Exchange City
Comments
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Sandra I hope and pray that it all goes right for you! You deserve a break. Much love
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Wishing you an easy, complication free recovery, Sandra - I think you're about due, don't you? Take good care of yourself and I'll take the foobie warmth as a sign that this is all going to go your way this time.
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Sandra - I'm glad you have two warm hooters instead of one warm and one cold! Mine are both cold most of the time......
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Speaking of warm and cold feelings -- those of you who have had the exchange would you say you noticed a huge difference in temperature between the TE and the actual implants? I know a lot of people complain that the implants feel cold so I was wondering how much difference there is from the TE to the implant? Thanks!
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My implant changes. Sometimes it is cool. it is never cold. Right now it feels warm. I have also noticed that I can see the blueish lines of my veins across my skin again. It has been 12 weeks My TEs never felt cool that I can remember.
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4sewwhat - my TE never feel cold either so it made me wonder about the actual implants.
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On a non-exchange note -- it has been 6 months out since my original surgery and I can still see the scars on my right side where the drains were (there are 3 round red marks). Do these marks ever fade away?? Does anyone else still have these marks??
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I do still have those red dots but they continue to fade. Mine from last may are barely visible and the ones from September are getting there. Since I had smaller drains at exchange they faded quicker. And I have a darn drain right now, so yay, not!
My implants never feel cold from the inside if that makes sense. It is only when I put my hand on the skin it feels cool. It's not like my brain says " hey, get a sweater, your boob is cold!"
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well. My boobs don't feel cold. They are warm. I rarely notice them really..makes me so happy. My scars are fading still. But i do have scars from the drains. I have them from my pacemaker. I have them from my port. And of course the BMX scars. Not to mention from the mudflap sx. So i pretty much just ignore them. LOL.
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More often than not, mine are still cold (and not from the inside - cool to the touch). The two drain scars are barely visible after seven months, but the BMX scars that were fading nicely are now getting bigger on my left side as the foobs have dropped and fluffed. But you know what? Like Moon said, I don't really 'see' them anymore. They're just part of where I've been. Kind of like a road map...
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saw surgeon for expansion this morning and was given exchange date of 9th May! Currently at 290ml and will probably go to 400ml. I was expecting exchange in July and had been thinking it was so far off, I didn't need to think about it. Oh dear, now fretting!
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Sandra....HAPPY PERFECT healing this time!!! It is YOUR TIME!!! I am praying for you, and I so appreciate you here....
to the rest of you who say you "barely notice" your foobs.....oh sweet music to my ears! I cannot imagine! Exchange surgery in 31 1/2 hours....but, who's counting? Healthy, perfect healing to all of us!
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Ha, ha, I just felt my two boobs. My natural boob is very warm, and my foob is much cooler to the touch, though not really cold.
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mnmbeck - Less than 31 hours left... LOL, you sound like I did. I was so excited to be getting rid of those TEs! I had my exchange the day after Christmas, so to celebrate I made a ton of Christmas cookies (iced and decorated by hand even) and took them for everyone in the OR. Suffice to say that I was a very popular patient that day... I think they may have all been under the influence of a huge sugar rush but I didn't care! It was a like a big party and I didn't have to clean up afterward!
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AZ - that is fantastic! My domestic skills are on the lower end of spectrum and would probably end up giving critical theatre staff food poisoning and jeapodise my surgery!
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AZ - that is soooooo something that I would do. If I had been in my normal frame of mind I would have brought cupcakes or something for the staff at my exchange because it was right on my birthday. I was rather emotional that week, though, because my beloved boss (best one ever) had moved away the previous weekend with no word. It's a long story for the history books of corporate politics so I'll not go into it here. I've spoken to him several times since then though, and my DD and I visited him on a cross country drive getting her home to Michigan from Florida in October, so I did get past that emotional trauma. It did kind of spoil what should have been a happy, happy week for me .
hipz - my TEs were always toasty warm to the touch but my implants are typically quite cool to the touch unless I've just gotten out of the shower or have been cuddling up with the electric blanket or something like that.
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Haven't been here in awhile due to going back to work and being a single mom on top of complete exhaustion and fatigue. I just had my exchange on Monday and came home Tuesday afternoon.
I HATE THEM.
They sit really low and don't have the higher / upper fullness that was talked about originally. With the expanders at least I had fullness. Now there's like the flatlands between my neck and where the new breasts are. I have man boobs.
