NOLA in September?
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Running, like Nordy, I hope that it's something simple that can be addressed quickly!
Ref, I just traveled to Chicago for a trade show, with lots of display accessories in two huge suitcases. When I got there, I found TSA inspection notices in both, and only one thing was missing. We'd just created a new pink ribbon tank top with huge lettering that says "PINK" in sequins, and that was missing. Of all the things to steal!
Regarding tightness, I've had a lot of revision surgeries (last one was almost a year ago) and still feel a lot of tightness from scar tissue in my chest and abdomen. I found a great guy who calls himself a chiropractor but really does funtional movement therapy, and he's working on the scar tissue in my abdomen. I've only had two sessions so far, but he says he can feel things loosening up, so I'm going to stick with it for a while and see if I can get some permanent relief. After the first session, my abdomen was sore for several days, as though I'd done way too many situps!
I've been traveling so much that it's been tough to keep up with this forum, but I do read as much as I can and think of you all often. I got some very happy news two weeks ago....my sister-in-law is pregnant again (she had two miscarriages in the past year) and is now about 11 weeks along. We are praying for this baby's health...my brother will be nearly 51 when it is born, and wants so badly to be a daddy. He's such a sweet guy and will be a great father.
I took my sister to see Dr. D over two years ago, and she doesn't have enough fat for flap breasts, but is ready to proceed with prophylactic bilateral mastectomy and implant reconstruction. She wasn't able to wrap her head around having scars back when she had her consult, but has accepted that now and so I guess I'll be heading to NOLA with her in the near future. I doubt that I'll be able to stay with her for 10 days, but she has an 18 year old daughter who could split the time out there with me.
Oh, and I did have more revisions after my first nipple recon, and insurance paid, so I don't think that is a hard and fast rule.
Take care, everyone! I have a couple more big shows coming up, but will check in on you when I can.
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Sandy - It must have been a SUPER cute shirt! I am so happy to hear about your brother!!! Fingers crossed!
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Adey, check in on this with Katie , at the center. She will do as much of this as you would like. She will look for air, and will book your hotel with a discounted Center rate. Many women stay at different, fancier, hotels for the 2 nights prior to their surgery , but go to Hpmewood suites after. I think it's part of the Hilton chain. It is clean and comfy, but not all that spiffy.You will have 2 adjoining rooms -- a bedroom,( 2 queens) with a very spacious bathroom,. The other with the kitchen and living room. This has a couch and chairs and a TV. My husband was able to fully replicate home routine , with falling asleep on the couch with the TV on!
Don't worry about ground transportation. Everywhere you need or want to go, a black Lincoln town car mysteriously appears to chauffeur you around.
It will be fine! Baby steps forward and it will eventually be done
BTW, aren't you the woman having the implants out? I did that too. You are going to be so glad not to have them out
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Trying to get an idea as to the length of stay for stage 2...I will be getting nipple done and some tweaks I guess... Is the stay as long as first time??? I'm just finishing chemo & still have to do rads, so I won't be going for awhile, but wanted to start planning for it. I wasn't sure how far in advance the center would schedule me, but guess I should call...think I have to wait 4 months after rads??
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Adey...I will PM you my cell number. Give me a call when you are in NOLA. We usually stay near Fairway Hospital in Covington, but go in to town for a meal and wandering.
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dsnydawn-For stage 2, I flew to NOLA on a Wed. Pre-op Thursday, Surgery Friday and flew home Sunday. I had breast lift on non DIEP side, scar revisions and lipo. Not sure if the schedule is same for all.
Maybe the "no revisions after nips" is in reference to my insurance and not others...
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Dawn... I have had many dates so it kind of depends which day of the week you have surgery and IF you want a post op... I always want a post op, so post op is day 3 after surgery, and you can fly home that afternoon... For me, I am flying in Sunday, pre-op Monday am, surgery Monday pm, post op Thursday, flying home Friday only because Thursday pm flights were like $300 more than flying home Friday... week before Thanksgiving, so maybe that's the problem...
