Category: Postoperative recovery

Breast Reconstruction Recovery and ERAS Protocol

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Breast Reconstruction Recovery and ERAS Protocol When I attend medical conferences, I take the opportunity to interview plastic surgeons about topics related to breast reconstruction. Breast reconstruction recovery and ERAS protocol is a topic I want readers to know about. Why? I feel it is an important part of a shared decision-making conversation with your plastic surgeon at the time of your consult. You simply ask, “Do you use the Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) protocol in breast reconstruction?” Dr. Minas Chrysopoulo from PRMA in San Antonio was the plastic reconstructive microsurgeon who performed my DIEP flap surgery. Although ERAS was not in place at the time of my breast reconstruction, I am excited to let others know PRMA and others are using this protocol now. The interview unfolds as we make comparisons between my recovery without ERAS and what Dr. C and his practicing partners now use to improve Continue Reading →

How to Care for the Caregiver During Your Breast Reconstruction

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How did you care for your own caregiver during your breast reconstruction? Sound a bit strange when everyone is supposed to be caring for you? Whether you choose to have autologous (using your own tissue) or implant-based breast reconstruction, you will need caregivers to help with the following at the very least. Taking you to hospital and staying in communication with the surgical team until you are back in your room to recover. Driving you home, fixing meals, driving, and performing general household responsibilities. Patients voice concerns about their own caregivers for their breast reconstruction surgery. I want to share some tips from my own DIEP flap breast reconstruction surgery. I will also share suggestions discussed on The Journey Facebook group. These gals have some helpful hints based on their own experience. Should a Caregiver Remain at the Hospital All Day for Your DIEP Flap? Spending long hours waiting in Continue Reading →

The Role of Caregiver in Breast Reconstruction: Expectations vs. Reality

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The Role of Caregiver in Breast Reconstruction: Expectations vs. Reality I am honored to present my son, Rich, and the plastic surgeon, Dr. Minas Chrysopoulo, who performed my DIEP flap breast reconstruction. The video in this blog is a great conversation between the two men. We sat down together recently at Plastic Surgery the Meeting 2018, in Chicago. The two men had never met before the conference. But, they felt they knew enough about each other to have a very comfortable conversation regarding the role of care giver in breast reconstruction. The Caregiver Meets the Surgeon I planned a surprise meeting of these two gentlemen the evening we arrived in Chicago for the conference. I walked into a restaurant we arranged to meet at for dinner and Rich waited around the corner in order to surprise Dr. C. I went in first to greet Dr. C and give him a Continue Reading →

Who is Responsible? Aesthetic Outcomes of Breast Reconstruction Surgery

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It is an important topic to discuss. Who is responsible for the aesthetic outcomes of breast reconstruction surgery? The headline in the September 6, 2018, online article from Cosmopolitan reads: These Cancer Patients Wanted to Get Rid of Their Breasts for Good. Their Doctors Had Other Ideas. It is an emotionally filled article from women who chose to go flat. These women woke up after surgery with results that left them angered, saddened, disappointed, and fighting a battle to find out how to change things. In fact, on September 8, 2018, the article mentioned: … she’s organizing the first Not Putting On a Shirt Nationwide Walk in Cleveland, Ohio, in which women will join her to march topless and raise awareness around the issue. A sister march will be held in Los Angeles in the same day. The article speaks of women who chose to remain flat after their mastectomy Continue Reading →

1900 Patients Share Stories About Breast Reconstruction

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Three short years ago in the summer of 2015, I opened a Facebook page dedicated to serve the breast reconstruction community. The Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/diepcjourney/ grew organically by word of mouth. We started out small, as so many new social media sites do. It is growing daily and now 1900 Patients Share Stories About Breast Reconstruction. What Do We Share? Think about this. You have just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Now you face the tsunami of information about to flood your brain; lab reports and waiting on results, treatment options, surgery, lumpectomy, mastectomy. Some days you feel overwhelmed, depressed, anxious, or even jubilant. Who will understand all these feelings? Who do I talk to who has been on this Journey? Think about this. You are told your best treatment option is to have a mastectomy. Perhaps, for peace of mind, you decide to have a prophylactic mastectomy because you Continue Reading →

Who Inspires You as a Breast Cancer Survivor?

