Exchange City
Comments
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Hi Previvor 101,
Thanks for explaining the histamine thing, I feel so out of it, anesthesia always messes with me and the other meds they had me on, and my concern of what I thought they should look like ect... I'm down to just my antibiotic as of today and I am hoping to get with it soon, I've been really trying to hydrate and flush out alot of the meds. and do more walking, I have walked everyday since surgery. I didn't have to much pain just a lot of swelling and a little emotional. Thanks for your reply. Good luck with your up coming exchange surgery.
J
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Yes, revisions are part of the whole breast reconstruction process and are covered by insurance, subject to deductibles and co-payments and all that crap, of course. I think it was the Women's Health Insurance Act of 1998 that made insurance companies start paying for more of the subsequent surgical procedures than just the mastectomy or lumpectomy, as well as prophylactic mx of a healthy breast when the other breast had cancer.
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S&S, I'll be in your pocket tomorrow! Here's hoping it will be just what you want!
Juneyb, I was glad you asked because that's something I never heard before! So thanks previvor for the answer.
Bud, I had one mudflap done when he went in to put my TE back in the 2nd time. The other side was done during exchange. He didn't take as much on the right side. So I'm a bit lopsided. I'd think about going back but I'm getting my knee done first. And even if I don't go back it's not the end of the world. I lived only half done for 2 years so a bit of extra side boobage just isn't that bad for me! LOL.
Much love to all.
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I just had my exchange done yesterday. My silicon is so mis-shapped. Is this normal? I feel like I have bubbles below my normal breasts
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thanks everyone! My exchange went well! We got home around 4 this afternoon. I was soo sleepy from the anti nausea meds, though. Haven't taken a Percocet since 5, so the pain pump must be doing its job. My port scar is stinging, the most!
Back to sleep - I'm trying to find a way to hold the ipad that doesn't make me tense my pecs.
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MCK and Bink. Welcome to the squishy side. Now, step away from the mirror! Remember everything will change for the next couple MONTHS. Don't judge right away because you will see the changes day by day do don't drive yourself crazy. Also, when you are over the sx pain don't try to so too much. As in the mantra, "JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN, DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD".
Much love.
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Maddy, congrats on your one year anniversary....just 4 days after mine anniversary!
Di
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M addy and DI congrats on your 'versaries
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Lisa Janye,
good luck on your "fix" tomorrow....
maybe your PS doesn't want to take too much since it might be a strain on the pec muscle.....you don"t want to be T-rex again!
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I guess my PS should have warned me that they would be so out of shape.
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Thanks
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Bink, what you are experiencing is completely normal. Plastic surgeons are not always very good at explaining things ahead of time which results in us being shocked by what we see. I remember thinking my implants looked like someone had taken some very small Chinese take out mini boxes, soaked them in water and then stuck them on my chest. They leaned in different directions and had edges in some places. Each side will settle in at its own pace and will smooth out and get rounder. Try to be patient. It WILL happen for you just like it has for all of us.
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McKatherine and Bink182 - Welcome to the squishie side! (I'm going to give you pretty much the same advice that Moon did - because it's what you need to hear right now.) Step away from the mirror!
We all did it, but there's just no sense in worrying about anything other than resting and healing this soon after exchange. Keep in mind that everything will change for the next few months (and I mean like three or four months). So don't judge the way you look today, because you'll just drive yourself crazy. The new girls will look completely different in a couple of months, so give it TIME! You're going to feel better in the next couple of days, and it will be an effort NOT to overdo, but you have to let the swelling go down and give the insides a chance to heal too! "JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN, DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD" - is truer post exchange than ever before. Good luck, heal well, and rest as much as you can! ...
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Thank you so much for your reply. It has just been a long road as I am sure you will all agree. I am just so over it.
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I can only echo the mirror thing! But, I did have my PS stand by me in his wall mirror so he could set my expectations and show me what was happening. They forget to do that. This is nothing like the fun implants I had put in decades ago - that was a breeze. So, I was thinking this would be like that. It's not. Much more work goes into this.
Second thing, DO NOT overdo it. I did and boy am I paying for it. I've just crashed and gotten "in trouble" by my PS. Now I'm sore and exhausted. Listen and go slow, don't be kicking up your heels or lifting a lot. Be gentle with yourself.
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nwgirl It's so good to hear positive exchange experiences, thank you!
sandra I haven't read the implant sizing thread, i'll have to go read that!
2ndtime and previvor I couldn't believe the surgery was outpatient either. I know there are benefits to outpatient but I really think I would have been better off in the hospital even just 24 hours.
grammakathy It's interesting to hear someone else who had a mastectomy/ies with TE placement done outpatient. I have a good friend who had a BMX only outpatient and it was a piece of cake for her. I'm glad you had a better experience than me! My PS seemed surprised at how rough it was for me to be outpatient.
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mommyathome I know how you feel not being able to think about more reconstruction stuff beyond the exchange. My PS asked me if I had any feelings about if I wanted to do nipple reconstruction. I just said a very quick no!
