DIEP 2013

Dvygirl, glad that you now know what you are dealing with. Best wishes to you!

LSMB4, hopefully your DIEP dreams will come true. Keep us posted!

Lmo45, good luck on starting chemo next Thursday. It is not pleasant, but doable.

Dvygrl, I went into a lumpectomy thinking I had a tiny tic-tac of a malignancy and a few days later got the whole story of my stage 3A diagnosis.  It was tough, and I had to wrap my head around all the steps I would need to take to save my life.  Big-guns chemo, mastectomy, rads, more chemo...and FINALLY, reconstruction!  And I was scared, depressed, sad, weepy--but resolved to march through it with humor, openness and as much dignity as possible. 

And here I am, pretty much on the other side of that enormous speed bump.  You'll get there before you know it.  In the meantime, I pray that your experience will be like mine, in which you're enveloped with love and friendship and caring. 

Work on your mental delete button.  When your mind wants to wander into dark and brooding thoughts, DELETE! 

One day at a time.  That's all you need to tackle.  Blessings...

dvygrl....so sorry to hear your news.  I will be praying for the best outcome for you, and I know you will find a way to push through this and come out the otherside stronger, and better than ever.  In the meantime enjoy the good days, rest on the days you need to, and remember all these beyond awesome women are here to support you through it all. Maybe the doctor will have some better news tomorrow.  

Dyvgrl, your in my prayers!

MartyJ, thanks for the advice. I'm not going to be wearing underwire anytime soon. As soon as tried it on it was bothering me. And I guess there's really no reason for me to wear underwire when the girls are living in the north region now😄. But I do want to find a regular bra that fits good and would make me feel a little more feminine.

Goldie, because I went from a DD to a C all of my friends have told me I look thinner, even though I only lost 2 lbs since surgery.

I'm so tired today. Last night we had my daughter's kindergarten graduation and then I went for a 3 mile walk with ankle weights and dumb bells. I can feel it today!!!

Maybe I can sneak in a nap today.

Thanks to all for letting me vent, it somehow makes it feel better!  I love this thread.

SheChirple - I didn't have quite the nightmare you are having in the hospital, but close!  I woke up in ICU and literally couldn't move.  The pain meds had worn off and I didn't know where the nurses' call button was.  They had a morphine pump for me, but I had just woken up and didn't even know about it!  I laid there for the longest time and then eventually starting to call out for help with a post-intubated voice.  Finally after about 15 minutes of weakly crying out for help my nurse came halfway in the room and told me that she would be back to check on me - she didn't even come up to the bed and see what I needed.  I gave it another 10 minutes and then resumed crying out for help.  Some nurses started to gather in the doorway, mind you none of them came in to see what was going on because I wasn't their patient.  Finally, my nurse comes back and I let her have it for letting a patient lie there without pain meds after a major surgery and not even checking on me!   

It was so hot that they put ice packs on my head and upper shoulders.  Unfortunately, the ice packs broke and the ice slid down my back and front.  They couldn't move me, doctor's orders, so I was sitting there in a soggy bed with ice melting in uncomfortable places.  All my drains were tangled up and it looked like Medusa.  I kept thinking, this is the ER?  Where you are supposed to get wonderful care? 

Thankfully you and I are the only one with horror stories about the hospital.  BTW, I work for the State Farm attorneys in Glendale (just a secretary)! 

Countdown for Stage 2 - it is June 7th.  I'm nervous and cleaning everything, including the cats, who were not fans of a bath! 

Here I sit on my patootie, stuck all day on jury duty.

Heavenschild, that happened to you in ICU? Wow! Why are these people working there if they have so little interest in their patients? No wonder people are so sceptical/apprehensive of hospitals. I've had a similar experience years ago at a fancy hospital where I had my bunions removed. The day after surgery I kept asking for pain medication over and over. It was promised, but I got none, zippo, zero that whole day. I have a high pain tolerance level, but my feet were literally throbbing, could not walk anywhere to get help, and the pain was up there. That night I discharged myself from that hospital, and went home with DH who took way better care of me than those useless nurses. I just thank my lucky stars for the team I had after DIEP. They were absolutely amazing, caring, professional - could not have asked for better.

You sound like you're really "styling" sb....! As active as you already are....what the heck is your plan to lose that much weight????? You'll be invisible by August!

I'm bored too. Had to drive my daughter into town this morning for one of her psych appointments, just now killing time until she's done. I've promised her we'll go check out the new target store that's JUST opened. (whine....I'd rather be hiking, biking, anything but just waiting).

