DIEP 2013

yawn......me too....soon as I lube up the tummy, the foob, the lifted boob, polysporin the recent facial "addition"...then I'm SLIDING INTO BED!

PS....I'll remember that dig when it hits -30 something next winter.

Seriously, three pages of glowing foobs talk to catch up on. I am tucked into bed so will check the glow quality of my news girls a different day.



kuka - keep resting that knee. I hope it is better soon



Bailey - I had SIEA also. Do you notice a tingly but somewhat numb sensation on your inner thighs. My PS said that was normal with SIEA. It is weird. one drain to go! You can hang in there, like you have a choice. you've got this!



Janet - sounds like you are doing great. congrats! keep resting.



Good night fellow flappers. I wish I could fall asleep for all of you because as soon as I put my phone down, I know I am going to crash. hard.

I confess....still up....haven't lubed the body yet.

Movie....I CANNOT believe your hubby is an accountant too! We are defo "sisters"!!!!!!!!

My recommendation is to skip the hounds, go straight for a couple of "Newfies"! Lovely hairy beasts, they are! Likely they'll have some celtic blood in them. They may even let you have a swallow of screech after you kiss the codfish!!!!! (Canadians will get this, if no one else does).

Seriously .....I have got to go to bed....this thread is just too awesome, but I am tooooooo tired to keep playing,

I've joined the insomnia club. Wide awake at 2:25! Seattle time.

3:10 am in California. I'm awake.

Confession:  in my sleepless state I cannot find this originating comment about glow in the dark foobs.  Help me out here.  Something about foobs and flashlights?

Crap, my foobs are defective, they don't glow! I am going to ask for my money bcak from my ps! or maybe I need a real powerful flashlight, kuka?

OMG, Janet_M I can't believe it! Glad it turned out well for you and you sound like you are doing very well.

Wow!  I didn't read this thread for one evening and I was SO behind.  This thread could actually be the script for the next best comedy show ever.  It is so entertaining.  It is great to know that the sense of humor last longer than any of the major SEs.

I can't wait to join the DIEP/SIEA club.  Not sure if it will be this year or next.  The oncotype number should be back by my MO appointment next Thursday.  If not, do any of you live close enough to the Genomic Health lab to go over there and kick some butt?  Otherwise MO goes on vacation and I get to spend another two weeks in the land of OZ.

I'm not sure how some of you manage to speak to each person by name in your posts.  I would be dizzy from paging up and down.

Janet, how in the world did they manage to schedule your surgery and the BS was not there!  That is unbelievable.  So great that it turned out so well.  We know there was a reason that will work out in your favor.  I don't believe it was a coincidence.

It is also great to know we can come and complain and cry and scream here.  So wonderful to have friends that truly understand what you are going through.

Everyone, have a blessed day.  I can't wait to come back later and see more of the posts.  It is definitely better than any of my favorite TV shows!  ...Julie

Yes Tammy I have thigh numbness but it's not inner, just right on the top for a couple of inches.



Looks like I slept through the party!



The drain remain was kind of a bummer BUT logically, medically I know it was the right thing to do. I did ask the nurse if we could please change the bulb because it was looking NASTY and she held up her hand with a clean, sterile bulb in it already and said, "Yup, got it right here!". Yes. Great minds think alike. One seems so much more manageable, too. One fits in a pocket. One tube doesn't get all caught up with other tubes. And the tube entry site on this one isn't hurting me 24/7 so it has periods where it is forgettable for me. PS did say come back in a week (next Friday) to get it pulled pulled by a nurse, don't need to see PS....but if I think on Wednesday it can come out to just call and come in. Guess they trust I will do the right thing for my self and that is a good feeling.



We have three open houses today. Two local. One an hour away (and family so I have to and want to go). Just not looking forward to two hours in the car. Not a comfortable place for me yet.



My 17 year old is home from his camp counselor job for 24 hours....he got home very late last night and I was sound asleep. Now he is sleeping in and I want to go jump on his bed and tickle him and annoy him but am afraid of getting hurt lol! I will let him sleep for a while. So happy just to know he is in the house!



Enjoy your Saturday!

My DIEP is scheduled for this coming wednesday. I had my preop last tuesday. He rxd baby aspirin every day, to increase blood flow,but I had to go off my celebrex because I guess that thins blood also. A week ago my foob started hurting REALLY bad. I have a TE on that side, and upon investigation, it was definately smaller than it had been! The pain is apparently from it shrinking/ the extra fluid floating around inside me- it is pretty obvious that I have a leak My PS woudn't do anything about it though because surgery is so soon, so I am walking around on vacation with a very painful leaky boob... at least it is almost over.

