Exchange City
Comments
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Deborah -- woo hoo on the nips! Hope they heal up nicely and please you
Jazzy -- sorry no nips yet but perfecting the foobs sounds like a great plan! Hope you also heal up nicely and that the pain ends soon. Is your tummy flatter (did they at least remove fat evenly)?
Val -- sorry you are hurting but so glad that the PS nurse isn't concerned. Good to know the pocket is well secured.
Lilah
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Val: I was cracking up about you spilling the beans to hospital staff about your MIL! Love it, love it!
Candi: Yes, it was local....and my PS had to keep telling me to put my hands down. I was trying to talk with my hands. He asked me if I was Italian.....
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Jazzy: You will notice some deflation of the tummy after the liposuction swelling subsides. Praying there are no more complications!!!!!
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Deborah.....you will love the goggles! That is what my PS used on my nips and it works really well. I felt very well protected, even though it did look a little weird, well maybe a lot weird!! Happy healing.
Hugs, Kathy
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Kendall: My exchange is March 8th also--just a little over two weeks away! Can't wait!
TCK
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Whew!! Well, I hadn't gotten a chance to check the boards for a while and good grief!! I had 5-6 pages to read!
Deborah: Congrats on your nips..I would expect nothing less of you than the time you took to place them!
Laura, if your hubby is up for it, we'll all give a little feel...is he a softy?
Jazzy: Hope the drain was OK and there is no cellulitis or anything else.
Val: We're gonna tie you up, girl. No more using those arms!.Everyone else: Happy days with happy healing. I can't believe it is almost my month! It will be a year (just about) since my TE's were placed...is it March 30th yet?
LOVE YOU GUYS..JUDY
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Can't get a visual on the corn pads & google...what in the world are you all talking about?? LOL! Anyone daring enough to post pics?? This would help ladies!!! LOL!
NAE
P.S. Had some saline added back into my healthy side this AM. It was only 15cc's but sure feel the difference all ready. Still playing the waiting game.
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Judy -- why did you have to wait a year to do exchange???
Nedeza -- is it a GOOD difference? Still waiting and seeing about the lift? (Or just waiting FOR it?) Also -- corn pads and goggles are for protecting the nipples (placed around or over them).
Lilah
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Lilah ~
A good difference. PS had taken out 25cc's last month but stated if I was not satisfied I could always put some back. When she took some "out" last time I did not feel a thing but having some put back in...I can feel the expansion although so little was put back. Still waiting for the lift...I will go forth with having it done. Not in a hurry right now...feeling good about everything..about me. Gives me more time to workout!!! I understand about the corn pads but I must have missed it about the goggles & how this is used to protect the nipples???
NAE
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Judy - I wanted to ask the same thing. I know you did not have rads, so it must be something else.
NAE: I think it is neat that you get to control the amount of saline in your good breast. Now I'm thinking, why did we not all do that in both breasts??
Deborah: Why the squarish shape? I don't remember you looking square in your pic forum pics. Also, do you need both corn pads and goggles? Are you going to post pics so we can all be educated on how to use them?
I was just surfing channels the other night and I saw that the whippet won in its category (Westminster show). I really, really like the way it looked. I thought it was going to win best in show. I was not disappointed when Sadie won, though. My little boy Angus is a Scottie. (arf!)
Val: Glad to hear your problem is not serious. Your sedation story is very funny!
A lady from my bc support group recently had her colonoscopy. When it was time to wheel her out to her car, she was still a bit groggy, but she kept talking loudly and getting everyone's attention about the "importance of self-examination"! Her driver was very embarrassed. The support group thought it was very funny,
Take care, sweet ladies!
Brenda
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NAE -- can't remember who it was but someone had posted in recent weeks about how her PS took a pair of swim goggles, cut them in half, and placed one half over each nipple (thus creating a plastic dome, if you will, over the nipple while it healed). I remember she said (and my apologies for not remembering who it was!) that she could see her nipples through the goggles
SO glad the bit added back is GOOD! How amazing that even 15 cc's can be felt!
Lilah
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Lilah~
Thanks for explaining! Getting a better visual on that!!! Phew! LOL! I'm with Brenda, it would be interesting to actually see a pic on someone with all this! Off the top of my head...with the goggle cupping over the new nipples...how is it going to "air" out??? Know what I mean? It's like keeping a scab covered up too long then it looks awful until you let the area "breathe"...hmmm...this is the medical side of me talking/thinking.
