A former paddling friend had to give up the sport when she got breast cancer.
Today she told me that she wants to get back into paddling BUT, the cold weather makes her implants cold and they rob heat from her body…
Any women out there with a suggestion to keep her implants warm enough for her to return to the sport?
Or is she to be restricted to summer paddling only?
Wow, that’s a new question here
I don’t have any experience along those specific lines, but maybe some reusable heating packs inserted between her shirt and chest could help? These heating packs are activated by pressing hard on a small metal disc inside them, and they turn solid after their heat energy is used up. To reuse them, you put them in boiling water until they turn gel-like again.
Arizona?
That is your profile anyway, hers too?
Given the climate, I wonder if your friend has used dry wear, say even separates, in her prior paddling. Without having any idea what she has been thru, I am thinking that she may have previously tended to get wet using lighter weight neoprene. If that is the case, staying drier may help.
Fleece vest
and a drytop. Wet anything tends to rob heat from the body.
After chemo it seems we get colder more quickly implants or no
Heat packs might be OK but I have never used them so dont know what effects they might have on the implants.
Not something I
thought of before, but it makes sense. Breasts are composed of a lot of fat cells and that means warmth. I doubt anyone has ever considered the thermal properties of implants, but I can see where it must be a lot colder if they aren’t protected from the wet.
In winter, I’d think a dry suit is probably a best solution. I’m assuming that this is whitewater paddling and water will get into anything else and defeat the thermal protection offered by anything less than a solid seal from the elements. There may be dry tops that work well, even when immersed, but that isn’t a market I know much about and Kayakmedic may have a better understanding of that than I do.
Sadly, this may mean that overheating could become a problem for her. But she does need to be insulated from the water/wind or I expect some cold discomfort will be an issue.
Good luck
Rick
just my profile
Gail is a friend, nothing more, who made that comment as I talked to her about my Colorado trip.
She used to paddle with us before her surgery, then quit and commented that if she could keep warm, she’d paddle more often.
All her paddling is calm water lakes and slow rivers.
I do the same but will expand into Winter paddling and low-class rapiods when I do river trips.
Heated clothing
Cabela’s offers heated women’s clothing for hunting, such as battery-heated soft shell vests and jackets. For example, see this link: http://www.cabelas.com/product/cabela-s-women-s-heated-performance-camo-fleece-vest/1860909.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dheated%252Bclothing%26x%3D10%26y%3D6%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%252BProducts&Ntt=heated+clothing
Hope this helps!