Exchange City
Comments
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DebAL, I believe that today is your exchange surgery. Wishing you all the best and an easy recovery. When you’re feeling up to it, please check in and give us an update. As I’m up next Wednesday, I’ll be interested to hear how you’re doing. Best wishes
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Good morning! Exchange is over and feeling pretty good. Thanks Rachel, I need to look into a more supportive bra in the next few days. Never did find the "perfect" one even after my mastectomy. I love your quote about not doing just because we can. Everything went well. I believe I have a 450 high profile round mentor implants. I peeked briefly lol pretty bruised. My belly is REALLY bruised from the fat grafting but he warned me. Can't wait to see how it looks by the weekend lol. I look 4 months pregnant even with my spanx on. My surgery went 3 hours. Reason being I'm relatively thin and he mentioned its tedious work to lipo and collect the amount of filtered fat needed. He managed to get what he needed but I will count the holes and let u know! . I believe there is a suture in each one. Like others said I feel like I've been punched HARD. More of a soreness than pain and way easier than mastectomy in my opinion. Just walked a slow mile and a half around the block but it felt good. Plan on a few cat naps today. Not looking forward to 4 weeks of spanx in August. I got the ones for just the belly area. Maggie, Best wishes to you too!!
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Ok question, why do they wait 8-12 weeks after last te fill to do exchange?
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Sometimes, to give your skin time to adapt to the size of the fill volume...
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agree with scrafgal. My PS waits 4-6 weeks from last fill.
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Mine waited 5 weeks which she acknowledged was quick but but she was changing practices and I was only filled to 330.
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DebAL, it’s great to hear from you so soon after your surgery! That was quite a walk you’ve already had, even with your swollen belly and spanx.
Debsmisto, myPS also waits 4-6 weeks after the last fill, for the exact reason Scrafgal said.
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I'm asking because my PS wants to do exchange right after my last fill, reason is their practice won't do radiation if you have te's in only after the exchange and I need to start my radiation asap but I have to have an axillary node surgery first, it's a mess.
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Debmisto - I had radiation with my TEs. Exchange was scheduled 6-9 months after radiation to allow skin to heal (it loses elasticity). What will your PS do if your radiated side shrinks/contracts or the implant moves (as it often does)? Would you have another surgery? I thought that part of the exchange to implants surgery included correcting unwanted affects of radiation.
Lanne
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Debsmisto, My PS preferred doing the exchange before radiation as well, so I did my exchange four weeks after chemo and about 6 weeks after last fill. He said he prefers not to operate on radiated skin due to healing issues, so if I was able to delay starting radiation by a couple weeks, then he would rather do the exchange. I talked to my oncologists, and they felt the timing was fine, so that's what we did.
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I will be having my exchange in October. Reading most of the posts it seems most are getting fat grafting. Does that help with hiding the pec contacting with exercise
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No, I don't think grafting will help that. It will help hide ripples and fill in the upper poles or other places that need more coverage.
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Skiboots- if you are concerned about animation deformity (boobs looking weird during exercise), you may want to see if you’re a candidate for pre-pectoral reconstruction. In this type of reconstruction, the implants go on top of the chest muscle and the recovery is faster. It is often used in women who are very active.
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Hi Skiboots!
As ReadyAbout mentioned, prepec is a good solution for animation deformity if you are a good candidate. I had it done. My exchange from the tissue expanders to the implants was July 3. I have no animation deformity. I do not think fat grafting with sub pectoral would help with at all with animation deformity. Good luck!
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agree with the above posts. I am 4 days out from fat grafting and exchange. I was told I would bruise a lot but talk about ALOT my belly is bruised all the way around. Ended up being 3 hour surgery. However he did warn me that as a runner and not having a whole lot of fat that it would take awhile. Swelling is down some. Now I actually like the feel of the spanx which I did not the first couple days.
