A couple of questions for DIEPsters (or TRAMsters)

No answer Lauren, just wanted to say those are good questions. I'm interested in hearing any answers.

Lauren, ask your ps (you can just call the office and ask the girl to relay your question and get back to you) about the exercise.  I am a maniac so was trotting around within a couple of weeks of the free TRAM but I don't advise pushing yourself.

Re: the belly hair.  I still have mine over a year later.  The good thing is that there is not too much but it does contrast with the extremely smooth post-rads skin next to it.  Sigh.  Well, you probably don't have much feeling there, if any, so you can pluck at will if it's just a few stray longish hairs or you can wax as soon as your ps says you are not going to do any damage.

The hard areas that feel like cartilege are likely just still-congested tissue and will soften with time.  I had those areas and none turned out to be tissue/fat necrosis and they DID go away.  You need to wait and be patient.  It will take many months.

For the scarring, read my post elsewhere about the Oleeva scar shapes.  My ps recommended them.  They are used a lot for burn patients and they do work for post-surgical scarring.  I started using them a month or so ago on my abd. scar and you would not BELIEVE the diminishment of the raised areas, the smoothing, and the fading so far.  They're expensive but well worth it.  Some ladies on this board have used drugstore scar strips and they say that they work, too, and are possibly less expensive but I have no experience with those.  I can only tell you about what I have used.  Fantastic!

Birki, that is hysterical:  not enough for a comb-over!  I'm having a double DIEP in September now, and I guess that belly hair (do you mean um, pubic hair???) will just be a little somethin' extra to look forward to!  Yay us!

A light line of hair from the belly button to the pubis is quite common in women.  Some societies and individuals consider it to be extremely erotic.  As with all types of hair, the amount and color varies with the individual.  Also, some individuals' bodies are covered with a light fuzz of fine hair which is not noticeable under ordinary circumstances. 

So, no, the foob hair is not from the pubis!!!  LOL  If they stretched the pubic skin up that far for the surgery your hay-nanny-nanny and points south would be right "out there."  Cause for alarm.  ROFL

I don't have the price list in front of me but the huge abdominoplasty shape cost $93.00.  I was able to cut 1/3 of it off to use elsewhere, like my belly button scar and breast scar.

The brachioplasty shapes are about $32 each and I just ordered two of them to cover my abd scar, so it's only $64 instead of $93. 

I've been using my original one since about the 4th or 5th of April and it is still good, so they do last a long time.  The deciding factor, though, is that it is working BIGTIME on the scar.

Belly hair on the new breast is not an issue if you have immediate DIEP in with Drs. DellaCroce and Sullivan in New Orleans, because they have not used skin paddles for immediate reconstruction for years.  I have a friend who asked her very well-known NY DIEP surgeon not to use the circular patches on her DIEP breasts and he did anyways.  She is very unhappy with his work.  The circular patches are so huge that she will be having the first of a series of revision surgeries with Dr. DellaCroce In New Orleans next month to eliminate them.  Yes, they do have dark hairs on them now.  She won't have that problem when Dr. DellaCroce is done working his magic on her, but she will end up having had more surgeries than if she'd just started with him in the first place, and she knew better, but was afraid to travel.  Now she'll be doing the travel several times to fix things up, but at least she knows where to go now to get everything fixed.

For delayed reconstruction for those who were not able to have skin-sparing mastectomy ,(or if your surgeon is still using the "circles" with skin-sparing despite the latest techniques being used in New Orleans),  the relocated hairs can be treated with electrolysis.

LOL, Tina!  That I am.  My result is most definitely a walking advertisement and testimonial to the amazing skill and artistry of Dr. DellaCroce, and yes, there is a line to get in, but only for those who have already had surgery to remove their cancer or want prophylactic surgery.  For those with cancer, mastectomy with immediate reconstruction can be arranged within 2-3 weeks tops.   If a woman doesn't contact the Center, she'll never know whether or not her insurance would cover it, so let's encourage all women to seek state of the art reconstruction with the most experienced, artistic surgeons available to them.

