Hello everyone.
Last Friday I had my second last Docetaxel chemo and I'm just beginning to feel the bone pain again today. It sucks but I'm also feeling quite excited about the prospect of only one more chemo to go. ...
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I have found that if i hit the save button more than once (impatient or thinking it hasnt worked), the posts come out multiple times. It takes a while to work it all out.
I went in for a DIEP but they were unable to take the blood supply without a little muscle, so technically I have had a free tram. It was a very small amount of muscle and i dont feel it has compromised my abdominal region at all....yet. I was never big in the exercise department, but did alot of manual work like gardening and normal stuff around the house. I pretty much have found I can do anything i used to do before.
My understanding is we are all vary a bit on the inside so they do what they can.
The recovery was horrendous, very emotional and physically debilating. The main difficulty was the abdominal area which I think is no surprise as you need this core area for almost all your movements. But pain relief meant it was not very painful, just very tight and I did have a sore lower back from being stooped over.
But I managed like eveyone else who has had this type of reconstruction. The first 4 weeks are the hardest, then for me, when I felt better physically and could stand up straight I then could take stock of how I looked and had a bit of an emotonal crash. I cried alot in hospital I recall. But a lovely nurse said that it is a physiological response from our bodies and is common after a mastectomy.
I am feeling great now and do not have a single regret (but i didnt always feel like that). I did lots of research before I settled on this procedure and thought for long term gain I could push through the recovery and I have. I do have revision surgery (October) which is common with this procedure, to tweak the messy bits and the shape. They concentrate on moving the tissue successfully first then can fix anything cosmetic later. Then they can do nipples after that which I believe is a short procedure.
I have made a photo story if you'd like to see it. Just private message your email address. It could be a little confronting but its real.
XXXLouie