Exchange City
Comments
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Cheryl - You're getting rummy, girl! Here's to a boring surgery!!!
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I'm so happy for you Cheryl!
Let us know how you are doing 💃
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please, someone tell me they have heard from january,exchange sister, Annemarieh... It's not like her to drop off the site. So worried
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Cheryl....best wishes today. LOVED your poem!!
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Loved the poem as well. Lots of well wishes and prayers for a successful surgery and easy recovery.
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Love the poem Cheryl!
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Good luck today Cheryl with your exchange! It is much easier than the BMX :-). Is it same day procedure for you too. My surgery started yesterday at 2 and I was home by 7. Hope you get great results!
Melissa0 -
Thanks Cheryl for starting my day with a smile and a laugh! You'll be home and resting in no time!
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Congratulations to all the "exchange ladies"! I hope you are resting comfortably. cheryl_e, that was a great and funny poem! And no worries about not sleeping the anesthesia will take care of that!
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2nd time around, I have mentor 750 cc HP silicone siltex (textured) implants. My surgery was 3 weeks ago. I know Whippetmom does not like siltex and I am looking forward to her post to learn of her concerns. Then I will know what problems I might encounter with them. I previously had mentor 650 mod plus smooth implants. One dropped, the other didn't, they were wide and flat and I hated them. My PS said he thought the textured implants were better for me as they acted sort of like velcro and stuck to the chest and wouldn't "fall down". So far, so good. I am still pretty swollen, feel tight (although that is greatly improving day by day) and just a little sore. I attribute this to only being expanded to 700cc. so the implant is a tad larger and PS did pocket work. I didn't want to be too large and right now they seem pretty big to me but will re-evaluate when swelling subsides. Good luck on your exchange! Will be interested in how you do!
ps, my foobs feel the same temp. as the rest of my body
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Just popping back in to say congrats to all who have had their exchange. Hope everyone is healing well and moving forward. I'm 8 weeks post exchange today and feeling pretty good. Still fighting my frozen shoulder but getting better everyday, just a slow process.
Happy healing! Take care all.0 -
Thank you, ladies! I have been home for about an hour. My PS was right on time, and all went well. I was in quite a bit of pain when I woke up, mostly in my sternum area where he did work to get the breasts closer together. I am feeling much better now and about to take a muscle relaxer and try to sleep. You think I'd be tired after not sleeping last night and thinking up cheesy poems, ha, ha!
I am wrapped tightly in an ace bandage with a tight white surgical bra over it. I go see the PS tomorrow at 11:00. With the tops sticking out of the bandage, I can feel that the implants are sooo much softer. Thank you for all your well wishes and sweetness. You all are wonderful.
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Congrats Cheryl on being done with the exchange. I just took a peak at mine and they seen very flat. I think this might be the pancake effect everyone keeps talking about. I hope they round out more and get a nicer shape. Has this happened with others post exchange??
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melissa, flatness is why I had implant exchange. (well one reason) Did you get mod plus or HP?
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congrats cheryl and other ladies!!!!
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Chawkins...I got silicone gel high profile 800ccs
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Congrats to everyone who had there exchanges ...you all must be so relieved to have it done and over with I know I was...has anyone heard from AnneMarieh yet...
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melissa how do you like the size other than the flatness? did you get smooth or textured? hopefully this tightness and swelling will resolve itself. I feel really big now. good luck to you!
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Chawkins I really can't tell how I like them yet. They just look flat to me :-(. I got smooth round. I really hope the flatness fixes itself. Def not the look I was hoping for yet but I heard u have to wait a while for them to settle and stuff.
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Hope they turn out better than you even hope they will!!!!!
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Glad you are doing so well, Cheryl_E!
I just got back from my PS because on Monday, she thought I had an infection so today she wanted to see how I was doing. Turns out, no infection, my skin is just reacting to the implants (they are larger than the TEs and my skin has always reacted in a certain way during fills but she just wanted to make sure nothing else was going on). Whew.
While I was there I asked her a couple of questions. One was about the hamburger look that I am currently sporting. I asked her if they would fill out and she said they wouldn't. I told her it was a good thing she used high profile implants because I couldn't imagine what they'd look like otherwise. I know many of the ladies here say PSs don't know about the drop and fluff so I will be curious to see what happens.
I also asked her about the texture vs. smooth implants. She said years back there were cases with women who had the textured implants and a very few (she said approx 30 out of several thousands or something like that) were coming down with a type of lymphoma because of the way the textured surface would rub against the tissue and create pockets?? Something to that effect, I can't remember all the details. She said even though the chance is so small for that to happen, she prefers smooth and will only use textured when she uses the anatomical.
So happy that I no longer have to wear the stabilizer strap. I thought I had another 2 weeks to go and she said I was free to go without! Yes!
