Bilateral Mastectomy and TRAM Reconstruction

Of course you're scared.  You have never had this surgery before. This will change your body.  You've thought through this for quite some time.  Now you can look forward to a time with a much lower risk of breast cancer.  I'm sure you are doing this, in quite some part, so you can be there for your son.   I'm sure your son knows how much you love him. Kids are quite resourceful, and stronger than you think. 

You've gone through a lot.  You will have a whole new life to live.  Best wishes!

Tara:

I understand your fears and trepidation. I just had a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction three weeks ago, and I was a mess the week before it. It was just so alien and I had the sense that I had lost control of my body. I was apprehensive of what life would be like in the weeks following surgery.

I will be honest, it is no picnic, but it is not the nightmare I had imagined. Don't be afraid to ask questions or just say you don't understand. My doctors and nurses were incredible, but they are so used to this that they sometimes forget EVERYTHING is foreign to the person dealing with cancer, surgery, and recovery. I am so much better after three weeks, but understand that I have weeks still to go.

The best thing for your son will be to see you when you come home. You will be able to talk with him and tell him you love him, and he will see that you are the "same ol'" mom he has known and loved.

I will keep you in my prayers and thoughts. Life will get better!

Taraleec,

I don't mean to throw anything to you from left field at this point, but is there a reason you're planning TRAM recon instead of DIEP? You know that TRAM can compromise your abdominal muscles, while DIEP does not? I traveled from Minnesota to New Orleans to have my recon - one big reason was because the breast recon surgeon here only knew how to do TRAMS,  and I didn't want to risk those muscles, yet I wanted to use my own tissue rather than implants. If you have any doubts about which procedure you want to have, or what the full range of options are, you know you can take all the time you need to do your research. I have pleomorphic LCIS and will probably be having prophylactic surgery on the other breast in the coming months. I plan to travel back to New Orleans to have it. I'm sorry if this is insensitive/inappropriate to bring this up at this point, but I just wanted to make sure you know all your options - many, many women aren't told them by their plastic surgeons - especially techniques they don't know how to do themselves.

Taralee

I am so sorry that you are in so much pain. I have not heard of this procedure before. Usually it is a one step procedure. When you have the other surgery request a Q ball which drips medication into the incision area. I had this for my diep surgery and I was not in any pain.

Good luck with your surgery Friday.

Taraleec, I am sending gentle hugs and wishes that the next few weeks of healing fly by.

Linda

Taralee welcome to the other side. I hope everything went well and you are resting and pain free. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Taraleec, if you can do this, you might want to consider renting a hospital bed. I had BMx with immediate SGAP and we rented a bed for a while. Insurance will sometimes cover this, but it truly was a blessing and made it much easier to get out of bed as well as sleep, change positions, etc. My bed could raise the feet or head and that was great during a time when I couldn't wiggle around much to adjust pillows etc. We just shoved the furniture over and squeezed in the bed. It was great and worth every penny.

Hope all went well for you yesterday!

Uhhhh - just those words 'ripped' sounds painful! 

Glad you got through to this other side, and so glad the healing looks like its going well.  Hope they gave you some good anti-pain strategies.

Taralee so good to hear that you are feeling better. Try walking each day and your strength will come back.