Friend going in for double mastectomy

My friend who has been battling breast cancer is going in for her surgery. Just looking for ideas on ways to make her recovery a little easier. She is a mom so of course I will make myself available to watch her children. I'm thinking maybe make her some dinners? Any ideas?

Re: Friend going in for double mastectomy

Wishing your friend the best. You can make a baked ziti or chicken cutlet parm with sauce and freeze it ahead of time. Sending prayers!!

Re: Friend going in for double mastectomy

Child sleepovers
Gift card to local restaurant that delivers
Send a pizza over

Friend going in for double mastectomy

Maybe treat her to a cleaning lady one time if she doesn't already have one. .

Offer to do their laundry

Make dinners they can freeze or fresh. Gift cards for food delivery.

Childcare

Just be there for her. You already sound like a great friend. Wishing her the best.

Re: Friend going in for double mastectomy

Wishing your friend a good recovery.
She may not be able to drive for a while, so that might be somethng to help out with as well.

Friend going in for double mastectomy

My Mom just had this done :(. All she dud after was sleep so keeping kids entertained or out of house is prob s great idea. Cooking meals food shopping & cleaning house would be a fantastic help. This is what we did for Mom & she was so thankful.
Wish your friend a quick recovery & your s GREAT friend :)

Re: Friend going in for double mastectomy

All the suggestions above are great. Maybe buy her some button down shirts because it will be hard for a little while to lift her arms over her head to put a shirt on. Button down shirts really helped my Grandma when she went through her double mastectomy.

to your friend for a quick recovery.

Friend going in for double mastectomy

when i had family that went through the same thing, the things that were most helpful (aside from help with the kids), were getting in a cleaning lady, having meals brought in for them and doing grocery shopping

i actually just came across this online recently - i never contacted them but may be worth looking into:

http://www.cleaningforareason.org/

Message edited 2/25/2014 9:34:41 AM.

Re: Friend going in for double mastectomy

I went through this as well... just knowing my kid had someone to watch him was a huge relief to me. All i did was worry about him when I was recovering, so when someone offered to take him for the day I could actually relax.

Also, a meal is nice because that is pretty much the absolute last thing you get around to doing. I actually barely made it out of bed for a week so childcare and meals were the biggest help for me :)

Re: Friend going in for double mastectomy

I would say restaurant gift cards, meals to heat up, and company.

I had a lumpectomy w lymph node dissection, so not the same surgery, but it was hard to move my arm for weeks afterward. I may be in the minority, but I did not want people to take my kids away to watch them, I preferred company and help.

Fm w any questions, my surgery was in September.

Re: Friend going in for double mastectomy

Having just finished four months of chemo yesterday, after a double mastectomy in Sept and with two young boys at home I would say any of the following:

dinners
watching the kids
a note here and there to let her know you're thinking of her
offering to come and wash her hair while her drains are still in (usually the first week)

The best thing you can do with any of these is not just make yourself available but YOU designate a date (or work with whoever is handling the coordination of care for her kids - her husband, mom, etc) rather than just an open ended offer. If you say "I'm coming on Tuesday to take the kids and I will bring dinner", it is FAR more useful than "let me know when you need me, I'd be glad to help."

Many hugs to your friend. Though it may not seem like it now, the time actually does go fairly quickly.

Friend going in for double mastectomy

Bringing or sending food
Helping with the kids
And def helping with the laundry....after that kind of surgery I'm sure she won't be able to do any lifting for awhile

Re: Friend going in for double mastectomy

Thank you all SO much for the awesome ideas and well wishes for my friend. She is one of the best people I know and I want to do all I can to make this time easier for her. Appreciate the responses!