DIEP 2011

Dee!   Yeah, it's over and you're back!  Doesn't it feel great to be done with the surgery?  And that first shower and BM - so great. 

I was sitting at dinner with the fam Thursday night after getting out of the hospital and I announced, "You know what?  Mommy has to go #2!!!!  If you hear screaming, just ignore me!"  But it was ok, and I came out so proud!    LOL   I'm sure my dd11 and dd16 were rolling their eyes at me.  

Xray, I was told that I would be so drugged I might not even remember that first night in ICU.  Well, let me tell you, I remember it... hour by hour, minute by minute.  And when my DH left at 10:30pm to go be with our DDs and put them to bed, we sensed it was a mistake, but felt we had no choice but to follow along with our plan.  Having a "personal nurse" to help you is absolutely priceless.  He will not have to do one gross thing, the nurses will do your drains, your iv, check your flap with doppler, give you meds, and probably be the ones to bring you water (the water/drink area was locked off to visitors) but having a support person with you all night is immeasurably supportive and helpful.  Not to mention if something doesn't seem like it's going right, having an advocate who is not on dilaudid or morphine to plead your case in an insistent convincing way can also come in handy.  I now feel deep regret for the times I let a grandparent spend the night at the hospital alone, even though I had little little ones at the time, I don't think I will ever let a loved one spend the night in the hospital alone, especially the first night or two. 

I was told DH would have nowhere to sleep in the ICU, but there was a reclining chair and he would have been fine there.  Having someone there to help you is a night and day difference, that's all I'm trying to say.  I'm Day 8 now and really can do a lot for myself including getting out of this high bed in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and back in again.  But these first weeks are a great chance for DH's who have felt so helpless throughout this process to really be able to plug in and love and take care of you.  My advice is to let him!  He'll feel useful and proud of himself, and you will love him all the more for it.  

XmasDx I hear you loud and clear and on one hand I know I would not only want my DH there with me, but also need him with me. On the other hand, there are several reasons why he won't be able to be with me 24/7, or even 12/7, LOL. Our children are still pretty young (12 and 10) and need someone to be home in the a.m. to get them ready for school, and someone home after school, and my wonderful (truly the best ever) DH works in a field that is very busy many months of the year - except for the winter months (Dec thru Feb), and after waiting this long for recon., I do not want to wait until December to start this process. My mom, step-dad, and sister live in Florida and my dad lives a few streets away from me but works full time. My best girl-friend is pregnant with her first child (currently 22 weeks along) and even though I know I could rely on her, I wouldn't dream of asking her to spend any night with me in a hospital. I'm kind of lacking in the extra-help dept.... I'll get plenty from DH and the kids once I get home, but will not have an extra advocate in the hospital while I am incarcerated (LOL) in it. If I'm lucky, my DH will be able to spend one night with me, so I'll want to pick an important one. Oh, and Boston hospitals are a good hour (minus traffic) from our home. It's difficult being such a self-sufficient person and then have to relinquish control to others when in need. I'm afraid if any nurse yells at me - I'll cry.

Hi everyone just going in for the surgery.  I am very independent also, having lived alone for about 13 years now.  First night, my daughter was with me till about 9pm when I finally got into ICU from recovery (everyone seemed to be having surgery being the end of the year).  It was ok.  My nurse only had two patients so when I pushed the button, she was there within minutes or less.  Had a little concern about pain control which took awhile to get straightened out, so I had a lot of pain until they increased everything.  Never did sleep much in the hospital what with doppler every hour, blood labs, blood pressure, temperature taking, cleaning person, meals (not allowed to eat for 36 hours just in case the vessel failed and I had to be rushed to surgery)., drain emptying, etc.  I remember watching the clock every 5 minutes all night long and not able to find anything good on TV either.  But, I was kind of groggy so I didn't care.  By the 5th day, I was ready to go home and would have been very unhappy had they wanted to keep me one more day. Being inside in one room was getting claustrophobic.  I stayed in ICU the whole time, all regular rooms were full.  And that was ok with me.  My sister stayed 2 nights only and had to go home, she lives 2 hours away and babysits her grandchild.  My daughter lives very nearby but is allergic to my cats, so she could only stay for short period of time.  My friends shopped for me, my grandson took me to the doctor for my first visit, but other than that, I could do the basics, walking up and down stairs was easy, just using tummy muscles was difficult but I worked around it.  I also worked 4 jigsaw puzzles and stayed up late and slept whenever I felt like it.  I was driving after 2-1/2 weeks, just was moving slow.  Tummy was really sore for about 5 weeks and gradually just stayed bloated, but it will go away, I promise myself!  My 3 cats kept me company, they are good nappers.  Good luck everyone.

Dee 7493 - best healing wishes to you too.



