FINALLY....good news! -- and a question

Hi Joyko, congrats on coming up with your plan, thats the hardest part in my opinion.  In answer to your question regarding timing of mx, it depends on how busy the surgeon is but in my case I had to wait over a month (7 wks) since I was not invasive, and surgeon and plastic surgeon had to arrange their schedules.  I had immediate tissue expanders placed at mx.    I hope you get your surg date soon.  You sound like you are in a good place, hope all goes well.

I can tell you I chose the tissue expanders with implants because I wanted the least invasive surgery with the quickest recovery (this is my take on it).  My kids are young and I don't have a lot of time to 'heal'.  I am also NOT good at sitting around.  My husband is already lecturing me on how I am going to follow instructions to the letter after my surgery.  He knows me very well.  I know a lot of women like the thought of their own tissue to create a breast and honestly, I thought I would feel that way too.  When it came down to it though I just had to go with what felt to me like the one I would heal from the quickest.  Just my 2 cents.  Hope that helps a little. 

I think it will help you to talk to the ps as well.  One may be suited to you and your body better than another.

k

Hi joyko, congratulations on your decision!  I made my surgery choice the week before Christmas and I had my surgery on January 13th.  I can tell you from my experience that the docs estimate how long your surgery will take so that they know how long to book the OR for.  Once they know the dates those block of times are available then the docs coordinate with each other and they decide upon a date.  I think it just depends upon the hospital and docs and how busy they all are.

Your PS will help you with the decision of DIEP or implant.  In making my decision I thought about a single mast and the docs said I could do a DIEP, or because I was small breasted and still perky he said I could also do an implant and it would match the other one very well.  Explore your options and ask questions because DIEP is a bigger surgery but you also want the end result to match nice.

I can say from my experience, I had immediate reconstruction with tissue expanders and am happy I chose it because it was only one surgery.  The doc did an alloderm one-step procedure in which the expanders I have in are my permanent implants.  No second surgery for exchange.  For me, recovery went well.  I had drains in for the first few weeks and had discomfort but the pain wasn't bad and usually only had pain when I lay down to sleep so I took a pill before bedtime.  I was out and about driving after 4 weeks, but was careful and didn't lift grocery bags and got tired quick and took naps, but other than that did very well.  I am now in my 8th week since surgery and my stamina is almost all back, I am able to exercise and am healing and doing very well.  I am active too, and don't like to sit around, so it helped me.

My advice is to have a good attitude but listen to your body so you don't overdo it.  Be religious about taking your antibiotics in the weeks immediately following surgery and stay away from anyone with a cold.   Let people help you lift things and reach for things for you while you need to.  Pay attention to your limits and start your stretching/flexibility exercises a few weeks after surgery and you will get better and stronger everyday.  Good luck!

I think the hardest part of post major surgery is the forcing yourself to cut-back.  I know when I had my hysterectomy, I was floored by how long it took me to feel 100%.  I had never had any surgery, I was busy on the hystersisters board, researched it all but decided that wasn't going to be me, I was healthy and active and I was so sure I'd recover quickly.  When I didn't, it was SOOOOO frustrating. My kids needed me--needed me just to be around,and awake and listening not out playing soccer.  I had trouble accepting that stupid stuff would make me tired so I pushed myself back to work a bit too soon and found myself at the end of the day, standing at my bus stop for 30 minutes, maybe 6 blocks from my house, unable to pull together the energy to just walk home--something I'd always done pre-surgery when I missed my connecting bus.  And that state lasted for MONTHS.

What that experience taught me was that I really couldn't control my recovery.  And that if I could avoid things with a big recovery, that would probably be best for everyone. All of which lead me to realize that while a free tummy tuck might be a nice way to cheat from having to do sit-ups (giggle) the recovery period for the trans&diep were just not for me.