Yes, sbelizabeth, pray tell! I'm on the weight wagon too. Not really overweight, but would like to lose about 10 lbs as a 'buffer'. Are you on Tamoxifen? It has been almost impossibe to lose since I started taking that pill in August. Not putting on weight, but have to watch my diet very carefully, and exercise my butt off to stay at the same weight, otherwise it starts creeping up. Now after DIEP I'm pretty much just sitting on the couch - will have to stop eating - lol. Don't want to walk alone because of bear activity in our area, so have to wait for DH to go with me. Frustrating to say the least. Maybe I should just drive to the gym and walk on the treadmill there.

Great chat about weight loss and exercise!  I'm past menopause, so it's femara for me.  The only side effect I noticed was some arthritis-like pain in my hands and hips, but exercise helps a lot.

My body is an (almost) perfect calorie-grabbing machine.  My genetic background is mostly German, and I come from a long line of Brunhilda shapes.  For me, the ONLY way I can hope to control my weight is to track my food intake and exercise.  I use a free internet site, Livestrong, for food journaling and try especially to keep carbs under control (my personal poison). And of course, I try to get in a heart-pumping bike ride at least four or five days a week.  Even with this, I'm at least twenty pounds over what the BMI charts say I should weigh.  Yeah, I know about muscle weighing more than fat, but believe me, I have plenty of fat.  At the same time...I WILL NOT spend the rest of my life denying every creme brulee that comes my way!

Jerry and I were out on the bikes yesterday, on our favorite trail, and a big sign had been posted that said, "proceed with caution, recent bear sightings."  Bears!  In relatively metropolitan So Cal!  When I see a sign warning about alligators, I'm taking up the treadmill.

Being in Alaska, never really thought about Bears being a problem anywhere but here! I'm not a huge fan of hiking on too many out of the city trails as of late, too many bear encounters last year and none of them ended well. Talked to the radiation oncologist today and he suggested a workout program at the hospital as part of rehab. I went down to the gym to speak to the gal who handles lymph edema issues and they have a nice setup going on so I'm gonna check on it to see how much I can utilize and if insurance will pay. I have to say I'm really impressed with the Cancer Center at Providence. You really don't think AK would be the center of medical technology, but this place is state of the art and the people have just been outstanding to work with. There are a TON of programs available for support. Literally out of all of the people involved in my care, the only person I can complain about is the recovery nurse. Man was she horrible!!! Honestly, I think they must hoard the worst nurses in recovery at every hospital. Oh, the patient is doped up, they'll never know!! Ugh! But, my oncs are great, my surgeons are great, and I really feel I made the right choice by staying here for care. Bravo Providence!

Damiana9, funny you should bring up the port thing.  I insisted on using my port for my mx last year, but I had to talk fast and hard, and know the details of my own port.  Unlike the newer style ports (mine was the commonly-used Power Port), the older-style port didn't move fluid very fast and most anesthesiologists didn't want to use them in case they needed to get lots of fluid into the patient quickly.  I knew the mL/hr my Power Port would infuse, and finally convinced them to use it.

I kept it until last month's DIEP, and thought about asking to use it again, but decided against it.  I was ready to get it out.  During the DIEP surgery they removed it from underneath, so no new incision.  Weeks before the surgery, though, when I was still pondering keeping it, I did ask my surgeon about the possibility of using it for the DIEP.  She thought they'd really turn me down this time.  Much longer surgery, more complex, more chance of the need for fluids, and with the longer length of the port's tubing, when a drug is injected into it, it takes more time to reach the vascular system and take effect.

I haven't ventured into a swimsuit yet, but all my other clothes fit fine.  Even a little big, since the belly is gone (except for some post-op swelling) and I lost a little weight during recovery.  I don't know if your PS recommends compression--mine did not--but I'm wearing compression panties for comfort and they seem to help with the tummy swelling issue. 

But when the drains were in, I wore a muumuu that scared my husband and the dogs!

Elizabeth- since you are not wearing compression bras are you wearing regular bras? I have a power port also. I think I will try to be very persuasive about them using it but at least you do offer up good reasons as to why they would not.

StElizabeth, just pop open a beer, sure fire way to be dismissed!

Damiana, my PS said I could wear regular bras at my 2-week check, and I've been weing them since then.  No underwires, though, which I've always hated. 

Home from jury duty!  200 people sitting around all day, not one of us called for service!