Good morning all, so I had my mastectomy with diep flap reconstruction on Saturday and wanted to share my experience in hope that it helps someone who was as scared as I was.
Let’s start pre- ask for a pre sedative, it’s not given as standard now but really made me feel calm and ready. I was petrified before hand but floaty after the drugs.
Surgery took 7 hours and as my surgeon said, was uneventful. I woke up very thirsty and feeling very sick. I was in good spirits though and was singing to everyone!!
I’m not going to lie, there were quite a few tubes and drains coming out of me, so be ready for that. They don’t hurt, they are just there to help you. I had 3 drains a catheter and two cannulas. I had a compression device on my legs that compressed every 30 seconds and a heart monitor and BP. I was Buckaroo in human form!!! Pain wasn’t too bad. I used the morphine button once but made me feel to ill so decided to just go with the paracetamol.
I felt elated for being alive and hopefully cancer free. I’ll get my results on the 21st to see if the latter is true!
Night one I didn’t really sleep as they had to check my boob every 30 minutes. That was hard! I couldn’t sleep and every time I dropped off someone was there with a Doppler. They were a bit concerned with my urine output but after some apple juice and toast and 2 am things perked up.
Sunday I woke up feeling sick but feeling good. I met my physio and had a bed bath. My surgeon popped to say hello and my husband was told he could come after lunch. I was allowed home!!! After a major surgery I went home 24 hours later. Home was where I wanted to be so was very glad.
Having my drains out was weird. Not painful, just feels really odd… you won’t like it but it won’t hurt.
Since coming home it has been tough. I’ve had the blues a bit and my stomach really hurts. I’m allergic to most pain relief so it was just paracetamol and ibuprofen. The ibuprofen was making me sick so I have stopped those.
I’m now 6 days post op. Every day it gets a teeny bit easier and I can stand a tiny bit straighter.
This is not an easy surgery but my goodness I feel like a warrior for choosing to fight this aggressively.
If you’re scared please pleas know how scared I was and how it will be ok. We can do this xxx
I also bought during chemo and found it great all through surgery and radiotherapy a triangular pillow from that store whose boss has recently got married. It’s a block of firm foam and comes with its own pillowcase. You can use it to support you sitting up, and then later you can turn it round to keep your legs elevated. Not to be confused with the triangular pillow for reading in bed which is has 3 parts to it. Also, don’t bother to buy those VERY expensive seat belt supports. An ordinary pillow is fine to take the seat belt away from your boob but still keep you legal. Mind when I went home from hospital I had a toy daschund under my seat belt which my best friend had given me as a hospital gift as I really like dogs but can’t have one. She loved the photo! Remember you are not having cancer treatment to support the cancer industry’s retail therapy - unless you really like something. There is always a non-cancer option - even on headwear!