surgery soon, scared about infection risk

I think all of us worry the most about infection from surgery, either right away or later down the road. In general, infection is NOT common. My PS said infection happened in only 1%- 3% of DIEP surgeries (and had clinical data to back it up), but I happened to be "special" and fell into that very small chance, so I completely understand your concern. In general, I've read that upwards of 20% will experience some kind of infection, but I don't know where I read that. I think it feels like more women get infections than actually do, because we read about those stories here.

There is only so much you can do to keep infection at bay, but I urge you to do it all: hand sanitizer, antibacterial hand soap, paper towels instead of reusing cloth hand towels (we used those nifty Kleenex hand towels in a box in every room with a sink), sanitizing wipes, etc. Wear gloves when you change dressings. Follow your doctor's and hospital's instructions for infection prevention. At the first sign of an infection (redness, warmth, fever, tenderness), call your doctor.

Even with all of those precautions, we still take a chance with infection. We can't control for all variables, especially those outside of our personal control. Mine was a hospital-acquired superbug that I had no part in causing; it's something that "just happened" and it set me back a few weeks in my recovery (and sent me back to the hospital twice for treatment, as well as at-home IV antibiotics). Yet here I am, 9 weeks post-UMX and DIEP and infection-free and feeling "back to normal" (whatever that is at this point in the game ).

It's a chance we take with any surgical procedure we undergo. I'll keep you in my thoughts for a smooth recovery and infection-free outcome.

Bad luck can happen but you can minimize your risk of infection by doing everything exactly as your care team instructs. Good advice from Nancy about sanitizing.

Pay special attention to the drains post-surgery. My husband emptied mine for me. We bought a box of disposable latex gloves and a box of alcohol prep pads. Prior to putting on a fresh pair of gloves, he thoroughly washed his hands (per a nurse, he was told to wash for the length of time it takes to sing Happy Birthday). Then he donned the gloves, emptied a drain, cleaned the drain opening with a fresh alcohol prep pad before squeezing it shut. We were fanatics - if a glove or prep pad fell on the floor, we did not use it. We also emptied the drains about every 4 hours so that they were not too full.

I took very easy sponge baths until the drains were out and my surgeon gave her blessing for showers. Even then I was super careful around the incision. Until the drains were out and the bandages removed, I stayed away from deodorant and powder.

I am now about 2 1/2 weeks post BMX and healing fine - no infections.

Infection rate is very low for mastectomy only, but it goes up sharply when reconstruction is involved (2.5 to 31%). The most serious infections are typically introduced during surgery (by surgical implements or equipment), and only the hospital can prevent these. They tend to show up soon after surgery. Prophylactic antibiotics are not usually recommended since they can mask an infection without curing it. I had a very serious infection in one breast following BMX and implants. I have since been shocked by the infection rates in our hospitals in general, but it is particularly high in breast reconstruction with implants.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC423392...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23714788