Ref (Rhonda)... Dr D told me I would have hip drains for about a week... so maybe it varies case to case and doctor to doctor.
Marcia... hope you are feeling better??
Nordy... I have found the airfare all over the place... as low as $279 to a high of $650 for a similar flight... Of course to get the $279 I'd need to leave NOLA at 7am, just days post surgery with an 80 year old mother... not happening... so we got a $350 ... could be worse... in May I paid $220.
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Question; As I have Dr Massey am I still able to utilize the Center folk? Should I contact them about insurance as well as Ashley? Will I still get the limo and such? Thanks for any advice.
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Hi all...been getting your posts through email but too busy to post myself. My skin graft that i went to NOLA for is almost completely healed. I seriously cannot wait until my real stage one. PUT ME DOWN FOR Dec 1st with Dr. Massey.
Adrienne..they wouldn't budge on my date:( but i will definitely come and see you and hang out if you are up for it!! Please come see me too. Where are you staying after the hospital. I also wondered if we will get the same perks. I would think so as we are patients there and Dr. M's office is in with Dr. S. I asked Ashley about contacting insurance and she said not to. If she needs me to she will let me know. The closer it gets we need to chat to see how we can meet up.
I really love hearing all your stories so i can prepare myself for December. My husband and i are trying to figure out if we should fly or drive home. Will i feel up to a 13-14 hour car ride? We were hoping to stop in Nashville on the way back ...i have never been and would love to go.
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Sandy, if your sis is doing implants, I bet she won't need to stay the 10 days. I had implants initially in NOLA (Dr. Stolier did the mx and Dr. D did one step implants with Alloderm) - This was to get me through RADS without radiating fat flaps. My fat was so little he didn't want to risk it. (I felt like I had lots of belly fat, but it was all high up??) Anyway, It is a very different surgery than the typical "stage 1" where they are moving body parts around!! Don't tell your sis, but that first surgery (putting the implants under the pec muscles) was the most painful recover at least initially as I was having muscle spasms. Though, I may have overdone it. I was all over the french quarter within days. They do give you really good muscle relaxers that knock you the heck out!! However, the recovery after that initial muscle spasm bit is a lot easier, as you can imagine!
FWIW - I also had hip drains for my stage 2, but that was back in 2009! Maybe times are a-changing!
I sure wish I had my arm wrapped when I had my surgeries. You ladies are so lucky!!!! They are much more with it on the LE front now. Good all around. Maybe it is the Dr. Marga infulence... I bet
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I got your number Michelle!
Sandy- Hope you had a bump free flight out of Chicago!
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Betsy, sorry to mislead you. As Nordy and Spring said, they do use drains for hip revisions. They just didn't in my case. It makes sense that it would be on a ce to case basis.
Labs came back and I won't need more blood. Yay! And I can shower today! Things are looking up.0 -
Runnig..., I am so sorry that you have to deal with this. Please keep us posted. I was off the boards for a while because of the flight home and just started reading again.. Are you still taking antibiotics from your NOLA surgery? Your local internist should be in contact with the docs at the center to figure this out and come up with a game plan for treatmet. Sending you healing vibes.
Bernice
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Hi all. Sounds funny to say, but the good news is that I have a raging UTI! So that explains why I have been feeling so crappy and peeing blood. I started Cipro last night and am marginally better this morning, although still very weak. Just sitting up in bed is my "workout" for the morning. It just feels better to know what is wrong. Re the shower, I do have a shower chair and was lying in that with my husband holding me when I thought I was going to pass out. I remembered Betsy's passing out in the shower so I sat down right away when I started to feel woozy. Thanks for all the concern.
Nordy, I love your tail drain story. When I was a kid, I had a mole right there and my mom used to tease me (very gently) about my little tail.0 -
Pretty sure you get the limo!
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I was Dr. M's patient at the center... you're treated the same as the other patients with the exception of making hotel arrangements, Katie required me to do that through Ashley (I ended up doing it myself, because Ashley told me to call Katie. Sigh.). If you want the car service, talk to Ashley and she'll help coordinate the schedule with them. Just be sure to double check the dates and times on the itinerary she gives you before you go, my last pickup was scheduled a day too early.
