DIEP 2013

Kuka! Nobody thought it was a bad idea. I would love to see everybody's tata's!!!  But, we can go see them on Timtam's site.  I think you said you misplaced your password.  I am sure she will give you a new one. 

Bailey,

Maybe you are not ready for more surgery just yet.  What your PS is suggesting doesn't sound much different than most of the stage 2's I have heard about, but if you are just "now" feeling good, and want more time to feel good, then you should take it.  Personally, I think you are strong enough to do it, and it all sounds like a lot, but it's all superfical.  Nothing super invasive. I had a incision revision about a month after my bmx, and it was nothing.  It felt better than before.  I know the lipo might smart a bit, but if you need more time, take it.  Cancer made you do a lot of things you didn't want to do on everybody else's schedule.  Now you are in the driver's seat girl! 

Kuka....no offense taken...we know your motives are good.....we love you!



Bailey....how you described your PS appt. is JUST how I felt all weekend (which is why no posts from me)...... I am feeling a little overwhelmed with the "hurting" after I have had so much time feeling good......maybe it's good to have stage 2before you get too comfortable.....I already do feel better (maybe because I can do some working out now) but I was completely taken by surprise by how DEPRESSED I was ( I am 3 weeks post stage 2). Call the waaaaahmbulance for me, too!



Katy, good to hear you are feeling a bit better.....hope it continues for you, sister!



Jeannie, WILL be there this weekend.....pming you later.....



Nihahi....I am glad somebody missed me......I got tired of having a pity party all by myself!



Love to all.......

Adding my comments to topics within the last week's thread:

DRIVING - be careful. I drove a week after my mastectomy. It was just 4 miles on a country road-relaxing, right? Wrong. The engine failed on an incline, and I had to back down that hill, and it was excruciatingly painful. It was stressful.

FLYING - I purchased a compression sleeve and gauntlet from www.lymphedivas.? for the increased pressure. I cleared the flying question with my PS beforehand. No problems.

PICKLES - I love pickles; just didn't know they were so healing....haha

PIC of the round fossil - reminded me of an alien breast implant - loved it

DELAYED DIEP - I also wanted to have everything done in one day. But some of the testing done on the cancers in my breast were done during the mastectomy. It was good that there were 10 days in between my MX and the DIEP. I got the test results before the DIEP. This insured that I was healthy enough with my remaining tissue to proceed. DIEP is a major major major surgery, so following my surgeons' decisions on when to do what worked out for me. Trust the process, and what a process it is...

DOG EARS - I am 11 days post-op from the Stage 2 revision. I had a dog ear - raised puffy extra skin at the end of the abdominal incision. It was removed and lipoed. No pain there. 

FLAT BELLY - Yes! Still is beautiful; a little swollen and different at times, especially after travel and the revision, but it's wonderfully different than my belly before DIEP.

SLEEP - I take the natural herb Valerian from time to time. It's non-addictive, effective, and the only thing I can find wrong with it is it smells like sweaty socks, so I hold my nose before I open the bottle.

PAIN - very mild after the final revision. I now take Ibuprofen and Tylenol prn. I personally wanted to get away from narcotics asap, as they dull my mind and promoted depression-just my experience. I respect narcotics; I needed them after the surgeries, but at some point, the healing kicked in and I am free from the Rx.

SHARP PAINS AFTER DIEP - Yes, lots of those; I think it's amazing that we are repairing our flesh with our flesh, so to speak. My body sent messages of alarm and disbelief. The pains subside with time, or they did for me. These sharp pain times were the times when narcotics were very effective.

DEPRESSION - At times...this has been a life-changing year, and not one I would wish on anybody. OMG, did I really just live through this? Yes, LIVE is the key word. When I get discouraged, I get back into this day, this hour, this moment - my mantra, and it usually passes. 

Forgive me for not reading more often. I care, but today, I'm caring for me, and I can be a handful.  haha

JUICER - I have a Green Star Elite; love it; believe in juicing as a way of health and life now.

HUBBIE LOVE - I wish I could post a pic for you of the garden of greens my husband planted while I lay healing in the bed. I think kale juice is the one most healing foods on the planet. I love mustard greens. My dearest planted a huge area of greeens just for me that stretches forever. It has literally thousands of greens standing at attention, and I walk there daily now. Yes, I'm eating greens daily, but I think these are the best greens I've ever juiced and/or eaten because of the love put into the crop. There's enough greens there for 100 people. And they are more beautiful to me than a garden of roses could be. 

Best wishes for a wonderful upcoming day.

"Good morning, Pooh Bear," said Eeyore gloomily. "If it is a good morning," he said. "Which I doubt," said he.

"Why, what's the matter?"

"Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. We can't all, and some of us don't. That's all there is to it."

"Can't all what?" said Pooh, rubbing his nose.

