DIEP 2013

Jakig- I think several of the veterans (me included, although I am only two weeks ahead of you) hit a sort of bluesy period at about three weeks. I had an everlasting drain too. They suck (ha! literally!). I have a few areas that aren't healing as well as they ought to.



Even when we are doing well medically after this surgery we are still in recovery mode and not able to be our normal selves. I think the occasional down day is to be expected and allowed. It's so good we have this place to share these things. Got your back, flapper girl.



I am having a can't sleep night.

I guess tonight it my turn to stay awake and cover the fort! We need to advertised this as a 24/thread!! Literally !!

On a funny note. I think everybody here has heard about my potty training issues with my 3 year old. We're still working on it. We take her potty ever hour. She holds it until she decided she was just to pee wherever. The funny part about this is that I put her in the pool and no floaties and she started to swim like a fish!!!!

Good morning ladies,



I had a few pages to catch up on! Sorry for not updating re my lumpy worries.



Well when I went to my appt on Monday, I was met by my nurse who informed me that there had been an error and I wasn't to see the onc until July 8! I insisted she find me a copy of my U/S and mammogram reports though, and they confirm fibrocystic changes and glandular tissue only with no evidence of malignancy. I hadn't appreciated that nodes show up in u/s exams but malignant nodes have a different appearance, and I just immediately assumed the worst. I wish somebody had explained that to me last week!



Anyhoo, I do believe all is fine now, but I discussed prophylactic mastectomy with my BS last week, and she didn't appear to think it unreasonable. She works out of plc, with Dr Allan Lan (plastics surgeon), so she is referring me to him for discussions over reconstruction, rather than the FMC guys. She did say she could refer me to FMC if that's what I wanted but would have to have a different BS to do the mastectomy as the PS didn't do that.



I don't know how I feel about it now. There are pluses and minuses to having treatment where "everybody knows your name", and I've never worked at PLC. I have a friend who had a simple reduction by Dr Lan, and recommends him, but apart from that know nothing about him, except my BS is happy to work with him.



Anyway, I guess I have loads of time. I finished my last Paclitaxel two days ago, so moving on!! I start rads on July 22 for 16 treatments.



My BS said let's concentrate on finishing the treatment to the left side first, and recover from that, then we can see about all the rest of the stuff.



I'm feeling ok. Glad to be done chemo!!! Very bloated this morning, but I know I'll feel much better in a couple of weeks. I'm going to buy a bike, I think! I have regained all the weight I worked at losing last year!!! (I know much of it is fluid, but much of it is not!)



I might pull back from this thread for a bit, and concentrate on current issues, but if you don't see me much, just know I am thinking of you all, and thank you for blazing the way for me!



Stay well ladies!



PS: Damiana. It's fine to move your arms. You should be!, just not above 90 degrees at the shoulder for the first three weeks is the normal rule, as it can pull on the blood vessel connections.

Crewzer - that feeling of pins or a sunburn is from the skin being lifted.  It does go away, I promise.  I had mostly on my chest above the boobs.  It took about 4 months, though.  The dog ear is usually fixed by recutting that part of the incision and removing extra skin/tissue.  A Stage 2 procedure along with lipo for shape and symmetry.  The compression from the binder can help with healing in the abdominal area and with the final outcome of the scar.

Kuka - be careful adding too many protein shakes and bars, etc.  They can really up your calorie intake.  The real challenge to weight loss is that calories really still count.  For me, wheat and grain is a problem.  I don't process those carbs properly so they always lead to weight gain.  I weigh daily and tend to fluctuate depending on what I eat.  If i could control myself, I would eat paleo or primal as the foods agree with me and my weight drops.  Another thing my trainer advocates is interval training.  

Jackie - just read your description of arriving at the pool at Onsen.  How amazing that must've felt!  Women do rock - all over the world!

Hi Jeannie,

Just read your advice on the aspirin, etc. How very different all of our doctors are! I was given blood thinning shots daily while in the hospital, and instructed to take a baby aspirin daily for a month in order to not get blood clots. He said over the counter ibuprophen, etc is fine. It amazes me, when reading everyone's experiences, the differences in every aspect of the surgery from the number of drains to how the incisions are closed to sleeping positions. There is no 'standard of care' as yet for this surgery. My doctor said that he and a group of, I think it was 14 others who do this surgery, stay in close contact and talk about everything like when to start back on caffiene, whether or not to wear a binder, bra, etc. He looks at the group ideas and their rationales, and decides his plan of care. They all apparently do the same. It is still such a new surgery with so few doctors performing it that we patients all are more or less the pioneers, or guinea pigs? There really doesn't seem to be a right or wrong, as the majority have a good result. I must say, I'm so glad to have had only 4 drains!!!

-Laurel

Now that you mention it, Laurel, I do recall taking one baby aspirin daily post-DIEP... and that is why they said no ibuprofen.  For stage 2 they said no advil or aspirin.  One more example of conveniently forgetting what we went through!

Janet - let your body and mind rest as needed.  Your mom is right - the turtle always wins!  You don't want to push yourself too much, too quickly.  Baby steps all the way - you will feel normal again!

