Diep 2012

Hi ladies

Well I am home 3 days after surgery and feel really good and am so pleased with the results



I am very tight around the tummy and cannot stand straight but a few weeks and I should be back to normal



The surgery time was 9 hrs for me and all I can say ladies is don't be worried go for it I am so so pleased with the result and it's still needs time to settle.



Any questions feel free to ask and I will keep you all informed on my progress



Alison x

Alison, great to hear you are doing well and love your results so far.

Ladies, it gets EVEN BETTER after healing and settling, and any adjustments done in Stage 2. It is sooooooo worth it and I am thankful for having this option DIEP available to me. The pre-surgery anxiety is the worst of it all. It's like childbirth. It's pain (managed with pain meds), then you hobble around for a few days (or weeks if you had a C-section) and get better really fast. You can do it. We all did and we tell it like it is from having gone through the experience. Good luck to all with surgeries coming up.

YAY Ali...I'm so happy for ya, we've come a long way baby:) I remember all our talks so long ago with our bald heads and one boob...I love ya girl...xoxoxo

If you are happy now, just wait until after stage 2, I just had my stage 2 Dec 22nd and I am back to normal already, wouldnt even know I've had surgery, SO happy with my results, I love my breasts SO much and really enjoying my new flat tummy.

Good luck tomorrow Redinrah:)

Yay Alison, way to start us off!  It's going to be a long six months or so while my skin heals from rads.  I just want to get 'er done!

I have definitely heard of 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F... depends how much you want or need work...

Best wishes Redinrah!  and if you msg us tomorrow after surgery I will be VERY impressed!  I was not lucid for about 2 days!

I am having tram flap on Feb 3.  It has been five years since diagnosis....not sure what has taken me so long to decide to do it.  But I am ready now....it is great to read the posts from all who had good results!  I will have a small surgery on Jan. 25th prior to the big one on Feb 3  to cut two blood vessels in the groin area which is supposed to increase the blood flow in the blood vessel that they will use to supply blood to the tissue which is being moved into the left breast.  Did anyone else have this procedure first?

Nancy.. I agree with Goldlining... The DIEP  procedure and recovery are going to be different from the TRAM.. as no muscle is taken in DIEP.. so read with caution as your experience may be different... I also have never heard of clipping vessels prior to surgery.

Are their arm restrictions after DIEP? Like are you not allowed to lift your arms higher than your shoulders? Or is that more for people that get TE?

For those concerned about the length of the surgery, my surgery was 20 hours in total for a BMX and immediate DIEP -- punctuated by the East Coast earthquake on August 23, epicentered 50 miles from the hospital in which the operation was taking place!  I had one breast surgeon and one PS.  As you can see, 20 hours is NOT typical!  I am a very free bleeder, so it took the PS an extra-long time to get the capillaries all to reconnect.

My noobs are fabulous.  I had PLENTY (plus!) for two DDs (my original size).  The PS's euphemism was "good donor site volume," which my husband gleefully used quite often as he patted my "pooch" before surgery.  I had absolutely zero problems with the noobs -- they were the least troublesome part of the whole thing. 

My belly incision did open in the middle a couple weeks out from surgery -- we're not sure why, but it is closed now after packing it for about 8 weeks.

I had no ill-effects from the anesthesia -- and I have a couple of co-morbidities that made me a relatively risky patient:  atrial fibrillation and asthma.  I didn't even throw up or feel nausea from the anesthesia (my one episode was from morphine).  I am an extraordinarily "cheap date" with anesthesia, so they had to be extra-careful and they were.  That was a piece of cake.

They tell me that the dangerous parts of anesthesia are the same as flying -- the "take off" and the "landing" (going to sleep and waking up).  The middle part is just being maintained.

The very worst part for me was the narcotic pain medication -- dilaudid -- which didn't help the pain but gave me hallucinations and made me sick and dizzy.  Tylenol worked just fine all by itself.

I did have an extended recovery period from fatigue.  I think my asthma had something to do with that.  I just started back to work in the office full-time the week after Christmas, although I had been working in the office part-time and working from home full-time since November.  My planned six-week return to work turned out to be a non-starter for me ... but that is only me.  Most women seem to return to work much faster.

My stage II will be February 17 -- revising my ab scar and reducing and lifting my right noob.  It promises to be a much easier recovery (she said optimistically).

Good luck to all who are lining up at the starting block! 

L

Hi Ladies,

I am doing the DIEP procedure on Feb 7. Mine will be considered delayed reconstruction. I am wondering did you have to sign your consent for the DIEP to be converted to TRAM if you do not have enough ab. fat when the Dr gets into the surgery? Is everyone happy with how their whole body looks after the "tummy tuck". My concern is that I will look ackward b/c I will look smaller from the waist up and my legs and butt will look bigger.... I tend to have thicker thighs...

Also, DId anyone have the other side removed during their surgery as well? If so does that change things as well with recovery time?

How long until you can bath or shower after the surgery?

Redninrah, I am glad things went well for you b/c I read on the other thread you were doing the DIEP after Christmas. Thanks for checking in.

Take Care,

Alexch

Diagnosis: Aug, 2009, IDC, 7-8cm, 0/15, Grade 3, ER+/PR+ HER+

My mouth s soooo dry. Drinking lots of water. Have a catheter in.

My PS (at UCLA with great succss) had me sign a general release, but said that he very very rarely goes from DIEP to muscle sparing TRAM. Mine was DIEP all the way as it turned out. But I agree with pandazankar that it's blood vessels not fat that will usually turn it into TRAM, the fat they can see ahead of time and know if it there's enough or not.

I'm still getting used to how my body looks after the DIEP and we're not done yet, but having the pooch gone is nice. The surgeon made the foob somewhat bigger than I wanted just in case of radiation, but no radiation so he's going to end up reducing it at the same time he does the lift and reduction on the other side. I only did one side as the BS so absolutely no reason to take the healthy boob.

I have pretty meaty legs as well, I don't look totally out of proportion or anything, that I've noticed, yet, but we'll see how it all turns out in the end.

I don't think recovery is longer if you do both sides, but it's probably a bit more difficult as with only one side, I was able to use that arm for lots that I couldn't have done if I'd done both. But they teach you how to do things like get out of bed when you're in the hospital.

The shower time seems to vary from surgeon to surgeon. I was told I could shower when I had just the ab drains in, but that I had to keep them dry. Showering was MUCH easier after those drains came out and I could just shower with no worries.

-Judy