Exchange City
Comments
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Moon - I think I'll just wait it out for a few more weeks and see what happens. I have an appointment with my PS on the 20th and I'll see what she says. (God knows she's had way more experience with all of this than I have.) I may just have to wait for the implants to settle and go from there, but yes, I want to correct it as much as possible. Right now it makes me cringe (beats crying, right?) to see them. The shape of each one looks like it might turn out OK, but the nipples are absolutely in the wrong places. I guess there's such a thing as nipple relocation surgery, so that might be an option... All I want is a result I can live with and I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation after all of this. ;-) Hope your ridge gets softer! (My goodness that's an odd sentence! LOL!)
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Aviva, you look great for a few days out. I was bruised, but I had fat grafting. You do have great projection
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I have 410 gummies too, full height, full projection, 740's, and they don't look half as big as yours. You must be a tiny person...or I must be an enormous cow...yeah, it's probably me, darn it. Mooooooooooooo
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sandra4611 - I'm sorry but that last part made me spit my tea across the room. You are too funny!
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Update from surgery- had surgery yesterday to have implants removed I pretty sore. PS said he roughed the pocket up in order for the skin to heal..... That is an understatement. He did put two drains in for the constant fluid building up. Pretty loopy from the anteshia so have been sleeping a lot! Have not looked because bandaged up pretty good. So won't look until I go back to PS on Thursday. I cant imaginge what this is gonna look like. Looks weird loking down and seeing no breast! Just hoping to feel better soon.
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togethetness, my removed TE side looked like a, um, moon crater... but I lived with it in various stages for 2 years before I got my last fills..so don't get upset if that's what it looks like for you..If it were real flat, you would have to be stretched so much more to fit a new TE in. Your P'S left as much skin as he or she could so you would have room to expand again.
Sandra, if you're a moo, I must be a ( what does an elephant say??? LOL) Cut it out. You are lovely.
Az, I am sure it will be better as you heal. Much love to all
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Cheryl - It's typically OK to take Tylenol for pain before surgery as it doesn't act as a blood thinner like aspirin and ibuprofen. It's definitely not my go-to drug, but it helped a bit with headaches before my surgeries when I couldn't take my usual stuff. Check the fine print of your surgery instructions to see if it recommends Tylenol for pain. Otherwise, best to get the official OK from your PS or PA.
Best wishes to all. As always, seems there are success stories, worries, and problems posted here. Breast cancer - the gift that keeps on giving. Ugh
Hang in there everyone!!!
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Keep us posted Togetherness. Hope you feel better and better.
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Togetherness
I am so sorry to hear your implants needed to be removed, when I read this about an hour ago I thought too bad I didn't need mine removed so we could help each other through it. I had my exchange on Fri. (2nd time) because of thin skin. My new PS removed a scabbed area on the left breast and sutured together. As i was getting dressed this a.m. I noticed that that site is bleeding SO possible I will be in the same boat as you soon.
Much Love and comfort to you during this challenging time!
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myers - NO NEGATIVE THINKING! This exchange is going to work for you! Call your PS about the bleeding to confirm if it's to be expected or not and see what to do about it. Please don't go 'borrowing trouble' as my former boss was fond of saying by letting yourself think you're going to lose the implants. Stay positive honeybun and I'm sending positive vibes your way.......can you feel it?
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myers421 - I'm with sweetandspecial - you can do this, so don't give up yet! Sending nothing but positive thoughts and hugs your way. So sorry you've had such a rough time of this. Please let us know what your PS says....
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Im sure he will fix you right up if more work is necessary, Amy...Maybe it just wasnt bandaged well enough, or something similar to that.
Thanks, ladies, who said mine look good. I am more down about it all now than I was even before. I think I knew that the surgery, te etc were just part of the process, so now thats 'done' I have to wait thru the settling in. Right now theyre wider than the te were! More under my arms than before. But I keep telling myself, wait, wait, in a few weeks itll be different. Funny what your logic tells you but your emotions say otherwise!
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aviva - they do continue to change. I was quite pleased with mine right outa the chute (except for the mud-flaps which PS will be fixing sometime before summer). That being said, however, I realize that the implants feel even softer now than they did immediately after surgery (I'm 5 months post-exchange). They're nowhere near as soft and squishy as the aged originals, that would be impossible. The implants themselves are obviously a huge improvement over TEs for softness right away, but I didn't realize they would continue to soften up even more as time went on. The level of 'soft' is dependent, though, on whether the pecs are totally relaxed or not, at least for me. If I'm resting my head in my palm with my elbow on the sofa arm that implant isn't going to feel as soft as the opposite implant because the pec on the side being used is engaged. Make sense?
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it does, sweet, thanks for pointing that out. And the rational me totally understands the settling process. I am happy to be at this point in the process, and to see how they will go. Everyone here has been so kind and full of information so that all the steps have been easier. I feel for the ladies joining now and since I have, seeing others go thru what we have and the fear and trepidation.
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I know. Various versions of our own journies are beginning with each new diagnosis. Makes me sad.
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Aviva - Don't be discouraged. You really do look great and as to the 'far apart feeling', I wish you could see mine... 0______0 I know that under the arms feeling, too - I had it, but it's going away. I'm about two weeks ahead of you, and mine don't get in the way as much as they did right after the exchange. They've decided to come forward instead of hiding up in my arm pits. ;-) I also know waiting is the hardest part, but they say it will be worth it in the end, so I guess we just have to have a little more faith. Hope you have a great day!
sweetandspecial - I have a question... I've just started to notice that mine are very cold (like when I brush them with my arm I can feel it), and I mean way cooler than my body temperature - do you notice that in yours? It really surprised me, so just wondering if that's normal? Thanks for all of your great advice!
