Feelings and Spiritual Practices of Patients with Mastectomy: A Qualitative Study from Turkey 795
shame of that because I scared to get negative reaction
from others. So , I gave up doing it”.
Another respondent stated, “…I used to find myself
beautiful and positive. But I can’t see these sides of me
anymore. I don’t feel special as a person. I become a shy
person after mastectomy, even when I’m with my
husband. This had never happened to me before. I’m
afraid my husband divorcing me. I feel that my
husbands’ thoughts has been changed since (she began
to cry)”.
2) Restoring a sense of order to life; this section
illustrates and demonstrates through the statements of the
participants being able to restore their lives.
One participant described, “…When it comes to health
care, I think it’s better for me to remove the breast
instead of remain ing the cancer. So, I prepared myself to
lose my breast. After that operation, I thanked God for
helping met o get rid of cancer. My family and my friends
had supported me a lot. In the main time, I have started
to go to work. Now I am using breast prosthesis. I feel
much better now ”.
Another participant described, “…I was nervous when
I heard that my breast is going to removed. But now, I
am okay with it. I’ve just started to see the good sides of
things”.
Another participant described, “…I passed experience
discomfort due to pain, fatigue sleep disturbance, and
nausea etc. But, I am still strong, so I think I can handle
this problem. Of course it’ll be hard for me to lose my
breast but I can move on”.
3) Living with the new condition; the participants of
the study, express clearly that the beginning was difficult
for them to accept their new condition.
One participant described, “…In the beginning it was
very difficult. I have been bothered because the cancer
and/or treatments have interfered with my ability to
perform activities. But in time I had some experiences
and now it is not that hard anymore. I learned lots of
things after mastectomy. My life has be en more meaning-
ful”.
Another participant described, “…I thought my life
was ruined. Because mastectomy affected my body image
in negative ways. My breasts were not equal so I couldn’t
wore light clothes a while. But then I started to fill my
bra and made them look normal. Now I don’t think that
my life is over”.
4. Conclusion and Recommendation
The results of this study concluded that a having mastec-
tomy was difficult for the women, and their perception of
functioning is closely related to emotional state. In
general, very few women believed in the possibility of
recovering and getting back to a normal life. They
concerned about their partner's and public’s reaction. The
most common feeling is anxiety, fear, disappointment,
alters patients’ body image and self esteem, impaired
sexual functioning, decreased social activities, with-
drawal and shame. Hence, nurses should physically,
emotionally and socially support these women and her
family before mastectomy for the adaptation process.
Also, nursing education should enhance nurses’ under-
standing and awareness of spiritual issues as part of their
daily routines. Future research could expand the research
to include a larger, more diverse group of women of all
ages who had underwent mastectomy with breast cancer.
5. Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank all the nurses and doctors in
this study for their kind assistance to the present study.
The author thanks the patients for their cooperation.
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