DIEP 2011

Xray, my prosthesis won't fit in any bra I have found except my mastectomy bra.  That sucker is huge!!!  Not so much the breast but I lost a lot of tissue above  and beside the breast itself. 

Bdavis, I am so happy and envious of you going to NOLA (as I said on the other thread too!).  I don't think I had a skin sparing mastectomy.  I really don't know.  On my right side, I have very little tissue underneath, I can literally feel ribs, spaces between ribs, etc.  I wonder where they will get the skin to wrap around the fat?  Suddenly, I am feeling very ill-prepared for this.  I think I will call tomorrow and see if I can talk to someone.

Kelly, GOOD LUCK tomorrow!!  I will say a prayer for you.  I hope you do great.  Please check in as soon as you can and let us know how you are doing.

Anyone else go through this with one breast with immediate reconstruction and one breast delayed reconstruction?  That is no reconstruction at all on the first side?

Susan

Waking up with breasts......priceless

To all....not for those with weak stomachs (or those who scare easily), but there is a very informative video on the Beth Israel New York website (OR Live) that shows a skin/nipple sparing bilateral mx. followed by iate DIEP. It was about 40 mins long but the results were wild. (as in great/wild).

Here's the link:

 http://www.orlive.com/chp/videos/breast-reconstruction-deep-inferior-epigastric-perforator-full-surgical-version-

There is also a less graphic version:

http://www.orlive.com/chp/videos/breast-reconstruction-condensed

I think the procedure for DIEP is staright forward with nipple sparing, but on the MX side I wouldn't keep the nipple so how do they make up for the loss (flatness) if they skin the fat and just use the fat? I would think they use some skin, but the doctor's office said no... i am CONFUSED.

@bdavis. I know what you mean about the confusion. Since my MX was 6 years ago, I have no nip, no extra chest wall skin, and the scar has faded to almost nothing. I am hoping that some skin can be used in my case since without it, I'll be lucky to have even an A cup with just fat placed under my flat right side. When I watched the video on the ORLive site, it showed the surgeons placing the abdominal tissue inside the hole left in the empty breast mound...with some skin on it. ??? That kind of didn't make sense to me since unbroken skin doesn't adhere to unbroken skin. Then the PS in the video goes on to explain how he trims off some of the skin over the fat so it will adhere inside the empty mound. Go figure .....

I'm just really bummed that I didn't have the opportunity to have all of this done when I had the MX. My head was really spinning from the dx in the first place...and oddly enough, the General Surgeon who did my MX didn't even mention reconstruction at that time. Maybe that was because I practically fainted in the exam room when he broke the news to me and my DH.

The cup size is a full C. The scaring really isn't bad. It's just a larger circle around the breast. None of the scaring doesn't show above my bra or any bathing suit tops that I have. The abdominal skin is lighter than the original breast skin but it feels the same.

Hi girls, hope this finds everyone doing well.

@SAMayo---I did DIEP on my cancer side with my ab tissue to get to about a C/small D cup.  I was a DDD before mx.  The left side I got an implant!  So that might be a good option for you too if you wouldn't mind the implant.  I got the left side removed with the cancer side as they saw some suspicious spots on my MRI and couldn't determine what it was---my BS said to "wait and watch"---but to hell with that!  He wasn't the one having to live with that!  And gues what?  They found LCIS when they did the pathology.  So trust your gut on your decision and don't look back!

@Marci and any others waiting for your surgery---I didn't bring a lot with me, just some good smelling lotion, toothbrush, etc.  But for the ride home, be sure to have the person picking you up bring a pillow to put under the seat belt.  As far as pain went, most of it was in the abdominal area, and I ended up having a bad reaction to the pain pump by day 3---severe nausea until they got me on oral pain meds.  OHHHHH, and if you get constipated by pain meds, MAKE SURE they give you extra stool softeners and eat lots of fruits and nuts (once you can)!!!  I had a HORRIBLE time w/it even once I got home.  NOT what you need w/ab surgery that's for sure!

Good luck to you all!

Sharon

Hi everyone, I made it home Thursday at noon, just posted all the details on the Feb 2011 Mastectomy thread....

I hope everyone came out well with their surgeries this week!

Hi all,

Hope everyone who had surgery last week is recovering well!  I had my surgery on 3/2 and came home on 3/5.  The first day was pretty rough, even with the pain pump.  The nausea was pretty bad as well. So, on day 2, we switched to percoset .  Actually, I felt that I got more relief from the oral meds than I did from the pain pump. 

The PS were very excited about the results of the surgery.  While they were in surgery, they came across some suspicious tissue and sent it to get biopsied right then and there.  Came back clean.  They said it was just scar tissue.  So, that was good news.  Also, they sent all tissue in for pathology, which i guess is their standard procedure, and that came out cancer free too!  We all like to hear those things.  So, I was very pleased to get more reassurance that I was cancer free!

Now, I am just trying to not do anything, which for me is going to be extremely difficult.  I keep forgetting about not lifting more than 5 pounds.  But, I am really trying to rest and heal. 

I have to say it is nice to have cleavage again! 

V

Hi guys doing pretty good from my recliner 6 days out!

Last week ladies now at home, dont do too much, relax a little, and heal well. Best wishes.

SamayoFL:  I had bmx Oct. 2009 with immediate reconstruction - silicone implants.  2 weeks later, the left side blew up with fluid and I had 10:30pm surgery to remove the left side implant and was left with quite an ugly scar and pouch on the left side.  Following that surgery, I had lymph node dissection because the frozen dissection of the sentinel node in the original surgery showed clear, but pathology 2 days later found cancer in the sentinel node.  The lymph node dissection was a rough one, 23 nodes taken out and only the sentinel node had cancer, so that was good, but I am left with a big space of numbness under my arm and up the arm a little.  Scar tissue like crazy, physical therapy over a year now on that arm (no lymphadema, thank goodness).  Anyway, I had radiation ending in March of 2010 and had to wait till the skin was softened and healed before having the left breast re-reconstructed.  Dec. 7 was my DIEP surgery just on the left side.  Having problems with the tethering PS did on the top of the breast, my own skin.  Everyone is different, very different.  Please ask PS questions, alot of them even if you think they are stupid.  This is your one time operation and you deserve to know everything.  

Abdominal contouring is different per each PS.  Most do dogears, plus some lipo other spots.  I am very shortwaisted, which means I don't have much of a waist.  With a DIEP, I had less of a waist, but a flat tummy.  So, at Stage 2, my PS lipo'd with a focus on my sides so I had more of a natural waist shape.  Without that, my pants would still be falling down.  Now, I do have a better shape and my pants stay up.

Can anyone answer to the cleavage problem?  I saw Xray mentioned this.  My two breasts, one with tissue and one with implant now are quite far apart and I can't imagine cleavage ever happening.  I do miss it also.  I had size 42 D, very large droopy breasts and am enjoying the smaller uplifted ones which I asked for a C, however the new tissue one is very flat right now compared to the other.  I have a good mastectomy bra that hides the differences (it is a molded cup), but I'd rather wear something less rigid.  Does the cleavage come back eventually????

Just got home last night from Delayed DIEP. Surgery was 8 hrs, only needed pain meds for day after surgery. just extreme trunk tightness, 5 drains ,a little more mobile each day,.  This morning a shower and BM made a big difference     Mending and healing wishes to VMarie and Blondie !