My Mastectomy Photos

One of the reason I made the choice to share some of my mastectomy photos was because when I searched for pictures on the internet all the pictures that I found were depressing to say the least.  So I was really unnerved by what I saw.  When I did radiation and I didn't look like most of the pictures I saw, I realized not everybody ends up looking like those pictures.  So I hope my picture will be an encouragement and not a discouragement.

This is the special bra that you are given after surgery.  As you can see it fastens in the front and it has loops that attach to the bra to hold your drainage bottle.

This is a picture of the drainage bottle that excess blood and fluid empties into after surgery.  It has to be emptied 2 times a day and the fluid is measured and recorded on a chart that is given to you by the surgeon.

This picture is of the tube that is inserted into the breast.  My surgeon sewed this tube in as you can see by the thread in the picture.  It is important that when you empty out the drainage bottle to not pull on the tube.

This picture is what my breast looked like with the expander deflated.  My bruising was minimal.  My surgeon had me take Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Zinc and bromelain to aid in the healing process.  You will notice in the picture that I have surgical tape across my incision.  The white band you see around me, is an elastic band that has velcro attached and you attached your drainage bottle to the elastic band while you take a shower.

This picture shows my stiches, and the expander is still deflated.  As you can see, the bruising is nearly gone.

 This is what it looked like after the tube was removed.  I had my tube and drainage bottle for 2 1/2 weeks.









The incision is healing and we have begun the filling up process.  Because I was doing radiation without Chemotherapy, the surgeon had to fill the expander fairly quickly.  The surgeon put in around 150cc's each visit, and I went every two weeks.  When you look in the previous picture and you see where the skin is kind of clumped together, as the extender is filling up the incision smooths out.

 This picture is the "mapping" process.  Before you start radiation therapy the oncologist maps out the area that needs to have the radiation therapy.  Mine started at the clavical bone and continued through the breast area and under my arm, because my cancer had spread to one lymph node.  After you are marked, then you are tattooed with blue dots that are permanent, these tattoos are used to help with future radiation therapy should you need it

 My clavicle burned the worse of all the areas that had radiation.

This picture shows the clavicle burned and the breast has begun to burn.

Under my arm has begun to burn.



















In this picture, I am almost done.  The oncologist does three rounds of radiation just on the incision area alone.  I had 6 1/2 weeks of radiation treatments.  I went every day, Monday through Friday during that time.