DIEP 2014

Thanks LAstar. I feel better now.

Got the phone call from the scheduler today. My DIEP is scheduled for Thursday, February 12, 2015. We will be gone most of January on an RV vacation, so I hopefully be distracted by the fun and sun.

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/44/topic/...

I started one. Here it is. Not very active as yet, but I'll put your date up ok?

Caligirl,

Be patient, it's early! Everyone progresses at their own pace. I had the lower back pain but it occurred less and less as time went on. I'm 5 weeks out tomorrow and just started back to work, so of course it's bothering me a little again but your body has to "rebalance" itself, sort of.

Caligirl- I think your trying to do too much? This is phase 1, correct? If it is, don't push yourself so much. Listin to your body. I think yours is telling you to sit down. At six days I would think light walking around the house is OK but much more is putting too much stress on your back and stomach. You don't want to open up any of your insisions. JMHO.

hi ladies

I think our bodies all do this somewhat differently. I have been able to go for walks most days since my phase 1 on December 10th but then I will have a day like today, where all I have done is showered and washed my hair and then slept most the day and still feel wiped out.

I am so jealous of those who go right home. I am here in NOLA until Thursday morning when I fly home after my week post op tomorrow. I have walked a few miles since surgery but because I am not home that is ALL I can do. It is my only way of getting out of the hotel which makes me stir crazy.

I think just resting when our bodies say "I am tired" and walking or doing stuff around the house if you have the energy is all ok. I am getting this is gonna take awhile. And patience is not my strongest suit. Wintersocks I am eager to hear from you. To everyone else, it is so helpful knowing I am doing this with you and we can get through it and I think this summer I will be feeling good about it all.

I hope so. 😊

Julieho

Thanks for all your replies. You are right, i'm trying to do to much too soon.

Norita19: Glad to hear you are well enough to go back to work. Yes you are right about having to re-balance. I will try and be patient. Its just that I have never experienced back pain this bad.

SaltyJack: Im sorry about your pulled muscle. Remember to take care of yourself. Its good to hear you are doing well otherwise.

Sacnaillady: Yes this is phase one. you are right about listening to your body. Ive been trying to be mindful of that. Im having alot of pain in my left breast. Could it be from the drains? I have 2 on that side. Its also more swollen than the right one. Did you experience that?

LAstar: Thank you. I have to remember that. I would hate to have a setback. I see my PS on Thursday for my post-op. I'm hoping to get some of these pesky drains out. I have 5 drains.

Julieho: Happy to hear you are up and about since surgery. It sure does wipe you out! Hope you have a safe trip home. You will feel better once you are in your own environment. Are you having any pain issues?

Teacher64: Glad to hear you are feeling good 1 year out. It gives us newbies hope that we can one day put this all behind us!

calligirl my right Breast has two drains and is definitely more swollen than the left. I am thinking chest drains (3) will come out at my one week post op today. Haven't had a lot of output on those. Hips are still draining a fair amount.

I fly home at 4 AM tomorrow morning. Two flights. I anticipate that will wipe me out but I amSO happy to go home and see my doggies and my own bed and some of my kids.

I am having a fair amount of surgical pain. Left Breast hurts most and I am having a hard time balancing pain meds with wanting to be less foggy overall.

I so need to hear this will heal and all be behind me. Feeling a bit like I wish I hadn't done it right now. Especially the diep of having another stage 2 surgery in several months. But I need to stay in my day and I am better today than I was a week ago at this time...which was in the middle of phase 1 surgery. 😊

Hoping all are well. Calli you and I share surgery dates so we can try to cheer each other on.

Just so you know the last few days I didn't walk a mile or even close. Just a few short walks outside to get fresh air. Just been too tired.

Take care all

Julieho

Checking in! Four weeks out now after Stage 2 surgery. Here's what I have noticed. I think my expectations were that Stage 2 would be "no big deal," especially compared to Stage 1. So I think I was surprised by the amount of pain. Even now, four weeks later, my thighs are still sore from the lipo. There are divots where she extracted the fat for grafting. My DIEP breast gained in volume but is still slightly smaller than my healthy breast, overall shape pretty good. My healthy breast, which got a lift, is still tender around the incisions and is quite painful when my nipple gets erect (lots of cold weather here in Kansas!). Abdominal scar is pretty good, just a little tightness. Upper abdomen (above belly button) occasionally sore--she took some fat from there. I find my shoulders and back are so tense because I am reluctant to move freely and stretch, so I think i need to work on this now. Will get back to exercising. I am wondering at what point I will be fully recovered and have a sense of what I will be living with from now on, in terms of pain, tightness, numbness, and other sensations. I don't know if any long-timers are still posting here, but I would appreciate hearing what that is like for you now.

Thanks very much, PZ - I really appreciate the insight about longer term and Stage 2. Good luck with the rest of the healing and figuring out what the new normal is. I just had Stage 1 last Monday (December 8) and so far am amazed at how little pain I'm having. Yep, when I sit up from lying down in bed it hurts but otherwise, it's just a little ache now and then. Of course, I'm moving slowly and taking it easy - the not lifting is the hardest part (I went grocery shopping today and carried everything into the house pretty much one thing at a time).

Great to hear from you wintersocks. I was so glad to get my 4 drains out Monday (which was 3 days after I came home from the hospital and a week after surgery - I had drains in for over 2 weeks after my MX so never expected to be free so quickly!)