Here are the specifics he gave me- it will be a 6hr surgery with 2 surgeons, I will probably be in the hospital for 3-4 days, he also explained that when do cuts my abdomen, he actually removes my belly button from my body, then puts it back. freaky freaky stuff!!!! I do not like morphine in the hospital- it does absolutely nothing for my pain- so they just wrote morphine allergery on my papers to make sure I get something else that will work! yeah! Also, I guess in the breast he uses some kind of new anesthetic that is long lasting (don't know if it is like a nerve block or what) but he says his patients have very little pain. Oh, and I asked about stage 2- he said he does not do lypo or fat grafting because he doesn't like the amount of necrosis that fat grafting leaves behind, requiring more surgeries to clean it out. And the really nice thing- I found out that the hospital that I am staying in has a really nice cupcake bakery- yummm!

That is interesting Bailey-I will have to ask my doctor about that because I was talking to the nurse doing preop at the hosptial and told her to write on my sheet to give me some damn food when I ask for it! LOL! They usually make you start with liquids after waking from surgery in case it doesn't settle well and you get nauseated. Well, I never puke and I always wake up starving! LOL! And ever since chemo I have an extreme aversion to soup, so this could prove interesting!

LOL....as we have seen over and over....we all have different "protocol" to follow depending on docs and med facility....I hope there is a damn cupcake on your tray when you wake up, honey!



They kept bringing me beef broth (UGH! I can tolerate chicken broth but I wanted cold stuff) and yellow jello, which imho should be outlawed. I distinctly recall telling my SIL, in a synthetic heroin-induced stupor, YELLOW JELLO JUST SUCKS. They brought cold juice and soda and found red jello....I wasn't very hungry for a few days though. Third day I woke up to breakfast tray with French toast and bacon. Awesome.



Important life lesson learned...you can learn to be happy and sad (or scared or whatever) at the same time. Feelings, emotions don't have to be mutually exclusive. My 40 year old BIL died unexpectedly on Christmas day (2008) leaving my 38 yo sister and their 7 yo son. That night my sister asked me, "How do we ever celebrate Christmas again?" I told her I didn't know, but we had a whole year to figure it out. And we did. We celebrate Christ's birth. We celebrate the fun of Christmas with the children. And we miss and mourn Jim. All at the same time. We are happy and sad at the same time. When a badass cancer invaded our lives there was plenty to be scared and sad and worried about. But I refused to ignore all the really great things happening at the same time and fully feel happiness....at the same time.



Whatever life brings you...live it fully....even when it's the fact your noob(s) glow in the dark. That is a totally happy thing.

Okay, I just told my DH about glowing noobs. He said, "Gloobs! Glow in the dark Gloobs!" I knew he'd enjoy that news.

Yay, Bailey!  What SHE said!  Like I've said before, waiting for this surgery was like waiting for Christmas morning, with a surgery anxiety overlay.  And despite all the not-so-fun-ness that goes along with big surgery such as this, it's still such a hopeful, step-forward, "screw cancer" step.  I am putting cancer in my rear-view mirror.  

After surgery, they brought me regular diet trays, beginning with breakfast in the ICU!  I was SO not hungry, and managed to swallow a few spoonfuls of oatmeal.  Throughout my hospital stay, I had to force myself to eat a little--completely alien for me, a foodie.  I think if I were a PS doing DIEPS, I would follow the "no food" principle just in case we had to rush back to the OR, but I guess there's a balance there.  No calories = slowed healing, even for a little while.

Nihahi, I really feel bad for you, and for others who experience the pukes after surgery.  That had to be miserable, heaving with an abdominal incision that about circles the globe.  Have they explored ALL the options to prevent it?  There are a lot of drugs available for that! 

Well, it's Saturday.  Bike ride, shopping, ironing, call my mom... Time to get moving!

Well, I did the flashlight thing last night. My DIEP breast did not glow, but my healthy breast did! !!!????? This is just too crazy. Oh, and I slept till 9.30 this morning after a late night.

Damiana, I woke up after DIEP with zero pain. Honestly. Nurses in recovery room kept asking over and over how my pain was, and I was puzzled that I had none. Never took anything stronger than Tylenol extra strength a few times a day for about 6 days post-op. PS told me afterwards that they had 'frozen'me really well in the OR, and the only 'pain' I ever experienced was some tummy discomfort when I wanted to get up. You will be fine!

Janet, you are doing so well - way to go, girl! Cannot believe that BS mix-up - somebody had screwed up big time, but just grateful they went ahead with your surgery.