How to Prepare Your Home For Breast Cancer Surgery Recovery
CancerBreast Cancer

How to Prep Your Home for After Breast Cancer Surgery

How to Prep Your Home for After Breast Cancer Surgery
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Updated on April 11, 2026
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It can be daunting to recover from breast cancer surgery. You may be wondering how much pain you’ll be in, what your physical limitations may be, and what kind of support you’ll need.

But there are things you can do before the procedure to boost your odds of a smooth recovery — including by setting up your home to make yourself more comfortable when you return from the hospital.

Change Your Sleeping Habits

When you come home from surgery, you won’t be able to sleep in your bed the way you normally do — at least for a short while. “There may be challenges finding a comfortable position that does not put pressure on incisions or drain sites, especially when it is a bilateral surgery [affecting both breasts],” explains Kelly Hunt, MD, a professor and the chair of the department of breast surgical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

To get comfortable in bed, you may want to use a variety of pillows, like a wedge pillow to recline on or a heart-shaped mastectomy pillow that can be tucked under your armpits to keep pressure off sensitive surgical sites while they’re healing.

 If getting in and out of bed is too difficult, try camping out on the couch or in a recliner with pillows propped behind your back so you can sleep semi-upright.
Some more complex breast cancer surgeries may create the need to sleep in a lift chair. After Beth DeLong, 38, a breast cancer survivor and the founder of Adventure After Cancer, had DIEP flap breast reconstruction (in which tissue is taken from one area of the body — the lower abdomen — and used to reconstruct the breast), she required a more involved sleep setup.

 For the first two weeks after surgery, she slept in a lift chair, which she borrowed from a friend. You can rent a lift chair from a local medical supply company if you find you need it. Speak with your doctor prior to your surgery to see if a lift chair is something you’ll likely need.

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Prep Your Kitchen

Physical limitations after surgery, combined with managing drains and soreness, may make cooking after breast cancer surgery sound impossible. But with a bit of prep work, you can make your kitchen more accessible so that you can more easily provide your body with nourishment.

Make Sure Everything Is Accessible

After breast cancer surgery with reconstruction, you’re not supposed to lift your arms above shoulder height.

 So, make sure to get your kitchen ready by taking everything you’ll need down from high shelves — like plates, glasses, and nonperishable food — and leaving it out on the counter in easy reach.

Get Groceries and Prepared Meals Delivered

Driving to the store, dealing with crowded aisles, lifting heavy bags — you definitely do not want to go grocery shopping while you’re recovering. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can have your groceries delivered to your home, and depending on where you live, there are other grocery delivery services such as Instacart, FreshDirect, and Target Shipt.

Similarly, you can eliminate the burden of cooking by having prepared meals delivered. Ask friends to bring over prepared meals — you could have them sign up for time slots using Google Sheets or by creating an account on MealTrain.com. Make sure to include any dietary restrictions, preferences, or other instructions. Stocking your freezer with homemade meals beforehand can also help ease your post-surgery load.

You can also order fully prepared meals (versus meal kits, where you have to prepare and cook the food) to be delivered to your home from a number of subscription services. Some grocery delivery services even offer prepared meal options too.

Create a Drain Station

One of the more dreaded aspects of breast surgery is the drain. During the procedure, one or more surgical drains (also called Jackson-Pratt, or JP, drains) are inserted into your body to remove fluids that collect near your incision sites, which helps ensure proper healing and prevent infection.

 These drains remain attached to you when you go home, and you have to empty them throughout the day and log the fluid output.
A dedicated “drain station” — for example, on top of a dresser — can help make this process go more smoothly. Your station can include things like hand sanitizer, liquid measuring containers for collecting and measuring the fluid (the hospital should provide these), and a pen and a drain output log (again, the hospital should send you home with this, but if you need extra copies you can download this drain log template). You may also find it helpful to empty the drains in front of a full-length mirror.

 The mirror can help you monitor your skin for possible changes, but it can also help you see what you’re doing as you manage your drains.

Set Up a Bathing Station

If your doctor doesn’t want you to shower while you still have your drains (there’s a possibility that water could get into the drain exit site), try setting up a “wash” station in your bedroom or bathroom with several types of wipes — face wipes, deodorant wipes, and large body wipes — for a daily “bath.” A full-length mirror nearby can also be helpful when wiping down your face and body. How soon you’re permitted to shower after the surgery varies from doctor to doctor, so make sure to ask your provider for their specific post-op bathing instructions. Once you’re able to shower again, you may find it more comfortable to use a shower chair or stool.

Log Your Medications

It’s important to take all the medications your doctors prescribe, and the best way to do that is to log everything — which pill you took and at what time you took it. Write everything down in a notebook, or use a medication-tracking app on your phone, like Medisafe — in addition to logging your medications, you can also schedule them, so that an alarm goes off when it’s time to take each one.

Remember to log any side effects or symptoms you’re experiencing and contact your doctor if you have any concerns. Some things to look out for include potential infections to the surgical site; fluid buildup, swelling, and pain in the breast or “donor site” (the area of the body used to reconstruct breasts for a flap surgery, if applicable); excessive bleeding or blood clots; and an allergic reaction to a medication.

Check Your Insurance Coverage Before You Purchase Medical Equipment

Before you spend a lot of money buying or renting postsurgical recovery supplies, check your health insurance benefits. Many policies include coverage for what’s called durable medical equipment, or DME.

 Depending on your coverage, this can include things like walkers, shower chairs, and lift chairs, all of which DeLong says can be helpful for recovery from surgeries like DIEP flap reconstruction. It could even include breast prostheses and mastectomy bras.

Contact your insurance company to inquire about its full list of covered DME and what its requirements are. This can be a complicated process to navigate and requires obtaining prescriptions from your doctors for any necessary DME. Wendy Griffith, LCSW, an oncology social worker and the program manager of the Adolescent and Young Adult Program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, recommends asking if there’s a case manager or social worker at your hospital with experience in this area who can help you handle the logistics.

When you’re undergoing breast cancer surgery and reconstruction, it could mean one surgery or several if your surgery and reconstruction are done separately.

Resources We Trust

EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Checklist for Recovery After Mastectomy. National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.
  2. Reconstructive Breast Surgery and Procedures. Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
  3. Post-Operative Activity Guidelines and Exercises. Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
  4. What to Expect After Breast Reconstruction Surgery. American Cancer Society. September 19, 2022.
  5. Jackson-Pratt (JP) Drain. Cleveland Clinic. 2023.
  6. Caring for Your Jackson-Pratt Drain. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. July 11, 2023.
  7. After Your Operation, Your Recovery, and Discharge. American College of Surgeons.
  8. Program Operations Manual System (POMS). Social Security. November 28, 2022.
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Lisa D. Curcio, MD, FACS

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Castle Connolly Top Doctor
Lisa Curcio, MD, is a board-certified general surgeon and a fellowship-trained surgical oncologist. She is currently the medical director of breast surgery at Northern Dutchess Hos...
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Jennifer Garam is a BRCA1-positive ovarian cancer survivor and advocate, journalist, and speaker. In addition to being a regular contributor to Everyday Health, her articles and es...

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