Diep 2012

  I work on an OB/GYN unit of a hospital and quite often our c-sections are closed w/ staples.  I'm starting to see more use of glue and steri strips.  Time and body type are 2 of the reasons 

  staples are used more than glue and steris.  Personally, I much prefer the glue and steri's.  That is the way my bilateral was closed and I never had and incisional pain from the pulling and pinching of staples.     katiejane

Yes, the dark dried blood and black marker under the surgical glue made my incision look really bad. But when the glue peeled off, it was nice new healed skin underneath. I also asked my PS about stitches left inside and he said he doesn't use any non-dissolvable ones.

No baths as long as you have drains, plus a few days for the hole healing... After that, I think its ok... but I had drains for a good bit since I started with hip flaps, so my incisions were all well healed by the time I lost my last drain.

BTW.. I showered day 2, but was not allowed to swim or take a bath with drains.

Sadie - Wishing you total success!!! and peace!  Do as they tell you and let us hear from you when you're able.  Mary

Sadie you are in His hands. I have had the best experience with my DIEP and am really pleased with everything. There were a couple of bumps in the road. Drains suck! No way to sugarcoat that one. Use a pillow to cough. Do all the breathing that they ask you to do. Do not leave the hospital until you are ready. Trust the surgeon rejoice with each Doppler reading! Expect some major bruising of the skin area in the breast and know that this does not mean failure or a problem. If the oxygen readings are going well and your 'baby' is strong and healthy on the Doppler then you are doing fine!



Hugs!



Diana. ( 3 weeks, 2 days post-op from axillary excision, left skinsparing nipplesparing mastectomy, and immediate DIEP reconstruction ).

Just introducing myself.  Had my consultation with a local PS who has told me I'm a great candidate for the DIEP.  She can't do the surgery herself (she is qualified but our state doesn't allow anyone to do it here...long story) so I have pretty much settled on MD Anderson in Houston.  Have a consultation appt. in a couple of weeks and just waiting for a call back from them in the next day or so to get the rest of my questions out there.  If I can get it done before early April, I will be having both a BMX and reconstruction done together.  Fingers crossed on that.  Was initially really upset that I have to travel and live in a hotel for 3-5 weeks to get this done because of our state issues but my sister is coming with me (hubby will hold down the home front) and MD Anderson has its own special hotel across from its medical center that is designed for its cancer patients so we're trying to look at the positives.  Will post more if I have anything interesting to add (I do a lot of lurking) but wanted to say "hi" and send good thoughts to those of you in the process of recovery or having your surgeries soon.  What an amazing group of women!!

Hi Elisabeth. You are the second person who has mentioned that you cannot have DIEP in New Mexico? Why are they not allowed? You will be in excellent hands in MD Anderson!

khegidio- I hope you got your shower today! It was nice to read that you are happy with your surgery. I am scheduled for February 14th. Some days I'm calm and some days I'm very nervous. I got a few things to wear for after the surgery yesterday. I have some things from when I had my unilateral mastectomy, but now the ab scar with this surgery will make some of that useless. I need to hunt down the page on the 2011 thread where everyone talked about what they used the most after this particular surgery. I remember reading it, but I didn't make notes. I should have.   

Mary,

  I just wore yoga pants and a button up shirt home from the hospital. At home I wore nightgowns and robes because it was so much easier than pants until I got the drains out. I got some zip-up robes at the thirft store that had pockets and since they were so cheap I cut holes above the pocket so I could pull the drains through. I did have 1 robe that had buttons instead of zipped that made it easy with the drains. To my PS appointment I wore yoga pants, cami (without bra shelf) and a zip-up hoody that had pockets inside but not enough room in them for all 4 drains so I clipped them inside the hoody. Now I have the drains out and I am wearing yoga pants and I wear regular tops.

@TexasRose (btw, I love your screen name..I was born in Harlingen and my grandma used to call me her little Yellow Rose).  Apparently NM is the only state that does not allow anything other than implant and TRAM reconstruction.  My PS said that they've been working for about 3 years to get that changed but they keep running into politic-related obstacles with the two local insurance companies who manage our two major hospitals, and thus the state insurance commission.  Sigh.

@bdavis - I know that sounds like a long time, doesn't it?!  My local PS said that most the patients she has referred out of state end up with the normal hospitalization of 3-5 days for the BMX and bi-lateral DIEP and then another week or two until drains are removed and follow up is done.  She told me to count on being gone 3 weeks if everything goes well and up to 5 if there are complications.  My sister is coming along so she will be staying in the hotel (and better be visiting!!..lol) while I'm hospitalized and I guess we'll be staying there until they release me to come home.  I plan on staying at least until the drains are taken out (there is no way I'm getting on an airplane with them) and think it will probably be cheaper to do that, anyway, than to keep flying back and forth.  So much unknown, still.  I'm waiting for a call back from MD Anderson so hope to get their take on that so maybe it will turn out to be less time.

@khegidio--Keep getting better and better!  = )

Kasey- Glad you are happy with the results.  I am hoping to meet Better-Body-Babe at the end of the month.  She was a big help in me deciding to go with the diep in Charleston. Hope you continue to heal quickly! Thanks for the advice on the clothes.

Thanks, Judy.  that's what I kind of figured, that they wouldn't want to constrict the area.  I guess I will be pulling out my dad's big flannels again and tank tops to leave the house in when I go.

Thanks, Betsy.  I was going to send an email to the NP to see what I needed to bring with me and what I needed to wear.

Drains were all gone for me by day 13 as well as all dressings except for a new dressing around the last underarm drain site which bled a bit off and on for about a week. I had 4 drains total. 2 were removed day 9 .



I had a left mastectomy, immediate DIEP, and axillary excision. Surgeon made the vascuar connection using the excision incision so that had to be guarded a bit more.



Hospital stay was 5 nights. Saw a surgeon from the practice each day I was in the hospital, then at day 9, my physician's assistant; day 13, my surgeon; day 21, my phys. asst. Next 'appt' is phone visit 4 weeks post-op to hopefully get the all clear for phys. therapy to restore full range of motion to my arm and continue with lymph edema prevention. I may change this to an office visit because i am fairly certaini can get the sign off on running if i am physically present in the office. Next surgeon appt is 5 weeks post-op.



I can so see why you would want to give yourself those 5 weeks if I had had to go out of state to have my procedure. Although I wouldn't have wanted to be away from my own home that long, you will feel better about being 'right there' in close proximity to your surgeon and the hospital where you have your procedure.



Hope all goes well for you! Pick our brains that's why we areontheotherside of surgery now so at we can help those who aren't just like others helped us.

I didn't wear underwear in the hospital. With the abdominal binder, my normal underwear was fine, didn't get uncomfortable. With drains a somewhat lower cut is probably better than the super high cut ones.

I spent most of my time in button up nightshirts with a robe over. I was gifted a nice warm blanket that I practically lived under for the first few weeks home.

I tended to pin the drains to the binder and that worked relatively well. I think that for pants I tended to sweat pants, and those I could pull up pretty high on my waist to mostly avoid the drain tubes (I tucked the bulbs into the pants so the pants went over everything.

I think each of us has to find what we're most comfortable doing and wearing, and it's very individual. I don't think I could have tolerated tighter yoga pants over my midsection, but that's just me and it seems to have worked well for many women here.

I would think that trying to dress totally differently from how you normally dress is not going to make you comfortable. How close to normal can you dress? The closer to normal, the more emotionally comfortable you'll be.

-Judy