Exchange City
Comments
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KasasmomI have noticed that my right side is much firmer and fuller than my left. I don't know if it has something to do with that back in 2002 I had my first lumpectomy on that side and the dumb a@* did not do a nice job. I am kinda just watching it for now so far all is well so I am just in limbo for the nips. I cant wait.
Rebecca
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ANN--- I must say....AWESOME!!!
ok. now I must read the rest of the posts! lol
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Kansasmom--My last fill before exchange was extremely painful. But I'm glad you have your date set. It's the nature of the TE's to be a pain; in more ways than one. haha Are they overfilled? Mine were originally 450cc's but were overfilled to 500. My implants are 500cc. I struggled with the size issue for months. But I did go with what Deborah recommended as well as my PS. And I have absolutely no regrets. Very pleased with my results. The TE's cannot be compared to the implants. Completely apples and oranges. Hang in there.
Bonnie--how wonderful your son's truck was recovered!! What a Thanksgiving bonus. Am also so glad you're feeling good.
mom3band1g--Will be thinking of you tomorrow!! All the best for a successful exchange.
LG300--no need to worry about nip/tats right now. Let your body heal. Glad your infection is clearing up. I think I would be happy without nips. But I do have one. And I think I would look strange without having the other one done. So, I'm going for the whole shootin' match.
Unfortunately, I can't go braless, like I thought I would be able too. Maybe this summer after a year of exchange, but these girls are much heavier than the originals.And to all the ladies on here: I give thanks for you daily as you have been an encouragement, inspiration and total troopers to me. You are my heros. Thank you for your openness in your walk through this disease.
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LG300--did you ever repost your pics in your own thread? would love to see them.0
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CoolBreeze wrote: I had the (#$*((#$ expander in 6 months after my last fill and yes, it was very uncomfortable. I had many fantasies about taking a knife and slicing along my scare - it was so close to the skin I figured it would just pop out! You could see the valve right through my skin - even the color! So, I understand your discomfort.
LOL! I had similar fantasies!
This is my 5th day after my exchange and I'm feeling better every day. The drain on the right isn't having much output and I'm hoping it will be removed before the end of this week. The left, radiated side, is still having about 50 mls a day.
Mom3 - My radiated side still feels much firmer than the other side but it is much softer with the implants than it was with the TEs.
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Ladies... HELLO! I have missed you !
Hey, I have a friend sho had her mast/te last week.
It was a 6 hour surgery.
They cut her all the was across her chest... put TE in. The made another incision in her armpit to remove nodes.
They told her on the profy side they did a " lift" while they did a mast on that side too.
Remember, she was a bi-lat.
I have NEVER heard of this? She did not use my doctors because they were not on her insurance.
WHY in the world did her surgery take 6 hours ( no complications) to do a bi-lat ( lift???) and put in TE? THEN make another cut ( after cutting ALL the way across her chest already.. and no... the cancer was not close the the chest wall... it was 3cm on the lower outside) to take out nodes?
I am going to go ask all this on Implants 101 thread too.... THANK YOU for reading this... I hope someone can explain this.
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Laura I am sorry your friend went through that. I can not give you an answer as to why though.
I hope everyone is doing well getting ready for the cold weather.
Rebecca
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Laura:
I have no idea and I'm so sorry she had to go through that type of surgery.
Jan508
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My goodness, 6 hours. I've personally not heard of the methods used but perhaps someone else has. Has she met with the BS and PS to question this. Is this how they described the procedure to her prior to having it?
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Estepp- Yikes. The description of your friend's surgery sounds really rough with an incision all the way across her chest. Like everyone else, I have not seen that technique online or heard of it from the drs I consulted. I was a BMX w/ TEs and SNB on both sides also. DH says my total surgery time (BS and PS worked in tandem) was 2 1/2 - 3 hours. No complications. I hope your friend is doing OK. Really gentle hugs for her.
I appreciated all of your good comments and descriptions on "The last of the TE journey". Made me laugh. It is so good to keep a sense of humor through all of this. Thank you for letting me vent. I am doing much better now, but still bumping into things with my BIG, hard bazoombas. My 22 year-old son ( home for Thanksgiving break from college) said, "Whoa, Mom those are too big." 5 weeks to go. Wahoo.
Deb in KS
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Estepp, My bilat mx and TEs took 5 hours. They didn't report any complications on the surgery notes. However, I was not cut all the way across my chest nor did I have a lift with my bimx. I feel for your friend. She is in my prayers. I do remember a woman on the picture forum who had an incision all the way across her chest. Don't remember who it was and it was quite a long time ago when she posted her pics. Or maybe it was on a blog somewhere. Damn chemo brain. Anyway, I have seen it before. Don't know why any surgeon would do that tho.
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Wow Estepp sending your friend hugs and prayers! That is quite an ordeal, I pray all is going ok!
Kansasmom, sounds like you are ready to size down? LOL, it is true the implants are nothing like the expanders, I was very disappointed about the loss of projection but with anything else you get used to the peaks and the valleys and the ladies on here have helped me when I needed picked up. Learning from everyone else is really fantastic as we are never alone! Thank the lord!
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Estepp- My MX took 6 hours but it was a nipple sparing with incisions under the fold of the breast which I was told takes twice as long as a regular MX. The only other time I heard of someone having an incision completely across the chest was when someone used a general surgeon for their MX rather than a BS. Any idea what kind of surgeon she used?
