Does Recovery After Diep Flap Surgery Get Easier?

Yes, it gets much easier. The recovery is slow, but the results are worth it. I even had an infection after my surgery. Yuck! It seemed at the time like I would never get well. Now, I have very natural looking results, and I am so happy I went through the hard times. It makes me feel very grateful. Heading to St Thomas Virgin Islands in a couple of weeks. I can wear a swimsuit without feeling self conscious. Hang in there!!!

Did your abdomen feel really tight?

I had bilateral mastectomy with DIEP flap. First week is hardest but after that you will slowly start feeling better week by week. I couldn’t stand up straight or walk without help for first week. But end of six week I was walking around 2 miles per day. The abdomen feels tight and you feel the swelling. My doctors suggested to wear compression shorts which helped a lot. After four/five weeks I started wearing bike shorts for sometime which helped me lot with support and comfort.

Underwent Died Flap Six... Narcosis developed in one breast, it never recovered, left with severely botched completer uneven sized breasts! Candidate for reconstruction but too traumatized. Disgusted with my body, never take my shirt off and wear anything without bra inserts. Utterly botched.

Eileen I have embraced my failed expanders and refer to my body as totally disgusting. Hope the diep finally works. I never wear a stuffed bra because everyone at the gym knows what I am going through and to heck with everyone else.

Different perspective: I had a lumpectomy after which the cavity never healed. They took about a handball-size chunk of tissue to make sure they got all the edges, and the cavity filled with fluid. They thought it was an infection because it looked like the color and thickness of pus, but it wasn’t. After months and months of it not healing, draining it several times, IV antibiotics, etc., the docs were worried it would keep growing and eventually burst and then things would be bad. In the end, since I was large, I had them do a double mastectomy. I didn’t get any reconstruction. I don’t care. I throw on a t-shirt or other shirt, and I’m good for the day. (I’m a teacher, too. When I tell the kids—high school—they get it.) I love it. Can it be hard to find clothes? Yes, cuz since surgery, chemo, radiation, I have gained and cannot lose weight. I frequent the men’s section. I get why most wouldn’t make the same choice, but the freedom, lack of worry, and virtually no recovery time was worth it. And surprisingly few people mis-gender me after nine years. Very, very few. ps: the cavity was the “star of the monthly medical meeting at the hospital,” my doc said! They have no idea what caused it to take off like it did.

Fluid is not good. Had an ER visit and sepsis during my expander fail. I am willing to try diep. I don't want to look and dress like a man and/or 12 year old little girl. The doc seems shocked but 120lbs is normal for me. When they amputated my D implants I was all into eating super healthy and being proportional.

The first week after DIEP flap surgery is genuinely one of the most challenging parts of recovery, and many patients share these same feelings of limitation and frustration during this time. Recovery does typically become more manageable as the weeks progress, with gradual improvements in mobility and energy levels that help restore a sense of normalcy and independence.