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There are endless topics to write about when you blog as a two-time cancer survivor. Most weeks are planned topics, some topics are fun, and then there are delightful moments in your week leading to an unanticipated topic. You are inspired, and you know what the topic of your blog will be for the week. Who inspires you as a breast cancer survivor? This week it was my two friends, Jim, and Sean, who I met in my Livestrong class at the local YMCA. Both men have survived brain cancer. Both men endured physical impairment and fought to make a comeback to their now “new normal” life. I was at the gym doing my weekly workout. I had completed my cardio on the elliptical machine. I was finishing on weights. I do weights three to four times a week. The prescription I am on to keep my cancer at bay Continue Reading →

Why are We Spending So Much Time with Insurance Calls?

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I truly believe this is a question both patients and physicians ask themselves quite frequently; Why are we spending so much time on insurance calls? This week alone, I spent upwards of three hours battling my insurance company to reinstate a medication that has proven to work for me for the past four years and suddenly is no longer covered by them. I found this out at my oncologist’s office recently when I went in to get my Prolia injection. Since my second breast cancer diagnosis in 2014 I have successfully, with little or no side effects, taken this injection to prevent bone loss from the medication I am on, AI, to prevent my cancer from recurring. One of the side effects of the AI is bone loss and why I was prescribed Prolia. The Prolia was working! I was even on their Patient Co-Pay Program greatly reducing my out-of-pocket Continue Reading →

Breast Reconstruction: Seromas Evaluation and Treatment

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We looked at the pre and post-operative assessment of seromas after breast reconstruction in a previous blog and video. Here, Drs. Minas Chrysopoulo and Ramon Garza III of PRMA in San Antonio explain to the viewer how to evaluate and treat a seroma if it occurs after breast reconstruction. Seromas form because of your body’s natural healing processes. Think of a wound you get on the outside of your body. The body produces fluid as part of the healing process. You see fluid as with a scraped knee or a burn. Imagine the wound on the inside of your body that forms because of surgery. Your body is going to produce fluid internally due to the trauma of surgery. This fluid must be managed. Dr. C, as his patients refer to him, explains a seroma can happen anywhere someone has surgery. In breast reconstruction this can be in the breast Continue Reading →

Breast Reconstruction: Seromas Pre and Post-Operative Assessment

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Breast Reconstruction: Seromas Pre and Post-Operative Assessment Breast reconstruction complications are possible as is the case with any surgery. A possible complication in breast reconstruction is the development of a seroma. Here we look at the pre and post-operative assessment of seromas after autologous or implant-based breast reconstruction. I speak to two ASPS board certified plastic surgeons from PRMA in San Antonio, Dr. Ramon Garza III and Dr. Minas Chrysopoulo. I feel fortunate to share this information with the reader. The video in the blog will give a detailed explanation of pre and post-operative assessment of seromas. You can subscribe to DiepCFoundation YouTube channel after watching the video for a variety of educational topics on breast reconstruction. Dr. Garza begins the discussion by explaining who might be more prone than others to complications such as seromas after breast reconstruction. It is important to point out that their practice at PRMA Continue Reading →

What Do Breast Cancer and BRCA Friends Share in Common?

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I know that Heather Barnard and I share a lot in common! We are both educators. Breast cancer has affected Heather and me. Heather and I have had a mastectomy. Heather and I had breast reconstruction. We both write blogs about our breast reconstruction experience. Finally, and most coincidentally, we had the same plastic surgeon perform our breast reconstruction. What makes our friendship unique? We have never met in person. Heather and I live over 9,000 miles apart. Our shared commonalities, however, have bridged those miles and made us friends. Her Twitter handle says it all, @expattravelmom. She teaches in Singapore and in her off time travels extensively with her husband and three great children. I had my DIEP flap breast reconstruction in December of 2014. Heather had a prophylactic mastectomy with immediate implant breast reconstruction in June of 2015. Dr. Chrysopoulo was our connection. Heather would message me asking Continue Reading →