Exploring Women's Experiences of TRAM Flap Breast Reconstruction After Mastectomy for Breast Cancer

Abstract

Nurses play an important role, not only in the provision of physical care to women postoperatively, but also for education and psychosocial support. This study gives practicing nurses greater insight into the holistic experience of women undergoing TRAM flap breast reconstruction.

Women's Recovery Experiences After Breast Cancer Reconstruction Surgery

“…Two qualitative reports explored the experiences of women with breast cancer who had breast reconstruction surgeries, one of which described the experiences of 10 women who underwent TRAM flap breast reconstruction and the other included 35 women who were about to have or who underwent either TRAM flap, Latissimus Dorsi flap, or tissue expander with implants, with the majority having the later procedure (Denford, Harcourt, Rubin, & Pusic, 2010;Hill & White, 2008). Findings from the study conducted with women who had TRAM flap procedures revealed the significant emotional impact that losing a breast has on a woman and the struggles women encounter as they adjust to a new body image.…”

From “No Big Deal” to “Losing Oneself”

“…However, at the time of diagnosis, the primary concern for all women was health and survivalVthe diseased breast just had to be removed (see also Piot-Ziegler et al 6 and Fang et al 43 ). Others have found mastectomy to be associated with feelings of being abnormal 22,44 and with a loss of femininity and normality. These women came to view the mastectomy as a terrible assault to them as women, damaging their view of themselves.…”

“…These women came to view the mastectomy as a terrible assault to them as women, damaging their view of themselves. 22,40,42 ''Body image'' is a core concept encompassing these different subjective experiences of body and appearanceVin a social and cultural context, the body represents us to the world. We find expressions of a similar storyline in a study by Crompvoets,40 where one of the ''typical'' participants talked about women's mastectomized bodies as physically, sexually, and emotionally incomplete.…”

“…13,14 Research shows that women who undergo breast reconstruction are younger and more highly educated than women who do not. 16,20,22 This may indeed be the case, but we must guard against drawing the overall conclusion that reconstruction per se improves quality of life. ' 2,15,20 Motives for not choosing breast reconstruction include a feeling of being too old, 15,21 a satisfaction with the external breast prosthesis, a fear of surgery, or simply not considering the reconstruction necessary for their physical and emotional well-being.…”

Review of electrical stimulation, botulinum toxin, and their combination for spastic drop foot

“…Informational redundancy occurred after the eighth interview as evidenced by no new themes or data being elicited during analysis [43]. Other researchers have used qualitative descriptive design with the intent to gain knowledge about perceptions and experiences of specific populations and have also reported informational redundancy (data saturation) with small samples when emerging themes became repetitive [45][46][47][48][49][50][51].…”