masectomy, what to bring?

Hi wicky

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear that you have breast cancer and need a mastectomy. They’ll give you a gown and a lovely pair of panties to change into before your operation. They will go over the risks with you and get you to sign a consent form if you haven’t already. They will let you know at the hospital when you can go home after your operation. You’ll probably have a bit of a wait before they take you down to theatre so make sure you bring something with you to keep yourself occupied while you wait. They will also tak some lymph nodes for testing so you will have a radioactive dye injected into your nipple so that the lymph nodes will light up, that way the surgeon will know which lymph nodes to take.

Wishing you the best of luck with your operation and any treatment your medical team puts you on.

Best wishes

Daisy53

thank you so much for the quick reply daisy, fantastic, going to try and have a normal weekend in the sun, with both boobs and a nice day/meal out with husband

love to all of us going through this - xx

Hi W1cky,

Welcome to the forum, sorry you find yourself here too in this situation. I had my single, right mastectomy on the 7th Feb 23. I just took my dressing gown, pyjamas and a magazine full of crosswords which kept me and my husband busy in a strange way. 

Sorry, also wash bits. I was in hospital less than 24 hours! My scar was covered by a big long white plaster so it didn't bother me to look at myself, to be honest I felt emotionally numb from the day I found out up until a say a couple of months ago, just mh way of dealing with everything I guess.

My advice to you would be to just take everyday at a time and be kind to yourself. You will make your own adjustments when you discover your new body. Wishing you all the best xxx

So sorry to hear you’re going through this. I had mastectomy and diep flap reconstruction 4 weeks ago and stayed in for 5 days. Hospital provide you with gown and they gave me a supportive bra to go home in. I took in slippers, long lead phone charger, ear pods (I watched a lot of films and listened to music and podcasts. Also good to cut out the noise of machines and patients around you.) Didn’t have the head to read but puzzles are good. My husband bought me protein bars and a daily supply of fresh fruit which was well received. My husband stayed with me from 7am until I went to theatre at 8.30. It helped to have two brains that morning as I was too nervous to remember what they said! Good luck and take it very very easy and slowly.