Hi all, I'm struggling at the moment and would appreciate some insights from people who have been in my position.
I did a lot of research prior to my mastectomy and DIEP flap reconstruction, both online and talking to people. The consensus I got was "it wasn't that bad, I wasn't in too much pain after, it'll be over before you know it". Well I'm nearly a week in and it HAS been that bad. I was on the operating table for over 10 hours. Afterwards I was in huge amounts of pain and they would only give me paracetamol and ibuprofen, and those sparingly. I cried and begged for stronger stuff and they still wouldn't do it until a physiotherapist came in and saw the state of me and had a word with the nurses. The surgery also triggered my IBS, I was in agony with stomach cramps and nausea, trembles and hot flushes, and they just told me it was constipation and kept giving me laxatives (which didn't help much, my gut still isn't working properly).
I'm home now and things are a bit better but I'm feeling so traumatized and struggling to regain my mental equilibrium. I'd love advice from anyone who also found the aftermath of their surgery really tough.