Xray - will probably be loving my recliner for a while. I highly recommend that you have someone stay at least the first 2 nights.



Dannade - totally agree not much sleep in hospital.

Hi girls,

Just try to remember that each body handles these things in a different way. So if one person had a rough time that doesn't mean you will too.  They decided not to put me in ICU the first night (not sure why) but checked on me EVERY hour the first day.  Once they took the catheder out I could pretty much handle getting up and going to the bathroom on my own.  The first shower was a little tricky, but it felt SOO good after!   Just take your time and TAKE THE PAIN meds!  I was the one though, that had a problem w/the pain pump on day 3.  They had to get me on oral meds as I was nauseaus from the pump.  I believe it was Dilaudid.

Good luck all!
Sharon

Hi All,  sounds like everyone is doing pretty well.  I went to ps today and 3 of the 4 drains were removed.  whoo hooo to that one.  Each day I am feel a little more like myself. 

I am a pretty independent person, but I wished I would have had my hubby stay the night.  I was okay, but having your personal assistant there would have been pretty nice. 

I am sure that every ps is different, but my doc had no restricitons on coffee for me.  I was drinking coffee in the hospital on Friday AM.  My surgery was Wed.  So, if you are a huge coffee drinker like myself, ask your doc.

Hope everyone is healing well and painlessly.

V

I was told tattooing can make nipples shrink a little, so some docs like to do the tattooing first so they can judge better on size of the nipples.

That's good info about the nipple tattooing.  I was wondering the same thing and was thinking to myself (and hubby) that it seemed to make more sense to do it first.  Hadn't thought about the shrinking aspect, but was thinking that it would be harder to tattoo a little piece of skin sticking up...........

I am a week out and I ditto blondie on what she said about doing it again.  I put on a stretchy tank top last night to sleep in and was amazed at how my breasts looked.  It was like the old me.  Brought tears to my eyes-Very cool.

V

vmarie - I am so HAPPY that you also feel the same way about the result of your surgery. They far from look good but to have 2 again is absolutely awesome.

XRAY - I am currently not even and lopsided but after 2 years it is absolutely such a great feeling to have 2 again. It is my understanding that at stage 2 surgery is when they make them match, etc. and until then I will be uneven. I knew that ahead of time and am fine with that. I am ever so grateful that I do not EVER have to have a mammogram again and no routine MRIs. I so made the right decision for me.

Anyone that has any questions regarding my experience with my DIEP so far is more than welcome to private message me.

Hugs, Dawn

I had a BMX with immediate reconstruction in March of 2009. You definitely need someone spending the night with you at least the first few nights. My mom came in from out of town and stayed a month to help with the kids. My DH spent the whole day waiting for me to get out of surgery(12 hours) I was in recovery for two hours. The first night my heart rate was fast because of the meds and I am glad hubby was there with me. You are not going to feel very good at times. Even if you have no appetite eat something and drink plenty of fluids. I always felt like doo doo in the mornings and when I ate I felt so much better. You will feel grubby so ask for sponge baths often. My hubby washed my hair and just little things like that made my hospital stay much easier. Get up and walk around as much as possible. Good luck I felt the surgery was well worth it.

XRAY-My bilat deep was delayed.  I had bilat mast in Jan 2010.  The right (cancer side) was removed and I prophelatically had the left removed but has skin sparing done on that side.  SKin sparing was unable to be done on the cancer side.  I did not have TE placed.

Currently, my right side-non skin sparing is a bit bigger than the left.  In looking at my breasts, I am not sure that the skin sparing made any difference with the DIEP procedure.  I had them do skin sparing because I did not know at that time (Jan 2010) what type of recon procedure I would be having.  I think that skin sparing really makes a difference if you are getting implants.  But, I am not a Dr. and could be totally wrong about this theory.  Also, stage II is when they do the fine tuning and adjusting to make the breasts match.  So, I have no worried about them currently being a bit uneven.

Yesterday, I was a week out of surgery and am amazed at how good I am doing.  I was able to give my 3 & 4 yr old boys baths last night and read them books and do some minor things around the house.  I am much more capable than I thought I would be.  I just really try to listen to my body.  When I get tired, I rest.

Hope everyone is doing well!

V

Vmarie. How awesome that u could give the kids a bath but please take it easy.

vmarrie ~ holy cow!  Your diep was a week ago and you're bathing your kids?  Yeah baby!  I hope I follow in your footsteps:-)  I'm scheduled for bilat on 3/30.  Now that March is here I need to get my ducks in a row.  I went for a second opinion to a new PS and am going to have him do the sx.  I only saw him once and feel very confident with him (teaching hospital).   I'm wondering if I should try to get in to see him one more time?  I think I have a pretty good idea of what to expect and I have watched the video of the sx....    any thoughts would be appreciated.  Thanks, Daiva