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Exchange City

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Comments

  • ktym
    ktym Member Posts: 673
    edited July 2009

    Firni: DS looking for a job too, so hard right now

    Misty: so sorry to hear about Malcolm, I've thought of him every day since his transplant.  Wish there was something I could do to help.  Hope something comes up for him fast. Would you be ok with me passing the news on to the January Jewels?  I notice you don't head back there much, but intermittently others have asked how he was doing and if anyone had heard from you.   If not I won't say anything 

  • DENRulzBC
    DENRulzBC Member Posts: 99
    edited July 2009

    Deborah,

    Yes, implants will be high profile, that's what HP is right?  Thanks, Dawn

  • misty123
    misty123 Member Posts: 63
    edited July 2009

    kmmd - I am heading there now.

  • ilovehorses2
    ilovehorses2 Member Posts: 29
    edited July 2009

    Whippetmom I hope when my exchange is done this lung stuff will be resolved. Rib cage compression is some thing I have been concerned about. But when I talked to my PS and Breast Surgeon they both said no worry.  My Physical T thinks it it can causes some thing to happen.  She is an MD too and she also as had several breast surgery's and has a TE in right now. I'm going to PT for my back,(siatica) and the elevated Diaphram thing. I can't wait for Sept to get here. Trying to keep busy so the time will pass quickly. Thoughts and prayers to all you lady's recovering and those having surgery this week. Di

  • Estepp
    Estepp Member Posts: 2,966
    edited July 2009

    ((((((((((((( ONCRN))))))))))))))))

    So prayin for you tomorrow... relax today....:)

  • Estepp
    Estepp Member Posts: 2,966
    edited July 2009

    Celine...

    One thing that worried and saddened my family was the fact that this cancer DX and all the treatment I have had to go through ( as many of us do)... would take my energy and excitement for life. I find it funny that through in Internet my energy is "felt"..lol...

    I am here to say.. Cancer did not and CANNOT have my energy and excitememt for life!

    I have slowed down over the past 5 yrs.. but that is age.. not cancer.....ROFLOL.....................

  • whippetmom
    whippetmom Member Posts: 6,028
    edited July 2009

    Celine:  I echo what Firni posted. 40 cc's over-expansion in the TE's is just fine.  Glad you are progressing well....

    Deen:  Oh, the excitement is yet to come!

    Sue:  So glad you are here!  TEXAS GALS - WE HAVE A NEWBIE TO EXCHANGE CITY AND SHE NEEDS REFERRALS TO A GREAT PS!!! I THINK IF SHE HAD THREE NAMES SHE COULD GET SOME CONSULTATIONS LINED UP.  SHE IS IN SAN ANTONIO.  THANKS Y'ALL!

  • whippetmom
    whippetmom Member Posts: 6,028
    edited July 2009

    ilovehorses:  You will get through this.  I'll keep you in my prayers.  I know this is a tough journey for you and September 14th will be here before you know it!

    Tracey:  Wowza!  Cannot wait to see the new girls in person!!!

  • swest
    swest Member Posts: 140
    edited July 2009
    Ok Deborah...I heard that Texas drawl over the internet. Wink
  • whippetmom
    whippetmom Member Posts: 6,028
    edited July 2009

    I am perdy good at faking a southern accent.....I was born in NC but grew up in CA - grew up around relatives with southern accents.  I have always lamented that my parents moved me from the south...

  • Annabella58
    Annabella58 Member Posts: 916
    edited July 2009

    Hello my dears, glad to see everyone is chattin away!  I see some new girls on the board (pun intended) Laura, my dear, so glad to see the Laura Charm is intact!  How are you feeling sweetie?

    Tracey, you look amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Did you go for cherries on top?

    loving my ladies!

    annie

  • val61
    val61 Member Posts: 969
    edited July 2009

    I know what you mean....despite growing up in the midwest, when we moved to SC for dh job, I realized I was born to be a southern belle!

