Hello,
I’ve just finished 6 cycles of chemo and soon will need a mastectomy followed by radiotherapy. The plastic surgeons at East Grinstead don’t like to do DIEP recon before radiotherapy and advise waiting a year for this. I’d love to hear from anyone with any of the following experiences:
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mastectomy and flat, then DIEP a year later (how did the sugery go, was it tough going through two ops?)
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mastectomy with an expander then a DIEP a year later (was it worth having the expander, could the plastic surgeon use your own skin, did you have any lasting damage from radiotherapy?)
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mastectomy with DIEP followed by radiotherapy – how did you heal, did your DIEP recon suffer from hardening after the radiotherapy, would you wait a year till recon if you could do it again?
I’m 40 with two young children and would prefer to have just one op and get it all over and done with. The local team have offered to refer me further afield if I want to have an immediate DIEP. Of course, it’s off-putting knowing that they would not recommend immediate recon, although it’s done a lot elsewhere in the UK.
Thank you!