Pain Relief After Mastectomy
In late 2010, I finally realized why my mom and most of her sisters each died at a fairly young age of metastasized breast cancer. I was a BRACA 1 gene carrier, one of the cancer genes with startling high statistics for getting breast cancer.
At 47 years old, it is not natural to be sitting in front of a surgeon telling him to cut off two healthy breasts. A lot of people looked at me in fear when they heard that I was actually going have such a potentially disfiguring type of surgery. But they did not understand my family history. And I had three reasons to stay alive… my sons, Michael, Stephen and John.
It was not easy for me though. At one point prior to the surgery, I remember sitting at a table having coffee with my father and crying because I really didn’t want to have the surgery. I was so scared. But my dad just looked at me and said, “You have to have this surgery.” He was right.
As traumatic as the surgery was (both physically and emotionally), I was not prepared for all the pain that I would be in for the following year and a half. What was the cause? Post Traumatic Mastectomy Pain Syndrome, also known as Neuralgia. I had sensory nerve damage and was experiencing extremely high levels of chronic pain. I went to both my breast surgeon and plastic surgeon several times trying to find some answers for all the pain and, even more so, relief. They both looked at me and said this was very unusual and they did not know what was causing all the pain. During this time, I also went into depression which required treatment from several doctors.
In late December 2012, I met Robert J. Bovee, Certified Master Professional Personal Trainer and Exercise/Fitness Therapist. His knowledge of and experience with how the human body works and how the muscles react were amazing. Soon after, I began training with a Personal Trainer that worked under Bob. Due to the severe pain and specific needs resulting from the surgery, Bob saw that a more educated eye was needed. I then began training with him instead. Bob was very careful to only work the peck muscles in one specific way in order to not further aggravate to the muscles and increase the pain.
Through Bob’s extensive education and experience, and thorough understanding of the muscles and kinetics of the body, he was not only able to get my peck muscles “firing” properly again but was able to break down the scar tissue and reshape the contour of the peck muscles. Thanks to Bob, the pain has decreased significantly and my quality of life has improved.
Anyone suffering from chronic pain should seek an Exercise/Fitness Therapist like Robert J. Bovee.