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Hey Ladies:)
As my time nears I am having the prerequistite panicky moments. Yesterday I was ready to cancel...hubby reminded me why I was doing it.
..... Also...ummm, I realized I will be on my 'ladies days' for my stay there...nooooooooooo!!!! oh joy...grumpy and panicky..lol! I found out my doc is DR D. and the mast doc is Dr Legarde. I will report their shoes.
We are driving there....I imagine the 12 hour car ride home will be miserable, but the plane tickets were just too much.
Were staying at the homewood ...and here is my tip for those who worry about infection: there is a product called saniguard room fogger, it kills everything including mrsa. Its quite safe and is used in schools hospitals caferterias etc. It takes 15 minutes to complete and smells nice. I plan on bombing our room and our car for the ride home. Yes, I am a bit of a germaphobe and know how icky hotel roomms can be.
What is the car service? We will not need the limo at the airport thing but it may be nice to use a car service when we go out to dinner rather than having to use our own and find parkinng.
cheers ladies, keep up the reports, it feels better to read them and see your strength.
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Thanks Lisa! That is a brilliant idea for a post surgery hotel room.
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Lisa - the car service is strictly for airport transfers and transfers to and from the hospital and MD appts. If you wanted to use it for anything else, you can ask Katie for the name of the company, but that would be out of your own pocket! Sorry! AND - PS - you will be GREAT!
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DIEP ladies: did any of you have a little blister-like bump in your belly button? I just discovered one that developed in the past day or so (I'm 6 weeks out). I'm assuming it's a stitch that my body is pushing out, it tends to do that. I'm hoping it's not like a hole in the dam that's going to let tons of fluid out if it opens
I actually don't have much tummy swelling right now, although I just pulled my last drain today. Anyone have something like this?0 -
I have Tricare retired military insurance and the Center does not take it, but Fairway does. That is why I did not get the "perks" of the Center...I was so grateful to have Dr. Massey and Dr. Sullivan...I did not care about the perks. The surgical center was fine and my friend or my husband were my driver! I am sure if others using Dr. M are having the surgery at the Center then the perks are there for you as well...
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Jeskachi,
I am too close to hip flap surgery to have this happen yet - but I had a previous DIEP and had what you describe, not at my belly button but at a few other suture sites. If it is the same as what I experienced, the plastic surgeons call it "spitting a stitch". If I was you though I would call the Center to see what they think is happeninbg and also ask for their recommendation on how to handle it. They are SO responsive and helpful. This is one of the advantage of having surgery at the Center - if it was me I would take advantage of it and make a call - just to make sure.
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Hi Ladies...I am a Charleston Stacked DIEP girl. My husband and I drove from Tennessee to Charleston three times...which is twelve hours. On the drive home, Dr. Massey told me I would need to stop every hour and get out and walk to prevent blood clots. I was her patient who had a blood clot in my leg after one of my stage 2 surgeries...after I got home, so now all of her patients take 10 days of Lovenox injections (sorry!) I did not mind the 12 hour drive, even with stopping every hour because I slept most of the way!
Michelle...if you do drive, send me a PM and I can give you some good hotel recommendations for Nashville!
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Lisa645, where do you purchase the room fogger? I'd love to have that; surgery or not!0
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Besa: thank you for the useful information. Just trying to make sure everything is healing well and trying not to worry since I'm 5000 miles away!
Running: I am so glad that you found out the problem and now it can be addressed. You are not whining. It's o.k., let it all out, I think it's healthy. We're all here to support each other.
Ref and Jerusha: sounds like your recoveries are doing well. Here's wishing you wonderful recovery days.
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Jeskachi- I have taken many pictures of things after my Stage 1 & 2 with Dr. Massey. I take them with my phone then send them to her phone. She's always gotten back with me quickly. You might try that with your blister.