But then she told me that I can do that whenever I would choose to down the road. So not to stress about deciding about it now. 0 -
I did call a nurse friend of mine after I got home and started to stress about the small underarm markups. She's actually the office manager of the specialty clinic associated with our hospital and knows my PS very well, plus her daughter and mine have been friends forever and she lives right across the road. She said definitely ask about it before surgery today but it's most likely that he wants to keep the incisional area small and not take too much skin so suture won't end up being too stretched or otherwise compromised. He likely plans to remove much more tissue internally than the small marked up areas would seem to indicate. I likened it to the BMX. The incisions are not indicative of the large amount of tissue that was removed internally above, below and to the sides of the incisions. It made me feel a little more settled, but will still quiz PS today. I'd rather make sure we understand each other and have him re-mark me today than wake up disappointed.
And......OMG......it is SOOOO hard to not even have a drink of water when I don't have to be at the hospital until noon! I've got notes taped all over the house saying 'NO FOOD OR DRINK!'. I stayed up late and had a bite to eat about 11:30, then took my ambien and melatonin. I slept as late as I could then laid there reading and watching TV, then DD called and I had a long conversation with her, and it's still only 9:45am! I'M STARVING! I've never had a surgical procedure this late in the day. Well, BMX was at something like noon or 1:00 but I had to be at the hospital by 7am that day and must have been given something quite promptly that apparently kept me from realizing I might be hungry.
Gotta go get busy with something or I'm gonna drive myself crazy........
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sweetandspecial - I know how you feel, My BMX was at 4 PM and my exchange was at 5 PM. Each made for a very l o n g day! By now you should be in dreamland... Thinking of you and waiting to hear.
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S'S here's hoping the sx is everything you need it to be.
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just catching up
S&S, Sorry this is probably too late for you. I had that very revision (you probably knew that). Wasn't marked up till just minutes prior to sx (or it felt like that) so I didn't see the marks. I'm pretty much happy with the results, wishing the incision line didn't extend so far into my back area, maybe your PS is trying to avoid this. (Have since told her as a lesson learned, should have crossed my arms over my chest, reach to the back and excision lines shouldn't be longer than this so I can put silicone ointment on by myself). Hoping you're through sx by now. Don't do too much today.
Di, congrats on your anniversary too!
Di and Moon, thank you!
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Sweet, I KNOW how you feel. This morning when I checked in at the hospital for my endoscopy and colonoscopy they asked when I'd last eaten. "Day before yesterday" was my answer. That cup of chicken broth yesterday didn't count. It's just as well that I couldn't eat yesterday because I felt yucky from the bowel prep. Even if I had been allowed to eat something, I was too busy trying to choke down the gallon of Golightly all evening and after midnight to even think about food.
One good thing...scale is down 2 lbs. Guess I was full of ......
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Sandra- funny!
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Sandra - You are always full of warmth, compassion, humor, and great advice, but most definitely NOT full of _ _ _ _! (Cute picture!)
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Sandra.....love the pic!.....naaaa NOT full of ______
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Sandra, I prefer to think it was mostly water weight (I know, who am I kidding?). Hoping it went well and you enjoy your meal tonight. Praying all results are normal.
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Sandra - too funny! When I had my colonoscopy in April 2013 I did some math and calculated that at any given time I'm apparently about 2.7% poop!
I had to respond to Sandra first because just remembering the '2.7% poop' thing made me laugh out loud, but I'll finish catching up on posts and then report on today's surgery.
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Huh, there wasn't as much on the next page as I was expecting so here's my update:
All went well. I was my PS's 3rd procedure for the day and instead of 1:15pm I didn't get wheeled in until just after 3pm. That's OK - I would rather have him be meticulous enough with the first two surgeries and start late with me than have him try to beat the clock to stay on time, right?
I did ask him about what I felt seemed to be rather 'small' markups from yesterday and that I was worried that he wouldn't be taking enough 'fluff' out. He had to re-mark anyway because showering with hibiclens caused a lot of fading of yesterday's mark-ups. No mirror in the room but DH said he nearly doubled the area of the markups so it's good that I asked. I'm in a surgical bra until a follow-up visit on Monday, so I'm practicing the old 'Step away from the mirror' thing and am not going to focus on anything except resting, healing, reading and maybe catching up on the current season of Game of Thrones
for the next couple of days.Staff was awesome, very caring. Considering the fact that it's a small town and my DH, me and my kids were all born and raised here means that there was some 'catching up' to do because our kids and their kids were in school and sports together, at least with a few of them. That was nice considering the time we had to pass waiting.
No real discomfort yet, but I've got Norco and will be staying on top of anything that starts up. \
Pizza and wings just got delivered so I'm sorry, but I'm gonna ditch my surgery sisters for now.....lol!
Love to all!
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YAY, Sweet!!! Happy healing (and pizza!) to you. Rest, rest, rest!
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sweetandspecial - So glad to hear that all went well! Mmmmm, wings... now I'm hungry!
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