Hello everyone, this is my first post. After a biopsy I was diagnosed with grade 2 invasive ducal carcinoma and had a wide local excision and sentinel node biopsy last Monday.
At the moment I feel ok, it’s just sort of sinking in really I suppose. It’s not too uncomfortable or painful and doing everything I’ve been told to
I wanted to ask is about bras, (got loads of other questions about coping etc but just sticking to bras at the moment, can’t think about too much else as I get too emotional) I’ve never worn a bra as I’ve always found them so uncomfortable and now having to wear one is driving me nuts.
I bought some from M&S and although ok I find that in bed if I’m lying on my side it doesn’t give much support so I put a flannel between my boobs -sounds mad I know - to give my boob support. Anyone else had this or am I the only one ? .
The other thing about wearing a bra is how long do you have to keep wearing it I’m hoping I will be able to go bra less again soon.
Oh the money and effort I put into ‘finding the right thing’ both before and after surgery, it honestly doesn’t bear thinking about. Only the other week (I am 6 years along) I finally went through and disposed of all the faliures and was annoyed at the cost. I bought front fastening sports bras to start with, for the ‘day and night’ phase, then quickly shifted after 2 weeks, to rear opening sports bras (as the front ones were crushing the breast together and cutting across the lymph node removal area) and then moved to those very supportive cropped top type things. My surgery was very high up and so any bra cut straight across the wound, and I had assorted things pushed in at various times to relieve pressure on certain areas. Rolled up socks worked great LOL
The flannel, mad ? Absolutely not, its sensible and I bet many here use odd methods to create the right support. Do what is right for you as everybody has slightly different needs and you know your body. I honestly can’t recall the official time that I was told to carry on using day and night bras for - maybe somebody else can remember? - but they were certainly less than perfect and I persisted for at least 2-3 weeks before allowing myself a bit of ‘free time’. After radiotherapy and due to fluid retention in the breast for eerrrr a very long time, I found the very well fitting stretchy cropped bra tops were good - but yes with bits and pieces added to stop things moving around. Its surprising isn’t it how even minor movements, like when you are turning a bit in bed, can cause changes that make things uncomfortable. I notice that on this leaflet, it doesn’t really give a time-scale either:
I felt that to a certain extent my body could guide me, and any slight discomfort meant finding a solution. I wouldn’t have thought that you’d be going entirely support free for quite some time to be honest, as you do need to allow those tissues to heal well. You will be going for a check up at some point, particularly if you are moving onto rt - ask them then when you can allow yourself some bra freedom
Not sure I’ve answered anything here, but you took me on a trip down memory lane with my bra searches LOL I came to the opinion that the only way to get the right thing was the choose from a massive range after surgery, but then thats not possible is it as you need it right at discharge point and you certainly can’t be trying bras after surgery
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