DIEP 2013

sbelizabeth

Oh, Bluebird, I'm so sorry we scared you.  I don't know that any of us has any experience in the complications and pitfalls of plastic surgery beyond what we've experienced ourselves, and our philosophy tends to be along the lines of "get some answers NOW."  But if you're already covered with antibiotics, aren't feverish, and the pains isn't getting worse (instead of better, or staying the same), the hospital resident on call is most likely correct in saying it can wait until Monday morning.

"Dead, liquified tissue."  Yeah, that DOES sound nasty!  But take your meds and get a good night's sleep, and your PS will be available in the morning.   

Sherry, you're in my thoughts and prayers.  The wound vac can do wonders, and the wormhole may just be an effect of a healing wound. I'm so sorry you're going through this.  Back to the spa.  Pass the chocolate.  Let's invite James Taylor to come sing to us tonight.

sherry35

Sbe- James Taylor sings my all time favourite song " Fire and Rain"!

Makes me want to put on my headphones!

Tracy516

Hubby is doing so good. He took kids shopping for backpacks and school supplies! Made some good dinners and sits on the toilet while I shower!! Nice



Hope all that need extra healing get it!!



Virtual spa.. My feet and back need a hot tub!!;) would be so nice.

Cherrie

My💚goes out to Sherry and Bluebird. You are both in my prayers. I am so sorry you are dealing with this.



Bailey- I met my husband at Michigan State and both of our children and their spouses graduated from there too. We bleed green in this household.



Jeannie- do you have a child in Michigan and live in WA? Haha I live in MI and my son just moved to Seattle. We may need to house swap so visiting isn't so expensive.

ssla01

Sending healing oughts to Bluebird, Sherry, Mammalou, and anyone I'm forgetting. Hope all the flappers have a better week this week.

goldie4040

SSla, how are you since your drains are all out? 

Anonymous

Prayers for this week's ladies...2timer, island girl, sherry47 and Sbel!



Prayers for those who are healing still!



Prayers for those who are anticipating or still deciding.



Prayers for all of our good friends here...including you lurkers

Jeannie57

Cherrie, yes, my DD and SIL grew up here in the Seattle area but are in Ann Arbor for his dental degree. That's funny about your situation being opposite!



Bluebird, I guess we need all the info from somebody before we scare them so much! I hope you are sleeping away and get help and reassurance tomorrow. Sherry, I'm thinking of you, too.



Damiana, good to hear you sounding so well and getting back to the life you want!



Thinking of those going in for sleeps, procedures, wound care this week. We are here for you.

ssla01

Goldie, I'm so stinking happy without drains. One hole sealed right up and you can hear the fluid sloshing when I walk. Dr. M. Said not to worry. Hopefully, it will absorb quickly. The other hole is still draining and I'm wearing maxi pads inside my clothes to catch the stuff. Yucky, but still better than drains!

goldie4040

SSla, that must be the weirdest sensation.  I hope it adsorbs soon. But, yeah for no drains!!!!

ssla01

It sounds weird, but I can't really feel it. It is only a small amount. Thank Goodness!

Jubby

Posting for the first time on this board. Had DIEP on Friday. Today is day 3 post op. Did double recon but had right breast removed in Dec 2012. Ended up being a SIEP so I didn't need muscles cut but boy am I tight. I am walking like a hunchback. Off the pain pump and taking Tramadol and Targen (sp) for the pain. Coping OK. Abdo hurts way more than the breasts. Haven't had a chance to read all of the posts on this site so am not au fait with you all & healing times etc. I might chime in with some questions over the coming weeks that have been answered already. I apologise in advance for being a pain in the butt! Pain is manageable but I feel like I have a long road of recovery ahead. Not picking up my toddler for 6 weeks is going to be the hardest part. Ciao for now, Jubby.

SheChirple

Sherry, swetpickele, bluebird...and all...I certainly know the tears I have spilled over the recent past. They are not tears of joy, or sadness. They are tears of confusion, frustration, uncertainty.  I even left for awhile because I couldn't handle it.  Retreated into my little cave. Goldie - type A, boy does that describe me and my determination. It makes us feel ven weaker when we are the one that always is the rock, the driver, the force and we are now the patient, the 'sick' one, the one needing help. So hard to accept.

It will pass. It takes longer for some, but it will pass.

