DIEP Flap Reconstruction 2016
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phone rang this morning at 930am. it was the PS admin. she asked how i was and i said i will be better if I know you aren't giving me bad news (aka rescheduling). she was NOT!!! just calling to confirm my schedule the next 2 days. charging my ereader as i type this. table has my hospital stuff piled and ready to go into the backpack. hotel is confirmed. had my spa day today with my first facial. HIGHLY suggest all you ladies do that pre-surgery.
glad to read that everyone is doing well post surgery. jlstacey & i are next on the list. i shall have my last glass of wine (PRE-surgery) this evening as I cheer all you ladies before me and after. we are taking back our lives and as difficult as it is sometimes, we are all making the best decision there is.
CHEERS!!!!
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Tanyarocks 30 and Jlstacey: Sending you both positive thoughts and hugs
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Tanya I had a massage the day before surgery it was a great thing to do so relaxing. Lots of hugs for you and jlstacey this week
you will do great x0 -
Tanya- is that photo you saying goodbye to the girls?
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Best wishes with your surgery!!! Jlstacey and Tanya!!
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I had my 3 week post op with the PS yesterday
That last pesky drain came out, and he took off all the "tape" that was covering my incisions. Now I'm down to just the glue! Everything looks great, I am so happy with the results thus far, especially with the natural shape/roundness around the outer sides. I'm happy to report the girls have a bit of a bounce now too!!!!!! A quick drive over the railroad tracks brought that welcome surprise! After 5 years of tissue expanders, and 2 sets of implants, that tiny bit of 'natural' back in my life is WELCOME!
I am so happy I had this surgery done!!!
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Tanya and Jlstacey, thinking of you today. Hope all is going well for you. Can't wait to hear how it went.
Golden, so happy to hear that the bounce is back. I haven't even had the TEs for two months yet and i sure miss the softness and realness. I'm over the hard rocks on my chest. I bet after five years, you were really ready!! So glad you are doing well.
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jlstacey.....yes yes it is. Thinking of you tomorrow.
had sentinel node injections today. 2 needles. Stung/burnt like crazy but deep breathing helped. Going out for a nice dinner tonight then early to bed.
See ya on the flip side ladies
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Tanyarocks3, all the best for tomorrow! Why did you need two sentinel node injections before DIEP?
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precautionary really and thanks!!!!!
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Tanya and jlstacey, best wishes for a smooth surgery and quick recovery. So glad that the agonizing wait has come to an end for you. Before you know it, you will be past the worst. Everyday gets better and better.
I'm about 2 weeks out from stage 2. Looking forward to getting past it and hopefully not needing any more reconstruction. I'll be having my dog ears removed, lipo to fill in my bony pole areas, and some scar revision. I'm not getting projected nipples. I'd rather be smooth. I've got a petite, athletic build and no nipples makes it easier to go braless. I've already had a little areola background tatooing.
I'm not sure if he'll add to that and work on my 3d fipples on this stage or not. I also have a tiny lump on my cancer side that needs to be excised during surgery.
Any advice from those of you who have had stage2?
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Jlstacey and Tanyarocks - Really hoping all will go really well for you both tomorrow!!! You're in my prayers!
Looking for responses from any of you that have had TEs for 14 months and longer before DIEP reconstruction: If you've had TEs for this time period and you had it to do again - meaning you knew there was an option to have a lumpectomy, undergo chemo and radiation, and after a period of healing, then had the mastectomy and DIEP reconstruction (meaning possibly having the TEs for only 3 months before reconstruction), how many of you would still opt to have the TEs for the longer period of time?
The other day I had an MRI biopsy on an area of concern in my one breast. Back in the day when I received my diagnosis of cancer in first the one breast and then the other, when I asked whether my BS thought it was worth my time to have the biopsy on another area of concern, the BS stated that to do so I'd need to be committed. Additionally, when pressed further whether it was his opinion that I should forgo the test and just go with the mastectomy, he indicated he did believed that I should go the mastectomy route (that with my current diagnosis the odds were against me for this other area of concern).