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Laura, soft hugs to your friend (and to you). My additional 2 cents is that work in the axilla extracting nodes can add time. My original surgery was a lumpectomy + lymph nodes and it was 1 1/2 hrs. with most of the time with the nodes.
I haven't seen the incision across the chest. I can't think of why that would be necessary since there's no breast tissue there. Glad she has you to help her thru.
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Hi all, I just posted some pictures on the picture forum. My thread is called "Two weeks post exchange" in the "Under Construction" forum. I re-posted the picture from last week that I posted incorrectly and added a couple new pictures. I'm now 19 days post exchange and my infection has cleared up.
Estepp, I can't believe your friend's surgery was 6 hours. Hope she's healing well.
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She used a General Surgeon...:(... two of the BS she wanted.... mine and some other friend.... did not take her insurance and she had to hurry ( triple neg BC)... no one wanted to wait... it was 4 weeks to get this guy and a plastic together...
Thank you all for your response.... I am just trying to learn about this. I feel like I did not help her enough. I told her names and people to see... but I had no idea a GS would cut her like that.... she took off all her bandages a week after and was SOOOOOO not prepared by her doctors or ANYONE for what she saw......
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That is just horrible horrible horrible. My heart aches for your friend Laura.
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Laura - my bmx and TE surgery lasted about 5 hours (I think - sorry chemo brain)! Your poor friend. That surgeon should be shot! What an idiot!! I wonder what the PS thought when he saw that incision.
Firni - you are not going crazy. There was someone else on here that got cut across the chest. I can't remember where on BCO I read her post, but I know it's here somewhere (darn chemo brain).
I started rads last week. I am keeping Aquaphor on my right radiated foob. I started to feel the rads today. 29 more tx left to go! Laura - I am massaging like you and my PS recommended!
Happy Holidays everyone!
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Laura: Wow, I am so sorry to hear this about your friend, but please don't blame yourself. I didn't know they allowed general surgeons to do this type of reconstruction, however, my surger took almost 6 hours and I had the bruising to prove it. I have been posting this on the scar thread and you should tell your friend: after everything has healed and the drains are out, get some Lugol's 2% Iodine solution (no alcohol) and use a Q-Tip on the scars and they will flatten and smooth out quite a bit and quite rapidly! A rapid recovery to your friend.
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Kitty! You finished chemo!!!! Wahoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! Where was I? Did I miss it? Forgive me. When was your last chemo?
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I had a thoracic/vascular surgeon do my mx. He had done thousands he said and he did a very nice job actually. He's the one who decided to do nipple sparing on my prophy side. Too bad it didn't work out. But I do have full sensation over my entire breast area. Maybe coz of the vascular part of his expertise?
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Kitty, thanks for letting me know I'm not crazy and there is a woman somewhere on BCO who was cut all the way across. I just don't know who it was. Darn.
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Estepp- I think your friend's surgeon should be charged with assault. There is absolutely no reason to disfigure someone like that. And no one should be forced to choose between letting an invasive cancer linger because no BS is available or an inexperienced surgeon. Wrong, wrong, wrong!
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Laura the surgeon sounds like a neanderthal. My mom was cut up like a turkey back in '94 when she had her BMX. So sorry your friend is having to go through all the shock of seeing herself. As if the DX weren't bad enough. I'm surprised the PS didn't say something.
Let her know we're all pulling for her!
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Hi Lilah! I finished chemo on Oct 27th. I had a nice break from cancer treatments for almost 4 weeks! However, I visited many doctors and had 2 CT scans for my rads simulation. Never a dull moment in the BC world!
I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!
Dx 6/17/09 at 39 yrs old, DCIS, Stage 0, Grade 2, ER-/PR-, BRCA1+, BMX & TE reconstruction, DX 4/30/10 again: IDC 0.6cm, Stage 1, Grade 3, 0/10 nodes, ER-/PR- HER2-, ACT Chemo + Rads This disease sucks!
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Kitty -- that is AWESOME! You are almost done
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Laura
My RMX was 5 1/2 hrs. The main reason it was so long was they did the SNB at the same time and had to wait for the pathology on some of my nodes. That could be what took your friend so long. My mx incision was high and healed perfectly really very modest scar. I did get cut on the side from the axillary node they biopsied but it was also a very small incision.
Well I met with my PS today 6 weeks after 2nd revision and I am headed for a third exchange UGH! I am hoping to have it this month as I can't stop crying at how F&%^ed up my good boob looks. The implant is to large. It looked good after`surgery then dropped so now the PS and I decided both sides are too large. So he is downsizing both implants and he said widening the pocket on the mx side and tightening poor Ol' lefty which has been through the ringer and was PERFECT before he thought I needed an OOMPH to boost it to match mx side. Please let this be the last surgery I have ...EVER! Sorry had to vent. It's been a tear filled day and now I am missing yet another holiday season. I also don't know what to do with my new babies Charlie (Aussie puppy) and Sadie (kitty) no way I will be able to take care of my puppy for the week. Im so frustrated.
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Di - So sorry to hear about your implant problems. I hope your third exchange goes really well. When are you having your next surgery? Sending you good thoughts. Lisa
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It's my turn. I have my exchange tomorrow. I have mainly "lurked" here, but have read your posts and feel like I really know some of you. Thank you for all of the information. It has made going through this a little easier
Jen
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Oh Di... I am so sorry you are having to deal with this. If you lived in So. Cal I would babysit Charlie for you...Do you have anyone who can help you out?
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