[Mary Jo]

Hello Denise.......

Yes, I have had DIEP. I had delayed bilateral DIEP. I was diagnosed in 2005 and had both breasts reconstructed in 2008. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would have a surgery such as that. For that matter, I never thought I would do any kind of reconstruction. Truly, I was fine "breastless" - just as I was. However, one day, about 2 1/2 years after my diagnosis.....when I felt as if I was finally moving forward and accepting more readily that I truly might be "well" I started doing some research on reconstruction and the options available. None of the options were anything I would have wanted and then I read about DIEP. I thought, now there's a form of reconstruction I would want. However, when I started reading how detailed the surgery was I wasn't quite so sure. But, long story short...that's how it started for me.

My cancer treatment/surgery etc. was at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, WI. I was very happy with the care I received their. When I read about DIEP and how there weren't many doctors who did it and how many had to travel far away to have the surgery, I thought, no, I would never do that. That was that. Then I thought that I should e-mail my surgeon from 3 years prior (who did both mastectomies) and asked for her recommendation. She told me that Dr. John Hijjawi was honored with the Kroll fellowship, allowing him study DIEP flap reconstruction in Belgium, with one of the techniques originators, Dr. Phillip Blondeel. And the best part....he was located at MY hospital. Who knew. Hmmm.....maybe!! So I did my research......met Dr. Hijjawi.....and the rest is history. In June of 2008 I had bilateral DIEP.

I recovered very well. Thankfully, I had no complications. My reconstruction results were beautiful and I was very pleased. I would say you should count on a good 8 weeks recovery if you have a physical job. If you sit at a desk, I would say you could return to work in 4 - 6 weeks. I have off in the summer months so it worked perfect for me. I was very ready to return to work in the fall. As a matter of fact, I was out and about and walking again (slowly mind you) in only a week and a half.

Yes, they look very real. I feel as if I was born with them in all honesty. I had nipples tattooed on so they look REAL ... even the nipples look like they are real nipples, but the best part, they don't stick out. haha. My breasts don't sag anymore and my tummy was removed. Hey, if you have to find the silver lining in all this, that's mine.

I would most definitely do it again. Of course I can say that because it all went super smooth for me. I had no complications whatsoever and they look great.

No, no mammograms. These are breasts made from my abdomen..it is abdominal tissue and not breast tissue. I do check them like a person would breasts - I do check under my arms, but that is all.

Hope this helps. Keep me posted.

Mary Jo