Having always lamented about the TEs (and more as I increasingly learned just how much time I'd be in them -- 14 - 20 months), I had started to think that I needed this biopsy just in case I experienced any difficulties that would delay different treatments or reconstruction. I figured if I KNEW that this other spot was positive for cancer, that I would then just be able to tell myself - I had had no choice. Oddly at the time I began thinking this, my BS also suggested the test. So, Monday I had the test and yesterday I learned the area of concern was/is benign. This means an initial lumpectomy is indeed possible (assuming they can get clear margins). If they are unable to get clear margins, I'd be back in surgery in about two weeks to have a mastectomy.
My current thought process is having the lumpectomy, going through the chemo and radiation treatments, and then after healing properly (which should be faster without the TEs) having a mastectomy and DIEP surgery. I'd probably still need the TEs before the reconstruction, but if so, I should have to have them way less time -- 3-6 months max vs. 14 - 20 months (or gosh forbid 5 years like I think I read Golden had them). So, to help me with this decision process that I need to make quickly (as my surgery date has already been arranged for next week), I'm just wondering how many of you did not mind the TEs as much as what I'm fearing. Honestly, I never thought this was really, truly going to be an option for me, but I probably should have guessed it would be just because I've had a horrible time making decisions through this whole process.
Feeling a bit anxious again, if you can't tell. I'll truly be glad once the surgery part is over - one last thing to think about, to make a decision about, and to lament about!!!
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Hi Ladies I am having my unilateral mastectomy with immediate DIEP reconstruction on June 6. I had a lumpectomy in may 2014. Radiation July 2014. Chemo from Nov2013 till April 2014. Long story went through treatment flying colors worked all the way through chemo.. Lumpectomy breast terrible scar tissue seromas etc etc. Etc. Decided on mastectomy with reconstruction nervous but feel good about decision.
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ok this is a basic question but for those of us that will be a delayed DIEP -will we need tissue expanders placed so that the transplanted fat and skin sit under the pectoral muscle or is the skin and fat graft sewed onto the chest in an elipse on top of the pec muscle ?
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I will address this. There is no absolute best answer but here is my story. I had TE's placed at time of mastectomy because we knew I would have to do delayed DIEP. The TE's are placed under the pec muscle to hold the tissue envelope open for skin sparing reconstruction at a later time.
All my research up to that point said the standard was to remove the TE and reattach the pec muscle to the chest wall then place the fat transferred from the abdomen on top of the muscle and under the skin flap using an elliptical of skin to fill the gap.
I would suggest discussing with your PS what you want to do in case of a complication during surgery. My PS made a decision that I would not have made. He ended up with problems with my arteries on one side of DIEP donor area and was only going to be able to make one breast. He proceeded to make me a breast for my radiated side since implants are risky after rads and planned to do an implant for the other side after healing. For good symmetry he placed my new flap under the pec muscle just like you would an implant. I insisted on another type of flap for my other side 3 months later so he did the same and placed this new flap under the pec. I proceeded to do a couple of fat transfers and was still very disappointed with how the flaps reacted every time I used my arms. After getting a second opinion I learned of my flaps being under the pec. I had him go back in and move my flaps in front of the muscle and reattach it to the chest wall. Best decision ever, even though it resulted in more surgeries. The breasts now felt normal with activity and no longer moved up and over with pec muscle use.
I know I am not the normal case but just wanted to give a heads up. Please have that discussion of what to do in case problems occur in the operating room.
As far as would I do again this again with tissue expanders for months. Yes I would, but I only had mine for 7 months on one side and 10 months on the other. I did not have any issues with the expanders. They were only filled to about a small B cup and looked good under clothes. I did wear a mastectomy bra with filler pads sometimes but I also looked good braless. Mine were not lumpy or squarish looking, in fact they actually looked good. I did no additional fills since I was only going to end up with B breasts with my DIEP due to volume of fat available.