NAE
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Hello Ladies!
I had my exchange today (or yesterday since it is just past midnight)!
OMG - I love these soft squishy implants already!
It was a very long day! Nothing after midnight - no coffee or water! I had to check in at the hospital at 1 pm and did not go to the OR until 5 pm! I was awake in recovery by 6:15 looking at the clock and remembering it!
Left the Hospital by 7 pm and went to Olive Garden for dinner! Got back to my house just before 9 pm and my PS was phoning me to check on me at 9 pm! I love him... he did such a good job!
I peeked at the girls and can't see much but will look better when I shower tomorrow! I had a friend take a before pict while I was marked up for surgery and hopefully she can take a pict after my shower tomorrow so I can post on the pict forum.
I woke up feeling flat chested and told my PS so... He assured me I am not but the difference between the TE's and implants is amazing! I don't have quite the projection but the volume is the same and they look natural in clothing! They feel soooo good!
I can only imagine that they will get better with the drop and fluff to come!
I love my plastic surgeon - he is magic!
Kimberly
p.s. Kristen- I hope your exchange goes smoothly tomorrow and you are as happy as I am!
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Wooo hoooo Kimberly!!!!! How exciting and wow what a fast surgery! Sounds like no annoying drains (another cause for a woo hoo if you ask me)... yay YOU.
Lilah
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He promised me it would be a piece of cake and it was!
He promised me no drains and I don't have any!
I Love my PS - he is magic!
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Jazzy - I would definitely not mind waiting for nips to get better foobs and a flatter belly to boot!
Good luck on your future nip surgery! 0 -
Lilah......it was me who had the goggles on my nips!! Each goggle was surrounded by sticky foam tape and yes, you could see thru to the nips. This stayed on until my follow-up appt, approximately one week. It was air tight and I could shower and wear a bra over it. After the PS took the goggles off and cleaned up everything I just place the goggles (with the foam tape still attached to it) inside my bra to further protect the nips. It has been three and a half weeks and I no longer wear the goggles except to sleep in. I pretty much sleep all over the place, so I don't want to flatten them by laying on them!! Let me know if anyone has more questions and I'll try to answer. Happy nips to everyone!!
Hugs, Kathy
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Jazzy, hope you heal well and quickly!
Kimberly! Glad it went so well, yeah to implants after those TE's!
Deborah, I'm sure you mentioned it here somewhere, but what procedure did you have for nips?
I'm always afraid of what I might say during surgery, feel relieved when I wake up with a sore throat cause I know they've stifled me!! when I had lift and implant replaced I wasn't given general, just the type that you don't remember anything, and I tore off all my bandages the second they were on! PS was very upset, woke up and thought I had a broken wrist. I told anaesthesiologist that story this time and woke up with sore wrists again, think they strapped them down! I will fight bc till the end!!
Nedeeza, I think it was you that mentioned you're a dental hygienist, right? I'm overdue for cleaning, 2 weeks out from implant and pockets moved, lots of internal stitches (Karen - a year to dissolve - yikes!) how much longer should I wait to go? Don't want to take a chance of infections.
Speaking of 2 weeks out, I'm still sore on one side and wearing these lovely surgical bras just cause they are comfortable. But feeling much better all around, got a bit of my creativity back and worked on some art yesterday, made me sooo happy, and think I will take some tylenol and go for a long walk today, bottom left is still sore when it jiggles! But I am so happy that I do have some jiggle there:) Right side is and always will be a bit stiffer.
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Kimberly - Yippee for a super fast surgery - and it sounds like you're feeling great, too! ..... (putting on my "mom hat" for a moment here)......Just take it easy for a couple of days.....milk it.....at least a little bit......
Jazzy - Glad to hear you made it through your "extreme makeover" as Deborah called it! Happy healing!
Judy - advice taken, my friend! Maybe I need some of Katey's restraints arm restraints.......
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Kathy - ah thanks for the update on the goggles!
