Life After A Lumpectomy

Added: 12/30/2005

A lumpectomy procedure is often a successful treatment for sufferers of Breast Cancer, but that doesn't mean that it is a simple cure. After a surgical procedure of any kind there is bound to be a period of recovery and adjustment, and that time can be painful and traumatic. This period of stress and discomfort is especially likely to be problematic if it comes as a surprise to the patient or to the patient's family.

Many women who are afflicted with Breast Cancer feel in the heat of the moment that the invasive and extensive treatment for the disease may have worse effects than the disease of Breast Cancer itself. When it comes to considering the surgical options available to those in the advanced stages of the disease, there is nothing pleasant about the process. One of the most common procedures that patients undergo as part of treatment for advanced Breast Cancer is a lumpectomy. A lumpectomy is the term for a surgical process by which a lump, also known as a cancerous tumor, is removed from the breast. The hope is that this surgery will remove all of the cancerous cells from the patient's body before the cancer spreads to other areas of the body from the initial site of the tumor in the breast.

A lumpectomy can save a patient's life, and because a lumpectomy is so often a successful procedure many doctors consider telling a patient that they will undergo a lumpectomy is a positive thing to say. Many doctors feel that the idea of having a lumpectomy will give sufferers of breast cancer hope, but in the eyes of many patients a lumpectomy is still a traumatic and frightening prospect. For those who are not anxious to go under the knife for a lumpectomy, there are very limited treatment options to attempt to rid the body of breast cancer, so many patients end up deciding to choose to have a lumpectomy even if they do not feel positive about the surgery.

Considering life after surgery is something that many patients don't fully go through before they go under anesthesia on the day that they let the doctor proceed with the lumpectomy procedure. A lumpectomy is by no means a minor surgery, and the recovery is often long and painful. Many patients expect to wake up from a lumpectomy cured, and not all of them do. Those who do have a successful lumpectomy are often surprised by the amount of pain and the length of recovery time that the surgery requires. However, a lumpectomy is less invasive and less traumatic than a mastectomy, which requires removing much more tissue.

For those who undergo a mastectomy, waking up after surgery is often disorienting at best. Many women who go through this radical surgery suffer from post mastectomy depression as they struggle to get their lives back on track after the trauma of their mastectomy surgery. Life post mastectomy isn't always easy, as there are a lot of adjustments in many daily routines that patients have to make. From choosing a post mastectomy bra to dealing with neighbor's inquiries about the surgery, life after a mastectomy can feel like it will never get back to normal. However, once you have settled the question of what post mastectomy bra to wear and figured out how to deal with the prying eyes of the people next door, you will probably find that in time the pain and the trauma begin to fade into the background and life continues to get better.

Whether you are undergoing a simple lumpectomy or a complex mastectomy, it is important to remember that a surgical procedure requires a lot of recovery on both a physical and emotional level. If you are prepared for this eventuality, you will have less of a struggle on your road back to health.

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