DIEP 2011

Mary Jo, thanks for your update.  It is very comforting to know that several years out women are happy with their results.

I had my final appointment with the PS today before my surgery next Tuesday, 8/23.  I will see him on Monday for marking, but the bulk of my questions were answered today.

I did get some really good news about some of the things about which I had concerns.  My arms will not be over my head -- they will be out to the side.  I have bursitis and tendinitis and over my head for 12 hours would have resulted in much more physical therapy later. 

He anticipates the surgery will take at least 12 hours, probably more, since it is the BMX and then bilateral DIEP.  He and the BS don't work concurrently -- the BS performs the mastectomy and then the harvests the flaps and does the reconstruction.

He will provide updates every couple of hours from the OR for my DH and my friend who will be waiting.

He usually uses the thoraco-(oh crap I didn't write it down!) blood vessels under the arm rather than the inframammary artery.  If he can use the one under my arm, he won't need to remove any rib.  If he needs to use the inframammary artery, he will have to remove a piece of cartilage.

He anticipates 3 days in the hospital - 1st night in the ICU monitoring the flaps.  Breakfast the next a.m., moving to regular room, sitting in chair.  Getting me up walking the next day after that.  Discharge the following day.  Of course, he assured me, if there were any issues or if I didn't feel ready, he wouldn't discharge me.

Binder in the hospital, binder when I go out of the house, no binder at home.  I asked him about Spanx and he thought that was intriguing and he would think about it. 

He said explicitly that he does a full cosmetic tummy-tuck, just as if I were getting it as a cosmetic surgery procedure.  He said he will only be satisfied when I am satisfied.  I don't have a stomach, only a belly pooch (below my belly button), and I don't have a shelf, so I won't have problems with my pants falling down.  I will have a waist (I have one now, even chubby), but if for some crazy reason I don't, he'll put it back with sculpting.  He also said he will take care of the rolls under my arm, since most women don't want breasts under their arms too.  Wow!

We talked about pain meds and constipation meds -- he will give me something in the hospital for potential constipation, and will experiment with me on pain meds ... I am extremely susceptible to them, so a little goes a long way.  He said he will not discharge me until I feel my pain is under control.

He said that the physical therapist he sent me to last week will be working with me in the hospital before I am discharged, and I can have as much physical therapy as I want or need.

He has answered all my questions and returned my calls promptly.  This guy is warm and caring and calming and I get more and more confident in him each time I meet with him.  I think it's going to be OK!

I'll keep y'all posted.

L

Well, as my PS explained to me, some women have a protruding stomach (abdomen, above the belly button) as well as a pooch, so they're just like one piece. 

 My stomach (above the belly button) curves inward and you can (vaguely) see the arch of my ribs.  My pooch, on the other hand, (below my belly button) is quite ... substantial.  The shelf is apparently at the bottom of the stomach, and he said some women use it to hold their pants up.  And when it is gone in the recon, their pants fall off.  He said I don't have one.  I can't really envision one, but I guess that's because I don't have one.  I was just concerned that I wouldn't have a waist, but he said I would have the same waist that I do now. 

We'll see!

L

Betsy, how are you feeling?  How are your lungs?  Has your fever dissipated? 

Libby... lungs are better, no fever, but my wound is not good and my surgeon is going to operate on Thursday and keep me under his care for a week... so I fly out to New Orleans tomorrow.... btw, the fever was due to a bacterial infection from my port, and I also have a blood clot.

Betsy, OH NO!!!  Does that mean you are going to be in the hospital for another week or are you going to be at the Hope Lodge or hotel or what?  As Treesprite has said before, I am envisioning you going through this surgery and waking up much, much better.  I am sure they will fix this problem and healing will be smooth from here!  You will be in all of our thoughts and prayers on Thursday!

Libby, I don't know if I had a shelf or not but over the past 14 years of marriage I have been pretty bad about yoyo dieting.  My husband loves to cook and I have learned to love eating his cooking.  I have gained and lost 50ish pounds multiple times.  All of that gave me more fat above my belly button than below.  I used to be one that, in jeans, I always had a spare tire that hung over my jeans - even when I was down to a size 8.  I don't know exactly what my surgeon did but I look a heck of a lot better than I did before surgery!  I will also tell you that I bought two really casual dresses before surgery and several pairs of yoga pants with the roll down waist.  At 13 days out the yoga pants kill me.  I could wear them if I had a doctor appt or something like that but to wear them for hours - NO WAY!!!  The seam of the pants hits the middle of my ab incision which seems to be the most sensitive spot.  I seriously HATE to wear dresses but I highly recommend you have a few on hand in case you can't wear pants.  Also, the swelling is more than what I anticipated.  I figured if the doctor cut a few pounds off of me I would be the same size or smaller right away.  I am not!  My only other tip for you is that I wished I had bendable straws when I was released from the hospital so I could get a drink without sitting all the way up.  For me, dreading the surgery has been far worse than the reality!

Norma Jean, I am thinking about you tonight.  I hope you are resting peacefully.  You will feel so much better in the next couple of days.

Susan

LOL, that's a cool shirt!! Glad to see you doing better Susan. 

Betsy, lm sorry to hear you going through this, l am wishing you better results after Thursday. Take care.

Sohardbnme: Best wishes for tomorrow! I know you have everyone's support and prayers for a successful surgery and that you will be in good hands with your team.

Kathy

Heather, I am one day behind you and feeling great too.  Honestly, I can't believe how great I feel and am having to tell myself multiple times a day to slow down and realize what my poor body has been through.

Sohard, kay1963 and Kathy, You will be in my every thought today.  I hope your surgery goes so smooth and there are no bumps on your road to recovery.  Any pain passes quickly and you will feel better in no time!

Have I told you girls how much I love my new boobs?  I really, really love having two round, squishy, warm boobs again.  Ya'll may need to worry about my next occupation!  Don't strippers make pretty good money?

Susan

Hello ladies, have been lurking on here for long time but don't think I have posted before...so I feel like I know many of you and your stories even tho you don't know me! So my story is that i am 8 days out from uni diep in Nola and right now am kind of surprised to find breast is getting harder now? Is this normal? How long does it stay hard? my breast is yellow, black and blue and nobody is worried about that, but I am little disappointed getting very hard now?

@louis13, at only 8 days out you probably shudder to think of a bra yet.  I used tank tops with built in shelf bras and then I went to a sports bra before attempting a regular (but wirefree) bra.  Do not let anything pinch or constrict the breast area.

Hey ladies, I just talked to Treesprite's DH. She is on recovery and doing great!! The surgery took about 2 hours longer than expected although there were no complications. I can't wait to hear what all was done. Norma Jean, Sohard and Kay I am hoping you are all doing well. You will be surprised how much better you feel every day.



Louis I am two weeks out today. I have a lot of bruising too but my noobs are soft. I do have a hard and very sore place above the left side that they just did the mastectomy on,



Betsy you will be on everyone's mind and thoughts tomorrow. I know this is going to fix this for you!! Please let us know ASAP!!



Susan

Happy to hear that todays surgeries went well.

Thinking of you Betsy...you are in great hands as you know.

So... Out of surgery... My doctor was able to remove all the dead yucky stuff... Installed a vacuum wound thing, and plans on performing a diep on tuesday to replace the lost tissue... Then home the following week... What a summer this has been.

Yes, it has to be better