Reconstruction

Hi Dange,I had tramflap reconstruction in January this year at Westmead Private Hospital. My surgeon was Thomas Lam.

The only stress I had was the thought of such a long op (I had a bilateral masectomy at the same time)

Can't say I had much pain but had a fair bit of discomfort,having to lie in the same position for 2 1/2 days .I wanted to stretch out my legs and move.

Once I was out of ICU and into the ward the drains were a bit of an annoyance when showering or sleeping and I could not wait to get them out.

Once I was home I had a bit of trouble sleeping in my bed so slept for a while in a recliner chair.Not sure if this was because of the op or because my hospital bed had a massaging mattress and I got spoiled using it!

I now have a thin line across both breasts and a longer thin line across my pubic line.

My breasts feel real to touch and look real but sometimes do not feel like they are part of my body (hard to explain)

The best part is even when I don't have a bra on my breasts do not sag (not sure how long that lasts) and I no longer have a saggy stomach or stretch marks.

My stomach still feels like it;s strapped on but Dr Lam says this lasts about 10 months.

Hope this helps ,Denise

Feel free to ask me anything I haven't answered

Hi Dange If you go to the B.R.E.A.S.T group and join you can have discussions with others who have been in your situation Check the other members details once you have joined and you'll find some who match you.

Hi Dange -- The Network is closer to a social network (similar to Facebook, if you've used that) where you connect with individual people and groups, and post your own comments in your blog. We wanted to create something that would help people connect with each other for support (similar to our face-to-face groups), rather than a topic-based forum. Once you've connected to some other members and groups, you'll be able to see all their posts on your 'home' page. Anyone you connect to will also see your posts in the same way on their homepage. I've sent you a contact request so you can see how it works. If you accept that request, you should then see my posts on your homepage. If you want to see posts from other people in the network you're not connected to, just click on the 'latest network posts' tab on the network homepage. This shows the last five blog posts. If you see something you're interested in, you can 'reply' to the person's post, and if you think it's someone you'd like to connect to, then you just click on their name (which is a link) and on the left side of the page you'll see 'add as a contact'. Click on that, and you can send the person a message and they can accept your request if they want to. Hope that helps... Feel free to ask any time you're stuck. Di

Hi Di Thank you for taking the time to respond. I am a little bit lost on this forum as I am not used to it so am a little unsure as to how to talk to people on it. Regards Angela

Hi Dange, I can't share any personal experience with you, but thought I would point you towards the reconstruction information page in the website in case you hadn't found it yet. Just go to the section in the main navigation called 'Living with breast cancer', then to Physical wellbeing, and then Breast reconstruction. Hope that helps. Di