DIEP Flap surgery

I had a double mastectomy with immediate implant based reconstruction on January 14th, 2019.   The left side failed and the implant on the left was removed in March.  Due to that failure, combined with the radiation treatment I had over the summer, implant based reconstruction was no longer an option.  I decided to change surgeons and surgeries and went with autologous tissue based reconstruction, specifically a DIEP flap.  Here's some information about it:

A DIEP flap is similar to a muscle-sparing free TRAM flap, except that no muscle is used to rebuild the breast. (A muscle-sparing free TRAM flap uses a small amount of muscle.) A DIEP flap is considered a muscle-sparing type of flap. DIEP stands for the deep inferior epigastric perforator artery, which runs through the abdomen.

In a DIEP flap, fat, skin, and blood vessels are cut from the wall of the lower belly and moved up to your chest to rebuild your breast. (In a properly performed DIEP, no muscle is cut or removed; if you’re having DIEP flap, make sure this will be the case.) Your surgeon carefully reattaches the blood vessels of the flap to blood vessels in your chest using microsurgery. Because no muscle is used, most women recover more quickly and have a lower risk of losing abdominal muscle strength with a DIEP flap compared to any of the TRAM flap procedures.

My surgery took place on Thursday, December 12th.  I had to be at the hospital at 6 am for an 8 am surgery time.  I was instructed to drink carb rich liquids up until two hours before surgery.

This was when we arrived at the hospital. 

I wanted to wear my special socks during the surgery, but the mean nurses said I couldn't. 

Ultimately the physician assistant stepped in and said I could wear them. 

This was right before they took me away. 

And this, apparently, was the morning after the eight hour surgery.  I have no memories of Friday at all. 

Friday

Apparently I put on a robe and stood on Friday too, but I don't remember it. 

Friday

This was Saturday.  I was hoping some coffee would wake me up a little bit.  The only thing that did the trick though was when my surgeon reduced my meds.  They basically had me in a coma with the meds. 

Saturday

I guess I ate this on Saturday, but I don't really remember. 

Doing laps around the nurses stations on Saturday. 

Laura came to see me on Sunday morning. 

And then I got released on Sunday afternoon. 

Now I'm home for 4-6 weeks of recovery.  Yay.  BUT, I did get this blogged within a couple of days, so that is phenomenal progress.