Diary of a DIEP flap bilateral reconstruction

Well it is now a week since my surgery and Day 8 with night 8 to come. I am improving slowly, getting in and out of bed is easier as my stomach muscles have woken up again. Getting sick of hospital and want to go home which is probably a good sign. My surgeon came in to see me early this morning but everything is progressing as expected and although the final drains output is reducing it is not enough to allow it to be taken out. Hopefully tomorrow. What to wear - well for the first 3 or 4 days I was in a hospital gown with shoulder ties. I had to keep my chest warm so a small towel was over the flaps as well. After Thursday (day 4) I have been wearing undies and front opening pajama tops plus a light dressing gown. I had brought pajama bottoms but found them too difficult to deal with until today. The best has been a loose fitting cotton nightie. The ideal would be one with a few buttons at the front ( I found that one of mine just had pretend buttons that did not open so I had to lift the whole thing up for flap checks). It has not bothered me but be prepared for an almost complete loss of modesty, and nurse shift handover time there could be 5 people in the room and one will check the new breasts. Somehing else that has been useful for me is a drain bag to go over my shoulder. I just brought the one I had been given when I had my first surgery. I thought I would have read my novel by now but although I feel pretty clear headed I am tired and there is no such thing as a full night of sleep with obs going on or tablets being dispensed. I would love to be able to lie on my side as I usually do but I do not think that will happen for a while. I sleep with elevated head and feet and suffer a bit from an achy back at times which the physio says is inevitable. Pain has been a bit less today and I can stand a bit straighter so I am healing