Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Breast reconstruction

1 reply

weebarra · 01/06/2016 13:32

I had breast cancer three years ago, in both breasts. I was 36, DD (DC3) was 8 weeks old.
I had a bilateral mastectomy, chemo, radiotherapy. I also had my ovaries removed because I'm brca +ve and there was a risk of ovarian cancer.
I met my surgeon today for my annual review. I need to think now about whether to have reconstruction or not.
For various reasons it's likely to be a LD flap reconstruction. Has anyone had one and can let me know how it went?
I know I'll need time off work for example but there are varying accounts of how much!
I'm really not sure whether I want it or not - there's no need to decide now, but some experiences would be useful.

OP posts:
Maudd · 01/06/2016 17:59

I've had an LD reconstruction but it was 9 years ago now, so a lot of the detail's a bit hazy. I only had it on one side. I remember the operation itself was much easier than I expected. It took about 5 hours, but that included the mastectomy, which you've already had. The scars were small and neat, and there was very little pain afterwards. I recovered fairly quickly, had 5 days in hospital and doing normal things at home within a week or so. You'd be very tired for a few weeks though, and will need to do exercises to keep full range of movement in your arm, and definitely no lifting small children for a while! The effect does look good, very natural, and I'm pleased with it overall.

One problem is that I hate the "bulky" feeling in my armpit where they brought the muscle round from the back. I found it incredibly annoying at first, it's like having a rolled-up magazine under there permanently, and I couldn't bring my arm down against my side. They told me the feeling would disappear within a few months, but it's still there, just to a lesser extent, and I'm used to it now.

I haven't noticed any loss of strength in my back, but I do know of people who've refused this operation because they do a lot of skiing or rowing or tennis, so you would need to think about that if you enjoy those things. I find it a bit odd that when I sneeze or cough, my boob jumps because that muscle is round at the front now!

One more thing, I do get eczema on the reconstructed boob, which I think is from the radiotherapy, and of course that skin is now stretched and probably thin. It only started to happen after about 5 years, but it's there more or less permanently now.

Overall, the operation itself is ok, and I'm really glad I've had a reconstruction, but I wasn't given any choice other than the LD approach. If you have the option, then maybe consider some of the alternative abdominal operations before deciding.

Sorry, this is very long and a bit rambling, but hope some of it's helpful Smile

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread