Actual Post-Surgery Experience

I agree that there are like no good descriptions of recovery. Everyone is different but I'll share mine that I wish I knew could happen. I also have tremendously bad luck in general, so keep that in mind.

I had a BMX with six nodes removed. My cancer was in my right breast and humongous.

I had my mastectomy and tissue expanders placed in the same procedure. They are under the muscle, which was good, given what ended up happening.

it ended up taking about 7 hours, much longer than anticipated. It was also more complicated because I have a rare brain disease that makes anesthesia difficult and more tedious (found during chemo, lucky me!).

I woke up fucking nauseous as hell, despite their best efforts. I was sweaty AF cuz of that bear hugger they used and didn't know about until after. Because of my brain disease (moya moya), they had to ensure my blood pressure returned to normal whcih took what seemed like an ungodly amount of time.

I lost all track of the hours. I went in around 1 and didn't realize it was 9:30 pm when I got wheeled down into recovery. I didn't get to see my husband or five year old son, because they waited around in my room but it wasn't until like almost midnight when I got wheeled up, so they had to go. I was really sad but I wasn't feeling well anyway so it didn't matter.

I wasn't ready for them to force me to pee hahaha so that's apparently a thing. I guess you have to wake your bladder up so it doesn't burst, so it was a joy trying to use a bedpan and then the potty chair. Lol

the next morning at lime 7 am damn!, my BS met with me and so did the plastic. It was nice to see them!

I was not that sleepy, but did get out of bed and walk around and sat in the chair instead of the bed. I did go home that day.

That’s when things got fun!!

I am going into treatment now but will update you later today! Hope this helps so far

Promised update lol:

The car ride hurt. All those bumps and stops! I couldn't even open the car door because I was weak as a kitten. That surprised me. Hopefully, your surgery won't be in a congested pre-quarantine city with bad roads lol.

I got home, and immediately went to the couch, where I remained for the next 4 months lmao. That first week I was so immobile I was legit concerned about bedsores. I needed help getting up because surprise, I discovered you need chest muscles to get up from a supine position.

It is a black hole of drain emptying (I had 4), showers, needing help to pee, alarms going off for medicine (I only had tramadol and Valium, and I think an antibiotic, which I ended up on for six yeast infection-filled weeks), and sleep.

I ended up with some advanced tissue necrosis, where the entire flap on both sides of my chest completely died. I didn't even know this was a thing. I had gigantic boobs for my size, extremely saggy and I hated them, so I guess they decided to have one last hurrah and making my life miserable. This tissue death was not only disgusting but a huge inconvenience, as the death process then the healing process pushed out my radiation treatment and tissue expander fills by months (I had chemo before surgery).

All of this now means I won't have my freaking tissue expanders swapped out until early 2021, barring no other unfortunate happenings in the meantime.

I ended up on six weeks of abx because of the literal open flesh meat of my dying skin. I hated it because it was one more pill to take and the long course eventually caused a yeast infection.

Amazingly, the rotting tissue didn't hurt or smell. It was just incredibly gross and I had the joy of regularly cleaning it, dressing it, then having it debrided. So nasty!

I was quite tired the entire time, which I really beat myself up over. I couldn't lift my arms or lift anything really. I wish in retrospect I'd gone easier on myself.

I stopped having my period then, so that was a welcome respite. I did, however, cry nonstop for like a month and I have no clue why. I was so sad. Sad I couldn't be with my small son as much, sad at how useless I felt, etc.

Despite me looking like a legit zombie, the healing—though slowwwww—was an amazing process to watch. Seeing your body regenerate skin EVERY DAY was insane. I had to dress and care for those wounds nonstop and they would actually look different from morning to night. The body's natural pull to heal and repair was a sight to behold...too bad it was on my own body! Hahaha. Those things are best viewed from a distance.

The drains absolutely sucked. I hated them. They pulled and I have four stupid scars from them. But man did they suck.

I am at yet another appt and will finish this later. The difference in mood and energy once healed is astounding. Again, bodies are freaking incredible. They're capable of being outright disgusting and horrifying to amazing and wondrous.

Hope this helps so far!

ps—what was brain surgery like? I will likely need it in the next 5-10 years. How scary was it

thanks for clarifying. I’ll need brain surgery for moya moya disease, so they’ll have to use an artery from my forehead to bridge the closures in my carotids!

did you say you were awake??

i think I'll be the outlier.

