Believe it or not, it was 50 years ago, and I was 17 years old, when I witnessed my first mastectomy surgery in the operating room. It was a total radical mastectomy. It was horrific to watch and more horrific to see the patient awaken in the recovery room, feeling her chest, and crying out. As a nursing student, I was speechless and lacked the right communication skill set to know how to comfort her, other than holding her hand. In retrospect, there really was no way to comfort her.
