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Exchange City

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Comments

  • cateyz2
    cateyz2 Member Posts: 253
    edited November 2013


    Mainegirl


    Congrats on your exchange I too will probably end up with the 550cc in either the round 20's or 45's, which do you have?


    Aviva- Congrats on your exchange date!!!!

  • ziggypop
    ziggypop Member Posts: 276
    edited November 2013


    Katlebbie - Thanks for the info


    Hope all of you who have had your exchange done recently are feeling terrific.

  • abeal
    abeal Member Posts: 7
    edited November 2013


    Hello All..


    Just wanted to introduce myself. I've been looking on the forum for awhile and have learned so much from you lovely ladies already. DX in July I had a bilateral MX and node removal on Aug 20. Luckily all cancer was removed during surgery. I also had expanders placed at the same time and now have a exchange surgery date of 12/19. No chemo or rads but I started Tamoxifen 10/1 and trying to figure out if certain side effects are from that or other meds I'm taking. Biggest issue is severe almost dibilitating nerve pain (which i attribute to the expanders) so I am also on Neurotin. I just turned 40 so obviously this was not how I planned to celebrate birthday but I'm just trying to get through it all and remain sane. I also have some questions about picking implants but for now I just wanted to say hello. :)

  • mainegirl
    mainegirl Member Posts: 24
    edited November 2013


    Cateyz2, they are 20's What's the difference?

  • aviva5675
    aviva5675 Member Posts: 836
    edited November 2013


    welcome Abeal. Our stories are quite similar. Im 56 tho, so on anastrazole, not tamoxifen. So far se are good...expanders have gone pretty well also, now some pressing on nerves but hopefully itll clear. Just got scheduled 1/10 for exchange.

  • cateyz2
    cateyz2 Member Posts: 253
    edited November 2013


    Maingirel- Style 20 is high profile Styler 45 Extra High profile

  • tinat
    tinat Member Posts: 2,235
    edited November 2013

    abeal - Welcome!  Please check out the Breast Implant Sizing 101 thread.  There's a lot of info right in the header of the thread.  One of the keys to a successful reconstruction seems to be excellent communication with your PS to make sure he/she knows what your hopes are.  If your expectations aren't realistic or if you and your PS aren't on the same page for some reason it's really important to know that up front.  Don't assume anything....ask lots of questions.

    Hang in there!

  • Togetherness
    Togetherness Member Posts: 89
    edited November 2013


    Hi I have posted a few times. I had my exchange about two weeks ago and developed an infection on my left breast went to get a second opinion due to not getting answers from my current plastic surgeon. Well finally doing better with antibiotics. I know I will never feel the the same as my real breast but what should it feel like. I am very tight with the breast feels like the are ready to burst. Very tight feels like a rubberband around my chest that is cutting circulation. Will this ever loosen up. Not sure I can get use to this feeling there is nothing normal about this. Any advise is much appreciated.

  • myers421
    myers421 Member Posts: 145
    edited November 2013


    I have 45 extra high profile and in my opinion they don't seem that high I am happy with them hoping they will soften up more.

  • abeal
    abeal Member Posts: 7
    edited November 2013


    Thank you TinaT...


    My PS basically handed me two brochures and asked me to look them over before our Dec 3 pre-op appt. So I want to be as informed as possible because she isnt the most communicative doc I've ever had. So off to the Breast Implant Sizing thread I go! :)

  • abeal
    abeal Member Posts: 7
    edited November 2013


    Thank you aviva5675!


    Do you know the main difference with anastrazole and tamoxifen?

  • LoriWNY
    LoriWNY Member Posts: 178
    edited November 2013


    Welcome abeal. Sorry we have to meet here! Tamoxifen is for pre-menopausal women and Anastrazole is for post-menopausal women. I am 50, was pre-menopausal, and started on Tamoxifen in May 2013. I had a preventative total hysterectomy in August 2013 and switched to Letrozole (Femara) at the beginning of November 2013 since the hysterectomy made me post-menopausal.

  • Layla2525
    Layla2525 Member Posts: 465
    edited November 2013


    Andrea, the fat grafting wasn't even my idea. I didn't know that's what it was called. PS just said lets take some fat from tummy and put it in the hollow on top side of the post cancer side implant. And I was like yeah lets get rid of tummy fat! Then I was like huh? PS told me she could lipo it out and I freaked. Scared of all the lipo info I heard. Dunno about all that. She says it is one stitch and small candula. Hope she isn't lying again or white lies. She told me I wont have any pain after the nip surg!! Sure....you are gonna cut a star shape on my chest and tie it into a nip shape and cover it with a bandage but later on it will not hurt when the anesthesia from surg wears off? OK, PS lets do it to you and see first,ok?

