DIEP 2013
Comments
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Gosh, Bdavis, you have really been through it. So, a Tdap...hmmm. Interesting. Do they leave your lat muscle alone, and just take the fat? I guess I should look it up instead of picking your brain. Thanks for the info and fat grafting and rotation of flaps.
Jeannie, that is a very generous gift card!!! Merry xmas.
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I got sprung yesterday afternoon. That Texas storm has caused total havoc here. ..we have had no power or heat for 24 hours due to severe freezing rain...Our roads are literally skating rinks. Major tree damage, our only tree that we have split down the middle and top..its done!
My first night home consisted of trying to sleep in my electric hospital bed that was in total upward seating position and cursing my hubby who was on the couch snoring. He has sleep apnea and with no power - no machine! Nurses couldn't come today due to weather and tomorrow is dicy too..thankfully hubby knows how to empty and measure drains. I have checked my foobs for color change and sign of infection. Have my binder on which is keeping my guts in.
All I want for Christmas is heat, electricity and a shower!
Michele
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Goldie... Yes, tdap leaves the muscle alone...Plus it takes care of any side boob that may be there.
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Bdavis, the reason you had success with that surgery, according to Johns Hopkins site, is because it needs to be done by a very skilled surgeon, and you had one. It is not a very typical surgery. You are lucky to be going to NOLA.
Curly, glad your are home. Sorry the storm is making it harder on you. Try to relax and take care of yourself.
I just got some really good news, my BFF whose mom has lung cancer, the surgery was a success, her nodes were clean, the got the whole tumor, and she should be fine once she recuperates. Phew. Thank goodness, because they had already decided there would be no chemo or rads because of her age.
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Hi, all! Like Deb, I'm wayyyyy behind here!
I'm almost all fixed, Deb, thanks for asking. All the incisions are healing beautifully, and the deep green bruising is fading to a festive brown. The small "leak" on the incision on my back is gradually oozing less and less, and no signs of infection anywhere, knock wood.
Ridley, what a time for your electricity to cut out! I can't imagine trying to crawl out of a reclined recliner on my first day home. And Curly, by all means, keep those guts in. And consider a few rolled-up socks to throw at the hubs when he does the chain-saw thing, although you probably have power now and he can use his CPAP machine.
Jeannie, what a sweet thing for your friends at church to do. It's all about sharing, isn't it? I know it blessed them, too.
Happy Sunday, everyone!
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Ridley, Janet and curlylocks- ahhhh no power! Hope it comes back soon.
Jeannie- wow what a generous gift....so wonderful for you!
That's great news Goldie!
Bdavis- so your right flap is a diep flap and it was rotated. Hmmm I will have to ask my dr about this. My dent is in the upper cleavage area and wonder if fat grafting will be enough.
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I must have missed the Cpap and power outage. If my husbands cpap didn't work I would be thrown in jail for murder. He snores so loud I can't even explain. My son and I once had the best time though. My husband fell asleep in his chair listening to music through his head phones. His snoring was horrible, so we figured if we turned up the music that would wake him up and he would not blame us for disturbing him. Instead what happened was hilarious. The louder we made the music the louder he snored, and when we turned it down he got quieter (still snoring though), so we taped it so he would believe us. Then he was furious...lmaoooooooooo I don't get it. He knows he snores, but he is so defensive about it. I guess it's because we tease him, but it's all in good fun, usually.
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sbe..no power yet going on 25 hours without. Like Ridley I too had to crawl or side shuffle out of an elevated bed. We have our gas fireplace on..still only 60 degrees in the house, not idea for just getting home from hospital yesterday. I also have a few drains that could be ditched but no nurse due to ice storm, no power and roads. ..tomorrow us iffy too if they show up! I want to swear at mother nature...her timing sucks BIG TIME!
I have to get my hubby to find my ear plugs as I am on the couch for tonight. .warmer by fireplace. ..I will be right beside him listening to him snore. .its too cold for him to sleep upstairs:(
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Deb, there are several surgeons in my area that do the GAP flap. I know there are some in Jersey and NY too. Do a google on it. There is a female doc at NYU that does everything!!! She is supposed to be very good. Then, of course there is NOLA, San Antonio, MDAnderson, etc. But, it's the travelling with the GAP and the drains, etc.
Bdavis, what do you do when you need to see a doc if you are having a problem and you are back home? Do you make arrangements with a surgeon near you to follow your progress? Like drains, mine didn't come out for over two weeks. I couldn't have afforded to stay in NOLA for that long. How are things like that handled?
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jeannie.....that "gift" story just made my Christmas. Truly, isn't that what this holiday is supposed to be about!!! I'm sure that felt just amazing to get such a generous and unexpected gift. Thank you for sharing the story with us.