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Oh dear, I am in misery tonight. Misery, misery. I am so extremely sore and have a low grade fever. Not to scare people coming up, but probably good to know the range of experience. After my surgery yesterday I felt fantastic. Almost no pain at all. I was yakking it up with my friends and family, texting with my kids ( we want those drunk texts again, Mom). It seemed too good to be true, but, some women do sail thru stage2. I did feel extremely loopy-- having trouble finding words, making sense. Rather disoriented. VERY drugged. ( I was very dry and thirsty after surgery and I spent the whole night wooshing water around in my mouth and spitting it out-- convinced I had surgery in the morning. When I told my husband about it this morning he gave me quite a look. What? I said." Why are you looking at me like that....then "OMG, I already HAD the surgery, didn't I...") OK, kind of wacky, but better than the alternative. This AM out of bed and all attachments -- IV, cath, etc, discontinued. Shortly thereafter I was seriously missing that morphine PCA. Holy Cow. Had no idea how well it was working... The one good thing is that I have very minimal swelling-- at least of the parts of me that are visible. Hands and feet are normal size. I had worn the Dom after stage 1, and it was annoying, but doable. Now it feels like it is pressiing and rubbing on every incision and lipo'd area. The high point of my day, and just as I was having a big boo-hoo with my husband, was when we got a knock on the door from Ref and her husband. They came in and we had a lovely visit. It really is so consoling to be in the presence of someone who understands this crappy journey we've all been on. No need to even discuss it, it is just a powerful bond that is there as soon as we meet. Needless to say, I really could not get up and out, so we have stayed an extra day. I guess, as long as my fever doesn't go up, we will leave tomorrow. Felt too bad for a shower today so still have no idea of how things look in there, in the Dom! Can only peak down an inch or two, and nothing very exciting at that level! LOL. I've unhooked the black bra and breasts look nice. Fuller, poofier, perkier. But I think I probably have swelling, so hard to discern. And the most intriguing part-- still all covered by nipple protector thingy.
Dr S and the anesthesiologist both came by this evening. Such nice guys! He said(contrary to the extensive directions from the clinic) to go ahead and remove the nipple covers they placed in the OR. So, yikes, I guess I get the full reveal tomorrow. Now, if that isn't scary!!! Think I better go get a pinacolada icee and a chocolate pudding to contemplate this event.0 -
Nordy - push it back a few days!!!
Sandy, congratulations to your brother and SIL!
Running - so happy you have a UTI (you know what I mean!)
Ref - sounds like you're both doing great.
Jerusha - what a journey! I too was expecting stage 2 to be a breeze (and I think it is for most people) but stuff happens - even with amazing doctors - and they are there to take care of you. Hope you feel better soon and can't wait to hear all about the nipples! (PS - I had very bodacious tatas post surgery - but by 3 months they definitely have gone down.)
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Heck of a day. I'm one month out from my next surgery and I had to redo all my testing and then some. So first I had a baseline MRI (oncologist recommended I get one), a chest x-ray, and then a CT scan - one as a followup to the NOLA one to see if there were any changes in the few small things they noticed and the other one to see what was going on in my stomach where there was all of the swelling. Good news is is that really is only scar tissue (but enough to make me look 5 months pregnant (even with the compression garment on.) Already did the EKG, just bloodwork to go and then NOLA here I come!
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Jerusha - I so loved meeting you too! Seems like we have been on a very similar journey. I immediately felt we understood each other without having to explain it all. That was more important to me than I realized. Funny that you mentioned your rough night (well, not funny, you know what I mean) because I kind of crashed tonight too. I pushed to walk 6 laps and decided to cut down on the pain meds which did not work at all. I was even more hunched over tonight and down about how I felt. Just had a moment of being overwhelmed by the whole thing. I saw Dr. S too. Love him! He wants me to stay here until I head home on Mon. He says I lost a day of healing with the low blood counts so I would be better off where they can watch me. It makes sense and I think it's the right thing for me to do. And I went back to the Lortab which helped me manage the pain better. I hope you're feeling better tomorrow and your fever is down. I'm sorry we can't spend the last couple of days together at Homewood but maybe we can visit some more before you leave the hospital. Oh, and I went for the chocolate pudding too!
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