Diep 2012

Jackie,

So sorry you have had that drain so long



I consulted docs at johns hopkins. Saw dr rossen there. Not sure who you are consulting, but make sure they tell you how many they have done. My sister was with me at first appoint, and he never answered that guestion.

about how many he had done


You also might want to check out dr chang at mercy hosp in baltimore. I know he has done a lot of them. I had appoint with other doc there dr collins. Never saw him since i found prma in texas



And i think there is another doc in fairfax who is supposed to be good

I know they have residents at john hopkins. I didnt want any residents working on me. And i dont believe one doc can work that long by himself and do good work. You have one shot at this. Pick your doc carefully. You should be able to see many before after pics

Dr rossen said my sx would be minimum 12 hrs long.

fredntan, I really see what your saying and I thank you.  The doc I'll be seeing on Tuesday. is Dr. Ariel Rad (Assistant Professor & Director of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery at Johns Hopkins), he would be working with Dr. Camp.  I guess I never considered that residents could be doing the surgery.  

Pick your doc carefully!!  I'm going to write that with a sharpie on my arm!!

Have any plus-size women here had good luck finding a resource for well-fitting long-line girdles and soft-but-supportive (larger-size) bras? I was thinking of trying one of those long line girdles with the over-the-arm straps to hold the top up...

My double mastectomy (and immediate stage-1 DIEP reconstruction) was Nov 6 -- so I am just over 2 weeks post surgery. Had it done through PRMA in San Antonio. I am doing real well now... and nothing but cudos for both the cancer surgeon and the PRMA surgeons. I am super lucky to have a wonderful caring (gentle) love-of-my-life to help me through all this -- he even stayed in the hospital with me, and has been incredible helping with showers, dressing/undressing, and applying the salve to my raging contact dermatitis caused by swelling and originally too-tight bra, binder, and hospital hose.  

The unusual amount of swelling (and subsequent skin problems) were from extra IV fluids (used to raise my normally-low blood pressure) causing me to gain more than 25 pounds in just 2-3 days -- which caused my hospital hose, binder and bra to become much too tight, ending in blisters and a severe case of contact dermatitis -- mostly on my back and legs -- thankfully (at least) sparing my new breasts...

Probably due to two weeks of fighting the itch and heat of the binder -- I am now desperate to find a girdle and appropriate bra to replace the hospital versions. However, I live out in the middle of nowhere -- (60 miles to the nearest K-Mart/Wallmart -- and over 3 hours from the nearest department store like Dillards or Macy's). I had little luck with K-Mart/Wallmart -- I am (in general) feeling pretty great considering major surgery just 2 weeks ago -- but I am sore and tire easily -- so I am dreading a 7 hours RT foray to shop for undergarments (which are painful and exhausting to try on) -- I am hoping someone here can help steer me to a good alternative (online?) resource. 

Due to the contact dermatitis, I really want to find undergarmets that are soft/gentle on the skin --hopefully made of cotton. The ones provided by the hospital are heavy, very rubber-and-polyester, with lots of seams that leave marks on my skin, even with the t-shirt underneath. 

I am a 42C (think the swelling has gone down enough to determine this) -- but most of the (very few) 42C bras at Wallmart were too skimpy, and fit funny. 

I struggled mightily to get into the 2x (largest) girdle they had at Wallmart (Cupid, high waist, as suggested by PRMA), but it was much too tight to think of constantly wearing.

So -- again: Have any plus-size women here had good luck finding a resource for well-fitting long-line girdles and soft-but-supportive (larger-size) bras? I was thinking of trying one of those long line girdles with the over-the-arm straps to hold the top up...

Thanks for any suggestions

Linda

Linda... check out marenagroup.com... Their girdles are soft and comfortable... to get the best sizing go to their website and measure as they direct, but then CALL THEM because the best advice will come from the person on the other end of the phone, not the website. Also, you can google a 20% off coupon.

BDavis, is it just me or are there more choices on the Marena site? Is there a specific model/product number you all like best? I've been looking just so I will know which one is closest to the Veronique the Center (NOLA) gives after Stage 2, but I'm clueless. Help!

Thank you. Thank you. : )

Gotoell: I'm 2 weeks out today and feel stronger every day! I get tired early, but I think that's partly the stress of having my mom in the hospital now and my sleep pattern. It's hard for me to sleep on my back (normally a side sleeper) so I wake every three hours or so and have to walk around for a while to stretch out my legs and back. As far as feeling good about the outcome, I think getting the drains out was my turning point. My new toobs are not as big as my old boobs.....but pretty close and I LOVE the tummy tuck! I would do it again in a heartbeat! Kaiser offers a "new image" session that I think is open to non-kaiser women too and women talk and show their new boobs with the different surgical options. Good luck with your choice....you'll do fine!

Hi all, I've been in a Thanksgiving food coma for the past 2 days so just now checking in! Hope all of you had a good holiday!



JuicyJackie, I live in Washington, DC and had my procedure done locally. My PS is Dr. Kathy Huang at the Plastic Surgery Institute of Washington in North Bethesda, MD and I had the surgery at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda. I can't remember how many DIEPs she's done, but she is considered an expert in this area - she showed me pictures of her past work when I first consulted her and even showed me cases where the procedure had failed. The hospital was top notch - everyone from the doctors, nurses, techs, and even cleaning and food service people were kind, friendly, responsive, and helpful. All the nurses raved about Huang too and talked about how good she is - in fact, one of the nurses had a sister who had her DIEP with Huang as well. I am very happy with my results so far and I think very highly of Huang - she's funny and kind of quirky but does excellent work.

goldlining - can you tell me what kind of ab exercises I should be doing. I am not sure if I can still do them and have benefit. I am almost 2 years post DIEP and just in the last couple months I cannot even stand up anymore because of the tightness/numbness in my stomach/ab.  I have not gained any weight so not sure what to do at this point or why this is suddenly feeling so tight.    Any ideas?

I just had freak accident in kitchen. I am okay. My shoelace got caught on the dishwasher door that was open. I went spilling back and took the landing on my butt/hip. thankfully I don't have ceramic tiles. I am sure my hip would have been shattered.

now my boob and  hip hurts. 

Ouch fredntan!



That is a freak accident too.ight try icing your hip if you have not done do already. Ibuprofen for the inflammation that normally follows falls and muscular skeleton strains and sprains.



Hope you feel better!

My hubby is here. Little sore. Will do some motrin and ice pad-hate the cold. My NP is one of my fb friends and they are open tomorrow. Probably just bruised it. Nothing feels tender on exam. Got whiskey and coke too. That was scarey.

blondie45, to be honest, I just do what the physio tells me to do. Some stretching things I need her to help with, such as to stretch out the hips. I have to hang off the table in a way a person cannot do on their own, while she moves the leg past where your own muscles could do. It helps the hips (from the stooping over issue). When we do that stuff, she also does scar massage on the abdomen incision. Parts of it you can barely see now. I see her every other week and it seems we do hips and core one time and shoulders and neck the next.

On my last appointment, she worked on some muscles that were tight in my neck/shoulders that were painful when I was running recently. The ab tightness pulls me forward, and the weight of my head pulls on these muscles. She verified the spine was not misbehaving and it was just muscle spasm. After she assessed the situation, she did active release techniques and stretching the muscles in a way that you can't stretch your own body, then did a little acupuncture on it. It's stuff like that makes me suggest you consider seeing a physio. Mine is in a sports medicine clinic rather than the surgery hospital. They have a very performance oriented outlook. I'm fortunate that my employee health covers physio with a prescription, and I had the DIEP surgeon write a prescription so all it costs me is time.

While I get a lot of benefit from the appointments, some of the mat stuff is pretty much Pilates 101 and if I had better memory and my work was not displacing my good intentions, I would do it daily instead of when she makes me or I randomly remember. You could try a Pilates class with a trainer or at the Y but since you're having some ab discomfort, it may be a good idea to see a physiotherapist to make sure you are working the correct stretches etc. and there isn't simply some scar tissue or muscle spasm that she can break up with manual therapy.

Hope you figure out a solution for your abs. I'm sure you're quite ready to have this stuff sort itself out by now!

goldlining--I have the same kind of massage. It seems to be the only way to stretch out the hip flexors and abs enough.  (My hips are tight from DIEP, but also from rowing.)

My massage therapist also does "cupping" massage, which is cupping but she moves the cups around, with suction. It lifts the layers of skin/fascia/muscle and at the same time breaks up and/or stretches the scar tissue (it hurts).  It hasn't permanently released the tightness in my abs but it has helped some spots.  As a nice side effect, it loosened up my belly button incision so it's a nice normal relaxed size now, instead of way too tight.

I've also tried rolling stomach-down on one of those myofascial release foam rollers (not smooth).  That gives me some immediate release, more than stretching.  So far nothing has helped permanently though. I'm 15 months out of DIEP.

Fredntan, glad to hear you're feeling a bit better after your fall. How old is your dd? My 12 1/2 yo dd and I had a huge argument the day after Thanksgiving. She started riding horses seriously last year and is now competing in shows. I was diagnosed last year around the time she started riding and then was going thru chemo when she started competing. Adding to those issues is the fact that I'm am severely allergic to many things including animals, hay, and just about everything outdoors. Given all that, I have not been able to really ever watch her ride or see her shows. She had a show on Friday and I was finally able to go and was so proud that she took 1st place in one of her events. She didn't do well in her other events but my sister and DH told me that the horse she was riding is difficult and they don't know why she always chooses to ride that horse. So, when we got home and I told her how proudIi was of her and then asked her why she chooses that horse all the time if its difficult. She gave me a real sarcastic answer and then launched into a tirade about how I have never shown interest in her riding and that I would know more if I ever bothered to come to her previous shows. Hmmm, had I had the strength to strangle her then and there I think I would have! I was so hurt I immediately started crying. I had to remind her of the fact that my life this past year has not been full of me sitting on the couch eating bonbons and watching TV every weekend, that I have been physically incapable of going to see her ride but that I have done all I can to support her by driving her to and from her stable (1/2 hour away), taking her to various horse centers to buy all the equipment she needed (which is not cheap!), etc. We were both in full tears by the time my DH stepped in to stop it (and my whole family was over for post-Thanksgiving leftovers so heard the whole thing!). When I calmed down, I had to remind myself that she is entering full blown adolescence and that these kinds of episodes are going to be more frequent - so not looking forward to the next 5 or so years with her. While she never really apologized, she did spend the rest of the evening glued to my side and then slept with me that evening. Well, if I had the strength to fight the BC, I'm sure I'll find the strength to continue dealing with her!