If breast cancer is diagnosed early, surgery may be sufficient to remove a small piece of tumor, rather than removing the entire breast. The overall treatment plan for breast cancer, including the surgical approach, should be a collaborative effort between specialists in surgery, pathology, radiation therapy and medical oncology. After the diagnosis of breast cancer, other concerns related to the cancer can haunt the patient for quite some time. Therefore, we should give patients as much help and guidance as possible to restore their mental happiness and peace of mind.
Timely adjustment of mind to continue the original life
A patient with a strong sense of self-care usually has only a few days from the discovery of the lump, the suspicion of breast cancer, to the removal of the breast, leaving little time for self-adjustment. Therefore, when waking up after the anesthesia, it is like a nightmare, however, it is true after all. A few days later, when you learn that you must also undergo follow-up radiation and chemotherapy, it may make you frustrated and emotionally depressed again. Obviously, you need days, weeks or even months to learn about life after the disease and understand the possible consequences. It is normal for your mood to remain unstable, high and low, even after several weeks. Give yourself permission to confess your grief and anger. Sometimes you get into a corner, “Why do I have the disease?” And thus feel despair from time to time. When you feel so bad, you can even cry out. There is no need to hold on to the idea that “I can’t be a weak person” and force yourself to suppress tears, and make sure you don’t keep the unpleasant things inside.
In general, bathing is allowed once the wound has healed and scabbed over, which is good for recovery. If you go through a phase of radiotherapy, avoid contaminating the wound by bathing when the skin has a wet reaction such as oozing. The water temperature of bathing should not exceed 37℃ to 38℃. Soap or soap-like items can irritate the skin, especially the skin over the scar and under the armpit is more sensitive, so it is better to use it sparingly or not at all.
After a total mastectomy, you will feel disfigured and mentally stimulated by it. This fact cannot be changed by surgery, but there are things you can do to restore your self-confidence. For example, you can beautify your appearance with care, and wearing jewelry is part of that. Choosing a good breast implant that you are happy with can go a long way in adding to your self-confidence, which can go a long way in the recovery process.
After getting sick, it is important to adjust your emotions and at the same time re-coordinate your relationship with your surrounding, especially with your family and friends. You can join some self-help organizations such as Anti-Cancer Paradise. At any time, self-help organizations can provide advice, information, group activities, etc. according to your needs and your personal situation. Can I continue to do my original job after getting breast cancer? This depends largely on the intensity of the work, and it is important to work within your means and, if possible, change to a less stressful job.
Please remember that a good and happy life depends on yourself.
Start and always stick to post-operative rehabilitation exercises in time
After surgery your arm will be swollen and your movement will be impaired, and radiation therapy will increase the likelihood of arm swelling and edema for several months to years after surgery. An effective solution is to engage in early physical therapy, doing stretching exercises such as climbing the wall of the affected arm and stretching to the threshold of pain. With such persistence for a few weeks, the mobility of the skin can be greatly improved. During and after radiotherapy, it is important to keep exercising every day to ensure that the skin, or even the entire shoulder, maintains its current state of skin mobility, or returns to its optimal state.
To prevent upper limb edema, the following is recommended.
1. Do not carry heavy objects on your hands or shoulders, and try not to do activities that require the arm muscles to exert great effort. This will cause a large amount of blood to flow into the arm, and then venous blood and lymphatic fluid must be transported out from the blood-filled arm.
2, usually still should often move the arm, can also do some housework or appropriate work. Try to place the arm in a position higher than the heart, arm such as using a few pillows to cushion the arm, but be careful to support the entire arm, rather than supporting the lower arm alone. When it is necessary to carry the bag on the shoulder, it should be carried on the shoulder of the side that is not operated on. Women who experience shoulder pain should avoid carrying the bag on their shoulder. Keep your hands in the pockets of your blouse or skirt as much as possible to relax the muscles of your shoulders and arms. Usually, the sleeve holes of clothes should not be too tight, and the straps of bras should not be so tight that they are embedded in the shoulders; if necessary, the straps can be widened or padded.
3, wear rings, bracelets, watches, should be as loose as possible, do not let them embedded in the skin. Also pay attention to avoid direct heat on the arms, such as hot baths, washing dishes with very hot water, prolonged ironing, prolonged sunbathing, etc.
Attention should also be drawn to the fact that when the blood circulation in the arm slows down, it is more difficult to heal from a slight break in the skin of the arm, especially the hand, such as cuts, cracks, burns, scratches from thorns, etc. If necessary, you can wear a pair of work gloves. If the hand or arm after the negative small wound, should promptly take disinfection measures, such as disinfection with iodine solution, if no disinfectant solution on hand, with pure alcohol can also be. To avoid unnecessary wounds, blood tests, injections and infusions should usually be performed on the side that has not been operated on. The area of the subaxillary lymph nodes should not be treated with subcutaneous injections or needles. In other words, try not to inject drugs into the upper extremity on the side of the surgery, as this will increase the likelihood of congestion in these areas. Also, to prevent the risk of congestion, it is best to take blood pressure measurements on the non-operated side as well.
