DIEP 2011

So glad to hear everyone did so awesome last week!! Ladym and Just Laura I will be sending you good vibes on Tuesday!! Sue you look beautiful! Love that pink tractor!! I want one! c8ndygr1 I'm right with you being nervous!! Can't wait to have next Tuesday behind us!!

Hi Alex et al,

I had similar SE's after my DIEP surgery.  The first couple nights they were checking on me EVERY hour (didn't have me ICU) because they thought the flap might be failing---it wasn't.   Plus I sweated like crazy!  My gyn told me some of that is because of the anethesia, perhaps the pain meds.

Also, FYI for those of you w/upcoming surgery a couple things to check w/your doc about going in: those of you regular coffee/caffeine drinkers---NO caffeine for at least a week!  So ween yourself off before to avoid a rebound headache.  Also if you have a recliener or a nice comfortable couch at home be prepared to sleep there unless you can get comfortable in your bed on your back.  No sleeping on your sides (or stomach of course) for quite a while.

Good luck to all w/upcoming surgeries!

XXOO

Sharon

Lady and Laura: Lots of prayers and good vibes are going out for you two.

Alexan: All of the side effects from the drugs will eventually wear off. I broke out once when I went to the emergency room from the pads that they hook up to you to get an EKG. They gave me a Benedryl shot and I stopped at the pharmacy on the way home and bought more. That stopped the itching.

mspradley: What will the doctor do for your wound healing issue at the time of surgery?

LadyM and Just Laura you are up!  Get 'er done gals, get 'er done.  I sure don't mean to if I leave anyone out but the scrolling back is difficult at this stage....

They gave me Bendadryl as well, and I always have some at home for bug bites.  It doesn't help me stay awake though.  It is not easy to sleep today.  There is a construction project going on in the house and my DD is having a D&C for polyps in her uterous.  I am going to see what I can google about that.  She has had all kinds of problems since going off the pill.  Polycystic Ovaries and now this.  Just found out about the polyps on Friday.

c8andygr1; I was given a packet of dos and don'ts. Even over my bed in the hospital they had a sign that said no caffeinne, no chocolate and something else that I can't remember.

Alexan: I hope all goes well with your DD. I have been drinking Tart Cherry Juice for a while now  and it really helps me sleep like a baby. I had forgotten that I bought some before I had surgery and ran across it in the fridge a few days ago. I usually buy the quart size in the natural section at the local Kroger. When I buy the concentrate, I get it in the refrigerated juice section at Walmart. It costs $8.88, but you can make 3 quarts.

Good luck Laura...I'll be thinking about you tomorrow

Just sent lady a PM, but now see Laura has hers tomorrow too????  GOOD LUCK to both you lovely ladies.  We'll all be here thinking and praying (those of us who do that sort of thing ) for you both. 

(((Hugs)))

Sharon

Carberry: you are an inspiration but I plan to use the 'I just had surgery' card for as long as I can get away with it - lol.

Pupfoster1: Thanks for the clarification on the 'no caffeine after surgery' warning. I'm one-cup-a-day so I'll manage with the no coffee restriction - it's the NO CHOCOLATE that'll kill me!  

thanks for all the great advice...I was very nervous but after reading how some of you rocked the surgery I feel much better!

 ladym and laura....I'll be sending positive vibes to you tomorrow.

7 days and counting,

Cheryl

JustLaura: Good luck on your surgery tomorrow... Prayers are going up for you tonight........ You'll soon be on the other side!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kathy

Susan, the sweating is from the anesthesia I believe.  I drenched the sheets for a night or two and then it got better quickly.  IDK about the face mask, it wouldn't have helped me, but it's sure worth trying!

Alexa, do you think they were giving you decaf w/out you knowing?  It's something to do with the fact that caffeine constricts (or is it the opposite?) your blood vessels and that could be bad for the new flap.

Prayers for all of you w/surgery ahead!

Sharon

For all the ladies that are having their surgeries tomorrow, Best of luck!  You are in my thoughts and prayers!  One more week for me.  I am feeling a lot better about it now.  I had my pre-admission tests last week, and I think something has just shifted in my head.  There is no turning back now!

Thank you for everybody who has shared their recovery stories.  They are so much more than heartening!  I love the pink tractor, and is that cleavage?  Awesome!  Fight like a girl!  That is the best saying I have heard so far (I also liked, "Yes, they're fake, my real ones tried to kill me", sorry I can't remember who this belonged to, so many great ladies).

