DIEP 2014

Kathy1965, for the record, count me one more who had absolutely no pain when 2 drains were pulled out at post-op visit. Felt weird though! Enjoyevrymoment, interesting about the differing thoughts about mammo after DIEP. Must depend on the case. I trust my onc will have the right advice for me next time I see her. Heiditoo, I love it! Teflon airplane, ha! Appreciate the humor. What would we do without it. And Shine, how hilarious about tickle response even during surgery! Unbelievable. The surgeon will always remember that one!

Big thanks to everyone who has chimed in about my experience with my PS. I will see her in four weeks for our first and probably only post-op visit. (Did I even tell you she has us stand buck naked in front of a backdrop screen so she can take a bunch of photos, posing us like mannequins? Found that degrading.) 

I may have to go to southern Calif to find another surgeon as capable as her because there just aren't many around here who do DIEP, but that's not a huge obstacle. Worth it to find someone I can feel good with. And I will be able to recover near the beach!

Regarding picture taking.....you should have the right to opt out of them due to privacy laws. I know I had to initial what they could and could not photograph and film.

Speaking of nipples - what's the recovery time like? I'm scheduled for two nips and a dog ear, then have a weekend away planned three days later. 

Should I be rescheduling one of these events? ( Hm .. which one sounds like more fun?)

Gee  Janet, if he doesn't use lipo to fix the dog ears I think you should be fine about your weekend away as long as there is no swimming involved.  Now, if there is some lipo, I am not going to lie, it hurts. You feel like somebody took a baseball bat to you for about 5 days.

Thank you all for your good wishes .

I'm tired and sore but pain managed wih drugs.

I'm bandaged up so have seen nothing yet .

Take care

Vivian

jmb5 I'm glad you brought that up. In all I read and all I was told by doctors, the DIEP involves pulling your skin down from the top - nothing about pulling it up from the bottom. Adds to my belief that they try to avoid talking about anything they think might scare you away, or at least make you more nervous. Still, I think we need to know these things in advance, rather than finding out as a surprise after the fact! My sister told me a friend of hers' privates ended up so high it was very uncomfortable.

In my case that phenomenon is so slight, who's going to notice but me. It was definitely weird to discover without expecting it. It's like, hello! I'm not used to seeing quite that much of myself thank you! (apologies if that's tmi)  As far as the hair line, mine is about an inch higher than it was but for me that is not an issue at all. I'm not a bikini person anyway and if I do end up looking that good (lol) I wouldn't mind shaving for the occasional bikini beach day.

What about electrolysis?

I had my nipples done on Thursday & was back at my desk job on Monday with no problems at all.

Stix- Can you help me find the Michigan site? 

Mary625, they had me take a multi plus extra Vitamin C starting a couple of weeks before surgery, but I don't know if that's standard.

My surgery was @12 hours and I asked my son to come stay with his dad...which they did. It was a very long day for both of them.

Regarding what gets stretched...my upper ab was what got pulled down to meet my pubic area...not the other way around. I had little discomfort and great healing there. It's the foobs that are still acting up. I posted on my Facebook page that the next time I pulled nylon line from my foobs there'd better be a bass attached.

I'm asking my family not to wait at the hospital during my surgery, does that seem weird? There's nothing they can do there, plus we have dogs so I'd rather DH be with them. We're only about 20 minutes from the hospital. I am guessing it will be late till I come out of recovery, wondering if they let your family see you then or if they need to wait till the next morning? The DD is taking off work to stay with me the first day after.

So much variety in our experiences! Janet M, my PS advised my DH and daughter to go somewhere else rather than hang out "with a bunch of worried people at the hospital." She texted him when it was over but never did speak to him about how it went. By the time he got there she was gone.

My first recollection waking up was the PS, mask still on, telling me to push the pain pump because they were going to move me. All I remember her telling me was that she didn't remove all the radiated tissue after all because my skin was so nice and soft (?) and that she did revise my existing abdominal scar (a big vertical scar from childhood nephrectomy) because she had to in order to close. (???) My next recollection was waking up in my hospital bed alone with massage stuff on my legs, all bundled up in sheets and blankets. It seemed like hours after that before I finally saw my family, but it was great to have them there as I either drifted in and out or just had memory lapses. They brought a beautiful vase of flowers which really made me feel good, added a great feeling to the room. Different microsurgeons came in meanwhile to check on me and my monitor wires but I never saw the PS again. DH came back the next evening after work - home and work and hospital are all about 1-1/2 hours drive away from each other.

HeidiToo I guess the pulling skin up or both up and down depends on the individual. Lucky you! And I love your thoughts about all this fishing line poking through. Yeah, there should be some kind of prize on the other end! Ha!

Debbiann that might be perfect, since you're so close. DH can phone in to check on your progress and probably be there before you get out of the recovery room.

Good news, I am finally officially out of that 3rd-week TFO (Total Freak Out). Man, that's something else! Feeling much better, now 23 days out. The good follow-up visit with the MS yesterday helped a lot.  Still can't walk or stand for very long but I can fold laundry on the couch, and I have emptied our dishwasher twice - woohoo!

My, my, this is an adventure. So happy to have everyone here! God bless you all.

JMB, sorry about your tummy acting up.  I know it's easy to say, but if you try to get those extra ten pounds off you might see the tummy he originally gave you.  I do notice though that the more I do the more bloated my tummy gets too. 

Tomorrow is my stage 2.  I am feeling very apprehensive.  I will see you all on the other side.  I really hope Wilbur shows up.  I will have about a 3 hour stage 2 just on my breasts.  I will have a stage 2b in 3 months, if all goes as planned. 

Something I have noticed and I am trying to pay more attention to it is that I am not practicing good posture.  I am letting my tummy relax too much.  So, if I concentrate and hold my tummy in as often as I can stand it I can tell the shape is better.  I think that we got a little lazy and are not paying attention to standing straight and holding things in like we use to.  What use to be second nature is something I have to force myself to do now.  Also, if you have been wearing compression all this time your muscles become weak.  I am just wearing granny panties around the house these days to help myself pay attention to holding my stomach in again.

Another thing is my shoulder's.  I noticed I as holding those forward too.  So, I exhaust myself all day marching around like a soldier....lol.