My recovery was/is super easy.

I had a BMX on Friday 6/19 it was performed as an out patient procedure. They also removed 3 Sentinel nodes.

I had a nerve block in each side and over the muscle TE placed. I had no pain at all. I haven't taken any of the pain pills they gave me. I took Tylenol 2 nights right before bed and, that's about it. The most uncomfortable I've been was in the surgical bandage/vice i had to wear for 2.5 days. This is normally exchanged the next day but, my surgery was on a Friday so I didn't see the nurse until Monday morning.

I have 2 drains and, they're both at the 30cc/24 hours rate so I should be able to get rid of them tomorrow. That will be 1 week post op, which is awesome because I hate the drains.

I am fully functional and able to take care of myself, I do my own drains, get in and out of bed, take care of my cat and my plants.

I took 2 weeks off but, I feel so good I'm going to go back to work Monday. Granted "back to work" is working remote with a laptop.

I had a BMX and two nodes removed plus tissue expanders. This was my first general anesthesia surgery. I was supposed to be staying two nights, which I found reassuring when it turned out I didn't have my surgery until 1:00p. It took four hours and I think the first time I saw the time it was 5 or 6 something. There were no problems. Once I was pretty conscious they wheeled me back to my room. There was some issue with letting them know as soon as I had to go to the bathroom. Whatever they said made me worried and I was constantly conscious of NOT having to go. I got hungry and all they could give me was jello. Finally I had to go and they helped me to the bathroom. It was a scary trip, because I was SOOOO not right when it came to balance. I felt like I was on a pitching ship. I couldn't have gone without help. Then I get in the bathroom and, oooops, I feel sick. But no, false alarm. When I got back to my bed they took the opportunity to tell me that I would probably be going home that next day after surgery. Considering I couldn't even walk, this had me scared. Meanwhile, I had very little pain at this point.

Making a long story short, I did go home the next day and it was not a problem, I could walk fine. Had it not been for the drains, I would have needed nothing more in the way of pain management except a couple Tylenol every now and then. Unfortunately, the drains, particularly on the cancer side, made it a whole 'nother story. Once home I had a nurse coming out and a PT, both of whom were great and were able to give me all kinds of tips and answer all kind of, "Is this normal?" questions. They only gave me 12 real pain killers when I left the hospital and I was afraid that once I ran out they wouldn't give me more, so I hoarded them and only used them when I absolutely had to. (This is wrong, by the way.) Every time I needed one it was the drain, which was excruciating.

Basically, all was going very well, I'm not in pain most of the time, I can sleep in my recliner, I'm walking each day it wasn't freezing out, incision looks good, I had all my aids that I learned about on here, I'm measuring the drains, etc. About four days after surgery I go downstairs to feed my cat. In the middle of this the one drain started giving me what I called a pain storm. I now know what a 10 on the pain scale feels like. I started to feel like I was going to pass out and I didn't really want to fall down on the kitchen floor, but I couldn't move, because the pain was off the charts when I did. So I yelled for my mother, whom I was staying with, to please bring me a pill, which she did. Five minutes later I could move. And that was the worst of it.

I NEVER thought I would stop draining. I had the drains for a full three weeks, but once they are gone things are much better. I still have my expanders because I had radiation and they like to wait six months after that. They really don't bother me that much, although I will be glad to have the implants because I am ready to start buying a variety of bras to go with different clothes. I don't want to spend a lot of money now, because I will probably change. I can actually fit into my old bras, but they are uncomfortable because although my size is exactly the same, my body is arranged differently.

Oh benal, that sounds really terrible. We are so sorry to hear all you've been going through! It is definitely not unusual to have infections. We are happy you are seeking other opinions about corrective breast reconstruction. You may also want to read out content on Infection after breast reconstruction. You may also want to check out this Topic: Reconstructive options?

We're all here for you!

The Mods

has anyone had blisters on the edge of their DIEP incision ? I came home from hospital yesterday , no major pain or on any meds - but I noticed today that I have a blister on either end of the incision site. I did call drs office and they said to let it have air - but I have never read about anyone else having this issue ! Has anyone else had blisters?