Pregnancy After DIEP flap Breast Reconstruction
I meet amazing women and hear inspiring stories of courage in my breast reconstruction education and outreach. We share pictures, laughs, tears, fears, and stories of triumph in my conversations with these women warriors. Chats with these women, not only in the U.S., but across the globe fuels and energizes me to continue this advocacy. This story, pregnancy after DIEP flap breast reconstruction, touched my heart as a mother of two boys.
I am fortunate through my travels to meet DIEP flap patients in person. Nothing gives me greater joy than sharing my experience and listening to others’ journeys through their own breast reconstruction process. It is a shared strength and sisterhood few understand and appreciate.
One fortunate meeting and follow up story I wrote might seem nothing short of miraculous. Although for each of us, our stories too, feel miraculous after we’ve reached the “flap side”. Dvora’s story, upon my request, had to be put on paper.
She was one of the first ladies I contacted to share my own experience of DIEP flap breast reconstruction. Our surgeries were two months apart for each phase we went through. We also shared the same plastic surgery group and coincidentally the same skilled microsurgeon, Dr. Minas Chrysopoulo, who performed our DIEP flap surgeries. I gently guided her through any fears and concerns she had. We had a few late night chats on the phone after she put her little ones to bed.
I coached her about how to handle her recovery with her two precious children. She repaid the favor and generously contributed to a blog I wrote on Diep flap Recovery When you Have Young Children at Home. I loved watching her whimsical posts on Facebook about her two young children. Dvora chose to do DIEP flap to be there for her children for as long as she could. She watched her mother die of breast cancer and when she herself tested positive for the BRCA 1 gene mutation Dvora decided the best course of action for her own children was a prophylactic mastectomy and breast reconstruction.
Pregnancy and DIEP flap surgery ~ SURPRISE!
Phase 2 of my reconstruction was in April of 2015. Dvora’s phase 2 surgery was in June the same year. We kept in contact throughout each of our procedures. To my great surprise I learned about this after checking up on Dvora’s recovery from phase 2 breast reconstruction. When they took her blood work the morning of her phase 2 surgery she found out she was also pregnant with her third child! She had no idea. I can only imagine the discussion, looks of amazement and probably utter shock and awe of not only Dvora but the entire surgical staff. Needless to say, her phase 2 surgery was put on hold until after the birth of her third child.
But wait…. In September of 2015, I met a second woman while I was in Seattle who had a DIEP flap. The day I met her for the first time, she announced to me that she, too, was pregnant. She began telling me about the microsurgeon who was a part of the team who performed her DIEP flap. I smiled and told her I knew Dr. Daniel Liu and was not a bit surprised she felt so confident about the success of her pregnancy after her own successful DIEP flap surgery.
Both women had skilled and successful micro-surgeons who performed their DIEP flap breast reconstruction, allowing both to have successful pregnancies after their surgery. I believe this is conversation worth discussing with your plastic surgeon if you are considering pregnancy after DIEP flap breast reconstruction.
Life does go on after cancer. Pregnancy after DIEP flap breast reconstruction is possible!
