I had DIEP reconstructuon yesterday. So far so good..it looks good and on morphine for pain relief. I ll let you know how I get on x

Hi Pringle,

Great to hear you are happy with the Diep result! 

The abdominal part of the surgery & the length of recovery does make me a little cautious. Thank you so much for posting, especially as you are only just out of surgery X

Thanks to [@Moderator Jenn]‍ for tagging me.  Sadly I'm not on here much just now as my chemo is playing havoc with my eyesight causing nausea headaches when I read or write.  Only 1 cycle to go though :)

I haven't had a reconstruction post-radiotherapy, but according to every surgeon I've met it's better post than pre as radiotherapy can harm the reconstruction.  So doing it after is working in your favour.

I am also a size 10, but 12 on the chest (5'5").  They couldn't do a DIEP on me as they said I didn't have enough fat for one breast never mind two (the plan was always to do the non-cancerous breast at some point).  So I have a fixed implant.  I can honestly say I had absolutely no problems from the reconstruction surgery itself.  The seroma (fluid swelling) I experienced for a few months afterwards was because I'd had an axillary lymph node clearance at the same time as the mastectomy and reconstruction, it wasn't down to the reconstruction itself.  I had very little pain, just some discomfort where the drains had gone in, and that cleared in under a fortnight and it was never constant anyway, just a twinge when I made certain movements.  My sleep was affected as I had to sleep on my back whereas I usually move around a lot at night, so allow for some sleep problems at first.  But within days I was back to normal tasks, taking care not to do anything that involved heavy lifting or that put force on my upper body (pushed heavy doors with the arm on the unaffected side for instance).

My twin is having a prophylactic double mastectomy as we are BRCA2 girls.  She is having a DIEP but hasn't had it yet having just had her ovaries out (also prophylactic) so sorry I can't give any advice on the DIEP front at all.

The healthier you are and the more you look after your skin now the easier it is going to be for you so don't stop good skin care just because radiotherapy is over, keep it up at least until after your surgery.  And if you are likely to have more treatment in the future then it's a good idea just to keep good skin care up altogether even if you dial it back to moisturising once a day or once every two days.

Hope that has helped a little.  I am majorly impressed with my implant reconstruction and genuinely had no issues, didn't even take any painkillers after the ones from the surgery had worn off.  Although I have a very high pain threshold and morphine derivatives or anything like ibuprofen make me sick, so if they work for you then take them :)

Best wishes for the surgery,

LJx

I had a DiEP last Wednesday (a week today). I came home yesterday. A little sore around tummy scar but I am taking paracetamol only. Breast looks good and swelling is going down. 

I am yet to have radiotherapy but will have it once healed.