hi everyone, i’m having reconstruction done at stoke general in 2 weeks. i have chosen the LD flap and was wondering if any of you ladies have had this done and if you could pass on your experience. is this operation painfull after and do i have to take things easy. i do have a heavy job so i am expecting to have a few months off. i was diagonosed with cancer in 2009, after having lmph nodes and mastectomy followed by 5 months of chemo and finally radio. it is time now to finally put a close to all of this so i am excited to get this done and start to feel more normal. hope someone can reply. from debbie xx
hi debbie,im having ld flap on 15th april,looking forward but also abit scared,good luck dawn
Hi
I am in hospital after having a ld flap reconstruction on the 31st. So far so good. I am feeling ok. A bit sore but really ok. I am only in hospital still because of the dreaded drains. I will probably be out on Tuesday. The surgeon says he is pleased with the result. I am too although I know the shape of things to come will evolve over the next few weeks so too soon to be sure of shape and size and symmetry. I am very glad that I’ve had this done. It feels wonderful to be able to put on a shirt without a bra and prosthesis. I had a lift on the good side too so hopefully there will be some symmetry although I am not expecting perfection. All the best for your operations. Good luck!
Jo
thanks jo for replying, glad your op has gone well and you are happy with your result. got to say i am excited in a way to be able to have another breast, i’m hoping this will make me feel more like a woman again and hopefully make me start liking myself again. just carn’t wait to buy nice bras and not worry about low cut tops like i do now. i do feel more positive vibes but carn’t help feeling a little scared cus its another op !!! i had 3 ops in all when diagosed 2 years ago so understandable i think its normal for the old nerves to set in. i’m also a wuss when it comes to pain and i am hoping i won’t suffer much. did you have much pain in the first couple of days?. where you up and about pretty quick and also do you have to wear any support, i.e support bra? hope your drains come out 2moz, yeah there not nice, had them when i had my mastectomy. having my pre op 2moz then in on the 18th. what hospital have you had it done? hope to chat again, deb xx
Hi Tetley
Of course you are nervous. It’s a big thing and it follows such trauma. But I can tell you more about my experience with this and maybe it will be comforting. The main thing is that psychologically this op has been very different for me. I woke up with something added rather than taken away! And although rationally I know this is fake, it isn’t really ‘me’, i do feel restored. It feels like moving away from something that has been so hard to deal with.
I think so far I have been very lucky. I haven’t had too much pain and the hospital gave me very regular paracetamol and another painkiller beginning with T if the paracetamol wasn’t enough. I could have had morphine but didn’t feel it was necessary. The worst of it was sometimes it felt like I was wearing a very tight and painful bra but this came and went. I came home yesterday which was a day early. I had a bit of soreness last night but took a painkiller and it was fine. I haven’t taken anything yet today.
I am taking antibiotics in case of infection and I am still a but anxious about that. But I am going back to the hospital next week for a check up.
My breasts aren’t perfect, they aren’t matched in size or shape. But it’s pretty good. And maybe in the end they will look a bit more symmetrical. I feel fortunate and grateful to my surgeon. And i jam keeping fingers crossed for and infection free couple of weeks!
Hope that helps. I’m very happy to keep in touch and to try and answer any other questions you may have. If there are others reading this who have had this op and can give me some advice on how the shape of breasts changes in the weeks following the op, I would love to hear from you.
All the best
Jo
Oh btw I did wear a bra are the op because the surgeon said it would help with the draining - it puts pressure on the back and I guess pushes out the fluid that accumulates. A bit painful to put on but ok. If you have a front fastening bra that would be the best.
X
Hi Debbie,
I had an LD flap in Feb last year, then implants in August and nipple recon Feb this year, now waiting for the tattoo.
I had six weeks off work in total (I have a desk job) and was extremely tired for the first four of those. That really took me by surprise, as I don’t give in lightly, I ran and worked all through original treatment in 2007. I found in the first week back at home that if I pottered for 1/2 an hour then I had to sit down and rest for two hours to recover. I didn’t regain my full energy levels for four months after surgery. It was strange - it was as if someone had flicked a switch almost four months to the day after surgery and I felt energetic again.
I remember feeling very scared before the op - it’s not like the mastectomy which has to be done, this is something you are voluntarily putting yourself into, and that is very scary. But it was all OK.
And although a reconstructed breast is not the real thing and feels quite different, mine does look fairly good (and a student nurse who took the dressings off a week after the nipple recon asked me why I hadn’t had a nipple before as she didn’t realise it was a recon) and it has made life so much easier in terms of clothes, underwear, getting changed at the gym. And best of all I no longer have to put my boob in a box by the bed at night.
Hi everyone,
Had my ld flap recon on Feb 1st,and having had the saline injected into the port on three occasions now,I have to say it looks very good.On Friday they over inflated it so as to stretch the skin,and I will go back in two months time,they will remove a little fluid ,this will give a natural droop.I delayed reconstruction having had in mastectomy March last year,couldnt go though another summer with the false boob which would make my chest sweat like crazy!
I will then have a minor op to remove the port,tattoo the nipple,and have a tag of skin under my arm removed which I have had since the original mx.It was a major operation,and the day after I had a job to even take a deep breath my chest and back were so tight,but slowly and surely I am improving,and have no regrets.I have a cleavage,and feel so much more like the old me,and in a way it has made me focus on something other than the BC
Hi all, this is my first posting so not sure what I’m doing! I am booked in for a mx (is that the forum shorthand for mastectomy?) next week and immediate LD recon. I am getting a bit concerned as I have only been offered the LD recon and am now a bit worried about lost strength and/or aching in my back or arm after. Professionally I am a musician and spend long periods of time with my arm raised and hand at head height. I am not sure the surgeon appreciates the physicality of what I do (I am seeing him today ). Has anyone had experience of great strength loss with this proceedure. I am very small so don’t know if they can get enough from the other proceedures will ask later.