So, tomorrow, and next week, and all the ladies currently in recover: Fight Like a Girl! 

Hi, Ladies, I am healing well from getting my nipples.  They are itching but that means they are healing.  I can get my tatoos in 3 weeks.  So happy with the results but continue to have that very full feeling much of the time with my abdomin...especially after eating even if it is not much.  Anyone else going through this still???

Sue you look absolutely fantastic. 

Good luck to any of you ladies who are coming up for their surgery.  All of it is worth it, just take your pain meds as prescribed for total pain management.

Ladies, I am 3 weeks post BMX-DIEP.  My surgery was about 6 hours.  I woke up in recovery fussing that my fingers on my left hand were numb.  I have been told that it was the positioning during surgery and b/c of the lymph node.  It's fine now, just the occasional tingling.  My pain was absolutely minimal.  I had one pain ball and a morphine pump that I forgot to pump half the time.  By the third day, I was off of all painkillers.  I was HOT the entire time in the hospital---my room was warm, so I cannot blame it all on the drugs.  The problem was fixed with a fan.

I had the hourly doppler.  I really didn't mind---I zoned out.  I had little stitches to guide them where to look, so it was always very quick.  I had 6 drains.  I never needed the Pink Pockets I ordered, the nurse put an elastic belt on me that had velcro tabs around it.  They held the drains in place perfectly.  

My only issue while in the hospital was with gas.  I could not pass it.  I was loaded up with Colace and everything else they could throw at it.  I cried like a baby.  It was like labor pains.  After the 3rd suppository I finally farted.  Amen.  I actually stopped eating because nothing was moving.

The doctors actually asked me when I wanted to go home.  I really wanted one more night in the hospital.  After the gas issue and not eating, I needed some more ooomph.  Side note:  I also received 2 transfusions while there.  My hemoglobin bottomed out.  I needed some more TLC.  It worked perfectly because my appetite came back and I had my first real movement a few hours before I left.  

Several of you have mentioned no caffeine.  I was not given that restriction.  In fact coffee and tea regularly showed up on my tray.  And my mother brought me Coke on several occasions.  It was the coke that made me feel better.

Once I was home, I found that I had a hard time getting comfortable because my backside and lower back ached to the point of hurting.  The recliner was comfortable only to a point, then my butt ached and I had to move.  I ended up putting a memory foam topper on the pull out couch in the living room along with a wedge pillow.  Guess what---it was so comfortable that I am still here!!!!

At 2 weeks ALL of my drains were pulled.  I knew 3 would come out, but my surgeon decided all of them could leave.  She reasoned that sometimes the drains drain just because they are there.  I was still putting out 60 cc's over a 24 hour period in 2 of them.  I was relieved.

I never had any REAL pain.  Just ache.  I will say the only thing that dogs me right now is in the cleavage area.  Major ache.  Clapping my hands or even bringing them together to wash them is a major ache.  Turns out that sometimes they have to take some of the bone when they are reattaching vessels.  I wonder how long this will last.

At 2 weeks, my hip to hip incision was almost perfectly healed.  My DIEP was skin sparing, so I have these dandy circles stitched in where my nipples used to be.  Even they look pretty darned good.  I saw the plastic surgeon at 16 days----she was shocked at how good my incisions looked and how good I looked.  

Everything has gone phenomenally.  I can only hope that it goes that way for everyone else. As an FYI--I had a bag packed with magazines, makeup, clothes, snacks.  I used next to nothing.  The hospital provided just about everything I needed.  I did wear a t-shirt and yoga pants.  I didn't need a buttoned shirt because I could lift my hands over my head right away.  I didn't care about anything else, certainly not makeup.  I enjoyed having my own toothbrush.

alexan  I coughed for a month after surgery!  Doc said it was from the intubation tube scratching my throat,   but I dont think so...a month?  Not a scratchy cough just annyoyingly dry no matter how much I drank.  I kept hard candies wioth me everywhere I went so as not to annoy people.  Thought I was gonna pop an incision!  Finally gone now, may have been allergy related, but dont really know.

Dutchy  yes I feel this fullness right under my breast, upper abdomen, like fatty pads, gonna ask my PS this month.  Is this where I will put on weight now?  Lower tummy is still flat, and yes I get full fast at meals...that a perk right?