    Being north of San Antonio, I don't know any ps's there.  I will, however, contact my ps' office to see if he has a recommendation.  TX is a big state, but the referral thread is pretty tight.  

    Jan1 - thanks for the tip on the drugs.  This was really my first surgery, other than a knee scope, so really my first experience with narcotics.  Believe me, everybody will KNOW not to give me demerol this time!

  • whippetmom
    whippetmom Member Posts: 6,028
    edited July 2009

    FOR FUTURE REFERENCE:

    Salvaging Infected Tissue Expanders: [Journals of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - March, 2008]

    "When tissue expander sites are infected, it often results in removal of the expander. To salvage the infected expander and achieve full expansion, we devised a new continuous irrigation method with intermittent aspiration. In this method, the continuous irrigation of the tissue expander pocket was performed without removal of the expander. Saline was continuously infused at 50 ml h(-1) via the IVH catheter and intermittent aspiration was done at 10 cm H(2)O negative pressure via the suction drainage tube for 3 min per hour until the infection was under control. We performed this method on two cases of infection of tissue expander sites and salvaged both expanders. After controlling the infection, reconstructions were successfully performed with enough skin expansion. In this method, the expander left in the pocket acts not only in maintaining the expanded pocket but also helps in irrigating the inner surface of the skin pocket. This method can perform effective irrigation with a relatively small amount of saline (1200 ml per day) and salvage the tissue expander."

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19091644

    Just posting in the event someone is doing a search for this down the road...

  • 4greatkids
    4greatkids Member Posts: 89
    edited July 2009

    Wow, so much activity in less than 24 hours. I need to have some quiet time to catch up on all of the posts. Right now its raining here yet again and I am hearing the word Mom every 3 minutes. Love everyones new avitars. I tried to put one up. Hopefully this time it worked as I have tried before but never realized it wasn't working because I didn't hit enter.

  • whippetmom
    whippetmom Member Posts: 6,028
    edited July 2009

    4greatkids:  We need a close up - can you zoom in on this avatar?  I need to change mine too!!

    Dawn:  HP's - yes, high profile.  Sounds good to me!

  • 4greatkids
    4greatkids Member Posts: 89
    edited July 2009
    Deborah- Now you're asking a lot, lol. I'll try to figure that out. Of course, the 4 kids all know how to do it.
  • KarenLazarovitz
    KarenLazarovitz Member Posts: 5
    edited July 2009

    Hi Ladies,

    I'm so happy to have found this forum :)

    I am in the tissue expander stage of my reconstruction.  I'm hoping some of you ladies can help me.  I presently have 360 cc's of saline in my expanders.  I am 5 feet 4 inches tall and I'm a size 5-7.  My pre-mastectomy size was a C34.  I would love to be a big B but my PS also doesn't talk in cup size.  He did tell me that he will overexpand me so that he will have more skin to work with.  Any of you ladies able to give me an idea of how many CC's should I be aiming for.

    BTW, I think that all of you are amazing.  I am BRCA2 and am fortunate to have found out my status before I ever had to deal with cancer.  Most of the women in my family have been affected and I didn't want to live my life with the fear so I had a preventative PBM on April 30th of this year.  I can only imgine how difficult it is to go through all of this and treatment as well.

    Karen

    xo

  • KarenLazarovitz
    KarenLazarovitz Member Posts: 5
    edited July 2009

    Hi Ladies,

    I'm so happy to have found this forum :)

    I am in the tissue expander stage of my reconstruction.  I'm hoping some of you ladies can help me.  I presently have 360 cc's of saline in my expanders.  I am 5 feet 4 inches tall and I'm a size 5-7.  My pre-mastectomy size was a C34.  I would love to be a big B but my PS also doesn't talk in cup size.  He did tell me that he will overexpand me so that he will have more skin to work with.  Any of you ladies able to give me an idea of how many CC's should I be aiming for.

