Two weeks out of hospital. I mean to ease back into ordinary life, but once I start moving there is not just pain — other things feel out of order too.

I had a full mastectomy and have chosen not to have reconstruction for now, so the balance between the right breast that is gone and the left one is somehow off, and the stiff shoulder and back pain have not let up.
Fluid had gathered and was drawn off, but that does not seem to be all of it.

I was an E cup to begin with, so I thought — it must be the weight distribution. Searching around, I found silicone bras created by women who have had breast cancer themselves.
So I bought one straight away.

I did not have lymph nodes removed, but the excision was from the upper part, so I chose the teardrop shape. You can pick the weight by size; there was no 350 g, so I took 400 g.

Here is what arrived. It is heavier than you would expect.
Well — lose that much weight from one side and of course your shoulders seize up.

This is how it looks under clothes. Even in a thin T-shirt or a jumper, nothing looks amiss.

It is inexpensive enough that I intend to try several.

Difficulties of every kind turn up in the middle of a challenge, but whatever it is, live it cheerfully —
and on I go. I made a video to play with the idea, too.

Short video

Next I am going to have the made-to-measure silicone pad the hospital told me about, but it is expensive and cannot be used for about three months after surgery, so this one will be looking after me for a while.

I will report on that as well.

Thank you for reading to the end. This blog is Cancer, with a smile.
I hope my experience, set down as it is, is of use to somebody.