As long as these measures are implemented consistently, there will be satisfactory results. However, the tendency of swelling remains always present. With proper exercise and proper attention to arm rest, 70 to 80% of the swollen arms can be restored to their original state. Further treatment is to wear an elastic bandage on the arm. If these measures do not work, a mechanical decongestion massage method is required.
Several drugs to reduce swelling should be used with caution, because.
1, the diuretic effect of the drug should not be taken for a long time, it will increase the concentration of intercellular tissue protein, which is not desired.
2, drugs used in the veins, sometimes effective for short-term swelling, chronic swelling has been proven to have little effect.
3. The creams or gels recommended to treat lymphatic congestion produce instant cooling and a sense of coolness, thus making you feel more comfortable. However, for chronic swelling of the arms and chest, there is no fundamental improvement.
Finally, for the arm swelling problem to say a few more points.
1, after the arm swelling, you need to make some adjustments to your daily life, and there is no reason to lose confidence.
2, swelling at the beginning, you should at least have some control over the thickness of their arms.
3.If you are sure that the swelling is getting worse, you should consult a doctor immediately, regardless of whether there are signs of inflammation or not.
Continuing treatment after surgery
1.Surgery It is impossible to completely remove cancer cells with absolute certainty, so you should actively continue post-operative treatment.
2.Radiotherapy Modern medical knowledge suggests that for women who have had a breast lump removed, post-operative radiation therapy is needed to destroy cancer cells that may remain in the chest wall and lymph nodes. Experienced specialists will do the individual selection of the type of radiation, the dose of radiation and the area of radiation for each patient’s specific condition. In order not to add unnecessary burden to the skin, the radiation site should not be rinsed. If necessary, some powder can be carefully applied to the skin under the guidance of the competent radiotherapist. To protect the skin in the radiotherapy area, a soft cotton T-shirt or a short-sleeved sweatshirt should be worn close to the body. If the seams rub the skin, you can turn them over and wear them.
3.Chemotherapy There are about a dozen kinds of chemotherapy drugs commonly used for breast cancer. After injected into the body, these drugs can attack the tumor cells everywhere in the body, but there is no chemotherapy drug that only kills cancer cells but not normal cells, so while destroying cancer cells, it also destroys normal body tissues, especially those tissues that grow fast. For example: temporary damage to bone marrow hematopoiesis, resulting in a decrease in white blood cells and platelets, so there is a risk of infection and bleeding; some chemotherapy drugs can cause hair loss; mucous membranes of the mouth and urinary system, which can have different degrees of inflammation; and nausea and vomiting are the most common side effects of chemotherapy. It is well known that despite using the same drug, reactions vary greatly from person to person, some are severe and some are mild, and the ability of each person to resist the drug seems to depend in part on the patient’s attitude toward the treatment. Once the chemotherapy is over, the number of blood cells will return to normal, most of the discomfort will disappear, and the hair will gradually grow back, some even better than before.
4.Endocrine therapy In general, breast cancer is a hormone dependent disease, especially for estrogen receptor (ER) positive patients, your doctor may recommend you to do endocrine therapy. Worldwide studies have proven that for some women, endocrine therapy has better or equal efficacy than chemotherapy, and the adverse effects are much more tolerable than chemotherapy, like the most commonly used anti-estrogen drug triamcinolone (tamoxifen), which has very mild side effects in many patients. However, it is important to note that not all breast cancer patients have benefits from taking triamcinolone, and some patients may have bad effects from taking it. Therefore, it is necessary to give advice here: always ask an experienced oncologist to determine the treatment plan.
5.Post-operative review It is necessary to ask oncologist for review on time, within 2 to 3 years after surgery, every 3 months, and after that, every 6 months. What are the items to be examined? First of all, the doctor needs to check the body and palpate the lymph nodes on the affected side, contralateral breast, armpit and clavicle. Depending on the condition, some patients will also have a chest x-ray, abdominal ultrasound, and bone scan. Based on the results of the above examinations, it will be decided whether further examinations are necessary.
6. Adjunctive medicine and dietary guidelines So far, we still have not found any medicine that can guarantee the cure of cancer. The effectiveness of treatment depends mainly on the early detection and timely and scientific treatment. The most important thing is to ensure that the regular treatment should be completed as scheduled, while recovering and maintaining a good mental state as soon as possible and maintaining a balanced diet. Nutrition is the first and foremost thing in daily life. A diet that is easy to digest, high in protein and balanced in calorie distribution guarantees good health. Patients should eat more fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products and a variety of easily digestible meats. Foods containing large amounts of sugar and fat (sausages) should be eaten sparingly, and coffee, black tea and alcoholic beverages should be consumed sparingly. Although a poor diet has not been proven to accelerate the progression of breast cancer, a balanced diet can be beneficial to improve your health anyway.
In our work, we have met many breast cancer patients and have been able to understand the various questions they want to know about their treatment and recovery process, and are well aware of their pain during breast cancer treatment. We hope to help breast cancer patients with our own efforts, and we sincerely hope that patients should never be discouraged by post-operative problems and adverse effects, but should actively cooperate with doctors to receive regular treatment, try to do some activities that are beneficial to their health, and make themselves a person who controls their own destiny.