Geez.....you GTA gals....just watching the evening news....looks really bad out East. Our two nephews and families are among the "lights out" people. Hearing numbers of half a million with no power, and maybe for 2 to 3 days!!!! Stay warm, stay safe.
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The great power saga of 2103 continues. We spent the afternoon at my brothers and then called to my condo (I've been staying at my parents). Power was on, so we decided to go to my parents to pack and head to my place where this is room for my parents and me. So we get to my parents and start packing and the power comes back. Great!! I go down to where my beautiful electronic recliner is, move it to the sitting up position and climb in and recline......and the power goes out. We vote to wait 30 minutes... Still no power. So I climb out again and we pack for an overnight stay at my place. We are there now and the lights and heat are on. So all is good.
Curley - I'm praying that your power comes back on shortly. Maybe try a bed with lots of pillows under your back and head and your knees. Might be more comfy. Oh sorry, misread you need to stay by the fireplace. Lots of pillows strategically placed on the sofa . I hope homecare gets to you tomorrow. If mine makes it,I should get my last two drains out.
Take care all,
Ridley
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Lucy... Yes it was my DIEP flap (stacked flap) that was rotated.
Goldie... NOLA is great at communication and instruction. For drains, I have always done my own drains, but when I have had issues, like lung pain after the first surgery, my primary care physician had me get a lung function test... Sometimes, it helps to have a helper doctor at home (someone willing to help if need be)... but NOLA paid to fly me back once when they wanted to fix my right breast where my incision had opened. They did a wound surgery and then DIEP flap to fix it. So, no I didn't stay down there for weeks... I came home after my post op... Traveling with drains is really no big deal... done it many times.
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Betsy, we are bombarding you. So, you pulled your own drains when it was time for them to come out? I know mine never hurt when they were pulled. I had one that got stuck, but the nurse and I waited a minute, she took a deep breath, gave it a gentle tug and it popped out. We thought we might have to call in a doc, but all was well. Phew.
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Deb....Yes, stacked... My right breast is abdominal fat basically folded on itself. So the whole DIEP flap went on the right. My left breast is GAP and tdap. I am sorry you are unhappy with your results... Just know that there is always an alternative option when the time is right for you financially and emotionally.
Goldie.... Yes, I have pulled all drains that I have left town with. And I have had 5 surgeries that required drains.... so in all I have pulled maybe 15 drains. My husband helped with the ones I couldn't easily reach. I know it sounds laborious to travel with drains (and I came home with 5 twice), but its really not an issue. When I would fly back and forth, it was a direct flight, and actually was easier than usual traveling because I would ask for a wheel chair (half the time) which helped with jumping to the front of the line etc.
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Curly, Ridley and Janet, I hope you warm up soon! Curley, what a rough start for your healing!!! Hang in there.
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Deb-Goldie is right, there are a few PS in NY/NJ. Dr Allen, Dr Ahn, Dr Levine and Dr Visale are all in NYC and do GAP flaps. Levine and Allen also do stacked dieps...and all other types of flaps. NYC may be a comparable alternative to NOLA and the other flap experts in the south. Levine also operates in Hackensack. Check out their website
Ridley/Curlylocks - hope your power troubles are over, such awful timing. Weather has been strange...NYC was 71 degrees today and we had a snowstorm last week.
Jeannie-hope everything is ok with your noob.
Lucy-haven't had my CT scan yet. I have to wait for the swelling from the emergency surgery to go down. Im getting it done at NYU this week though, I don't want to wait any longer, especially since the holidays will slow things down. I feel stronger but the pain and redness are just not getting better. It is so frustrating. Still taking Percocet at night. Thank you for checking in.
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Betsy, I thought a stacked flap was two different areas like hips and abdomen used together in one breast, etc. So, what you are saying is it's both sides of your abdomen used in one breast? I am so confused. What is amazing to me is how awesome you look after having your body essentially rearranged...lol. Sorry, I don't mean to make light of it. But, at this point, if you don't laugh about this stuff we would go crazy. Somebody mentioned somewhere that you are lucky, you don't seem to scar easily. All your incisions look nicely healed. Where do you start you recon, in NJ? Hey, flying with drains might not be fun, but my husband works for a major airlines, and I use to fly all the time with little children, and all that goes with that. That is laborious. I can sit still and sleep on a plane just fine...lol. Give me an IPAD and I can sit anywhere for as long as you want me too.
Zoeman, thanks for the list of PS names. Once you listed them their names were all familiar to me again. There was a time when I thought I would go east for my recon since I have family there still. But, there are lots of good places here in the south too, and there is no place like home to recover.
BTW, incase anybody cares, I miss Darvocet and wish they never took it off the market.
