Post surgical update

I am now 10 weeks post DIEP flap reconstruction surgery and I feel great! I do have a torso that resembles the Bride of Frankenstein, but I know from my previous 2021 surgery that those angry red scars will fade. The angry redness is caused by increased blood supply to the incision sites, which helps them to heal.

I am walking most days and have been back at the gym for the past 3 weeks aiming to be back to my pre surgical strength in two weeks time i.e. at 12 weeks post surgery. My plastic surgeon and my physio are both very happy with me and my physical recovery.

I didn't know that the surgery has benefits other than cosmetic ones. My plastic surgeon fixed some tethering in my arm pit (scar tissue under the skin that had adhered to deeper structures). I now have freer movement in my left arm and the fluid level in my arm has been in the normal range post surgery. I am hoping to be able to wean myself off my arm compression sleeve in due course.

The magical 12 week post surgery date also coincides with the end of the year long course of neratinib I have been on. The 8 year clinical trial data on neratinib has recently been published and there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that at the 8 year mark there is no difference in disease free survival rates between the control group and the neratinib group. The good news is that in both groups the disease free survival rate is 90%. What does that mean? If the cancer is going to come back, neratinib simply delays it and the initial treatments and the other preventatives are very effective. I'll be pleased to see the back of neratinib. Like most anti cancer drugs I have experienced, it is not the most pleasant of things.

I've been cast out into the wilderness alone without doctors until November/December when I am due to see the breast surgeon, the oncologist and the plastic surgeon. I know it is good to be free of them all, but it does make me feel (irrationally I know) anxious.

What can I tell you? Not much to be honest.

The most exciting thing to happen to me recently (apart from a new boob) was being allowed to drive again.

I am on holiday. My daughter and I are at the beach at Pataua North. We have a weeks worth of yummy food, a roaring fire and we plan to walk, talk, eat, read books and watch movies. If we are lucky the great rains of 2023 will stay away..

If I am extra lucky my garage roof will be repaired while I am away. The scaffolding has gone up and the materials delivered. The garage was damaged by a tree falling on it during Cyclone Gabrielle in February. I'm just grateful the tree fell on the garage and not the house because it is stressful and annoying and I'd be very anxious if it was our house that had a hole in the roof for 5 months. I arranged to get rid of the tree and fix the squashed fence but I've left the garage for our insurance company to deal with. It is fair to say that I am better at organising things than our insurance company.

I'll try and do some writing this week while I'm away. I've read a few more good books and I've been working on a number of posts that are part written.

I just wanted to let you know I'm OK. I'm well and relieved to be well into my recovery. I have things to look forward to: a couple of conferences in Blenheim (August) and Wellington (September) and I'm going to the Court of Appeal in October. I'm then hoping it will stop raining and I can enjoy the pre Christmas build up. It's my favourite time of the year. Until then I intend to keep warm and keep my umbrella handy.

PS: Poor old Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York, has been diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy and immediate DIEP flap reconstruction in an 8 hour surgery.

I was not able to wrangle both surgeries at the same time...I wasn't prepared to wait the 6 weeks I needed to wait for the plastic surgeon. I'm glad I waited. It would have been a huge operation to have in one go (my mastectomy and reduction was a 6 hour operation and my reconstruction was also a 6 hour operation). I am also pleased to have new tissue to fix some of the damage caused by radiotherapy.