Not to mention you could drive a truck in between them and I can't squish them upwards. I cried all last night. I've gone through hell with this whole cancer crap. I was at least hoping for decent boobs out of it. SUCKS!
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Tessa, I hate to hear you are so unhappy with your results. While thinking about revision sucks when you thought you were done, I am sure that something can be done to fix this. So sorry you are going through this!
To you other wonderful ladies! I have a question. How long did your doctors want to wait after an infection to go back in and do anything? I have been told 2 months, 4 months, and now 6 months. I don't want to wait 6 but I don't want to go too soon either. I hate that every doc has a different answer!
Also I thought I would throw this out there....I consulted with a new PS monday just to get another opinion and see what he thought about fat grafting before we place a new TE? He is not completely sold on fat grafting for this application.
He recommends Hyperbaric treatment! I know they use it after flaps to try to prevent necrosis if it is starting, but I did not know they are using it like this. WhippetMom says go for it because it can also be beneficial to so many other things at the same time.
He wants me to do
90 minutes, 5 days a week, for 4 weeks. Then place TEs and do 4 more weeks.
And I thought rads was a time commitment!
I am now doing my homework. He also said that it might help with the LE and there could be weight loss! It can plug up your ears ao they check those before each treatment and it can cause or accelerate cataracts. But hey, so can Tamixifen! I also wonder what it might do for my chemo neuropathy in my ankle that was broken right before chemo?
Just found this interesting so I thout I would share. Sure Came at me from left field with this one!
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Tessa,
Give it some time. I did not like mine at first either. I am about 7 weeks out from exchange and I am liking them better. My PS wants to do fat grafting in May to help with the upper poles and the space between the two boobs. I understand the crying, have done it many times. When I had my exchange I thought everying would be solved but the truth is, life has changed. I will keep you in my thoughts.
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Thanks girls.
Julieped, my ps said they would "settle" more and to me that means sitting even LOWER. I can't get over this. Why did he tell me before surgery I'd have nice "upper fullness" and then give me these???
I put on a tank to see what I could expect and just cried. I was in recovery by 1 pm on Monday and was still wide awake at 3 am even after extra meds to put me to sleep. My adrenaline or something wouldn't let me. They checked my vitals at 3:30 am, gave me more meds at 4:30 and got me up to walk at 5:45. I had about 2 hrs aggregate total sleep. My eyes were completely red throughout the scelera like something out of a horror film. I finally see them. ......................................................................
I can't tell you the disappointment level I felt.
I'm so ashamed of how I look now. With the weight gain from the cancer meds my stomach now sticks out farther than these sorry excuses for implants do. I feel like a freak.
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So sorry TessaW! I have not had my exchange yet so I can't help too much but I have read multiple times here to give it some time before you actually see what your implants will look like so I am hoping I am able to do this (we shall see!). I am sending all my support your way
p.s. I see on your info that you had your double mastectomy in Jan and you already had your exchange?? Wow. That was fast. My PS said he would not even consider my exchange surgery until at least 4 months after my last "fill" (which was in Jan.) to give my skin plenty of time to adjust. Now I wonder if everyone else is having surgery quicker than me? Hmmm...
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Tessa. Hugs! But take a deep breath. Wait. Give yourself 2 months to really judge how they will be. Mine looked a bit flat ( they all do after the projection of the TEs. ) and a long ways apart. I could fit my 4 fingers flat between my foobs. Now 3 months later they are l just 2 fingers away. I'm other words just where they should be. The bottom of the foobs is a bit more than 1/2 way down my arms between the shoulder and elbow. Again just about where they should be for my larger older frame. I guess I'd forgotten how low cut things are to show cleavage! It's been awhile since I showed them off! So give it some time for things to settle and swelling to dissappear. Then you can make a decision. Don't rush. And take it easy don't rush into doing things before your body recovers.
4sew, I had never heard of hyperbaric for treatment after infection. That's super.
I waited 6 months between the 1st infection and my 2nd try. I had 3 weeks of IV abx and 3 weeks of oral abx. Then the 6 months.lost that implant in less than a month. Repeat above scenario. I am pretty sure I tried too soon after chemo ended. It was only 3 months PFC and I was still on Herceptin. They said it wouldn't matter. But i think i was so run down from chemo (and my little "Scenic detours" , like kidney failure) that my body could not hold it. My last try was almost exactly a year from previous syrgery. And so far so good. All in all it took 2 years for me. I am one of the exceptions, however. I think for most people 4 -6 months should be long enough.