I decided it was time to lighten up a little tonight, and I had two glasses of wine. It might as well have been the whole bottle. I am such a light weight. My foobs feel great when I am tipsy. Hmmm...I wonder how long my husband would tolerate a drunk wife. Tomorrow I am going to wear something that actually fits snuggly on top, and pretend to the world these things are real. I keep walking around in oversized tops like I have to hide something. Time to let that go.
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Question- those of you waiting for phase 2 of reconstruction due to financial reasons ... Is it because insurance doesn't cover it? Or because you have a high deductible? I'm not trying to be nosy. Just trying to gauge how my experience will be. We have a high deductible (10,000). I know I have to make it through chemo and rads first, but I really want the recon as soon as I can get it after all the treatments.
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RHG.....glad to "see" you keeping moving your thoughts towards "after tx". It's good, to remember that things like chemo have a specific span of time. One of the factors of scheduling followup stages has to be assessing how you "rebound" once the chemo and rads are over. Try to keep the communication flowing between your various docs. I'm sure some of the other ladies will better answer your insurance questions.
lahela...I'm guessing it's early-ish on Monday morning for you. Not sure what time your "fix this thing" surgery is, just wanted to let you know I'm on my way to the pocket party!!!! {{{{{X}}}}}
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RHG, with going into the New Year you are probably going to rack up quite a bit more in medical bills. If you are coming close to reaching your deductible let's say half way through the year, and you are done with chemo, I would start pushing for your stage 2. PS are use to this. They know about the financial hardships this puts on people. I asked for my exchange before the New Year specifically for that reason. Oh course, the most important thing is you do what's best for you health wise, and mentally, but if you could finish up in 2014 I would go for it. Do you know many chemo sessions you are going to have, and are they going to do rads immediately after? You PS should be able to give you a timeline based on how long it's going to take you to get through your treatments. Gosh, it's so frustrating that a lot of this comes down to what we can afford to do. BTW...insurance usually always pays for your stage 2.
In the end it's going to come down to what you feel up to after chemo and rads, and what the PS thinks is an appropriate wait time to proceed savely.
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RHG, my PS wouldn't do DIEP for me until six months after I was done with rads. The skin has a lot of healing to do.I waited even longer by choice because I wanted to be strong and healthy. Talking to your docs to get a plan is a good idea.
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I don't pop in much, but when I do I read up as much as I can.
Donna: I had lost 130+ lbs in the year or two before my surgery. When I first consulted the PS, three of them said no DIEP for me, not enough belly fat! Never thought I would hear that. I had implants instead. When one implant failed (long story), I went uniboob for 8 months. Then, the PS agreed to do the DIEP. I have DD cup!! So, don't panic. You'd be surprised. I'm still waiting for Stage II, where I actually hope to reduce to D, or even C cup.
On a personal note: I'm finally giving in and made an appointment with psyche for depression. I think the holidays finally set me off. I just can't do it anymore. I just can't keep my bright eyed, smiley, happy face on. It literally hurts to pretend to be happy. It's gotten to the point I can't even be angry. I just don't care. I know this is not normal, so I made an appointment. It's not normal, because I have everything in the world to be happy about. Family, friends, good job, nice home, people who love me, even my health. I have no reason to feel this way, I just do. So, ladies. I'm off to get help. I will be fine, I know it. I just need a little push.
Happy Holidays to all.
Merry Christmas
Happy New Year.
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Shechirple.....You forgot to add one very important "self description" to your list. I'm sure you can't see it now, but you are also, INCREDIBLY STRONG! You have EVERY reason to feel "numb" after all you have been through, imho. Big kudos to you for acknowledging you have done all you could do, and now it's time to ask for help, because you are running on "empty" in the courage/energy tank. I have absolutely no doubt, that a survey of women who have gone through bc, tx and recon would yield a very high % of us need a "boost" at some point. Some need it "by prescription", some need it through counselling, some need a combo. We have always said on this thread, that no one gets a medal or a gold star for being "the best" in any category....I think we're all winners, and no one in any winner's circle, ever got there without help.
lahela....the GTA gals might be a wee bit late to the party....but they'll be bringing the ice!
hope all of the last gang of surgeries are feeling a bit better today.
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Oh, Shechirple, I'm sorry you're slogging through this. By all means (literally) get the help you need. It's out there, and it's a great sign you're reaching for it.
RHG, my team tried to get all my treatments finished by year's end, since my out-of-pocket was WAY met and everything was essentially free after that until 2014. But I threw a couple of spanners in the works, with hospitalizations for cellulitis and needing an extra-long surgery to dig out the radiation damage, followed by my hamster tube treatments. So...it's on to 2014, where I'll have one more procedure, hopefully.
Lahela, let us know how you are when you can. We're in the pocket of your bathrobe, chugging down the eggnog.