Lilah
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Could someone explain "drop & fluff". I had my exchange on Monday and one side is lower and will probably need to be lifted. He tried to lift it, but right now it needs more. It was the side with the punctured TE and all the fluid causing plenty of skin sagging. The side that looks "perfect" to me had the mammary fold lowered so I came home with no support bra or anything but steri strips over the incision and 2 drains. I think he wanted the right side to finish dropping so did not support it unless maybe they never send people home in bras. Don't know about that. So, I am wondering how "drop and fluff" will affect what I have now so that I can make appropriate plans about any tweeking that might be needed.
Also, does it mean anything bad if the scarred area from all the infections on the saggy side feels cold to the tough. Even in the middle of the night under a quilt...if I touch that side's scar it feels cool to the tough and the other side does not.
Thanks everyone. Came late to this thread. Should have asked a lot of questions a lot sooner. I was just so busy with the nutrition and supplements and trying to get through all 7 surgeries because of infections and TE that wouldn't drop that then had to be removed and replaced because of infection, etc, etc....that I didn't start concentrating on the actual exchange to implants until it was upon me. Deborah totally helped me do the right thing with size and style of implant. Thank you again, Whippetmom!!!!!
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Nipple reconstruction was with a C-V flap.
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Luna - Send me a photo!!
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Love the illustration! It will be great to share with those who have been curious about the procedure.
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Thanks Deborah! I think that's what I had, with a skin graft from thigh to form areola. Do you think without the graft it tends to be indented, or will that correct itself? So nice that you are posting so much after your procedure. Thank you!
Luna, so sorry about all you've gone thru, you'll get some answers here!
Val, if you don't want to do the sling, try keeping your hand in your pocket! I try not to think about the surgery process, too embarassing:) (never mind the gore) Especially when you are sat up and looked at from all directions while unconscious. OMG! Wonder if they undid the restraints for that! I didn't notice any black eyes, LOL
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I am not having the areola graft though....just a tattoo.
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Great graphics Deborah! (Is this what some people call the origami method?)
Lilah
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Yes Lilah and it made me want to go out and buy a bunch of decorative papers and create nipples for all of my friends. NOTTTTT!!!
Lilah....your PS plans to use an anatomical gummy to match your natural breast, right? Has he/she mentioned which style?
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So what other nipple procedures are there and do I care which one my PS uses or do I just go with his favorite because that's what he's good at? I've never really considered the areola grafts but why do people do grafts vs tattoos?
Planning to buy some pasty nipples so I can decide where I want them placed but not sure what to buy. Where have others bought them from? Now I'm second guessing, because the fake nipples are kinda pretty--will they give me false hopes?
You all have me really nervous about what I'll say during the nipple procedure. Knowing me I'll start telling him how to do his job then I'll wake up with alien nipples!
Kimberly, Congrats!! I'm only a month out and it seems so long ago that I had those rocks in, it's a much happier world on this side!
Val, How's you're dog doing now?
Julie
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LOL Deborah! Yes anatomical gummie for me (to hopefully get a good match with my remaining breast). She plans to use the 410. I asked her about availability (she is at Sloan Kettering in NY) and apparently they get an allotment every month as part of the study... and so it has been noted in my record/surgery schedule date info that I am to get that type. She actually is Canadian and told me she used these for years in Canada with no problem (so it annoys her that they are limited here). I have read up on them and don't know yet which specific 410 (which projection, etc) but I plan to get more specific with her in March when I see her again. I'll have the same kind of nipple you got (when I get there) and tattoo (no areola).
Julie -- I THINK that the difference is if you have the skin graft for the areola there is a slightly raised area of skin there (as with the natural areola) rather than just a color match and sometimes, depending on where skin is grafted from, that part of the reconstruction does not need to be tattooed (but also CAN be tattooed). It also sounds like the grafted areola has more recovery time. My PS does the C/V Flap (origami) style nipple (it's an "in her office" procedure, so no anesthesia, NOT major surgery) with tattooed areola -- which frankly appeals to me from the "I have had enough freaking surgery" POV. I have seen pictures of what she does and they look so real. I made a point of seeing ONLY uni's she had done and you could not tell the difference (visually anyway). But I do think it's a good idea to do the kind of nipple your PS is good at or specializes in (or, put another way, if the KIND of nipple reconstruction you want is NOT your PS's specialty, find one who does specialize in that kind).
BTW, LOL at waking up with alien nipples!
Lilah
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