Any pictures of "therapeutic bras"?

[Maryka]

I have not heard any one on the list write about a therapeutic bra. After going braless under the hospital gown for a week, the Nurse Practitioner came in and thoroughly scolded me for not wearing or intending to wear a "therapeutic bra".

My first hours in my hospital room, still under the influence of drugs I am sure, I fought with the nurses for putting something like an Ace bandage on my chest. I thought I was going to be squeezed to death!

At home I sometimes wore a bra 24X7 because my chest felt sore inside. But as I got less sore, I quit wearing a bra at night.

So, women and well-indowed men, how did you do with your therapeutic bra?

Maryka
---------
Aortic root replacement, Dec. 23, 2008, Johns Hopkins, Dr. Duke Cameron

 

[Ross]

Well you can always be the first.

 

[Bina]

Ross, isn't it way past your bedtime????

 

[Marguerite53]

(I hope I'm not going to regret this).... I am very well endowed. I wore a surgical bra for many weeks. I assume it is similar to the one you are describing. Then I wore nothing for quite awhile. Big mistake, I think. My scar/skin did a lot of pulling around all the weight and stuff. I wonder if that isn't why it didn't heal that well. Anyway, eventually I just switched to wearing a cami with a lining under my nightie. I still wear a thinner one.... I've just gotten used to it. I also felt like my whole ribcage became wider for awhile and so I bought some of those bra extenders so that I could get back into my own comfy bras and not have to buy new ones.

Marguerite

 

[Eva]

I wish now I forced myself to tolerate one!! My scar was so thin and unnoticeable after surgery, but due to 'gravity' left and right while sleeping and down while walking affected altered the structure/look of my scar!

 

[stilldreamin]

I have been wearing a sports bra, although getting into the damn thing was tricky at times. I haven't been wearing anything at nite lately because it feels like it's constricting me, and i'm very tender the past few days... i think some of the feeling is returning to the area. I want my scar to heal nicely tho so i'm going to start trying to get into my sports bras again.

 

[hensylee]

medical team told me to go to Walmart and get a bra that's used in exercise suits - however, I had some sleep bras that are very soft, hook up front center and they were very comfortable. (I got the sleep bras from Carol Wright catalog - their catalog is on the net) neither of these choices is expensive and they will do the job.

 

[abbanabba]

Never had one..! Luckily (?) I'm not overly-endowed so I didn't wear any kind of bra until about 6-7 weeks after surgery. I substituted with close-fitting stretchy tank-tops instead which were far more comfortable.

 

[laurad37]

my hubby bought me some bras without the underwire. will those work after surgery? He bought them a size bigger just incase i was swollen.

 

[Maryka]

Well, I am not well endowed which is why I fought the "therapeutic bra" admonition. I DO remember the Nurse Practitioner specifying that there be no underwire. I tried to avoid underwire when I was in my phase of wearing a bra 24X7. As for swelling--I do not think the cup size changed (which is not saying much for me, LOL) but the chest circumference may have been a bit bigger for awhile. So what your husband bought might be useful. (This is not such a funny topic, after all.)

Maryka
______________
Aortic Root replacement Dec. 23, 2008, Johns Hopkins, Dr. Duke Cameron

 

[Bina]

BRA......what's that?.........Be Free..........Be Free!

Oh right, for a few weeks post op the ladies with zoomers should be wearing some kind of decent sports bra.
The incision doesn't need any extra weight pulling on it.

 

[Marguerite53]

Go to www.adaptations4u.com and do a search for surgical bra or surgical vest. They are made by GOLDA. I had to think to remember, but I took one of my husband's (sorry) wife-beater undershirts (you know, the sleeveless, ribbed stretchy kind) and wore that under the surgi-bra. Actually I may have liked the vest better (and those with longer scars might, too) I had to actually get some extra wide velcro tape to extend the bra some more to accommodate my particular comfort, but I really felt good in these.

I'm sure the Golda brand is sold elsewhere, but these people were very nice and let me return one of them (again, can't remember whether I liked the vest or bra as I passed them on to another member who is no longer posting).

Sports bras, are tough to get on over your head and all. These are nice because they are nicely stretchy, supportive and fasten easily in the front.

Good luck!

Marguerite

 

[ChouDoufu]

oh, poo, i thought the title read Any pictures IN "therapeutic bras"?

 

[hensylee]

yeah, we know, Chou - but all girls in VR are very shy (snicker, snicker)

 

[netmiff]

I, too, am well-endowed. I do not heal well, and have a few really ugly scars on my body. My surgeon insisted that all his well-endowed women wear support, and my mother ORDERED the ICU nurses to find me something - we were not allowed personal items in ICU. All they could find was what they used on people with broken ribs, very heavy stretchy stuff with Velcro. Well, that got put on and tightened up, it felt like what a strait jacket must feel like, most uncomfortable. I started wearing a sports bra as soon as I got out from under my mother's watchful eye !

18+ months later, the nicest cleanest best-healed thinnest and least bumpy and red scar on my body is my OHS scar.

 

[debster913]

Never heard of a therapeutic bra. Never heard of sex, either.

Anyway, with my scar in the crease of my right breast, I was wearing plain ol' white tank tops underneath my shirts when I went out in public. But, I m part of the "Itty Bitty ***** Committee" so it wasn't that big of a problem. It's when I started feeling sore from "lack of support" that I started wearing a bra again a month post-op.

 

[ccummins]

Darnit, I have been happily going without a bra since surgery. After reading these posts though, I am going to go out and search one out. Anything to help with the scar!