I woke up with my wonky shoulder feeling wonkier. Bleah. All the surgical stuff and limited motion has probably kicked my shoulder troll awake.
Off to the Costco! Ho ho ho!
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RHGSR, I think you have a lot of things going on and it is great to try and plan it out.
Figure out when chemo "might" end (and keep in mind that things might come up that "lengthen that process" such as blood count lab work not where they want it to be)
Ask the oncologist NOW how long you have to wait to start rads after you are done with chemo.
Mark off calendar for your rads.
Speak to your PS and ask how long he likes to wait after rads are done. Then you will have a possible timeframe to begin your reconstruction.
My DIEP was in early October. While the doctor said the ideal was to wait 3 months to do stage 2 he was willing to push it up a few weeks into December figuring I had insurance deductible to deal with. I told him I didn't have to rush, thankfully my deductible is low. So I opted to wait til February to give me even more time to heal.
It is a process...unfortunately that can have hiccups along the way.
Wishing you the best.
Pat
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When dealing with drains, I was afraid to pull them myself, but my family doctor pulled them when they were ready. He admitted he hadn't done it since residency, but did a great job. If you explain the situation, they realize you have nowhere else to go.
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Goldie... Stacked means just that, one flap on top of another. So it could be a GAP and DIEP stacked or the entire abdomen stacked on itself. When women get the "body lift" for a bilateral, using the DIEP and GAP flaps, then each side has half DIEP and half GAP... but in my case where just the one side was being fixed and my buttocks had already been used, the doc used the abdomen and stacked it.
RHGSR.... Usually people try to get it all in a one year due to deductibles. Especially if its high like yours. My MOOP was $3700, (now $4400), so if I had a stage one in 2013 and stage two in 2014 then I would have to pay it twice. If I had both surgeries in one year, then I'd pay it once. So... there is the incentive.
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Oh, so much to catch up on! Just finished rads 10 days ago and trying to get shopping, cleaning and decorating done. But I'M DONE TREATMENT and that's all I care about!
Bailey, so happy you are recovering nicely! Have a wonderful trip!
RHG, I had a pretty rough chemo journey but as the ladies said, it will be over before you know it. Having a good support team and caring nurses and doctor helps immensely. One thing many people don't talk about is the psychological aspect of chemo. Be sure to communicate with your support people and your doctor. I took Ativan to help with being scared in the beginning and they gave it to me in my IV line.
I am very blessed that the right people came into my life to help me at the times I needed it. Losing my hair was very traumatic also but went to a stylist who made me feel special and empowered instead of helpless. My hair is coming in now and is as curly as Shirley Temple! And it first came in almost clear/white but now is blonde. It looks highlighted. Too funny.
And if you are interested, PM me about mushroom supplements for helping your immune system. I hated those damn Neulasta shots and the bone pain. Claratin helped, but after I started taking Paul Stammet's (American grown in Oregon) Turkey Tail and Maitake mushroom capsules I never had to have another shot and my blood counts stayed perfect through six months of chemo. I prefer to hit hard with modern medicine and also Mother Nature as backup. lol.. I also used Pur-Absorb Iron water from England (you can get it at Walgreens) and it helped with anemia at the end. I can't take over the counter iron pills.
And of course Manuka honey for wound and surgery healing.
Merry Christmas ladies!
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Bluebird, congratulations on being done with radiation! It must be wonderful to enjoy the holidays knowing that is behind you. Don't stress too much about the holidays. Everyone will understand. After all, spending time with loved ones is more important than the other stuff. Merry Christmas!
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Hello everyone!
Just got caught up on all the posts. It's a shame I forget them so quickly. Here in the midwest the rain washed all the snow away. Same crazy temperature swings. I think we had record lows and highs last week. So sorry to hear about the power losses. Those are so frustrating.
Lehala, hope all went well. It should be over by now. Hope you will still be able to enjoy the holidays!
Bailey, happy to hear the pain is getting better.
Curlylocks, hope you feel well enough to enjoy some holiday time, too.
Goldie, I was going to ask the same question regarding the fat grafting. I only had a little fill during stage II in the dimple above my left boob. I have a really prominent breast bone that was safely hidden by the fat of my breasts. Now it is not the same. I would love for the fat grafting to fill most of the sunken area in above both boobs. Marty, I will have patience and wait for the right time. I know we will be reaching our deductible every year. Ostomy supplies for my husband are outrageous. My PS can just keep fat grafting as long as the insurance will let him. I would like to have some fupa lipo anyway. How do you get them to understand how it looks from our vantage point? Did someone have some technical terms for why it appears this way? I know too much holiday food isn't helping.
The UPS driver is heading up our driveway. My late shopping is still coming in. We aren't celebrating until next Saturday so all the kids and grand kids can be here.
Have a great Christmas everyone! ...Julie
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