  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 1,750
    edited November 2013


    LOL Layla, you hit the nail on the head. What was your surgeon thinking? It's easy for someone who has never had the procedure to tell you it's not going to hurt. Better ask the people who have actually had the procedure. We are the EXPERTS.

  • goldie4040
    goldie4040 Member Posts: 404
    edited November 2013


    I am beginning to get a little freaked out. I only want to do this once. I don't want a huge upper pole. Right now with the expander's I feel like a football player. I keep explaining to my PS and I think he is listening, and then he says that I really should be a large cup size then I was. I don't want that. I really don't. I am writing him another email tonight. I am getting my wishes in writing..lol

  • NisaVilla
    NisaVilla Member Posts: 505
    edited November 2013


    What is a "huge upper pole"?


    I'm reading this thread to learn about exchange as I will have mine in 3 weeks.


    Thanks! Nisa

  • goldie4040
    goldie4040 Member Posts: 404
    edited November 2013


    Nisa, the upper part of the breast is too big. Most people have this with their expanders

  • NisaVilla
    NisaVilla Member Posts: 505
    edited November 2013


    A question for those of you post-exchange: What was your biggest trouble post-surgery?, and what helped most for dealing with it? Thank-you very much! Nisa

  • aviva5675
    aviva5675 Member Posts: 836
    edited November 2013


    As was answered above, tamox if for pre menopause and the AI's like anastrazole are for post menopause people. Hormonal therapy to try to prevent a recurrence. There is only tamox tho for the pre, but 3 types of AI (aromatese inhibitors) for post. So if side effects on one are really bad you can switch and try another.

  • abeal
    abeal Member Posts: 7
    edited November 2013


    Ah. Thank you for clarifying LoriWNY. It's so much information to learn. :/

  • sweetandspecial
    sweetandspecial Member Posts: 1,669
    edited November 2013


    NisaVilla - my biggest problem post-exchange was obeying doctor's orders regarding working out and weight restrictions. I had no 'pain' (breast skin nerves are still shot from the BMX so I have no feeling anyway) and really felt great. A little bruised feeling in a few areas where PS released a bit more pec muscle from the chest wall, but really very little discomfort from that too.

  • tinat
    tinat Member Posts: 2,235
    edited November 2013

    abeal - Tamoxifen can be used in pre or post-menopausal women.  Arimidex and other aromatase inhibitors can be used by post-menopausal women only.  Here's a link to a page on BCO about hormone therapy:  http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/hormonal

  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 1,750
    edited November 2013


    Well this is a surprise. I feel pretty depressed and it's been getting worse for a few days. I'm having a hard time getting to sleep and staying asleep. It's like before the BMX in August. The two weeks before it I had a bout like this but that one came complete with nightmares. It didn't happen before surgery #2 but then again, it was only two weeks after the first one so I was still in general anesthesia "fog."


    My exchange surgery is in 16 days. I'm really nervous about doing all this again, which is stupid because I certainly know the drill by now. Worry over getting another infection has grown from sometimes to most of the time. For some reason, although I know that this surgery won't be anything like the previous two, I'm scared of going back to the OR and dreading the post-op period. Goodness, it seems like I just recovered from the Sept surgery...is it time to go back already? It has only been 3 weeks since I got the PICC line out that I had put in after the first surgery. ! I'm still going to physical therapy to deal with the damage from the second surgery. Now I have to go back to drains, incisions, and IV's? I'm not ready!


    On the other hand, it seems like I've been dealing with my chest FOREVER. I'm so tired of life revolving around it. It wasn't supposed to be like this. My surgery was supposed to be "one and done." BMX followed by implants. That's what I got - but then the damned infection jumped me and I lost one implant, pieces of 3 muscles and a lot of underarm -side boob tissue in the second surgery. Having a TE has been overall tolerable, but as each day goes by, it seems to bother me more. <sigh> I've done pretty well so far. Why am I crumbling around the edges just before the finish line?


    Do I want the TE out? Yes. Do I want to have to go through another surgery to achieve that goal? NO!


    Do I want a new set of foobs? <sigh> I don't even care anymore. Just let this be over soon. (Depression is jumping on me with both feet today.)


