DIEP 2011

Congrats Susan glad you are doing well

Yay Susan!!!!

Susan, So great that you are over this huge hurdle! I will be great to have you  share your experience once you are up to it . . . .for now, REST   REST    REST and let everyone pamper you!! Wow - they have you getting out of bed already! That is amazing!

RE: movement restrictions . . . .there is a lot you can do by bending your head over to meet your hands instead of reaching your hands up to your head and so forth.

We set up our house so that I would really have to stop and think before I reached  . .  . We had small tables stationed in my main hang outs (couch, recliner, bathroom) that held what I needed well within reach without overextension. I had a shower chair with a hand held sprayer to use and had everything where I could reach it.

We can do ANYTHING for a limited amount of time, so you will be able to handle things . . . my neighbor loaned me one of those grabber things, although I never really used it. Once my husband went back to work, we moved things down onto the kitchen counters so I wouldn't have to reach or climb.

Although we really aren't super fragile, nothing is worth risking a mishap. It is good to move your shoulders so you don't get frozen shoulder, but you can do that with a gentle movement that keeps your arm within your guidelines. The hospital will provide therapy to teach you how to do everything you need to know to stay within your guidelines. . .  practice getting dressed, using the toilet, going up and down stairs, grooming, etc. 

Those first weeks go by fairly quickly and before you know it, you be able to do everything without worrying! 

Kathy... I find it really hard to reach for a bath towel that is on a high shelf with other towels on top, making it heavy... that is for sure beyond my abilities...reaching a plate or glass on the lower shelf is fine, but higher shelves, no way.

Betsy - funny all the things we took for granted that we have to think about after surgery - super good to have someone close by to call for help and really important not to push ourselves! My PS lost a flap when one of his patients reached to get a kleenex box out of the back seat of her car . .  .  her flap swelled up right away but she didn't call in for several days and  by that point it was too late to save it. I can see how easy it would be to forget and just be in automatic mode! I imagine that is very unlikely but still . . . . .  

I had my son draw on my hand as a reminder . . . it made me smile whenever I looked at it.

Goldlining: I felt like I had peed my pants . . . such an odd feeling! I was surprised how quick it was. I took someone with me but didn't really need them. I emphathize with the worry though . . .I am usually pretty freaked when I get those injections that I might have a reaction. 

I would have to say that standing stark naked while being drawn on and having another doctor come right in was pretty bad for me . . . . when I have my stage 2 (in about a week and a half), I'm going to have my DH step outside and I may bring in something to drape around my hips or maybe a hat???

Gotta get all waxed up in plenty of time before stage 2. My hair is quite a bit higher after the diep than it was before . . . guess when the skin got stretched together, things shifted a bit! 

I'll be SO glad when I can quit thinking about boobs!!!

YAY SUSAN!!! Im so happy you finally made it to the other side!

Great to hear that you on the other side.  Rest,well and heal quickly.

I just got the mosr wonderfu news.  no cancer in my left side.  We made the right decision by going ahead and doing the mx as there was fibrocystic change,ductal hyperplasia and microcalcifications which are all precancerous conditions.

I feel pretty good this afternoon but they have only let me get up to go to the bathroom.

Susan

Susan: That is sooooo wonderful!

YAY Susan...you DID it...so happy for you :

Everyone have a Good Weekend...

Hi Ladies, Don't look here much anymore but popping by to say I wish you all the best!  My Doc does not reccomment the nip sparing...especially the ductal.  I have lived now for a year without nips and finally decided to get the 3D Nipples tatooed by Vinnie Meyers....Looking forward to a couple ladies from BC.org joining me too! 

Thanks for the further info about driving. DH is taking 3 weeks off work to help me, and since he tends to be overprotective anyway, I am hoping that between us we can keep my Supewoman complex under control. It is a control thing, I know -- I can't control that this happened to me, but I can controk my surroundings to a certain exteng. I think my life lesson is to learn how to let go even more. I am so relaxed I am practically comatose compared to the way I used to be, and still I am intense. Gotta work on going with the flow instead of trying to control it.



Susan, congrats on your good pathology results. The waiting is torture, and I am so happy for you that it was a good outcome!



LadyM, thanks for your comment about driving, too. They expect me to be in the hospital for 3 days (1 in ICU and 2 in a regular room). The PT I met with said emphatically and repeatedly NO WEIGHT ON YOUR ARMS FOR 2 WEEKS... So literal-minded me thinks "oh... Pulling the car door closed is weight".... I guess I will just have to figure that one out on the fly!



Thanks again, all ...I will probably have more questions as 8/23 gets closer. Afterward, I will post a complete story like many here did so that our sisters who come after will know.



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Thanks for checking on me.  I don't feel my recovery is speeding along as quickly as it has for some of you.  I haven't been able to eat much and taking pain meds on an empty stomach has produced some pretty nasty results.  I still feel like I was beaten with a baseball bat.

My doctor and all of the nurses have said that my flaps look beautiful.  I hope I feel better tomorrow!

Susan

Hey Ladies, Glad to hear you are through surgery and on the road to recovery.  When my pain meds gave me nausea, the best thing I found was Benedryl.  You can just buy it over the counter....it's worth a try.