"Gaiety. Song-and-dance. Here we go round the mulberry bush." ~A.A. Milne



Feeling Eeyore-ish still.



Thank you so much for the encouragement, friends. I will get there, I always do. I just need my day to process the negative aspects. Like I said, I knew it was coming. This is no surprise. Thanks for the "wait" advice, Goldie. I am moving forward (even if I have to be dragged in kicking and screaming lol) though. It works best for my life to do it now and I want desperately to get the noob reduced....it is causing me daily pain and I am motivated to get that gone (I hope I hope I hope).



I had a great deal of trouble after DIEP from the narcotics...I feel the same way as Jakig....respectful and grateful for them but, man, do they make me sick. I also experienced a severe memory loss from anesthesia from diep. The two weeks before sx are pretty much gone. The two weeks after are spotty. On a daily basis I had short term problems...it is vastly improved, though... almost normal...from 4 months ago....but it's taken this long to get it back. So, naturally, I am concerned about a repeat performance. I didn't think of it until now but will ask what alternatives I have. I think I could hack being awake or in twilight for it (actually it might be pretty cool)....if they can numb me up. We will see.



Looking for TOWANDA.....(that should be the name of the movie about us lol)



All right darlings.....off to work. Enjoy HUMP DAY!

Bailey/sweet pickle ! I thought I was gonna get a date for stage 2:( but dr says come back in January!!! Grr I hate not having a plan.



Woke up at around 4am with bad foob pain!! I knocked my pillow off bed and wAs laying flat! Don't know why I did but it's the 2x!! When I was in couch it was fine;( ugh now tired for my first day back child sitting. Hope little one wants a nap:)

Oh Bailey - crummy news. But still,  your posts still sound so upbeat and logical. I love that you said 'I will get there - I always do' . That seems to sum you up. Also, it is something I want on my T-shirt.

Week two of working, and I've had to reduce my work load to allow the extra time I need to sleep. Seriously, the real world is tiring and I can barely keep up.  Plus there are also my LEmassages, belly rubs, and stretching, and the list goes on.

Bluebird - Cream. (I know I'm in the minority here) But you'll know him/her when you meet. 

Today is my birthday. Of my three wishes, the first is nipples. I miss them tremendously. Wishes two and three are that all the girls on this board will be wholey healed. If not now, then soon, along with the faith of knowing that that day will come. 

checking in for the day....wondering how you're doing sbe and lahela.....hoping, hoping, hoping the antibiotics are starting to turn the corner for you both....(lahela...can you eat a little something just before, or with the dose, to help the nausea??) Sip some gingerale?.....ginger is an anti-nausea agent.

bailey....you know yourself best...you've gotten yourself through some pretty tough stuff. Moving forward is usually the best plan for me too...nothing says we have to be happy about it while we're doing it!!!!!! I'm thinking part of the memory stuff from last time might also have been stress related, not just due to all the meds/anesthesia. 

cherrie...boy, you have turned such a "corner"...thanks for staying with us, and the encouraging words.

I'm like you...lots of guilt for not having any healing issues....not one, nada, nothing. But a good friend of mine sat me down and said to me....no one "chooses" complications, you didn't "choose" to avoid them. In the big picture....you've gotten through things that most women on the planet would run away from, screaming and sobbing, and you're making it back to the life you want and deserve to have. Guilt has done nothing to help you get to where you are now, so just drop it in the ditch where it belongs! Nobody who knows what you've gone through in life, considers you lucky!

I am expecting to hear next month, that my stage 2 will likely be relatively minor, and I'm at the point where I refuse to feel guilty about that anymore. I wish everyone had just "minor"....but I can't make it happen. Things in life tend to balance each other out, I believe. I'd trade my well-healed flap, and my smooth scars, for just one day with my granddaughters....(I have no access to them...never will) or just one day of "non-depression" for my daughter or just one day of "good choices" for my son. sorry.....going way off topic here.....

anyway.....hope today is a good one in all the ways that are needed by all of us.

Happy birthday Janet!

I now know what swelly belly is! I made the mistake of going out grocery shopping without my binder the other day. That night I was swelled up like a watermelon! Holy cow. I wore my binder to bed and it was resolved by morning.

Hope you all have a great hump day!

sbe, I have a Ninja that I picked up on clearance and love it! It is awesome and comes with several blades, cups and travel cup. You simply put your ingredients in your travel cup, whip it up and put the travel lid on and go. It might not make things as liquified as a Vitamaster, (I don't know) but I only paid about $50 for it. And when I found it was missing a lid, (reason it was probably on clearance) customer service sent me new lids, cups and blades for free!

