Hello I'm new today

Sorry no one has replied, this should bump you back up to the first page where hopefully you will get relevant answers.  Love from Ann

Dear Pip 57

I am sorry to hear you also have been diagnosed with  breast cancer amd I hope you don't need to wait  too long for your lymph node results.  

I am absolutely no expert but i had a single mastectomy and diep flap reconstruction almost 4 weeks ago and would say that so far I am pleased I went for that type of reconstruction ,even though I now know that I will need further surgery ,  chemotherapy and likely radiotherapy as well due to the pathology results which was a bit of a setback :( 

The operation, as I was warned , was long ( approx 6 hours) but I recovered fairly quickly and was discharged home 3 days later. My abdominal wound is from hip to hip but is healing well and the reconstruction itself is remarkably neat and fairly natural looking all things considered. I have a circle of stomach skin where my nipple was which is probably a good 6-7cm in diameter but really doesn't look as awful  as I thought it might. I still have a tight stomach at times,  especially if I walk for more than a few minutes or stand up having sat down for a couple of hours ( this was the more painful area by far to start with ) and my newly reconstructed breast is very sensitive to touch but I have put this down to a degree of nerve pain as most of my skin was saved . I have only needed paracetamol this week and am moving about pretty easily . The consultants are happy with the progress so far so I find that is reassuring . I have been told that as I have 'large ' breasts and that they have sagged with age (!!) they would have struggled  to get an implant to look as natural though Ithey did suggest that i could have had work to match the other breast in the future

I also asked if I should have a double mastectomy but as my mri showed no signs of disease in the other breast it was not something they would consider

Everyone has to make their own decision as we are all different but this has been my experience so far and I hope it is useful to you 

I wish you all the very best and hope whatever you decide it works well for you x

Hello there, thank you very much for detailed and informative reply. And I wish you all the best going forward  I certainly have a lot to think about as does everyone on this site. It's nice to know we are in this together and my best wishes go to everyone on the site. I'm still trying to get used to website im not very tecno minded  my friend of 17 years was diagnosed with cancer within one week of me and she is only 40 (I'm 65 next month) we are trying to have our Mastectomy on the same day..  best of luck to you.  xx

Hi Pip57, sorry I can’t help with the reconstruction question as I decided to go flat after my left mastectomy. Found the surgery pretty painless and had full movement in my arm same day but was extremely tired for a couple of weeks. Wish you and your friend all the best in your treatment and decisions. Take it easy and look after each other and remember we are all here if you need anything