Exchange City
Comments
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No fevers. Up until yesterday was having frequent hotflashes now I can't seem to get warm. But no fevers or shaking chills.
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Elsie - I hate that you're still suffering. If it's any consolation, I too started to have hot flashes and night sweats after my BMX and then they slowed down and were tolerable until my exchange on 12/26 when they came back with a vengeance. I thought I was past all that, but I guess not. Lucky us. I hope the clindamycin helps!
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I have been on allegra for years so I am taking that also. The Benadryl has caused me restless legs. I could take another pill for that but I don't want to keep adding pills.
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Oh I hate the hot flashes! I was given Prozac for them, and while it's really helped, I still get them. I just don't get as sweaty as before now.
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My PS gave me a chest strap at my follow up visit for both to drop down.....wore it for about 3 weeks. My exchange was April 15.
Now PS think one foob is perfect.....at post op last week for nips/fat grafting ......fat was taken off side of my legs at the joint, too bad fat gafting. really didn't make a difference, except I have 5 scars now above & besides my foob...only slightly yellow bruises for a few days....not painful
I think nips are perfect (a little large, but are suppose to shrink)...they look real, and I do have feeling...my skin & alloderm was used, no tatoos yet....too bad he installed one LOWER than the other,and that foob is what my PS called "floppy"...another surgery to fix floppy and change in nip location is in my future.
(Ladies, when I saw my new foobs, I thought they looked like smashed bagels!
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Di2012 - 'Smashed bagels' is a great description!
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Di, how do you feel about the side the PS thinks is perfect? Do you think the next surgery will be your last? You have really been under the knife a lot this past year, so I hope the next time they turn out perfect!
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I have hot flashes night sweats and day sweat....I hate it....I understand estrogen patch is okay if ovaries and uterus gone (mine are).....but I have yet to find a doctor who will give me an RX......
A Breast Center nurse-manager for 25 years talked at at a cancer group and she said that has been found to be okay.....I am going to call her!
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Andrea, I agree....one is PERFECT.....will be super perfect when I get tatoos.....I am nervous that lefty will not be perfect, but better than it is now....plus one more scar, it will be horizontal ....(my mx scar goes vertical from center of foob down)
Yes lots of surgeries in the last year and a half....11surgeries!!!!
...4 before DX with breast cancer!
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Andrea, I agree....one is PERFECT.....will be super perfect when I get tatoos.....I am nervous that lefty will not be perfect, but better than it is now....plus one more scar it will be horizontal ....(my mx scar goes vertical from center of foob down)
Yes lots of surgeries in the last year and a half....11surgeries!!!!
...4 before DX with breast cancer!
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Di2012 - Prayers that leftie comes around! I wish you nothing but a perfect outcome.
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Az85048....THANK YOU.....BUT being 66..... uhhhh......Nothing goes up....and since the foob went south and nip was installed also south of other side's nip, and was off by a "a little more than a CM" according to PS, I said more like an inch plus! I would be a true miracle if foob/nip went north (up) an inch+ without surgery
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Di2012 - Believe me I know; gravity is not our friend. I'm only about three years younger than you, so I completely understand. My leftie is the one that seems to want to hide under my armpit for some weird reason, but PS says it will straighten out, so all I can do is wait and see...
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What is the typical recovery period for the exchange? I'm having a bilateral masectomy on January 29. When I'm ready to do the exchange what is the level of pain and typical time to be out of work to recover?
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Mommyathome - I can only speak for myself, but the pain and recovery time between my BMX and the exchange were night and day. I took two weeks off for the BMX, and that was about right for me. For the exchange I took a week and that was about right. I'm a little better than two weeks out right now and feeling good.
I'm not going to blow smoke here - the TEs are no fun at all. They're hard and painful and I had a lot of trouble with them, so when they were removed for the exchange it was a huge relief. Exchange surgery is so much easier. I took pain pills for 24 hours and then slept through two cycles, so I stopped. I hope that helps you...
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BMX for me was a week recovery (no TE placement) 100 modified push per day after a week
TE placement surgery....the Worst pain ever
Exchange...ONE pain pill...did not nap at all....stayed up and like a normal day....no other meds at all....normal next day
Remember....everyone is different......