Much love
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Thanks again to all you ladies who responded to my questions about the "cold feeling" as well as the drain scars. You are wonderful!! It is so nice to get real people feedback. The only other people who I know who have had BC are my mother (who passed away) and her her 3 sisters who don't talk about their BC - it is like pulling teeth to get answers from them. They don't even know what kind of cancer they had (estrogen positive? I don't know. Invasive Ductal? What's that? hahaha).
I was prepared for the mastectomy scars but not the drain scars so those have taken some getting used to. Also, I had two tumors this time around so they had to cut downwards to get all the tissue and I did not know this was going to be done until the day of surgery so it has taken me some time to get used to a really long downward facing scar on one side and a horizontal scar on the other. Here I had been looking at all these reconstruction pictures with two horizontal scars and getting used to the idea of that and mine are totally different. Oh well! I am the only one that sees them (no way am I letting my hubby see that - although he had to when he changed my dressings after surgery but I was drugged up then so I didn't care!)
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Hjp, the one thing we learn over and over is that everyone is different. I have 4 holes on one side for drains cause every sx they put them in a different place. LOL My BMX scars are horizontal but one is about 2 inches lower than the other. You'd think they'd be somewhat the same LOL. And if your DH saw them red and raw, the scars won't bother him and he should see that it exists. It's not gone away! It's NOT over! Sometimes that reminder is good. Much love
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I lost my left implant at 14 days post BMX w/perm implants. My infection was on the outside third of my left implant and across my side and underarm. There was no longer enough good skin to cover the implant so it came out and an empty TE was put in. After 3 more weeks of IV antibiotics, the infection was gone, the two drains were pulled and fills started. since was healing fine from the second surgery. I do not have radiated skin.
I had weekly fills on the left side for six more weeks. My PS waits one month from the last fill to do the exchange.
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Tessa,
Did your PS say exactly how you would have fullness above the implants? Did he say he would do fat grafting? Do you have anatomical implants or rounds? I have virtually no fat under my chest skin. My PS will be doing fat grafting at the next surgery. When I had my exchange over three months ago, he put in Allergan 410's which are much taller than rounds. They taper from the top down to the fullest part at the bottom but it's still flat above them up to my clavicle. The extra height covered some of the "divots" (deeper spots) on my chest but I have a long way to go to have anything approaching fullness in the upper pole.
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Hi MoonFlower!
Yup, Hyperbaric hit me out of left field! Wasn't expecting that at all!
His 6 month wait was for the infection, but the HB treatments are for rads damage. It is considered a "wound" so can fall under wound care.
I don't know how many rads girls he has done this with. He did tell me about one lady that had lumpectomy and rads 7-8 years ago. Had a recurrence so MX this time. He treated her with HB for the old rads damage and it made recon possible without a flap.
I think the theory is it helps with blood flow and tissue regeneration. Then after the TE it accelerates the healing process.
I find it a very interesting option and have started looking into it. Not sure how to fit 3+ hours a day for 8 weeks straight into the schedule though! Not to mention gas and parking expenses!
** I also meant to mention that we ran a culture 10 days after my removal and there were no signs of infection. I was only having to do oral clindamyacin.
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4sewwhat - I have never heard of the hyperbaric treatment until you mentioned it so I looked it up. It made me claustrophobic just looking at that thing! Very interesting stuff though.
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Tessa - hang in there sister! I know it's hard to see something so much less than what you had hoped for immediately after exchange but they WILL change over the next several weeks or even months. Be patient.......again.......sigh
Hipz - my PS requires a minimum 3-4 month wait after last fill before he'll do the exchange so you're not alone there. My last fill was april 11, 2013 and exchange was august 7. I wasn't having any pain or discomfort from the TEs so it wasn't really that hard for me to wait.
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hipz I had my MX in January and having my exchange next week. I think that is more the exception than the rule. What I do know for sure is that all PS seem to march to the beat of their own drummer! Everyone of them seem to do things a wee bit different than the next.
I am so incredibly nervous. I too have the thought in my head that this surgery is going to "fix" everything. I have made the choice to have round saline implants. I have a ton of reasons that don't seem to make sense to anyone but me, which is okay. Does anyone know if the "drop and fluff" is only relevant to silicone implants?
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