Are you all bandaged up lankylass? After my initial recon I had no visible stitches and no dressing, just some clear copydex type glue dressing so I could see it straight away. After the removal I had huge dressings. It was a bit of a shock when they came off as I had a nice pert implant with clean straight scar and now have a lumpy bit of meat with a wiggly bulgy scar -,but I know it’s temporary.
You’ll feel much better when the drains come out a dressings are off. Obviously it’s going to be a bit small but you know they’re going to sort that out. I think it’s quite an exciting prospect being pumped up s x watching it grow - like puberty fast forwarded!!
Marty hope you’re feeling a bit better now. Surgery makes you low I know it took weeks for me to recover from the anaesthetic and it’s emotional too. It’s early days, you can’t expect to have feeling yet as the nerves need time to repair.
10 more weeks of chemo to go then I’ll know what’s happening to me, roll on April, I finish the week after Easter and my birthday!
Hi, have had bilateral DIEP just over a week ago. Although I found the wait extremely frustrating, I’m so glad that I did. I think I coped much better. Early days but going well and feels like a good decision. By the way, also had little tummy fat but the surgeons still managed.
By the way , I do agree about the anti coagulant injections. Two of the nurses said that they were aware how much patients going them to burn but when they had to have Clexane themselves they understood!!
Drdsgp are you up and about. My friend had it done and was bent double on a walking stick for a few weeks. Have you seen the results or are you under wrap still? Can’t wait to get mine done but is ages away!
Hi, I’m not walking completly upright but not so bent that I need a stick. I do know they had to stitch me up pretty tight as there was limited tummy to get so they had to make the most of every inch!!
To my surprise, I was never bandaged ( unlike post mastectomy). There is tape and glue. The stitches are internal. Looking downwards, it looks a bit weird but then when I looked in a mirror, I can see how it might look later in the year when wounds have healed and tissue swelling has gone down. I was very much preparing my self for only a limited outcome as I have had quite a bit of surgery and didn’t feel I could really expect them to achieve too much. I am actually cautiously rather pleased. The surgeons said not to worry about how it looks immediately post op. I have a lot of faith In them as they are an excellent team. I am now glad that I had to wait for the surgery as it gave me time to prepare myself. I also need to keep aware that there can be complications as days and weeks go by so I’m not too knocked back if something goes wrong. Fingers crossed, going well so far. My family have been very supportive.
That sounds great, well done you! My friend had complications 24 hours in as it didn’t take so ended up with ld flap as well !!! Yours sounds good so far x
Just keep everything clean and covered, best you can. Don’t panic!
One of my drain bottles lost vacuum yesterday, OMG! District nurse emergency on ansaphone, I sat down and had a cuppa, rang the hospital ward I had been on. Simple instructions given on how to change over to spare bottle, job done. When duty DN rang she said that she hadn’t a clue how to change a de-vacuumed drain- so I told her! We laughed. Good old common sense Beryl and you seem to have lots of it!
Absolutely just keep it clean. My hospital gave me liars of steri packs with gloves, cleaning solution, swabs and dressings do I could change it myself. But get to the hospital ASAP so they can check it properly x
Please phone the ward and tell them. Take your temperature. I presume that " yuk" is a greeny-yellow dicharge ? As everyone said, keep it clean and by all means ring BCN tomorrow but RING THE WARD today. This is advice from me as a patient and also what my sister ( who is a GP) said to me 2 days ago when I was feeling off colour. I’m also a doctor and think her advice was spot on but not easy to take for oneself or even think clearly.
By the way, did I mention ringing the ward? At the very least, they can set your mind at ready.
Oh that’s good it wasn’t more serious, hope u continue to heal well. Have had my drains out today and dressings off 10 days post surgery, keeping fingers crossed all heals ok.
It’s not easy is it Rosie? Sorry you’ve had infections too. How long after the op did you have rads and how did it affect the skin? It sounds promising that the pocket should be ok. Fingers crossed for you x
I’ve developed two small areas of necrosis on my incision two weeks after surgery. What the heck went wrong? Apart from having the dressing taken off a week after, and told I couldn’t have a shower till the drains were out 10 days after. So I have had a dry scar gone bad. Thought incisions were supposed to heal better if they were covered up and moist?
I’ve had a cry today too. Surgery on Thursday, and don’t think I have made the right decision as regards reconstruction for me. The options I was offered were all about implants and the idea makes me cry, so I asked for a reduction on both sides at the same time, which they were prepared to do but advised waiting until after all treatment to have the healthy side done. I accepted that advice, but I don’t think I will ever be going back for an operation unless it was for more cancer, and I really, really wish I had asked for it all to be done in one go and then lived with the potential lopsidedness. I used to have a nightmare when I was breastfeeding that something would happen to my nipples and they would fall off (!!!) and now they actually are going to be cut off and reattached and the idea of THAT makes me want to cry too. I mean who needs nipples when you are 49 and you’ve done all your breast feeding and not feeling that you are going to be getting anything out on a topless beach ever again anyway. I honestly feel at the moment that I would rather be flat on both sides when I wake up on Thursday so that I don’t have to have any more surgery. Everyone keeps telling me that I will change my mind, but the idea of waking up and having a lump of something on my chest makes me feel sick, so how can I be so wrong? It feels as if there are no good solutions available for me now. Perhaps that is just part of having breast cancer, and I had better get used to it!
Demi are you having your lump removed at the same time or is this just reconstruction? You need to be happy, call your nurse or surgeon or call the helpline to talk it through, better delay than make the wrong decision. Its very emotional timeor please talk to someone x
I know what you mean about cutting up other bits of the body. I cant face that. I had masectomy and immediate recon with implant in sept but if got infected and removed in december so I’m trying to.decide whats best next. Tbe implant was fine I was happy with it and was going to have tbe otber side uplifted. I’m 47, got 2 kids so dont need my nipples either!! I’m m only a b cup, your reduction sounds like a good compromise. You will probably feel better about it later and chhosr to.havd the reduction on second side , its a smaller op.than the lump removal.
Feeling better after a pedicure, which I had since I mustn’t have nail varnished fingernails on Thursday. Talking about it has made me much clearer in my head that I do not want an implant. It is too late to change to a double reduction on Thursday, but lets see how necessary it is anyway after all the treatment! The real nub of it is that there is no solution that is going to be the perfect solution, its just making sure I get the best one for me. That’s going to be about the fewest number of ops and least amount of fiddling around. I’m ringing the nurse later, and this is really all about if they needed to take the whole breast, but if they are talking about a quarter of it now, that would be a massive increase and that is not likely. I can’t stop thinking what a luxury it is to be able to have all these options to consider. My life, very luckily, is not in danger. I have a lovely family who are all desperate to help me, and I have been diagnosed in 2015 when treatment is very good.
That’s good news! Mine still has a couple of dodgy areas so hoping it heals in the next couple of weeks before I start chemo Fec-T plus herceptin. Expander implant part inflated , hope it will be slowly filled alongside treatment so can have my final implant end June/early July
Oh no!! Mine is still a bit manky in places and a dressing was put on, but doc said it was looking much better. I suggested manuka honey which they agreed was brill- but they don’t do it. I did suggest I nip round to the local vet’s as my cat had them after surgery. Didn’t own up that I’d been slathering it with Holland and Barrett’s best! Might be worth having a go with it Matty, I got a stock of primapore dressings and took matters into my own hands. Desperate to get mine healed, I start chemo on the 24th.
Hi beryl x God u must b fed up xxx you will get better and actually this is very early days as u had ur op about same time as me … Just one month ago! deep breaths xxx lots love Sarah