Beyond The Shock(R)

Everyone's body handles surgery differently. I never had any pain with mine 5+ years ago. As to your hair some suggest cutting it off a little at a time. My friend went from waist length hair to her shoulders first, then her chin, before shaving the rest off and that comforted her. Mine was short to start with and when I asked my gal to shave the rest off after losing some with my first infusion she felt I wouldn't lose anymore than I already had but it was a nuisance so she took the rest off and one more time a month later then we let it grow back, took about 9 months for me to have enough hair back to get a decent hair cut and it was longer than what it was when I started and really curly. Everyone is different, just take a deep breath and try to relax and that will help your body and mind heal.

I also cut my hair to my shoulders because I had long hair. When it started coming out in little clumps, my hairdresser shaved it. That was a tough day for me. My mastectomy wasn’t as bad as I thought. I didn’t get reconstruction. I was sad and scared to look at my chest. It’s a hard transition, but I’m used to it now. The whole cancer process is hard , but just take one day at a time. Good luck .

My 5th year was up on 1July on Letrozole. I will be asking my doctor about it in a couple of weeks. If they can give me a good reason to continue another 5 years I will if not I just may go off of it. My PCP has already told me if I'm taken off it he will discontinue the med. I take for Osteopenia, he's already cut the dosage in half since my bone mass has improved.

*Update* I was part of a research study at the Mayo Clinic. While proton radiation is not typically used for breast cancer they are trying to make it standard care as it decreases exposure of the heart and lungs. I went through the whole treatment with just some minor pinkness to the skin. The following two weeks however, my skin became redder and redder, sore, and dried out. While this was very uncomfortable it was for a short amount of time and now I am pretty much completely healed and back to normal. I hope this might help someone else in the future.