DIEP 2011

wolfe33 

I have had 1 Stage 2 surgery and will be having another at the end of this month for more fat-grafting and fill-in.  So much depends on how much of the grafted fat "sticks" after surgery (the average loss is 30%).  I didn't know until 2 weeks after my first Stage 2 if I was going to need more surgery.  My surgeon waits 6 or more weeks between Stage 2 surgeries.  I will also (hopefully) be getting nipples during the upcoming surgery.  

wolfe33 Glad to hear you're doing well.  I was glad to see you mention the "sunburn" feel!  That's exactly how I describe it!  I was wondering how long it lasted.  I'm 3 weeks out today.  Doing well, but it's so hot in Dallas, I just walk around inside my house, so I'm not sure I'm walking enough.  Hubby and I went to the grocery Sunday, and I felt fine, but slept almost all day Monday!

Hey ladies, I can not believe I am a week out from my surgery. I am really feeling great. This afternoon we borrowed a wheelchair from the PS and we went to the SC Aquarium. I am resting a lot but I feel great. Ugh!!! I intended to post a couple more things but am being interrupted. More later!!

hmh, you were just two days before me.  How do you feel?  Are you getting around and taking care of yourself for the most part?

Betsy, how about you?  How are you doing?  

I have to apologize, someone is in the hospital with an infection but it's on the previous page.  My memory is not what it used to be.  Are you doing better?  Out of the hospital yet?

There are a couple of things I wanted to post.  First, I met my PS the day before my surgery.  Most of you remember I am over 9 hours from home and I only made one trip up here.  The surgeon went to mark me up, took one look at me and said, "Wow, you have great tummy fat.  I have lots of good stuff to work with."  Geez!!  When they took my left breast it was somewhere around 900 grams and they took 1800 grams, in round numbers, from my tummy.  Apparently my breasts are approximately the same weight as they used to be but I have to tell you they ain't even close to the same size.  As many of you who have gone before me have said they are really flat and oval or elongated or something.  My boobs are just a plain old weird shape.  I have to say, however, they are soft, warm and all mine so I am going to love them no matter how scary they look.

I had my first post op appointment yesterday and the surgeon looked at me and said, "Damn I do good work."  My thought is that if I look good I would really be scared to see someone who doesn't.  He actually said I look so good that he didn't even need to mess with my breasts.  He took one breast and one abdomen drain out.  I am pretty sure I will get the other breast drain out on Friday as I am going home on Friday and he doesn't like anyone else to mess with "his" breasts.

All in all, I feel really good.  We are staying at the Hope Lodge in Charleston so we only have a couple of towels.  Yesterday afternoon I got up and washed the towels and a load of wife beaters and undies.  I overdid it a little, I think, and I have been achey today. 

For you ladies coming up, I can honestly say this has not been anywhere close to as bad as I had envisioned.  I thought that at one week out I would still be laying in bed needing 24 hour care.  I am mostly able to take care of myself.  I do have a tip for you ladies about to have surgery.  My DH is mechanically inclined and I am definitely not.  The second day in the hospital my DH told me to make the mechanical hospital bed work for me.  Duh, I don't know why I didn't think of that.  When you get up, raise the head all the way up and the legs all the way down.  That way the hospital bed helps to push you out, almost like one of the chairs that helps you get up.  When you get back in bed, raise the legs all the way up so you don't have to go as far to get back in bed.  The other tip is from someone else on here but it's worth posting again.  When I got home, getting myself out of bed was nearly impossible.  I hold on to the back of one leg and use my leg muscles to help me up while gripping the sheet with the other hand.  Between the two I am able to get myself up and down from bed by myself.

Who is up next?  I remember Sohard and someone else is coming up soon.  Ladies, please post your surgery dates.

Susan

Susan, it sounds like you are recovering very well. That is great! So many others are as well. I am the one that was in the hospital for infection. My recovery was going great until I saw some redness. After a week on two different oral antibiotics, they put me back in the hospital for IV antibiotics. Luckily I still have my port in( finished all chemo treatment a while ago). Finding a vein was difficult after having Diep and one arm is not accessible due to lymph nodes removed. So I was in the hospital Friday thru today(wed) on IV. I also had the incision draining and now it has to be packed very day to heal. I am home but on iv at home until the wound heals. No telling what caused the infection... They called it cellulitis -thankfully it was localized. Now the right breast is starting to look symmetrical to the left again since the swelling has gone down. My incisions are all healing up great and I'm moving a lot more. Without this latest detour, I would say the recovery is easier than I thought too.