    BTW, I think that all of you are amazing.  I am BRCA2 and am fortunate to have found out my status before I ever had to deal with cancer.  Most of the women in my family have been affected and I didn't want to live my life with the fear so I had a preventative PBM on April 30th of this year.  I can only imgine how difficult it is to go through all of this and treatment as well.

    Karen

    xo

  • 4greatkids
    4greatkids Member Posts: 89
    edited July 2009

    Welcome Karen-I thought I too would have the opportunity to have a PBM. In the blink of an eye, literally, found out that I had two sisters and 3 aunts with breast cancer. I immediately thought that I would be having a pbm. Then low and belold I had a positive mammo/ mri and was diagnosed with dcis. It was so hard to wrap my head around. I think you are very brave to have had the bm before you had to face any other treatments.

    There are some wonderful ladies here who can help you with your expander/implant size. I would be lost without this sight.  My kids make fun of me because they say when I am reading posts I tune them out completely. I just tell them that this is my facebook!!

  • whippetmom
    whippetmom Member Posts: 6,028
    edited July 2009

    Karen:  Welcome!! Could you get some additional info re: your TE's?  Are they Mentor or Allergan and we need the total fill capacity and style number.  Mentor has three TE's [standards, apart from Becker, etc.] and Allergan has about six styles.  Your PS will have this and you might have been given a little card with this info at the time of surgery.  Also, your ribcage measurement -circumference around your ribs just below the bra line.

  • bobcat
    bobcat Member Posts: 526
    edited July 2009

    tracey - those girls are gorgeous - glad you like them.  When people find out I've had BC they always look at my chest.  I just say, Yep, there fake but I love em.

  • KarenLazarovitz
    KarenLazarovitz Member Posts: 5
    edited July 2009

    Hi Denise, thanks for welcoming me!  You have a crazy story.  It makes me grateful to have given cancer a pre-emptive strike!  My cousin waiting almost 8 years to do the testing and now unfortunatly she is battling ovarian cancer.  She's fighting hard though!!! 

    Hi Whippetmom :)

    Thanks for all the information.  I don't yet have any of the information that you asked, LOL.  I'm pretty sure that they will be Mentor.  I am seeing him again in two weeks and i'm going to start finding out a bit more about the implants.  I know that they will be the cohesive gel but that's about all right now.  As soon as I find it out, I will let you know.  I reaslly appreciate the help :)

  • KarenLazarovitz
    KarenLazarovitz Member Posts: 5
    edited July 2009

    Hi Denise, thanks for welcoming me!  You have a crazy story.  It makes me grateful to have given cancer a pre-emptive strike!  My cousin waiting almost 8 years to do the testing and now unfortunatly she is battling ovarian cancer.  She's fighting hard though!!! 

    Hi Whippetmom :)

    Thanks for all the information.  I don't yet have any of the information that you asked, LOL.  I'm pretty sure that they will be Mentor.  I am seeing him again in two weeks and i'm going to start finding out a bit more about the implants.  I know that they will be the cohesive gel but that's about all right now.  As soon as I find it out, I will let you know.  I reaslly appreciate the help :)

  • packergirl
    packergirl Member Posts: 81
    edited July 2009

    Welcome Karen! Your going to love this group of ladies. They are knowledgeable and kind!

    Ladies- I need to ask a reconstruction process question. How many of you had your PS measure you to determine what size your implants should be? By measure I mean things like ribcage, distance from collar bone to where the midline of breast would be, shoulder width, waist, etc. Since all these things impact what size implant fits our body shape it would seem to reason that we need these measurement to understand what the end result is we are shooting for. Maybe this measuring should even should be done before TE placement?

    I have never had these measurements done and I am wondering if it is because I am a delayed reconstruction. I am having a really tough time trying to figure out what my PS is trying to acheive since I have low profile expanders which are going to look different then a HP implant. So I have NO idea when to call it quits with expansion. I have 450cc expanders and before ths whole process started the PS thought I would need 600-700cc implants to be a C cup on my 5'9" 150lb frame. I have 510cc in my TE's now. Any advice out there on how to tell when your expanded enough when the final implant will look nothing like the TE profile?