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Oh Myers for you sake I hope they cn be saved. It is an emotional roller coaster going through all this. Please keep us posted. My thoughts are with you as you see the PS. Best of luck!
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AZ850,
Mine tend to be much lower than body temp if I've been out in the cold. I also notice it after exercising. A shower or just time usually gets them back to "normal." When we ice skate the difference is not as great, probably because I wear lots of layers. Remember, there is no fat up there to insulate them.
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Dulcigirl - Thanks, but this seems to be all the time. Like last night when I was all snug and warm under the covers, I rolled over and the one my arm touched felt like ice. I'm very tall and thin and have been cold most of my life, but thought it odd that 'the new girls' were so much colder especially when the rest of me was warm and toasty. Thanks for the reply!
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Myers.......blood is a good sign....it means there is ŁIVE tissue there....(if you didn't rip a suture open)......have you called your PS?
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AZ85048 - yes, mine seem to be cold or at least cool to the touch nearly all the time. It kind of surprises me because when I had the TEs they nearly always felt very nice and warm. I don't worry about it because the skin color is good so I'm sure there's good blood flow. I'm sure I look pretty weird though when I'm just watching TV and have my hands up under my shirt warming up my boobs! It seem like if it were due to lack of fat like Dulci mentioned that my TE boobs would have been cold also. Maybe silicone doesn't conduct heat/cold the same as saline?
So now picture this. Here I sit at my desk in my office at work and I just checked out the temp of my left breast with my right hand and my right breast with my left hand........lol! I'm wearing a scoop neck shirt with no bra because I brought the wrong bra to the gym this morning, so I was able to just stick my hands in my shirt for a feel. I guess you could say I just felt myself up! Right this minute they're both toasty warm - but I can assure you that's the exception rather than the rule.
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I havent had my exchange, yet. But my PS already warned me that the implants will feel cold all the time ..."like cold butt cheeks on your chest." I am actually assured to hear that some of you dont experience that 24/7!
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Lisa Jayne - thanks for the laugh!
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I'm 5.5 weeks out from the exchange and mine don't feel cold, ever. They are toasty warm all the time. I have silicone gummies now but had saline at first and they weren't cold either. No problem with TE being cold. Maybe I'm just warm-chested. LOL. I have cold hands and a cold nose in the winter but can sure keep those foobs nice and hot.
I often cross my arms across my chest (never wear a bra) to warm my hands. 0 -
I never felt cold with my 800 filled saline. They feel pretty to me. Now of course I'll be feeling them all the time. Hopefully I'll not do it in public cause I'll forget I'm not alone.... LOL
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Moon - another good laugh.
I've had Allergan 410 anatomical silicone and they've never felt cold. The rest of me? Cold all the time.
Sandra - I even ask for a 'nose warmer' for Christmas a couple of years ago and my DIL found a hand-knitted one that hooks over my ears. I wear it around the house. Did you see the new hand warmers at Plow & Hearth that charge through your computer's UPS port? Wild.
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minus, I want a picture of that! LOL.
Also I usually get a "Cold Wave" that lasts about a half hour or longer. Then I get a hot flash. I may or may not get another one. Now that I've been on an AI for 1 year and 5 months I am not getting them that often But every now and then I Just cant get warm!
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Togetherness,
I know how you feel because I lost an implant too. It was 2 weeks after my BMX with immediate implants so I hadn't had them long. I kept the other implant (they were 800 cc saline rounds) so it was a bit of a shock to see the difference in the two sides. It might not have been if I'd lost both, I don't know.
Anyway, I was flat on one side, but not concave. (Maybe because I had a TE put in?) You could feel and see the edges of the TE...kind of felt like a big giant rolled up condom under there. Even though I lost a lot of skin, muscle, and other tissue under my arm and along the side of the former implant, the antibiotic and the skillful PS managed to save about 2/3 of the skin over the implant. It was very wrinkled but didn't hang down. I was just flat. After three weeks, the last of the drains were out and I started getting fills. Even though I hadn't had the implants for very long, they had stretched the pec muscles pretty good in only 2 weeks. I got 180 cc's the first fill and 240 cc's the second time with absolutely no pain. It just filled out the wrinkles and formed a little mound. Never had any muscle spasms or complaints. I got up to 740 cc's on that side and it wasn't until the last 60 cc fill that my pec muscles revolted and was in miserable pain and covered in lidocaine patches for a couple of days. I told the PS I was finished and 740 would have to be good enough.
The exchange was hard because the PS changed my implants to 410 gummies so the pockets had to be re-worked. I was so bloody scared about getting another infection, I was a blubbering baby as I waited to go to the OR. So far, so good, but I remember Moon was ok for weeks before she got an infection and lost her implants, again, and had to start all over, again.
If you decide to try it again, you might have an easy time of it with TE's, like I did.
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Nose warmer! What a great idea. I usually cuddle with one of my cats, in my recliner with blankets and a hoodie, my nose buried in his/her fur. (And my cold hands being warmed by my foobs.)
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sweetandspecial - OMG, just logged on and saw your post. I have tears running down my cheeks, I'm laughing so hard! Thanks for that! I took a shower earlier and they did warm up for a bit after that, but have gone right back to feeling cold. Well, as long as it's normal, I'm good. Thanks for the input (and the visual)!
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