I had a TUG flap surgery on my right breast 4 weeks ago after bmx, chemo, radiation (treatments that ended a year and a half ago) and infected implant had to be removed a few months ago, leaving TUG flap as last option as skin was so damaged and tight after radiation. This was a tough decision as this was definitely a major surgery. I had flaps taken from both thighs, and initially was pleased cosmetically with the result but one of my flaps died after 5 days, so I had to have a second surgery to remove half which was pretty traumatic to think I wasted my flesh. The worst part by far has been the pain in my thighs and dealing with the healing, drainage, and now almost 4 weeks after first surgery, my lthighs are still swollen ( had drains in for 17 days) and I believe I have seromas or infectiona now (we'll see at my follow up appt in 2 days). This has been a rough road all to try to get back to feeling and looking normal. With all of the complicatiions and pain, and who knows whay lies ahead, at this point I still don't regret the decision to do the surgery because I felt so disgusted when I looked in the mirror and could see my rib cage and burntskin fromr radiation that I was willing to go through all of this not to have to see that reminder of the bc every day. My legs were also made worse because my dr used surgical glue on top of sutures which I am allerrgic to so my thighs have been red , itchy and inflamed for weks. Definitely do your research on your surgeon and do not let anyone inexperienced touch you. My surgeon tried to delegate my second surgery to remove the failed flap to his inexperienced assistamt, and I refused to let him and had to wait until the evening when my surgeon was available. If you are able to deal with wearing inserts in your bras, you might not want to go through all of this. I was willing to chance it and maybe just to stubborn to admit maybe it was a mistake. I wish I could havw loved my body the way it was but I didn't. Now I am not sure what is worse- these huge scars own my inner thighs and not being able to sit, walk or stand comfortably which my surgeon downplayed beforehand, by rhe way. I am a confused mixed bag of emotions right now as you can see, and I actually didn't read too much about ir bedorehand because I knew it would scare me out of doing it, i say pray in it, make your decision, and don't beat yourseld up about it or have any regrets, and tough it out. You will definitely need support to get through this. (My friend had to come on day 4 after surgery to give me a shower while my husband was at work.) If you decide to go through with it, give yourself plenty of time to heal both physically and emotionally. It is a complicated surgery but it's worth it if you get good results in the end. Best of luck!
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