You are diagnosed with breast cancer or are having a prophylactic mastectomy due to a gene mutation putting you at high risk for breast cancer. You spent days, weeks, or perhaps months talking to others and researching the best plastic surgeon because you have decided to have breast reconstruction. Now it’s the morning of surgery and it’s time for your hospital prep.
You enter the hospital early in the morning, sometimes before the break of dawn. You have eaten very little. A hundred thoughts run through your head knowing you will soon be put to sleep while your breasts are removed and replaced with either implants or your own tissue. The shower and prep with the antibacterial soap you are instructed to use the morning of surgery is complete. You feel like you are squeaky clean from tip to toe. You might wish you could have on makeup and deodorant. But, you follow orders from your plastic surgeon not using either of these the morning of your breast reconstruction surgery.
A family member, friend, or loved one escorts you to the hospital. You check in, give hospital staff your insurance information, get your wrist band with your ID, and wait patiently to be called back. A few butterflies are swarming around in your tummy. Finally, they call your name. Excitement, nervousness, more butterflies; it’s all coming together and hard to believe it’s the morning of your breast reconstruction surgery.
My Personal Experience: Prep the Morning of DIEP Flap Breast Reconstruction
I was taken to another waiting area where my husband could be with me. We made some idle conversation, held each other’s hands now and again, and glanced around the room with other patients waiting their turn to go back for various surgeries. Then I am called back to begin my prep.
Here is my account of how I dealt with all those events the morning of my DIEP flap surgery. I was calm as a cucumber. Tears were shed the night before but now there is a smile on my face and I am ready to roll. I am weighed, blood pressure taken, and placed in a room by myself. First order of business is getting stripped down to nothing but a hospital gown, in this case a bear paw to keep you warm and toasty so the blood vessels are ready for surgery. Now I feel a sense of vulnerability while I try to keep my privates private while I move around on the hospital bed. The nurse put compression stockings on my legs. I was given a finger stick to do a test to make sure my blood was going to clot properly during surgery.
This is when my tummy usually starts to get a bit nervous. Uh oh!! You know what that means! You ask if you have time to use the restroom. Sheesh! I just took a nice shower. I ask if they have any moist wipes, so I can maintain a sense of cleanliness. Has this happened to anyone else?! I start to feel a bit anxious now. The nurse is so kind and asks if I’m ready to be wheeled back to surgery. At this point, my husband joins me. His job is to carry the shoes and clothing I put in the hospital bag to be stored in my room after surgery.
Always a Difficult Stick for the IV
We enter the surgical waiting area. It is bustling with nurses, carts, physicians, and patients in waiting behind other curtains. We are visited first by the nurse who checks my chart for ID verification and goes over the plan of the day. The anesthesiologist walks in next. She asks a lot of questions and at this point, the butterflies in my tummy are getting a bit ramped up. I maintain my sense of calm by smiling and joking around a bit with the various staff coming in and out.
Then in walks my plastic surgeon. He was cool as a cucumber which certainly helped me. He proceeded to explain all the processes he would be going through during my surgery. I lowered the top of my gown to be exposed so he could begin marking my chest area to rebuild my breasts. At the time he was explaining all of this to me and my husband, the poor nurse was trying desperately to find a vein for the two IVs I needed for surgery. The IVs would remain in place for the duration of my hospital stay.
My veins have never been good since chemo in 2002. Not having any fluids the morning of surgery made me dehydrated and an exceedingly hard stick for the nurse. One vein collapsed while Dr. C was talking to me. I tried to look at him as if nothing was going on but the search for the vein and the digging around of the needle was a huge distraction for me. I have deep respect for nurses, so I just smiled at her and reassured her I was OK. She was so apologetic she had to place an IV at my wrist when the other vein was uncooperative; not the most comfortable place for an IV.
The bear paw was blowing hot air into my gown and I’m starting to feel like I could use another shower between the warm air, my sweating palms, and underarms. ARGH! I just hoped the overriding smell of antiseptic was taking care of any body odor I felt I had. By this time, I was ready to get going.
These are the many steps a breast cancer patient goes through for prep the morning of breast reconstruction. Some handle it better than others. I have heard women who request anti-anxiety medication the morning of surgery, understandably, for all we must go through. Although I felt I was calm the morning of surgery, I will admit, when the anesthesiologist came in, started the IV, and I began to feel a “warm fuzzy feeling”, I was glad it was time for the surgical team to take over and for me to begin my nice long nap.