I actually made a good decision with doing the mastectomies up front. I did do chemo first and my tumor almost disappeared which would have been ideal for a lumpectomy. DCIS was found in the tumor bed against the chest wall. I would have had to go back and do the mastectomy anyway to get good margins so I saved one more surgery. It is a crap shoot sometimes.
Good luck to everyone as you make these difficult decisions. If you need to be selfish; great. You are the one that has to live with your decision and you deserve good results.
HUGS
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Hello everyone,it's 10 days post surgery, I'm feeling 100%percent better. I have been off all pain meds since the seventh day, only taking ibuprofen every 6hrs. I think the pain meds were worse for me than the actual surgery...omg I was so sick...I got three of my drains out today,a little scar scraping and covered in topical cream, but no pain, and I feel soooooooooo much better.my biggest complaint is the exhaustion, now all I have to do is sit back and heal, my path reports came back great. Oncologist said they found more than showed up on any of my scans, a very invasive sneaky kind, but are all pretty sure I won't need chemo or radiation because margins were clear and they got in such early stages. God has been with me this whole journey, and I thank all my fellow warriors for your prayers and happy thought
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Coolgrammie, I'm so glad to hear that they got everything and that you may be able to avoid additional treatment! This is such great news!!
I finished my final chemo on Tuesday and find myself starting to get scared. They still see some tumor residue in my images, which surprised me. My tumor was so small that I really thought it would be gone completely. Part of me wonders if I didn't respond as well to Taxol as I did AC and perhaps it started to re-form... and now I'm also coming across studies I'd seen earlier about mastectomy being associated with a lower survival rate for triple negative breast cancer than lumpectomy or MX plus rads. I'm really too damn tired to slog through that entire decision process, but there's a bit of a twist in my stomach right now. It's probably just normal cold feet, but I'm still feeling anxious.
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Hey Ladies! It's been a minute.
Almost 4 weeks since surgery, and in doing well. Better than anticipated. I kinda feel like I should be back to work already, but I don't see he doc again until the first.
I would like nipples. Wasn't sure I would at first. But I do. Now I'm impatiently waiting until phase two. I'm thinking probably sometime in May
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Hi ladies glad to hear u are all hearing well today I am one week out and one day and nurse took out three drains just one abdominal still draining might come out Monday. Definitely feelings stronger every day. Tanya and jlstacey healing thoughts coming yourway
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Hello everyone. Glad to have found this group. I'm having mastectomy on the remaining breast, with DIEP on both sides, scheduled for March 14. It's getting pretty close, so figured I needed to start doing some research to see what to expect. I've picked up lots of good tips from reading your posts, so thanks for sharing!
My original surgery was about a year ago. Of course, each step of the way kept bringing more and more unexpected news, so the "one and done" was just a pipe dream. Ended up with an 8cm tumor, ALND, chemo, rads, and thus chewed up the entirety of 2015. Started getting some energy back over the holidays, and took a mental break from cancer. I wanted a couple months with no reading, no research, no decisions! Now it's time to put that harness back on, get back on the treadmill, and have another go!
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Hi all, I am back from seeing my PS on Tues in Vancouver. She said she was pleased with how my breast has tolerated everything and declared with some relief that I have 'good skin', and will see me again late spring to plan for fall nipple and any other tweaks. Even though it is all temporarily mottled pink, red, spotty, and then on Thur the tender delicate skin sprouted a chaffed raw section under armpit -- likely too much arm swinging back and forth due to lovely long walks along the ocean while I was away. I also had a wonderful meet up with two other BC women while I was in Vancouver for lunch and story sharing...and a show and tell in the washroom!
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Bluebird123, good grief!! You got hit from all sides in 2015! I'm also from the Charlotte area and will be having surgery four days after you--looks like we'll be in the hospital at the same time. I'm assuming you'll be at CMC Main with Robinson/Lefaivre/Clavin?
We also have a Charlotte DIEP sisters thread in here where we're all comparing notes.