    Maybe this is like worrying about childbirth. You are finally so sick and tired of the whole pregnancy experience after 9 months, you can't wait to get the kid OUT, even if you have to go through labor to do it.

  • sweetandspecial
    sweetandspecial Member Posts: 1,669
    edited November 2013


    Oh, Sandra, I'm so sorry you're feeling so worried and depressed and conflicted right now Sad. This should be a happy, anticipatory time for you - finally getting rid of the TE and crossing over to a new squishy. I was actually quite ambivalent regarding my exchange surgery.....the TEs were not the most comfortable things in the world but it wasn't serious discomfort and there was no pain at all. I was excited to be getting rid of the rocks, but after 9 months I had become quite used to them. But then again, I hadn't had the nasty experiences you've had.


    Before BC I was never a proponent of just 'popping a pill' when feeling blue, but let me tell ya, after diagnosis 9-28-12, deciding on a lumpectomy, then having an MRI show three more 'possible problem areas', having to wait two weeks for an MRI biopsy to find out if they, too, were malignant, and having my DH gone to Colorado on a hunting trip for most of those two weeks, I was on the phone to my PCP asking for something for my anxiety. Ativan quickly became my friend during that time. I decided on a BMX even though the new suspicious areas were not malignant because I knew I would worry about my remaining breast tissue turning on me some day like a rabid dog. I had already spent two weeks mourning their loss anyway and was ready to let them go. I only used the Ativan for about a week prior to BMX and only once or twice since then for a day or two when I had a couple other life events that threw me for a loop.


    Will you get through this without anxiety meds? Yes, absolutely. But do you need to be miserable while you wait for your next surgery? Absolutely not. I can only speak for myself but I am now a firm believer in pharmaceutically provided temporary anxiety relief when necessary.


    Hang in there sweetie.


    xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

  • myers421
    myers421 Member Posts: 145
    edited November 2013


    What if you opt out of hormone therapy are they any stats on that? jw

  • goldie4040
    goldie4040 Member Posts: 404
    edited November 2013


    Sandra, you have had your share of disappointment. I have a good feeling about this exchange. I think you will be fine. You and me girl. We are going to get through this together...remember?


    Myer, my neighbor opted out. She was stage1, no chemo, bmx, and then tamoxifen. Her husband is a drug rep. and the researched a lot when she started having side effects she didn't want to live with, and they opted out. I don't think it was with the blessing of her MO, but she feels good about her decision because she lowered her odds a lot of the bmx

  • myers421
    myers421 Member Posts: 145
    edited November 2013


    Thanks Goldie, I opted out had the bmx and will follow up every 6 months with blood tests etc..


    Thanks again!

  • Layla2525
    Layla2525 Member Posts: 465
    edited November 2013


    Sandra, you are so right. I think the PS can not say for sure if I will have pain because everyone perceives pain in their own way. I went to my gen physician today and he gave me syringes to take home to give myself Vit b12 shots. I am terrified of needles!! I am taking these to the nurse at work tomorrow. Has anyone else had these shots?


    Goldie, the upper pole thing is partly a matter of the boobs doing their own thing. We have the fat grafting to help with that. The PS can also lipo it out. My PS tried to fix it with surg but the boobs kept doing their own thg. Anyone else have that issue?

  • goldie4040
    goldie4040 Member Posts: 404
    edited November 2013


    Layla, everybody has a different image in their heads of what they want their new boobs to look like. Personally, I just want something similar to what I had. I am petite, and I was barely a full B. I like that my blouses did pull tight across my chest, and I didn't have a lot of side boob. The only upper pole I had was my pec muscles from working out. I don't want big upper pole. To me it looks like porn boobs, or stripper boobs, as my husband calls them. Now, other women's ideal is the big upper pole large boob look. It's a matter of preference. I want a size boob that people would actually believe I don't need a bra for, like I had before. My PS will fat graft if he sees that I might have rippling in the upper pole, or cleavage area.


    Myers, you are welcome. I would probably make the same choice if I was as miserable as my neighbor was. I talked to her earlier, she said that it lowered her chance of recurrence by 1 percent if she took the tamoxifen. She said she would rather feel good. Now, those her her calculations, not her MO's.

  • cateyz2
    cateyz2 Member Posts: 253
    edited November 2013


    Sweetandspecial- what were your restrictions after exchange and for how long?


    Anyone else post-exchange what were your restrictions?

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