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As a beginning speech-language pathologist, I would get confused what occupational and physical therapists did. Someone shared that occupational therapy focused on fine motor skills, while physical therapy focused on gross motor skills. Another explained that occupational therapy worked on activities of daily living – bathing, dressing, eating, cooking, and household tasks.
Going into surgery, I knew that therapy would be an important part of my mastectomy recovery to increase my range of motion and to address any lymphedema. Orders from my surgeon for physical or occupational therapy was on my list of things to ask at my post-surgical appointment. It’s important to see a physical or occupational therapist who works with post-mastectomy training, so I opted to do outpatient therapy at the hospital’s cancer center.
My occupational therapy evaluation was three weeks after my mastectomy. While in the waiting area, I completed a questionnaire asking me my comfort/discomfort levels when doing different tasks like getting dressed and bathing.
Knowing that therapy patients often lie down, I decided to leave my wig Cousin Itt at home and wear a cap. My therapist gave me a gown to wear for my top half, left the room for me to change, then knocked upon her return. She had me raise my hands in front of me (think Frankenstein) and raise them as high over my head as I could. I could assume the Frankenstein position pretty well but raising them straight over my head took time and effort. She measured my range of motion with a goniometer, which is used to measure joint angles.
During the treatment, she applied soft tissue massage to my right chest area while I was on the therapy mat. She provided assurance that the hard bumps were actually my bones and showed me where my pec muscle is on the right side.
She did think that getting back into the pool for water aerobics would be a great way to ease back into the pool. (She has obviously never seen me in an aerobics class on land or in the water since I have no rhythm and tend to go the opposite direction of everyone else.) I was sent home with a sheet of exercises to perform while standing and lying down at home twice a day for ten repetitions. I usually start my day with some of the exercises while still in bed since I have to be flat on my back for some of them. Throughout the day, I’ll do the rest for one set. The second set is done at night, often after my shower, because my muscles seem looser.
My chest muscles seem tight for these exercises but never particularly hurt. I can tell the difference in how high and far my arm can move in just a few days, so I’ll be sure to keep up my exercises.
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