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myajames, I had nipples done at the same time as DIEP stage 1. I liked waking up with some resemblance to real boobies. I did a small protrusion, so without a bra I have small THO look. I like it!
Dizzpark, My stage 2 was easier to recover from, for sure....although I will say the 24/7 binder/compression is not so fun. Not horrible, just a pain to do/undo and go to the backroom. I recall a bit more pain at times from the liposuction areas...they were sore for some time...but I imagine that depends on the donor site. Everything is great now. I have more work to do, more fill, a lift and I may request she lower my scar. The shape and symmetry of my boobies need work, but hoping this is the last revision I need! The nipples look excellent! I have not done any tattooing yet...
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Jlstacey hope your doing well. Overall everyone seems to be doing great. My surgery was 2/5 it was 11.5 hours. I was in hospital 5 nights. The best advice i have is get biotene mouth spray. You have no idea how dry your mouth gets when intubated for hours. No amount of ice chips help.
I was doing great until post op day 10 a vein let loose. I was ambulanced to hospital and in emergency surgery within an hour. My drains filled with blood and then the blood backed up out where the drain was inserted. It was very upsetting Bc I was loosing a lot of blood and Bc I figured I lost the flap. In surgery they found it was a vein way back in the chest wall that they think was damaged with original mastectomy. Amazingly they saved the flap. I lost over 3 units of blood. Had a transfusion of 3 units. I'm thankful for everyone that helped me that day. They kept me 2 more days to make sure I was stable. Doctors say this was just bad luck and rare.
I'm home. Mostly in bed. Try to walk a few times a day. Pain in donor site (back of legs) is much more painful than previously. Not sure if its Bc nerves are reconnecting or what.
Lessharp that looks amazing! I don't think you need a thing!! How many fat transfers/surgeries was that? I'm a bit disappointed Bc I barely have a full A cup. But surgeon had told me that beforehand. I'm glad to have something!
Bigsister hope you are well. You don't seem to be posting much. Miss your posts!
Hows everyone else doing?0 -
Hello all, I am having a SGAP in a couple months. I am having an implant removed. I got my mastectomy in the states but now live in switzerland. The implant is basically falling down and dragging my skin and scar with it. It is getting more painful. I cannot stand having the implant. I am in good hands here though. My doctor learned from the best flap PS in Zürich. Do you have drains at both sites? Is going to the bathroom hard? How much pain have you been in compared to the mx? Thanks!!
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Lilyn, that's pretty quick for the drains to come out! Good for you. Are you off pain meds yet?
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Hi yes so happy three out of four out. Hopefully last drain comes out. Dr. O'Neill likes u to wait for two days after last drain to come out then can have shower. I didn't take paid medication today. If I am moving around more than I would need that because of abdominal incision. All in all feeling stronger everyday. Will see doctor in two weeks. Take care barb will call u next week
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Mel, that is original DIEP and one fat transfer. I've had two surgeries total. I was a B cup to start, and now a C. (my natural breasts were DDs) The left breast is strangely shaped, a bit like a hamburger bun. The right hangs lower than the left...as that was the natural arrangement...so I'm struggling with the symmetry. Love my fake nipples and I actually didn't wear a bra out in public for the first time in my life the other day!
Crazy what you went thru with the vein....that sounds scary! Glad you made it thru and didn't lose the flap!
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Hello Bluebird123....I to am from Charlotte. I am two weeks post op (February 8) I had BMX w/diep reconstruction. My surgery was 13 hrs long. Surgeons were Dr.Sarma-Dr.Lafaive, at CMC/Laveine. The first week is a blur, I spent 6 days in hospital. I have been off all pain meds for almost a week now and am doing 100% better. Other than being extremely exhausted I feel I'm getting a little stronger each day. I got three drains out at my first dr appt. and hopefully get the last one out this week. I purchases three Velcro camisoles with drain pockets on etsy and are my life savor, makes it a lot easier to get dressed and move around with drains. The hospital, doctors, and nurses are awesome. I can answer any questions you may have, pm me anytime....Good luck..
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