Christina : going back to work was very theraeputic for me.  I went back after 4 weeks.  I alwasy think I should take longer, but I really needed to be around people.  I had my walker in my car, I walked hunched over for a couple of weeks, but people would then notice "Hey, look at you, all upright!"  It made me feel better.

sbelizabeth

Jubby, welcome.  You've come to the right place.  Let the questions fly.  We're a loquacious bunch, and will shower you with more information than you probably need.  Welcome to the other side of DIEP!

Monday morning...Christina, you're in my thoughts as you trip off to work this morning.  Have a very nice day.

Bluebird, let us know what your PS has to say; we're all curious and concerned.  

Happy Monday, everyone!  I only have to work three days this week, and then it's Stage II Spa for me!

Sharon1942

Happy Monday!  Prayers for everyone healing!  I'm on my way to see my plastic surgeon for a consult to schedule Stage 2b DIEP!  Need slight reduction of uni-flap & a nipple.  There is light at the end of the tunnel!

Anonymous

Good morning flappers!



Christina, I hope your first day is going well! Just half days for now, right?



I have to work until Thursday afternoon and then on a quick vacation with my family before school starts....So looking forward to some family fun!!!

nihahi

Good morning ladies.

Jubby....welcome to some of the most amazing, caring, supportive and wacko ladies you will ever meet. Ask away, we share our experiences as a way of helping others, and often end up helping ourselves even more. If you want your surgery date added to our list, please pm me the details.

Thinking of everyone who had a rough week/weekend.....hoping this week brings more healing, less complications to all. 

Sending prayers and positive thoughts out to everyone having procedures this week. 

Off to start another week. Have good days.

hrf

Bluebird, keep us posted. I also had some foul smelling fluid in one area but home care nurse has been great in taking care of things.



Jubby, welcome. I am just 10 days out. I'm not running yet but I feel better than I did on day 3.



Last night for the first time I had abdominal pain on my right side. Pain pill helped but it was kinda scary. I'm still walking hunched over and I've been told not to try to straighten up for a while. Frustrating not to be able to raise my arms but I hope by the end of the week that will change. I see PS on Wednesday. Still some areas that are wet and shiny....so not drying out but I think it was bailey who said to focus on the good spots and not the few that are not so good. I'm also tired of being tired.



It's only when I read about how so many of you are happy now, that is keeping me focused on the future.

nihahi

hrf.....you're going to be tired for awhile....it's your body's way of telling you it is out of energy from getting the drugs out of your system, and from all the work it is doing to heal. Take the naps, girl, it isn't a sign of defeat!!! I was/am never a "napper"....I needed, REALLY needed those naps, sometimes more than once a day, for at least a month. I have a "life" that let me rest when I needed to, and maybe that helped me heal without any real complications? 

yep....focus on the positive and look to the future....everyone gets there, just in different timelines.

kuka....did the cub scouts tie you up and leave you in a dark closet after the sleepover???

goldie4040

Welcome Jubby,

You are doing great for 3 days out.  I haven't had my surgery yet, so I can't speak to your pain, etc.  I know somebody will chime in very soon who can give you more comfort that I can.  I know that the majority of these ladies do fine, and are back to what they want to do fairly soon.  As far has walking hunched over, you might be upright in a week, or it might be 3 weeks.  It depends on so many things, how thin you were to begin with, age, physcial condition, etc.  Baby that tummy incision.  Try really hard not to stand straight before you are ready. 

Again, welcome.  

goldie4040

Shechirple,

Back to work at 4 weeks. Wow.  Good for you. You are a trooper.  Thanks for the words of encouragment. I know I am upset, but not sure if I am depressed.  I guess I will have to let the therapist make that decision.  I feel like somebody who has been falsely accused of something, and nobody will listen.  Does that make sense?  I wanted a skin sparing mastectomy, I signed a form for a skin sparing mastectomy, but that is not what I got, then my incisions wouldn't heal over my expanders (was originally going with implants) because of the way they did my surgery, switched to DIEP, incisions heal and then doc says let's expand for better DIEP outcome, then I have to figure out myself about the liver lesions (long story), DIEP gets but on the back burner while I now expand, which is so painful, and it that doesn't seen to be the case for most people.  Then my back which has been fine for several years starts to really hurt because I  have become weak and tired, and now I have new pain. But....I am depressed...not that anything is actually wrong, just depressed? I think I am angry, and frustrated, like so many of us.  Sorry for the rant, but you helped open the floodgate, which is a good thing.  

hrf

Goldie, sending gentle hugs.

goldie4040

Thanks, Hrt.

