Pain Relief from breast cancer surgery. How do you cope?

For women that have always been active one of the hardest things to cope with is not being as strong physically as you were before BC surgery.

On the other hand there are women that have never been very active so they don't always recognize their lack of strength after surgery.

To date, beginning is June 2006, I have had a total of eight surgeries. I am hopefully going to have my final fix-up surgery Dec 17th. This is to replace the partial implant that shifted dramatically on my left side. I still may back out. The thought of another surgery and that lovely JP drain in me again is something that scares me.

So, once I have the okay to start moving and being active again the stretching begin.

There are so many women that end up with frozen shoulder and limited range of motion after BC surgery. The way to avoid this is gentle stretching move, where you use as much range of motion as you can.

Here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Stretch several times daily. It only takes a few minutes at a time.

2. Use good deep breathing. This will help you relax and expand your chest.

3. Pilates basic mat exercise for your upper body use a lot of range of motion.

4. Don't forget to stretch both side and your neck, upper back and shoulders.

5. Use a soft squeeze ball to regain the strength in your hand.

These are only a few ideas.

What did you do to regain your strength after surgery? I would love to hear from you.

Happy Thanksgiving