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Skiboots- I talked with two PSs at my Kaiser's Plastic Surgeon dept--one who only does pre-pec and the other who only (so far) does traditional. Both said that fat grafting will not fix animation. This is why I am strongly considering having my implants re-done. I have rippling, plus my right implant is moving over into my underarm, plus I have terrible animation. They both said pre-pec is the way to go. I wish I'd lived here (near my current Kaiser) when I had my exchange b/c I would've just done pre-pec. Now I need to have it done all over again b/c of the animation issue. Both PSs told me that a switch of my implants to pre-pec was the way to resolve it. Also, I don't have too much fat for grafting anyway.
I agree with checking out the pre-pec thread-- you might find it helpful.
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Just had my nipple reconstruction today and I am having a lot of pain with this. I feel like I’m having more pain than when I had my exchange surgery. Has anyone else had this experience? My doctor said I would not need pain meds but since the local wore off at about 2 pm (surgery was at 11am) I’ve taken 2 extra strength Tylenol, 1 extra strength Aleve and I just took 1 hydrocodone and it has not even taken the edge off?
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minute, I'm sorry you may be looking at another surgery but you need to be happy. I can't imagine dealing with all that animation even when trying to open a jar. I'm 5 days out from pre pec exchange. Still bruised and swollen. I also don't have much fat to transfer but he needed some to target certain areas to get the best cosmetic outcome. As an active person I just couldn't go with subpec. Even if it's not perfect due to my "thinness" i will take function over look any day. Best of luck to you. So frustrating I'm sure
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Jadalulu I didn't have any pain from my nipple recon because I don't have any feeling in my implants. It sounds like you might still have some feeling, which overall would be a good thing
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Two days ago, I just had my exchange surgery with fat grafting and chemo port removal. I can echo what so many others have said about the surgery. The donor sites for the fat are much more uncomfortable, swollen, and bruised than the actual implant incisions. I can't comment on nipple reconstruction and the associated pain with that procedure.
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hang in there maggie! Rest and recover this weekend.
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Anyone told to stop Tamoxifen before exchange surgery? Mine is coming up and no doctor has told me to stop. But my PS office is very disorganized so this is a ball they would totally drop.
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^ Yes, I've heard they tell you to take a break for a couple weeks, and then you restart a week or two after. My MO said he doesn't think there's any actual need for it, but surgeons usually prefer you stop.
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Thanks, DebAL. I have definitely been resting. The amount of bruising was a bit of a surprise.
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My oncologist said it depends on the PS whether they want you to stop the Tamoxifen and mine didn’t.
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The concern is for medications that interfere with clotting (aspirin), healing, or with the anesthesia.
I will be back this afternoon with the lists from my PS.
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hi everyone. Maggie, I'm sure you are still pretty ouchy! Hang in there!! I'm at day 10 and finally noticing improvement each day. PS had to work to get the amount of fat he needed so I'm assuming that's why I bruised pretty badly. Lovely color scheme on my belly right now. I have 4 stitches on abd and 1 on each nipple area to be removed. Implant incision is glued so not sure if that will get peeled off at my office appt tomorrow or not
My paperwork from surgery stated to stop tamoxifen a week before but AIs were ok to take. Hope everyone had a good weekend!
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List of medications to stop 2 weeks before and 1 week after surgery. This is from my PS group (about 10-12 surgeons).
Your surgeon may have other restrictions. Ask your surgeon if you have any questions.
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Jadalulu I had my nipple reconstruction done on the 17th. I felt pretty good until I finished sweeping my floor that evening. (Not a good idea.) Pain levels have been mostly manageable. I go back on Monday evening to have bandages removed. I’m so glad. The tape is making me itch something awful, and I am SOOO ready to get a shower. My PS also told me I wouldn’t need pain meds more than just tylenol but the first night I felt like I needed more. Nothing helped. After that first night and the first day post I started feeling better. It’s not painful now. Hope you are doing well and the pain for you has eased. (My PS said that feeling pain and itching were good signs because thatmeans I’ve gotten back some of the sensations in my breasts)
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TaRenee thankfully that first night was really the worst of it! I couldn’t believe how painful it was though...probably the worst pain out of all my previous surgeries!0