Hang in there too. The fatigue does pass.  Somebody told me that for every hour of anesthesia you had you need a week to get it out your system.  My original bmx with expander placement took 10 hours.  So...20 weeks of feeling tired? Sounds like a bit of an exaggeration, but who knows?  You are doing great.  I bet your PS tells you the same thing on Wednesday.

Anonymous

Jubby, welcome! So glad you found us here! You sound really good..three days out from this surgery is not very long at all. I had more abdo pain than breast pain, too. Throw your questions out there...doesn't matter if we've covered it already...we get new people in various stages of the process all the time..we are here to support each other through it all.



I hope you have a good day today!

Sharon1942

Had a great PS follow-up.  Everything has 100% healed - repositioned DIEP flap for lefty & reduced/lifted rightie.  Stage 2b will be easy breezy lipo to slightly reduce flap.  This is scheduled for Sept. 13th.  After that it will be the nipple, then tattooing. PS office does 3D tattooing for areola! Bring it on!

Prayers for those that are hurting, anxious, & healing.  What you are going through will pass & there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm beginning to see mine now!  And your time WILL come!

Moviemaniac

Morning (well, it is HERE!) flappers...... Long weekend with too much landscaping....nothing like entering the week already dead-dog tired......



Sbe...love your description of stage 2...."front end realignment"..... Lol. Have to admit I am a little nervous for mine.....plication means re-opening at least 4" of abdominal scar down to muscle.....gulp! I keep telling myself that I will NOT have dehiscence 2x in a row...........I SO get what all you ladies with open wound issues are going through....

Fingers crossed......I am worried about down time, too. PS said I would be sore in abdominal area for at least a week or two.....starting to think in MY case make it DOUBLE whatever works for everyone else!



To all you ladies with wound healing issues.....it WILL get better.....eventually. I would get so upset looking at the "joker smile" on my abdomen, I just started popping an Ativan before every dressing change and shower......only way I got through all but last few days.....I don't think one of us really wants to see their insides on the outside....it's a little freaky.....at least for someone who isn't in the medical profession.



Best wishes and (((hugs))) to those goings this week.....I think of you ALL, often.



Welcome to you, Jubby.....this really IS a great group to talk to, cry with, or just joke around with....we have some pretty twisted senses of humor on here.....just ask about the glowing foobs......



Nihahi....wish we were hiking again....I can't tell you what a boost it was to meet you! Let's do it again.....(anyone can join us- we aren't exclusive!).



To ALL of you wonderful women...thank you for the support, friendship, and love......have a good Monday XO



Namaste and God Bless - Jackie, who is getting her front end re-aligned next Tuesday

goldie4040

Sharon, sounds perfect! I know it will all go well!

Movie,  you too, it will all go fine.  You are strong, and ready for stage2.  I bet you are out walking in a few days from surgery.

Cherrie

Has anyone ever had a suspicious MRI after their DEIP? My onc ordered a baseline MRI last week. Her nurse called me 30 min. ago to tell me she didn't like what she saw on the left breast. No mass, but an area. My onc is very aware that my tissue is from my belly. She wants me to have an ultrasound within a week. I am pissed that I even have to go through this already. I had this done to avoid all this crap. I am confused, pissed, and emotional. My next surgery is in 3 weeks.



Has anyone ever had this happen to them? Sorry for ranting.

nihahi

Cherrie....never a need to apologize for "letting it out"! Gosh, what a mindblower that phone call must have been. I can't imagine that what is showing up on the mri is ca related....it's just skin and ab fat! Did you have any hard or necrotic areas?? Maybe that is what's showing up. So sorry to hear you are now on the "waiting to test, get results" list again, you've been there enough....should be done and dusted with all that..right!!!! Can you get any advice or reassurance from your ps doc? It's a NOLA person, isn't it? Maybe they have the answers for you already, based on their experience. Keeping you in my thoughts....((((X))))

Morningsun1

Cherrie, I agree with nihahi, could be just necrotic area. Your initial DIEP was less than 10 months ago and your stage I was 3 and half months ago, maybe too soon to have an MRI of your gloobs?