Di
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AR85048 - do you mean stitches versus glue? Or that I'm wearing the little vest still? It all probably works the same long term. I am still wearing the vest by choice, I was instructed to wear it only one week. I would expect some differences among physicians and even more variability across geographic regions. They go by findings by various outcome research, and they choose from what is within standard practice. No worries! We are going to get our Playboy boobs at some point, ha! And I'm going to encourage my steritape tomorrow ...hope it listens
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NisaVilla - No I just meant that some people are told to wear compression garments, or sports bars 24/7 right after exchange and some of us aren't told to do anything special except go home and heal. I think there are as many protocols as there are doctors, to be honest. And, Girl, when we get our Playboy boobs, you and I are going on a road trip to meet up with Hef, You game?
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surgery done! Yeah! Still sore and tired...
My implant side feels a lot better than my reduced side!
Lots of R and R for the next week!
Karen
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My exchange pain has been pretty good. More like my lx than the bmx, which was much more painful. Took norco only that first and second night, tylenol during the second day and nothing since. Not that its painless, but not bad at all. Im scheduled for 2 weeks off (took 6 for bmx), and while I like the thought of 'vacation' in January, might push going back earlier.
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Karen - Good news. Sounds like it all went well. Wishing you an uneventful recovery!
AZ - I am game! When I saw you wrote "bars 24/7" instead of "bras" I knew you were up to something...LOL. Will need a big bus though. I have a feeling my hubby and kids will want to come along! Nice Monday, and off to the office I go - happy for another day.
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I didn't ask PS Madry when I could go back but I did go back today, I hope this was a smart move?!? I feel good just tired.
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I went back to work today, went well. Did leave to go to see PS. They have had a lot of people with rashes recently. They did not know that the surgery center was sending the pt's home with hibiclens to shower with the morning of surgery. She thinks that it removes the skin's ability to fight infection by removing all normal bacteria. Thus I may have a fungal infection. Will be using antifungal from over the counter. It feels a little better, not as itchy. Hope I didn't just jinx myself. LOL.
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What is typical for recovery after the exchange? I was thinking a week or so. Is that too much? Not enough? I'm taking 8 weeks for bilateral masectomy...
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I was also given hibaclens to use for 3 days before surgery. Are they suggesting not to?
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Mommyathome - Every one of us is different and as such we heal at different rates, some better than others. When I had my BMX, I took two weeks off work. However, I can work from home, so it wasn't like I had to get dressed and go to an office every day when I went back. I also wanted to save some days because I knew (or at least hoped) I'd be having my exchange surgery at the end of the year and that's exactly what happened. My exchange surgery was on 12/26/13 and I took ten days off which was just about right for me. Hope that helps!
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I know nothing about hibaclens, as all I had to do was wash with an antibacterial soap the night before and the morning of surgery.
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Elsie - Glad you're feeling a little better!
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Girls, I hope you are kidding about Playboy boobs.
They aren't going to look like that and I don't want you to be disappointed because you had unrealistic expectations. They will be wider and flatter.
Mommy, as others have said, recovery is different for everyone. I didn't have TE's at first. I had a BMX and immediate implant insertion Aug. 23rd. I had a second surgery on Sept. 6th because of infection. I lost one implant and got a TE instead on that side. t took about 6 weeks to recover because I was anemic and my body had been through a lot in a short time. Fills started 3 weeks after TE placement.
Once the TE was full, I waited 5 weeks for the exchange surgery on Dec. 6th. I'm 5 weeks out from that surgery now and still not back up to speed although the incisions were nearly healed at 2 weeks. The pain, primarily on my ribs and sides, from the exchange was the worst and there were no complications this time!. The pockets had to be revised though to accommodate the new kind of implants and that's what causes a lot of pain. So you see, we are all very different. It will depend on what the surgeon does and how fast those internal stitches heal.
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AZ thanks! Yes I was also told that because I'm a new teacher, I began this August that I don't qualify for FMLA. I only have 5 sick days left. I don't want to compromise my healing and recovery by going back to early. In my contract after my sick days I get 45 days in which I have to pay my own sub and then I get the difference in pay. But because I'm a new teacher there won't be much of a difference at all. I was assured that they are going to keep my job and I won't be at risk, however legally they don't have to.
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