  • Estepp
    Estepp Member Posts: 2,966
    edited July 2009

    (((( Karen))))) Welcome!

    Packergirl... I had the low TE too.. I was measured from top to bottom prior to placement of them. My PS said thay have better outcome and look better in cloths going through expansion.. Who knows.. this is his way..

    A friend of mine is 5ft 9 and about 150-170... she has in 525CC and IS WAY TO SMALL and having redo.. they will give her 700C to get the FULL C cup she wants.. Small D. Which fits her frame.

    I have 450CC and am a good C and that fits my 5ft1ish..115ish.. frame...:)

    So hard I know.. Deb will be along soon and maybe Sandy too.. they are good at this.. I think both these gals agreed I should do the 450 HP and they were right.

    Also.. HP look ssooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better that the low profile TE..LOL..

    I should take another side profile today for the picture page... my boobs are getting higher... even more HP in the upper pole... which I like.

    L.

  • mooma
    mooma Member Posts: 9
    edited July 2009

    Misty...my heart and my prayers are with Malcolm.  He is on every prayer list I know about and will stay there!

    Welcome Sue and Carolyn...you are going to love these women!

    4greatkids...they actually looked like expanders not filled all the way up!  Today, day 3 they look much better.  I am getting ready to post a pic of the 'new ones' in a minute.

  • whippetmom
    whippetmom Member Posts: 6,028
    edited July 2009

    Karen:  I see you are in Canada and so I am sure your PS is thinking of using the Mentor CPG's or the Allergan 410's, but do some research on this before you have your exchange.  Be aware of the pros and cons of the anatomical highly cohesive gels.  Talk to some of the women on these forums who have them - many of them have had or are going to have them switched out for the silicone rounds.  For some they are the perfect fit but there seems to be a considerable number who feel otherwise.  Here is one thread...

    http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/44/topic/737705?page=1#post_1446975

  • georganne
    georganne Member Posts: 56
    edited July 2009

    Wow ladies, I was busy and hadn't read for days and had 5 pages to catch up on. 

    As always, I think of you everyday in my prayers. Malcolm is included. I agree with what someone else described about the friendships establishing and growing here. It's wonderful and I'm certain you've all helped me through this journey immensely.   I read that we have a new grandma. Isn't it great to have something so nice to focus upon?  My granddaughter is 3 and is coming here for the weekend. I'm Nana. We'll swim and play at the park as long as this fickle PA weather permits.  

    Deborah - my PS told me no more mammograms but he did say i'd need MRIs every 2 years for survelliance on the silicone implants.  

    Hugs and prayers, Georganne

  • whippetmom
    whippetmom Member Posts: 6,028
    edited July 2009

    I have gone over the numbers with packergirl.  My PS performed all of the measurements prior to surgery.  However, this is not a prerequisite to good reconstruction.  My sister's PS is a fabulous breast surgeon - she knows her stuff and she knows it enough to just eyeball her patient and thereby determine which TE to use and which implant she will be placing her in at the time of exchange.  So measurements are not always necessary for a good result.

  • 4greatkids
    4greatkids Member Posts: 89
    edited July 2009

    I don't remember my PS doing any measurements on me. He didn't do it last week when I had my pre-exchange visit. I don't remember him doing it on my initial consult, but I think I was still in shock at that point and  mybe I just don't remember. I was also thinking that maybe he did it in the OR before my expanders went in. But, to my recollection, he didn't measure me. I have seen his work, so I do trust him. I'll let you all know in two weeks....

    Mooma- Glad you are liking the new girls better today. I was wondering if it was hard to deal with the te's in the heat of Florida. My te's look ridiculous in a bathing suit, so I haven't worn one all year. Although the weather in NY has been skeetchy at best this summer.

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