The road to feeling whole once again
The DIEP Flap procedure uses tissue and fat from your tummy to create new breasts
Ihad decided to opt for the DIEP Flap reconstruction, something that Mediclinic Welcare now offers with Dr Jamil and a visiting specialist from Spain, Dr Marco.
They are the only facility currently in the UAE that is offering this option, which really surprises me as it’s considered to be the gold standard in the US and Europe for breast reconstruction.
Simply put, DIEP Flap is where the tissue and fat from your tummy is used to create the new breasts. No muscles are touched, making the recovery easier.
Having weighed up all the pros and cons, I had no doubt that this was the one for me. I was very uncomfortable with the idea of implants, after having cancer, the notion of putting a foreign object in my body was alien to me. I wanted something that would look and feel natural.
And people told me that implants get cold, so you feel like you have blocks of ice on your chest — that idea just freaked me out completely.
Of course, implant surgery is relatively short, whereas DIEP Flap can take more than 12 hours, but I also didn’t want to worry about having to remove or replace the implants in 15 years, when I’d be in my early 60s. DIEP flap is a permanent option, which was the deciding factor for me. I really wanted this to be the last step, and then draw a line under it and move on with my life.
Some people decide not to reconstruct, and that’s something I had considered — life as a uni-boober hadn’t been so bad — but psychologically I wanted to feel whole again.
I joined a closed Facebook support group on DIEP Flap so I could see how other women who have had the procedure felt about it, and whilst some had suffered from complications, and in some cases the flap didn’t work and they had to resort to implants, I couldn’t find anyone there who regretted their decision.
So I went into the surgery on January 22 feeling physically strong, mentally prepared, and in the best possible place.
My doctors have all commented on my positivity during the whole process and have credited it with my fast recovery and the resounding success of the operation.
I opted to have the right breast removed also, so the procedure lasted for more than 15 hours. A stay of four days in the ICU to monitor the health of the flaps followed. The worst day was when I was suffering hallucinogenic effects from the strong pain meds, and which made me very nauseous, so I was weaned off those on day two and then started to feel a lot better.
Everyone was amazed by how I was coping with the pain while taking only Panadol, but somehow I didn’t feel the need for anything stronger, despite my pain threshold being very low usually.
Perhaps, because I felt the alternative was worse — constipation, nightmares, vomiting and a constant migraine. No, thank you!
I also suffered from a partially collapsed lung,
DIEP Flap is where the tissue and fat from your tummy is used to create the new breasts. No muscles are touched, making the recovery easier.