I’m booked in for lat dorsi reconstruction next week on one side where I had rads 5 years ago and they’re also going to put in expanders on both sides. I had a double mastectomy last year because I found I was BRCA1 positive and I had BC 5 years ago.
I was wondering how long I can expect the recovery period to be? I’m self-employed and can’t afford to take much time off work. My work is all computer-based, so no heavy lifting or anything like that, but I could really do with knowing what to expect. No doubt if I was employed they’d be telling me to take 6 weeks off, but that’s simply not an option. After my mastectomies I was back at my desk within a week, but that was a much simpler operation compared to the lat dorsi I suppose, not involving the back muscle.
I had bilateral recon using the Lat dorsi method in May 2007, was on morphine drip and oxygen for the first 12 hours, then managed on strong oral pain killers. I was in hospital for 6 days and that was the hardest time, as it was painful getting in and out of bed,. I also had to contend with 4 drains, but once the drains were gone and I was allowed home it wasn’t too bad at all. I was driving after about 4 weeks but still had to take it easy, it was the tiredness more than anything.
I was back at work after approx 8 weeks, I started off part time and gradually worked up to going back full time.
In my opinion as long as you don’t overdo it too early you should be ok for computer work within a couple to three weeks, I know I was on this site within a couple of weeks catching up on everything - just don’t expect to be able to do too much too soon.
Hope all goes well next week, can I just add I am really pleased with my results, I have since had the nipple recon and I had the tatoos done last week and they look amazing, once the scarring has faded I’m sure you wouldn’t know what I have had done.