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 big hug. He told me he was “intrigued” by the surprise guest I was bringing to dinner. I quickly texted Rich and told him to come into the area where I stood. Rich approached, I looked at Dr. C and said, “I’d like you to meet someone.”
He turned around and looked at my tall, broad-shouldered son towering over both of us. Dr. C had a rather quizzical look on his face. I smiled from ear to ear. “Dr. C, I’d like you to meet our son, Richard.”
Without hesitation he threw his arms around him and said, “Oh my God, so nice to finally meet you!” Now we were all grinning from ear to ear. The conversation was so easy from there. It’s as if we all knew each other for quite a while. I suppose in many ways, we did.
A Summary of the Caregiver Video
It seems so natural for me to record a video with both of them. We arranged to meet the next day for morning coffee. We chatted at coffee about the topic for the video. The conversation flowed so easily I knew I would only need to introduce the two of them in the video and let them work their magic.
The key points they discussed were as follows:
- Dr. C pointed out to Rich he was in a position to really help out physicians with feedback about his role as caregiver during my breast reconstruction.
- I appreciate Dr. C mentioning patients served in the Foundation will benefit from the conversation.
- Rich is asked by Dr. C what his expectations were before I came home from surgery, in my case, traveling back from my DIEP flap breast reconstruction.
- Rich points out he knew it was a significant surgery and I would need a lot of care. He just didn’t know the specifics of the care.
- He points out being informed of three to four key points before surgery and post-surgery to set the patient up for success would be of great benefit.
- Dr. C asks Rich if there was a conversation with “your Mum” before her surgery about expectations.
- The conversation turned to activity level. Realizing there are people who are naturally more active than others the role of caregiver is to help monitor the activity after surgery.
- Dr. C points out many times the natural inclination is to do everything for the caregiver, “Put your feet up on the sofa and watch tellie”. In reality, it is the worst thing you can do.
- He continues by explain you don’t want to come home from a bi-lateral DIEP flap and go horse back riding. But not encouraging the patient to regain mobility runs risks such as blood clots by not moving around as much.
- The general prescription is to walk around multiple times a day increasing the distance each day, increasing the frequency, and degree of the mobility.
- Nutrition is also an important role for the caregiver to monitor.
- Making sure the patient continues the prescribe pre-operative protein intake after surgery becomes important. Often times a patient does not feel like eating after surgery running the risk of becoming malnourished.
Thanks for those yummy steaks, Richard. Dr. C put his stamp of approval on those.
- Choosing your caregiver becomes important since much of after care for the first couple of weeks becomes rather personal; showering, personal hygiene, assistance stripping drains.
- I chimed in and shared the caregiver I chose for my first week out of hospital was a close woman friend who saw me completely naked as she helped me shower.
- A caregiver will need a driver for the first few weeks.
- Checking on the patient before lights are tuned out for the night: Pillows fluffed, blankets tucked in, water by bedside, cell phone in reach in case the patient needs to call for help.
- Rich points out caregivers would benefit from understanding the check list of small details such as what to put by the bedside at night, will they need a shower chair or extra towel by the shower before bathing.
- Dr. C emphasizes an important point is to delegate tasks. Caregivers can reach burnout and exhaustion.
We know not all patients are fortunate to have a close friend or family member as their caregiver. Some must seek help from outside sources, but the needs of the patients don’t really change.