I first read about the stage 2 on here, and when I asked my PS he was in complete agreement with that - but had not mentioned it earlier on in the discussion of the surgery.

Janet- don't worry about getting after me

Has anyone else had their drains fill with fat??? They started with fluids and occasional clotty bloody stuff, but now it is mostly a white slimy fat type substance. Really gross, but I am okay to be losing more fat if that's what it is, lol! This is just from my abdominal drains, not my breast drain.

Also went to get dressed this morning and I noticed that I have some redness radiating from my ab incision most of the way around. It turns white if I press on it but then back to red when I let go. Also, on my hip there is a bunch of puckering that wasn't there yesterday I already called and talked to a nurse at my PS office. She had me email some pics in to her and I am still waiting for her to call me back. No fever or anything else to indicate infection. It's always something, isn't it?

kad22, you decided on implants after mastectomy, so your breast pockets were preserved that way. Expanders are used to preserve the breast pocket if you cannot get DIEP or other recon immediately when the MX is done. In my case I had MX with expander because the path report would determine what comes next. I was hoping for a saline implant. Turned out that I had one positive lymph node which was a game changer - had to get chemo and rads. TE was in there for 15 months altogether, and did an excellent job. An implant is not a good idea if you have to get rads, because about half of women getting rads develop capsular contracture, which spoils the whole thing.

Glad you are getting rid of the drains systematically - gets easier and easier. Lying low is hard, but it's an investment for the future when you can sport your new boobs and flat tummy - won't want to compromise that, eh? I'm 6 weeks out, and raring to start exercising as hard I did before DIEP, but will start back slowly next week.

Wow Jackie! That is crazy- thanks for the heads up! I hadn't said anything about the drains but when they called a few minutes ago I did make sure to mention it to them. I was told to draw a line around the redness andif it increases beyond that or gets any brighter to call back in and have the doctor paged. She did say the white stuff might be indicitive of an infection starting as well. I just have to watch all symptoms super close until they go away or I get back in for my appt on Tuesday.

Now I am off to go draw on myself

Exercise! I'm looking for advice.

I am post-diep, and ps has now given me permission to do some exercising, such as the recumbant bike or swimming.  What I'm wondering is if anyone has any good ideas about strength-type exercises, either for arms or legs.  PS told me not to do anything that will engage my core, so even an upright bike is out of the question.  I'm very early into this, and trust me, I'm only just taking walks right now.   Mostly I'm just chilling on the couch.  But I'm thinking about what I might be able to do once I start feeling up to doing more. 

For example, are squats ok post surgery?  Or for arms, I know obviously weights are a huge no-no, but what about a stretchy band that you can stand on and simulate bicep curls?  I hate the thought of my arms turning to mush while I'm waiting for my 3 months to be up   And my ps has not really given me much direction about what is allowed.

Also, thanks for the advice on the sunburn feeling on my chest.  I have been feeling really great, and was taken off guard by this feeling that has stopped me in my tracks!  From all I've read, it takes quite a while to go away   .  I also think I will continue to wear the binder for a while.  It sounds like a good idea, and after all, it feels better on.

Well after 4 years I decided to do the deip aug 28 2013 excited but scared going to be a long hard year .

Sitting in the PS office waiting to get reopened because my incision didn't close properly. Worried the TE might have gotten infected. Ugh! Praying he can just clean it and close me back up. Was just supposed to get a fill today!

Janet,

I teared up as I read your saying you haven't looked yet at your chest. Everything is so relative. I lost my breasts November, 2011. I didn't have a reconstruction then as my mother was dying of brain cancer, and I needed to be with her and couldn't make a decision of what kind I wanted anyway. So, I lived for a year and a half with, for lack of a better description, indents. Not even a boy chest, but indents. I avoided looking at myself, wore forms all of the time, and in the shower I used a back brush to wash my chest, as I really didn't want to think about my body and what it had become. God blessed me with hearing about DIEP, and my insurance covered my having it done elsewhere as they don't do it here. The other day in the shower, I closed my eyes and really felt my new breasts as I washed. Glorious! Suture lines and all. They have football shaped flaps, but they are gorgeous to me! 

I'm having the same issues with physical activity. I'm bored silly, but get tired out easily if I go out somewhere. Went to Walmart today, came home and took a nap. I'm listening to my body, and my reach has gotten better over the last couple of days, so I'm reaching. Not standing quite upright yet. Not supposed to lift more than 5 pounds, but I live by myself, so that's a little tricky at times. And the abdomen thing. The way the nurse explained it, they take your upper parts and pull them down. But to do so, I imagine they are separating the skin from the meat, sort of like you do with chicken? How's that for imagery. So, we have this skin flap that needs to reattach itself to the underlying meat. Which is probably why it is soooo uncomfortable to move as movement can pull on the newly healing attachment. This I notice mostly during the night if I happen to end up sleeping on my side. And this would explain why we are so tired, from all that healing. I wonder how long it takes for that icky feeling to go away. 

Take care, and be kind to yourself. I think today I finally realized that this isn't going to be a quick process, so I'll try to be more kind to myself too.

-Laurel