the gown. Once on the bed I just take my right arm out of the sleeve and leave everything else covered up. I feel they have a good set up at Leeds and just presumed it was the same at all the hospitals.
Amanda xx
Hi Amanda I started my rads yesterday at St James and agree it is a good way of doing it,I would not like to sit in the waiting room in a gown,
Celia
Bumping up for Sarah (021210)
Im being treated at Colchester & we are provided with cotton gowns waste length poppers down middle & to the shoulders so only the area being treated is exposed. You go from main waiting room to get changed in a cubicle then you sit in smaller waiting area but partners are welcome in this area too but these gowns don’t expose you at all & mine swamps me lol
As I’ve already said on the other thread I used a “breast gown” at Addenbrooke’s (this is the first time I’ve heard them called that!). Once changed I sat in a small inner waiting area where there were only a few people waiting - no friends and hangers on.
I had no objection at all to wearing this gown - better that than nothing! Also, they weren’t just used for BC patients. I chatted to a lady wearing one who was having rads for lung cancer and another as well (don’t know what she had but it wasn’t BC), so they didn’t scream “breast cancer” to me! They seem to use them for anyone having rads to their torso.
I think it’s a really great that they’ve listened to people’s feelings and developed these gowns in response. However, I also feel that it’s important that if you don’t want to wear one, you certainly shouldn’t have to, as long as it doesn’t affect the treatment or cause hold-ups.
There was at least one woman with BC having rads with me who didn’t use one but she wore little camisole tops, quick to whip off. I always wore a bra and was far happier changing in private - much more dignified, I felt.
Jane xxx
As they (Christie Hospital) explained it to me, they developed the “breast gowns” in response to people feeling uncomfortable about being fully exposed. Fair enough, but then they turned that round into something that everyone MUST wear whether they wanted to or not. Until I said no. Then they said it was more convenient for them and I thought oh yes, now we’re getting to the truth of the matter!
The justification they then gave was that it means they don’t have to wait around for elderly ladies to peel off six layers of clothing and then put them all back on again afterwards. So much for it being for the benefit of the patients.
Sarah x
Thank you for bumping for me Cheshire Cheese.xxx
Im in the midst of radiotherapy for BC and i have been given nothing more than a piece of kitchen towel to cover my decency. My entire treatment i have felt like a piece of meat and a number at the end of the day im still a person
ibroxeagle, this was exactly how i felt, so much so that i actually dreaded going for my Rads but after writing on here i took advice from others & complained the result being that i was treated totally differently from then on & issued with a proper breast gown that was mine to keep through treatment.
Sarah.xx
At my hosp they no longer have any sort of breast gowns at all! you have to take in your own dressing gown.
You get called from main waiting area, get changed, go to a smaller waiting area just outside treatment room, get called in, then strip off and walk over to table. No bits of paper either.
They do line you up with the tattoo that’s been done on the ‘good’ side, so I don’t know how keeping one half covered would work. Despite never having been a topless sunbather (at least in public) this doesn’t bother me - and if they are seeing one boob, why not the other as well!
Dx
ibroxeagle
Even without your name I’d guess Beatson??
S
The main thing I objected to was changing into a breast gown and then having to go back and sit in the main waiting room. If we’d gone into a waiting area just for patients immediately before treatment that would have been much better.
Sarah x