Here's an example of donor site disfigurement after GAP by Drs. DellaCroce and Sullivan:

http://www.youngsurvival.org/blocks/_Forum/index.php?showtopic=16784&hl=rear+view

It's hard not to make negative comments about what other surgeons are doing or not doing, when you see the difference in outcomes.  How could I honestly encourage someone to go to a surgeon who provides results inferior to what I and thousands of other women have received in NOLA?  You will notice, however, that most of my negative comments are limited to the FACT that it is no longer necessary to sacrifice core abdominal or back muscles to enjoy fantastic breast reconstruction results.   I'm not here to surgeon-bash. I'm here to point out that there are newer, better methods of reconstruction than what some surgeons are stuck in a rut doing as they have for the past 40 years because they don't know how to do the newer, superior procedures.   I am here to point out that there are mediocre surgeons and then there are fabulous surgeons.  I am here to help women know the difference, as I wish I'd known before I had my awful stage I done.

Also interesting that Momsdaughter had to post a link (to YSC) to view Rosebud's butt...no such photos are available here.

tl

First and foremost, beyond who is the best surgeon, etc., may we all remain healthy and cancer free!!!  That being said, Dr Christopher Crisera, UCLA Medical Center, is an amazing plastic surgeon and did a fabulous job on my DIEP!!    Although, I do have an appt tomorrow to see him and will absolutely ask him about where the heck the patches of hair on my new boob came from!  OMG if this jungle was on my stomach all this time and I never saw it, WTH? LOL  Before I had the surgery I remember laughing with my friends about potentially having the "happy trail" of light hair from under my bellybutton to my hay-nanny-nanny transferred to my boob, but who knew it would be more of an all over random patch situation!  Again, I focus, fine, just keep me cancer free!  Perhaps a Brazilian wax would work out better than the comb-over. 

So, I've been having headaches every day off and on for the past 2-3 weeks. They started out feeling like sinus headaches (I do have seasonal allergies), but then it increased to feel also like tension headaches where it starts at your neck and feels like your neck muscles are in a vice. I'm terrified that it may be a sign that my "c" has spread to my brain so I'm having an MRI.  Re-focus again, may we all remain cancer free!!!  Time to get my tweezers and attack my boob......

Thanks Trishia!  I'm so happy to know that I'm not alone and appreciate your well wishes. 

So I have fine thinning hair on my head and now nice fast hair growth on my boob!  Life is great!  LOL

Hi TammyLou!

I agree, it's unfortunate that there just aren't many photos of reconstruction here.  You are one of very few who's posted photos of your fantastic outcome on this site.  Rozebud has a gorgeous result too---GAP doesn't disfigure or deform the butt when done right.

I had hairs on my "circles" after stage I, and plucked them.   My first surgeon told me I could have electrolysis later on, but that skin was removed when I went to NOLA.

Sandy

HI Swim!  I've been thinking about you, because I met with hospital staff yesterday and my complaint has brought about policy change.  I was wondering if you'd talked to your hospital about your difficulties after surgery.

When Dr. D had to move my flaps, he made a horizontal incision in the inframammary fold under each breast, so I have L-shaped scars now, with the leg of the L extending outward to about where the cup of a bra ends at my side.   I have no idea at all about the difference in the "drape" of the breast due to location of the perforators!  Mine were done with the vessels in my chest.   Dr. D told me that he'd had to completely unsuture both flaps.  He had to move them back up higher on my chest because they'd slipped down.  He reshaped them to give them projection (they were flat like hamburger buns) and he also moved them toward the center, which created cleavage.  My guess is that he left the blood vessel connections intact, but I really have not questioned him about it.   He did such a major overhaul to the stage I my first surgeon did, and I didn't ask for many details.  I woke up and everything was so much better than it was before that it was fairly overwhelming to me, and even after going home a few days later, I was still discovering things he'd fixed up.  I think my biggest concern was what he found in my abdomen when he opened it up and removed what turned out to be a pseudobursa, since my original surgeon had been telling me that I was allergic to my sutures.

It took three surgeries to close up the circles and the nipples/areolae were done during the third one.  I actually didn't mind the additional procedures because I was very goal-oriented and had committed to them the first time I met with Dr. D.  Plus, he did lipo every time and that was a great consolation prize!

I'm so glad that you are happier with your result now.  Are you having more revision when you have the abdominal surgery, or are you done with the breasts?

My DIEP is now almost 8 wks post op. Had bilat mx w/immediate DIEP.

I've been doing wonderfully until yesterday and today, The boob that was cancerous has been hurting very badly. I'm wondering if it's because I've been massaging it since it has a few hard places under the skin? Anyone else have bad pain this far out from surgery?