And by now I'm sure I'm labeled as the Manuka honey wacko, so I'll go ahead and tell you if you're game to try mushroom capsules, they will boost your immune system and white counts to fight off infection. When I started chemo my counts would drop and I hated those damn Neulasta and Neupagen shots. I read study after study about Maitake mushrooms and Turkey Tail mushrooms helping women with breast cancer. I ordered both capsules from Paul Stammet/Fungi Perfecta at Vitacost and Amazon. Within a week of taking them, 2x daily my blood counts  and white count went right back to normal and I never had to take another shot. My oncologist was amazed. For an entire school year of my kids coming home with colds and hubby the flu, I never got sick. Thank the good lord! I can't imagine getting sick while being on chemo.

Kuka, no offense taken at all!

And no guilt trips by anyone! Everyone is fighting their own battles in some area or another. I feel very blessed that there are many positive things in my life and when I wail and gnash my teeth about my regretting surgery and the healing issues, believe me I know there are many others who have things so much worse.  Hindsight is 20/20 but you can't look back. I made the best decision for myself at the time. Wishing I did things differently won't change anything. It will just take me a lot longer to get my own Ferrari some day!  Maybe just a little Vespa but if it works, zoom-zoom!

movie, I was right there with you at the pity party! I was sitting in the corner facing the wall and muttering to myself.

Janet, Happy Birthday! I'm glad to hear that we rank right up there with nipples!  lol...

Bailey, if I could reach through this computer and hug you I would. I like goldie's advice about you being in the driver's seat. Let them know how you feel. If you are not ready for more surgery right now, tell them! And if you want to be done, go for it! I'm impressed that you are running a 5K at all! I still get tired just walking! 

I haven't had good luck using anything on my scars but "Tummy Butter" cocoa butter made for stretch marks. Tried Mederma and silicone strips and both made the scars looks angry and red.

Puppy update!

I left the decision up to the rescue. (This story is turning into yet another crazy chapter in my life.) I was hoping to go see the pups but it turns out the puppies are near Pittsburgh. 7 hours from my house! I apologized to the woman and told her I didn't realize how far away they were. She said, "no worries. I have a friend who is a judge and flies his own plane for the rescue. He'll bring a puppy to you at no charge." She told me she would send "Jackson" (the red puppy!) on Saturday if the weather holds.  Hooray! I'd be fine with either color, since they are so cute! But secretly do like the fox look of the red ones.  Now I'm like a new mom getting ready! Still not sure if I'll keep the name she was calling him, but will know it when I meet him.  Happy news for a change!

"Cellulitis watch" day 2!  I had a high-ish fever (102) yesterday afternoon, but things appear to be calming down.  The red land mass is still there but not getting any bigger.  I'm off to the doctor for this morning's sentencing.  Back home with my oral anti-bug pills?  To the hospital for IV bug repellent?  Stay tuned...

Lahela, the pharmacist stressed to me that augmentin must be taken with meals or it'll make you nauseated.  Might that be your issue?

TOWANDA!

Such a busy thread, can't keep up!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Janet! Pup is in Pittsburgh? I could ran over and got him for me! I have my heart set on a black and tan one, so Jackson is safe, bluebird. Hope you beat Cellulitis soon, sbe. nihahi, if I try to describe it now, it would be: "put your hand here, here, here, and here and do this...,” not very helpful. BUT, I go back on Monday and will be taking pictures of the posters and also asking the therapist to give me a better verbal description of the massage. movie, you are the ambassador of the flapper land. I am sure you and Jeannie will have a great time Saturday. bailey, I will take a look at the youtube thingy you posted and see if it is similar to what I was showed to do. My computer at work does not have sound, so I have to wait until I get home.

TOWANDA!

Happy bday Janet!!!!!  Have an aweseome day!!!!

SBE, praying you come home with a bottle of pills that "WORK"

Bluebird, the right dog will come into your life.  The perfect fit for you.  

I was talking to a friend yesterday who had bc three years ago. She went through alot with healing issues, wound vacs, etc.  I was one of the few neighbors/friends who hung in there with her till it was all over, I thought.  Now I know differently. I had no real idea of what she was going through like I do now.  But, I was talking to her yesterday, and I know she didn't mean to hurt my feelings, but she said, "ugh. I am so glad I am past all the crap you are going through.  I finally feel like myself again,  and I really don't want to go there anymore."  I am happy for her, really I am, but I cried when my husband came home, and I told him I pray I am never like that after I am all better.  Pay it forward!!!  Give back!!!  Or, do we really want to forget it ever happened to us when it's all over?

Just a word of caution on the mushroom supplements. Check with your medical oncologist first. My acupuncturist had me buy some & my MO had a cow when I told her. She said with having chemo they could cause liver failure. So, I threw out a $50 bottle of capsules.

Goldie, what a terrible thing for your "friend" to say! I can understand how she feels, I think, but some things you should keep to yourself! We need people who build us up and encourage us. There is this reminder called THINK. Before saying something, ask yourself, Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind? We all blow it but sheesh! I'm sorry your feelings were hurt.



Nihahi, how's your probiscus?