Picture below was taken on October 23rd, the day before Diep Flap Surgery. The plastic surgeon marked (mapped) his plan, there are also markings on my abdomen
This is 8 days post-op from Diep flap surgery done on the 24th of October. I have four JP drains, the red is actually a good sign…shows vascularity to the flap. However a hematoma formed just above the preforator causing loss of the flap.
Above you can see the shadow of where my abdomen surgery scar is. The garment I am wearing is a compression garment. I have two drains exiting just above the symphysis pubis and one on the left side, below the arm pit.
It is obvious that the Diep Flap has failed, and has to be removed. There is no implant here, this is all skin taken from my abdomen and adipose tissue. Once this is removed it will be necessary to proceed with the Latissimus dorsi reconstruction.
I am just a hot mess, an expander with 350cc’s was placed on the chest wall, then the Lat muscle was placed over the expander, then grafted skin from my left thigh was placed over the muscle….the picture below is just a fun picture I thru in the mix, my daughter and her fiance Stacy gave me a thurough bedside bath, complete with hair being shampooed!
The donor site: This area was uncovered December 3rd, however is was rebandaged due to the discomfort level…the bandage will be removed at my next follow up appointment, January 3rd….yikes!
This is the picture that my husband sent to my plastic surgeon on Thanksgiving Day. On Friday November 23rd, the medial aspect was opened up and the expander was removed…at this point it was more important to fight the infection, avoid sepsis and save the flap, then to have the expander with 350cc’s of saline!
This is actually healing, albiet, it looks awful.
The picture above was just taken December 28th
I have been on two anti biotics via I.V. Cefepine is administered 3x daily and Vancomycine is 2x daily…due to the Vanco being Nephrotoxic I get blood drawn twice a week to check the “peak and trough”.
My Breast Cancer Journey 