After the first epic hike (Friday), we setup camp and made dinner before heading to the showers. I felt fine, but when I removed my clothing I noticed a rash on my breasts. Of course, I freaked out. I seem to be doing that a bit more lately that perhaps I should. My first thought should not be cancer! After showering, I showed Scott and his immediate comment was looks like heat rash. And of course, that made sense. It was a hot day. We hiked for 5 hours and I sweat. My new breasts don’t have lymph nodes and are prone to such things as heat rash. Because I cannot feel them, I did not notice when the rash happened.

After the second epic hike (Saturday), we drove home stopping for dinner on the way. We hiked for almost 7 hours. Again I sweat. This time I was wearing a different sports bra – one that was perhaps a little too tight. By the time I took it off to shower, I had some pretty serious indentations and rashes in various places. Again, I did not feel anything, so I had no idea this was happening. Had I felt something, I would have adjusted the bra or perhaps even removed it!

The plastic surgeons warn us (by us I mean those who have had reconstruction of either the flap or implant variety) not to wear underwire bras. The reason for this is because if the wire gets loose you can injure yourself, and with a lack of sensation you would not know there was a problem. I now know that this is also an issue with too tight sports bras (now I need to go shopping!). I cannot tell they are too tight or that they have seams in unwanted places. I don’t feel the problem. I only notice the issue when I finally take it off and head to the shower. This provided yet another reason to be thankful for the mirrors in our apartment – they make it easy for me to visually examine the areas I cannot see by looking down.

Of course the next question is, do I need to wear a sports bra at all? I’m not sure. I sent an email along to my plastic surgeon to ask. It may be time for me to clean out my dresser drawers and be rid of all my old bras that I no longer need and have no desire to ever wear again. I just hate throwing perfectly good bras away – and yet, I know that I cannot donate them anywhere!