I'm already thinking that I'm soooo glad I had the surgery. My breast is nothing like a finished product but already it's not the flat, ugly "I had cancer" breast I've been used to for the past 10 months. As some of the others have said, it's kind of like moving on and putting the BC journey behind me. It's all good, right? What are you thinking, Julie and Calli?

Have a wonderful weekend, ladies - thanks for being there.

Bev

Wow Teacher! I've never heard of a PS sending flowers to a patient. You're optimistic attitude must be contagious. I'm so glad to hear that you're in such a happy place.

Winter - Welcome home. Don't worry too much about what you think about the whole thing. Things change by the hour - so the way you feel today isn't the way you'll feel tomorrow. And the way you feel this weekend isn't the way you'll be feeling next weekend. Just take care of yourself, eat lots of protien and let it evolve.

Hi Ladies:

So nice to see some familiar faces! Pzercher- I have missed your inspirational posts. I hope that the pain subsides soon. I am still dealing with a painful distended belly! I met with PS yesterday to discuss the situation. He has no idea what is causing this condition. He has seen it once...but he does not know what causes this complication. He said TIME may resolve the problem. I am meeting with gallbladder surgeon on Monday.

So we did discuss Stage 2 for spring. I meet with him in April.

I think the road to recovery is long, and I too wonder when will I feel at my new normal.

I hope everyone enjoys a restful weekend!

Lisa

Day 6 post Diep, and I am really not doing too badly at all and I am surprised at how well I feel. Looking back the anaesthetist's not being able to find a vein was quite stressful, but I knew it would be a problem. Getting into a chair two days following surgery was not good either as I felt very nauseous. But now I am up and about and planning on taking a short walk to the shops tomorrow.

One side of the abdominal scar is hurting a lot when I try to lie down on that side, but otherwise it all just feels very tight. I am not liking the discrepancy between my own breast and the new one, which is smaller, higher etc, but I know that will be addressed in the coming weeks. I am finding it hard to reconcile that there is actually no feeling in the new breast, and I do feel as if I have a rugby ball under my arm!

I am on antibiotics which I believe is routine. Which is just as well as I have a sore throat. I return to the dressing clinic at the hospital on Tuesday, I am wondering what they will do, as really the dressings I have are just some kind of tape, again I am surprised at this as I thought I would be swaddled!

Emotionally I am still not sure how I feel, it's as much of a shock to see a new breast as it was to see no breast if that makes sense? Just getting used to one 'breast' situation before a new one arises, and another emotional adjustment is needed. That bit is a little exhausting.

To anyone who is waiting for this surgery, I would like to offer some reassurance that you will get through it - honestly!

Everyone truly is different as are their surgeons but as a person who had a BMX with DIEP on March 18 (same date as Teacher I will share what I hope helps some of you to know.

1. Your breasts do change shape and soften a great deal, mine looked like huge swollen things when I first got done with surgery, but the surgeon warned me to give it a solid year as far as my expectations go, things settle and so forth. I started off wearing only very stretchy cami bras since they weren't in the definite settled mode at first. I was a B and I would say still am but a little more rounded and normal looking now, I have gained some weight since then so that may be why a bit too. Do not despair over how they look immediately post op, take it one day at a time, eat healthy and just report any concerns to your surgeon.

2. Stage 2 is also so variable. All I had done was the nipples. Nothing else was lifted or injected or extracted. We are all built differently to start with so it is amazing how no one person seems alike with stage 2. Since mine was simple I only missed one day of work. I considered not doing nipples and considered not doing tattoos but in both cases they were huge steps for me in resuming "normal" as much as I can.

3. My sleep is whacky still but was before surgery, now it is closer to normal, the first 3-6 months your body is recovering from a lot of change.

4. Emotional/Spiritual processing is huge and ongoing, but once you start working or whatever you did before the diagnosis and surgery that helps. Many have found a counselor helpful. This group is hugely helpful but always take things people say with a grain of salt since their surgeons, health, hospital, etc are all different. We have enough to deal with without feeling any competitiveness over how one recovers vs another. While the board is very supportive, there were times I checked it several times a day and times I went weeks without checking it.

5. Re: Standing up, I felt like hunchback of Notre Dame for a while. I went out to breakfast with a friend pretty early at maybe 6 weeks post op and I remember her saying "you are still bending forward" hahaha and I didn't even realize it Physical therapy helped me a ton with that.

If anyone has specific questions, I am certainly not the queen of all wisdom but would love to help anyone, just PM me and I will answer in any way I can. You can get through this, just one step at a time and know you are not alone. Hugs.

Okay, JMB and Enjoy (and any others out there who have any ideas) - I'm 2-1/2 weeks post Stage I and in the past few days have been noticing sharp pains a couple of inches to the left of my right hip bone (if that makes any sense). There's nothing there - the incision is a couple of inches above the area and there's no bruising or lump that I can feel. The first thing I thought of is "oh, wouldn't it be really fun if I had appendicitis right now?" but after checking online for "10 signs of appendicitis," that doesn't seem to be anything like what I'm experiencing. I did a search or two - not sure where I ended up (maybe webmd?) and I'm self-diagnosing it as nerve pain, probably from scar tissue or somehow as a result of surgery. I'm hoping it will go away (it seems to happen after I move around and goes away if I put slight pressure on it). The article I saw suggested massage to help keep the scar tissue from pinching the nerve. That all makes sense to me - anybody have any experience with this.....or suggestions?

Thanks for any help.

Merry Christmas to all!

Bev