Recently Diagnosed...

When I was first told I had cancer I was given a huge folder of information but I just put it to the side for a couple of days. I needed to process what I had been told and not be bombarded with information. When I read it a few days later it was helpful but I don't think I would have taken much of it in if I'd tried to read it straight away. 

It is okay to feel overwhelmed. Do you have someone to talk to that will just listen and not offer advice? My husband was great for just listening, remembering what I said and then talking about it the next day. 

I had a right side mastectomy on the 4th December with an immediate reconstruction using stomach tissue. I definitely made the right choice for me but it has been a long slow recovery. Some of my wounds are still healing six weeks later and it took at least 3 weeks until I was walking like normal whereas if I had had the straight mastectomy or implants that wouldn't have been a problem. The stomach wound also impacted my ability to get around straight after the operation so I did spend 5 days in hospital before coming home. 

As for the other breast I may need to have a reduction but we're leaving that decision until after I have had radiotherapy as the radiation can reduce the size of the implant. If it stays the same size as now I probably wouldn't bother because the size difference is not that noticeable. I had to have my nipple removed due to how close the cancer was to it so I will also need to consider what to do about that but this is a decision I don't need to make for a few months yet. 

If you have any other questions please let me know, I'm happy to share my experiences. Do you have a date for your operation yet or do you have further investigations? 

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