Giuliana Rancic Talks About her Recovery from a Double Mastectomy
Giuliana Rancic, a co-host on E! News, talked about her recovery after she underwent a double mastectomy two and a half weeks ago on the TODAY show Friday morning.
"I feel great," Giuliana said. "I've got to be honest. I feel great considering it has only been about two and a half weeks. But I still have a ways to go as far as the recovery."
Rancic, 37, had the surgery Dec. 13 after lumpectomies were unsuccessful in removing her breast cancer, and two weeks after her operation she was back on the set at E! News, on Tuesday.
Rancic said that keeping a positive attitude was an important part of her recovery. Bill Rancic, her husband said his wife had a constructive outlook even before she headed into surgery.
"They'd given her something to relax her," he said. "So she was cracking jokes as they were wheeling her away. I've never seen anything like it. She was in pretty good spirits."
Rancic said that she remembered asking the hospital staff if they were ready to party just before her operation, she said she didn’t want to give them the wrong impression. However, she said while she had an optimistic outlook about her double mastectomy procedure, there was nothing easy-going about it.
"It was definitely hard," she said. "I knew this was going to be a tough surgery. I in no way want to minimize it. Yes, I'm two and a half weeks out, but my gosh ... Up until a week and a half ago, it was hell. It was horrible."
She said that she had to take painkillers that made her sick and she was afraid to throw up because she just had her chest operated on. She said she either had to stop taking morphine and deal with the pain, or take the medication and risk vomiting.
Her husband said that the doctor had given him strict orders to make sure that Rancic would be up and walking by 3 o’clock, and that he helped her slowly.
“She was not happy with me, but we did it. As soon as she got up and started taking her first couple of steps, she was walking around the hallways of the hospital," he said.
Though, when she finally was up, he said that she was very positive.
"She wanted to set the record," he said. "She went up to one of the nurses and said, 'What's the record for the most laps around the ward in the hospital?'"
"It was two, and I did two and a half," Rancic added.
The couple is looking forward to 2012, and hopes to put the past behind them. However, they will most likely continue to openly share details of Rancic’s health. They believe that doing so serves a greater purpose that goes beyond them.
"She wanted to turn the negative into a positive," Rancic’s husband explained. "I think the response — the number of people who've said, 'I went and got my first mammogram,' or 'My wife got her first mammogram' — it's worth it. If you can save one life through this process, you're turning this negative into an incredible positive. "