Health, Cancer, Women's Health
Anyone who has had a mastectomy will understand the profound impact of the surgery, and the difficulty in coming to terms with the loss and unsightly scarring.
I had my right breast removed in December 2009 and it wasn’t until early 2012 that an article in a local newspaper caught my eye. It covered the subject of Graded Motor Imagery, specifically Mirror Imagery which is primarily targeted for treatment where limbs or digits are missing but sensations of pain or discomfort persist.
Internet research sent me on a remarkable path and I wish to share this stunning (for me) experience in the hope of helping others.
I watched a very special short video showing a young man, who after having his right leg amputated was using Mirror Imagery for rehabilitation. This set the wheels in motion for an experiment that became a miracle.
After my mastectomy with Tram Flap reconstruction, I had accepted all was fine and healed, but every time I saw myself in the mirror I was reminded of what I had been through. I thought to myself, “I haven’t lost a limb, but I have lost my breast” and wondered if the Mirror Imagery would work for me in a similar fashion.
I stood in front of my large bathroom mirror and placed a 12inch mirror at a 90 degree angle on my sternum and looked at the reflection in the big mirror. The little mirror projected the illusion of a normal pair of breasts, in an undamaged chest.
The STAGGERING shock of seeing myself with 2 normal breasts was the most emotional and mind bending experience. My brain was hit with what felt like an electric shock and I burst into tears. All I could do was sit down and repeat…WOW! WOW!! WOW!!! as the psychological wrench was very powerful.
From that moment on the tension drained away out of my entire upper body and arms, and my balance was restored. My brain had been tricked into believing the operation had never taken place. This reset has proved to be permanent. I didn’t believe that only doing it once was enough, so I did reinforce it from time to time, but have never felt it was necessary.
I now wish to pass on the knowledge, that assistance can come from the most unlikely source, and perhaps this will help someone in a similar position or if you know someone who has had a mastectomy, to enable them to feel good about themselves and their appearance, and let their brain be re-educated into giving them the feeling of being a whole woman again.
The renowned Clinical Neuroscientist, Professor Lorimer Moseley states:
“The brain is wonderfully adaptable. It is also a fierce protector of the body. Graded motor imagery aims to exploit the brain’s huge capacity to adapt without setting off its more protective side. By getting under the radar of a protective system, graded motor imagery has been shown to offer substantial gains in pain and disability for people with pathological pain syndromes such as complex regional pain syndrome and phantom limb pain. It is indeed an exciting new area with much promise – scientists across the world are now investigating whether graded motor imagery has a more general role in rehabilitation and performance.”
