I'm taking the recon plunge! Help. Scared.

I had PBMX with immediate recon, so I can't speak to the issue of delayed reconstruction.  But I did have TE's and swapped to implants about 4 months later. 

I woke up from the surgery in a lot of pain.  For some reason, this really surprised me.  I guess I thought the meds in the hospital would take it away - they didn't.  I had a morphine drip and that helped some, but really only took the edge off.  I remember feeling like a grenade had exploded in my chest.  I felt shredded, with a lot of pressure - like a weight on my chest.  I had bilateral SNB as well, so that could have increased the pain I had when I woke up.  Taking a deep breath was hard, moving around was difficult. It sucked. Really sucked.  Is it doable?  Yes. Would I do it again?  Yes.

The pain didn't last long at that level.  Once I got home, I quit the narcotic meds within a couple days.  They weren't helping me and were making me really constipated.  My PS prescribed flexeril and ibuprofen, which worked well for me.  I didn't do much for the first couple of days - just laid around and watched a bunch of movies.  My PS was adamant that I not spend too much time lounging though, and wanted me to get up and move as soon as possible.  I started taking short walks around the block within a few days (at night, so my neighbors didn't gawk at my drains), and on day 6, after I had my drains pulled out, I walked 5 miles.  I went back to work 10 days after my surgery.

I was able to raise my arms above my head right away.  I didn't have full range of motion that way until about a month or so after surgery.  I could tell I was unable to reach as high as normal because at first I wasn't able to stretch up enough to hit the button on my air conditioning units, but I was definitely able to raise my arms without a problem.

For the most part, my fills didn't hurt.  I equate it to getting braces tightened, if you've ever experienced that.  There was some tightness and mild achiness at first, but it would subside pretty quickly.  The last fill was the worst, and I was sore for several days.  My PS had told me the last one is always the worst - I guess it's because of the overfilling process.  But even that one was bearable.

You'll have a rough few days.  Expect that.  Everyone is different - some have complications, and some don't.  I was one of  the lucky ones that didn't.   It's a lot easier to find horror stories than success stories, especially here. 

I'm almost a year out from exchange now.  I feel great and I have no regrets about anything.  I love my results and if I could do it over, I can't think of anything I'd change.  Oh - and I always had my IV's in my hand.

Best of luck to you.  You can do this.

Hi! I had delayed reconstruction. I went a year without it as I originally did not think that I would want it but I changed my mind after a summer trying to figure out bathing suits and summer dresses ;-) I too chose the TE route. My experience was very positive, it went great all the way through and I just had my exchange surgery a little over a week ago to the implants. When I woke up after TE placement, my ps had put 100cc in them and I was in very little pain. Pain medicine took care of what little plain I had and I took those for only a few days. The drain was really the worse part for me, I was so happy when it came out! I did get my IV in my hand (so sorry for your mom and that horrible memory!). I had full range of motion from the moment I woke up, that part was much easier than at MX. As for the fills, I had no problem either. We never put more than I could tolerate at a time. My ps preferred doing smaller fills. We stopped when it felt tight and I went back 2 weeks later for more. I would feel tight and slightly uncomfortable for 2-3 days after a fill but than I was back to "normal". I say "normal" because the TE's are not comfy; they are hard and they got in the way of sleeping, hugging my children, etc. But it was not painful, just annoying. I was scared too to start the reconstruction and had read so many negative stories. I was lucky that everything went well for me and I certainly would do it all over again as I am very happy with the final results! Best of luck to you!

I completely agree with your PS' statement! I had both delayed and immediate reconstruction and delayed actually was easier for me. I originally had a UMX. Then I decided to do reconstruction a year later and half was through the process, I decided to have a prophylactic on the other side with TE placement. The TE bothered me more at first on that side than it had on my original side. I always thought it was just me, so thanks for sharing that info!

I dont know about wisdom LOL!

But I am glad to have been helpful.

Best of luck to you!