Good luck to those about to have surgery and hang in there those recovering. day by day.....

Hi Susan... I was doing so well the first two weeks, but this week, not so good.... I have had a fever and still a bleeding breast, so I look forward to better days.

Libby... Yes some continued lung issues AND fever. My docs have changed antibiotics and I am getting ANOTHER chest x ray today, so hopefully I will see some improvement.

Bdavis, hope you feel better soon.  When I had pnuemonitis from the taxol, it did not show up on x-ray, only ct scan.  And steroids fixed it almost immediately.  I had fevers from that too that weren't responding to anti-biotics, they were high fevers though, up to 103.  Sending healing thoughts your way.

LIbby, that sounds great!  It is so important to have confidence in your surgeons.  I feel the same way, am more worried about my reactions than what the surgeons will do.  I am in good health, but I have so many dang allergies.  I'm hoping for no allergic reactions to anything with this.  Good luck to you on the 23rd.  And sorry I missed the birthday yesterday (don't know how I missed that), but happy belated birthday!  Hope you had a good day.

@sohardbnme @kay1963 @treesprite - rest up and recharge this weekend for your upcoming surgeries this coming week. Who else is on deck for the rest of this month? Good luck and smooth recoveries to all. We'll be thinking of you and waiting to hear how you are doing.

@NotAfraid - are you glad you waited for Stage 2B to get your nipples? That's what I want to do.

I am just so tired.  I have been back to work full time for two weeks.  I am so ready to get the bra off at the end of the day.  The skin is finally showing progress in healing but the noob is still hard as a rock.  I fell asleep while I had chicken browning at 450 the other day....I slept for 2 hrs (and it was fully cooked before I turned it up to 450).    It wasn't blackened and the smoke alarm didn't go off, but I guess I know how to make chicken jerky now. And how to make the whole house smell like chicken.

Betsy, how are they treating this hole in your breast? I have a small opening that was caused by an infection under the skin and then the dr needed to let it drain so he opened it slightly. It is not much bigger than a pencil eraser. I get wound care daily where they irrigate it with saline and then pack it with some iodine soaked gauze strips to help it heal from the inside out. I am still on IV antibiotic too. I guess they can't just sew (or glue) it back together because it will just fill with fluid again. ???

I'm sorry you have had such a tough time of it too. I just want to get this healed and get my IV out of my port! Hang in there and I'm praying we heal soon!

Hi Sohard,

I am about 2 months post op.  I have to admit that I was a bit surprised by the cosmetic aspects of the surgery, especially immediately afterwards.  Things have settled down a lot since then though.  My belly was really swollen for a long time after surgery.  It is still a tiny bit swollen now.  I find that I am the same size, but my tummy is a lot flatter now, and I don't have a muffin top in the belly area.  Unfortunately, in my case, I still have a little love handle action happening on my back.  I wasn't that big to begin with, so the PS said they had to work very hard to get enough fat to build the breast.  The breast was also quite swollen after the surgery, and it has probably shrunk about 1 cup size since then.  This is a good thing for me, because I am also small chested, and my new boob was bigger than my existing one.

I don't know why, but I didn't realize that my belly button would be moved as part of the surgery.  I was quite a fan of my belly button, and it seems high to me.  Also, I just realized a few days ago, that they put it back in sideways.  Oh well.  It doesn't look the same at all.  Another small negative, consmetically is that my pubic hair area was pulled upwards as well.  It took a while to get used to that.  I might get it lasered off at some point.

As for my foob, I have no complaints.  It has a very natural shape.  It is in the right place, and 2 months later, I don't have any pain associated with the surgery.  Again, I am very small, so they didn't need to go for much projection.  I have a few dents that eventually I might attend to, and when I lift my arm up in a stretch, it doesn't look entirely natural, but I think that is the kind of thing only I would notice.

I don't think I lost much weight, maybe 5 lbs.  My sillouette is much improved though.  I look way better in form fitting clothes then pre surgery.

Good luck to everybody having surgery soon!  Don't forget to see a physiotherapist to help get your mobility back after the surgery!  I can't say enough about mine, who, after two visits, has gotten me back to full arm mobility. 

My noob is smooshed looking too.  And I had the raw blistered skin.  It seems like it has been a long haul but the holes do fill in.  I was told to keep it bandaged without ointment and to keep it dry.  I could jump in the pool but not soak.