Thanks
Hi captainincincible,
Hope you managed to get some of the answers you were looking for. I am six weeks on from having a mx and ld flap. Only difficulty I have had is the awkwardness from having to put operated arm into clothing first and didn’t use to fasten bra at front either. Surprisingly I could raise arm ok to hold phone etc and do hair and other simple things from day 1 after op. The physio is essential though, I think to avoid the stiffness that I feel some days (though not debilitating at all and gets better by each day). The wound on my back caused some discomfort, but again due to tightness when healing etc (I usually just tried to massage area surrounding dressing and put creams and oil around surrounding skin to to ease inflammation and tightness.
Like you, I am small built, but hope to be swimming and exercising as normal again within next few weeks.
All the best with your decision on which op to get.
Def have no regrets with mine.
Hi captaininvincible,
I had a mx in 2007, then an LD flap in 2010. Following the mx I was aware of an ongoing weakness in my right arm/shoulder. This would bcome apparent when gardening or swimming, say, and I learned to pace myself in these activities and try not to overdo anything (for instance I cut my swim down from 60 lengths to 40). In addition I am a chuch bellringer and found I needed to adapt the way I rang to take the weight in my left arm instead of both. All this gradually improved over time, but it was a long process - a couple of years I would say. When I had the LD flap the PS assured me that I would not notice any loss of strength in swimming, but he thought I would notice it with bellringing. Well I can say now that there has been no noticeable loss of strength whatsoever, in fact I feel a lot better than post mx, and with bellringing I am now back to my old self, no longer having to favour my right arm.
My advice to you would be to build up the strength of your arm slowly, and try not to overdo it (this could trigger lymphoedema).
Hello captain
I hope you have picked up a PM on this.
Hi Debbie and all you other lovely ladies,
I had a mx and LD recon 10 weeks ago and I’m delighted with the results, so much so that I have been showing it off to anyone with a vague interest - even my 22 and 23 year old sons have been subjected to a “viewing” and they were impressed. Cut a long story short, I was diagnosed in 2008 and had lumpectomy and two more ops for clear margins. Then in 2010 had a “tidy up” op and they found there was a recurrence in same place so another lumpectomy. Then it was decided that I should have a mx.
My op took 7 hours and with help from two nurses I was sitting in a chair the next day having breakfast! I should have got home day 3 but developed an inflammation and rash down my back so had to be put on iv antibiotics.
I can honestly say that I had virtually no pain, I was hooked onto a morphine drip that you press a button when you need it - I only pressed it twice so they took it off me. I did have paracetamol and I think co-codamol, but when I got home on day 5 didn’t take anything. Like the other ladies say its important to do the physio - personally I didn’t have any problems with arm movement and also I didn’t have any drains.
I wish you well with the op - do take it easy though when you get out - even if you are feeling great its important not to lift or pull with the affected side. I have been putting Bio-oil on the scars and they look amazing after just 10 weeks - so although expensive well worth the money. Oh and I got post surgery bras from Matalan for £6.00 - get a size bigger than you usually take (ie 36 instead of 34 but cup size same) and I also used an expander, you will have to fasten in the front and then twist round.
Can I also say how brave you ladies are - I was too much of a woose to have a mx straight away.
Sue xxx
Here is my experience…
I had MX + LD recon on 11 weeks ago. In hospital they shower you with pain killers (I had paracetamol x4, ibuprofen x3 and Tramadol x1 every day). I used the morphine button only a few times the first couple of nights. Pain was much less than I thought, it was more soreness and discomfort. My breast didn’t bother me much, it just felt (and looked a bit) like it did waking up to an engorged breast after giving birth. My back was sore and my shoulder muscles used to sometimes feel like they were going into spasm. I took in a V-pillow for my back, which I also slept on for a while, put on chairs when I came home. Once I could get out of bed I did regular strolls around the ward corridors.
Had to use comode until the morning of day 3 as I still felt abit woozy, my legs were not up to walking to toilet and I was connected to drips. I think it was the anesthetic. I also found it difficult to wee until the anesthetic wore off after about 48 hours (when I thought I would overfill the comode!).
Although I did the exercices 2 or 3 times every day, I have just started seeing a physio because I have not regained as much mobility as I should have by now. My surgeon says I have scar tissue on my back which is restricting things. Some exercises I find easy, whereas others are hard. The physio seems to be working as things are have improved in just a week. I still take paracetamol a couple of times a day mainly to reduce discomfort when I exercise. (It doesn’t bother me when I rest). Getting dressed is still a bit awkward - I have had to buy tops which button up or are very loose around the arms. I have tried my normal t-shirts, I can put them on, but then find it difficult to get them off.
My breast is beginning to look more normal and fortunately I kept my nipple, which helps. It is softening up and is not as high as it was. I had saline put in only twice (I’m not very big) and expect a bit to be taken out at my next appointment in June. I look normal in a bra, and almost normal without one when looking in the mirror from the far side of the bedroom. I was given 2 ‘industrial strength’ masectomy bras by my BCN. I wore them day and night for about 8 weeks. Now I wear a normal sports bra in the day and a really comfy post-surgery bra at night.
I also massage with Bio-oil once a day (wait until all wounds heal). It absorbs really easily - it’s a good moisturiser. It also encourages you to massage the wounds, something I found pyschologically therapeutic and helped me accept the way I looked. (At first I just got dressed and tried to ignore what it looked and felt like)
Julie