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Cheryl,
LOVED you pre dawn poem.....I will be thinking about that poem in 3 1/2 weeks! ( I always have insomnia)
Congrats on the exchange surgery to you, Cheryl and Melissa, and others ladies......
(Cheryl I lived in Fort Worth until I was 11....my dad was a TCU grad)
Whoooooo hoooo to YOUUUUUUUU!!!!!
I saw my PS today had my very last fill today and will be getting squishy gel silcone implants (600-650) on April 15 at 7am PST....3+ weeks and counting, I will need one more surgery about three months from 4/15 to get rid of some excess skin (AKA: as shar pei look....ummm wrinkles), fat transfer on lefty near the cleavage, and do his sculpting my FOOBS (his minor as an undergrad).
Feeling like a football player post fill...
Di
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Jaegergirl~ I had Sientra textured implants put in and although my PS only said "let's give it a couple of months" when I shared my dissapointment with how "small" they were I think he may have been giving me code for "they WILL drop and fluff" that's just not the terminology the PS's use. For another example, I think the PS would get upset when I used the term "exchange surgery" because in his world it's called "Stage II reconstruction". I felt compelled to share that those of use with breast cancer aren't necessarily comfortable with the term "STAGE". I think he got it!
I just wanted to let you know that I initially had the "hamburger bun" syndrome. My exchange was 12/27/12 and just this week I (finally) went for a fitting.., I was a large B / small C - that's no hamburger bun to me but then I was a small B / large A before MX and reconstruction. All that said, I would encourage you to give everything time to "relax and settle in" - I think most PS's would agree with that terminology -
Happy for you that you don't have to wear the "stabalizer strap" any more (though I have no idea what it is)
Give it some time.., I do not doubt that they will indeed "drop and fluff" or "settle into place" or whatever we & the surgeons want to call it! Also GLAD to hear that there is no infection!!! Keep us posted~0 -
C-squared, I will definitely wait and see how the girls settle in. For now I'll just put up with the "buns." LOL I am glad there is no infection. I was worried about that! I told her that the sports bras were aggravating my ribcage (and thus causing some of the redness on my cancer side) and she told me I could go braless if I wanted to... whoo hoo. Kinda fun going braless for the first time in my life and actually HAVE bumps under my clothes...
I was a little disappointed when I pointed out the folds/creases or some other imperfections I saw and asked if she was going to be able to "fix" them (meaning revision surgery) and she said no. She said she only does revisions if there is something seriously wrong or something blantantly out of place. Because I have little body fat and such thin skin (I was so flat before BC and by the time they removed my nipples, there wasn't a whole lot to work with) that I would see/feel more imperfections than other ladies. On one hand, I'm glad that she's not about doing numerous surgies to attempt to "correct" what I perceived to be "imperfect", but part of me is bummed that I won't have the "perfect" boobs in my mind. While naked they look a little odd, they do look pretty dang good under clothes I might say and she told me I will be very happy when it comes time to don a bikini top this summer. I'm happy I will never have to buy another padded bikini top and have to add "extras" to acheive a certain look. So for now, I will wait to see how things settle, pray that I have no serious complications along the way, and thank God that the cancer is gone from my body! As for the strap, it is an elastic band you wear at the top of your foobs that helps keep them from "creeping up." Bad enough having the "buns" but then to have them creep into your shoulders. Oh, the horrors! 
The velcro irrated my skin and rubbed the underpart of my arms raw, not to mention it made it hard to find stuff to wear to work (other than turtlenecks) where the strap didn't show. So I am happy to be free of that!0 -
Just for others that may have to use a stabilizer...I wore it OVER a teeshirt. With the Velcro in the front. I had the same problem as jaeger with the rubbing, it drove me nuts.
Wearing it over a light tee or cami was 100 times better.0 -
Might I reccomend Body Glide? It's well known to athletes and is a silicone based anti-chafe compound that glides on just like deodorant. It really helps with chafing of all kinds and doesn't irritate skin or stain clothes.
You should be able to find it at any running specialty or cyxling store.
Comfort for about $9 a tube!
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Jaegergirl- I looked at my "boobs" 3.0 yesterday and I would say that the "hamburger bun" description is apt. On the one hand, I was sort of prepared for it, thanks to this board, but on the other hand, its hard not to be a little disappointed that, as someone said, you don't have "hooters" breasts. I am going to be patient and assume that they will "drop and fluff" over time, I appreciate C-Squared reminding us of this. Overall, the PS did a great job, and I have to be patient for the next couple months to see what happens, and if I need/want a revision. I'm hoping I won't b/c I'd love to get the clock ticking for tattoos- i want to go see Vinnie for them and you need to wait 12 weeks post last surgery for tattoo. But it is certainly a process requiring patience that i challenging for me!! I know I'm lucky to get through BMX and exchange in 2 1/2 months. But I still reserve the right to whine everyso often!!
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Thanks for the anti chafing advice. I didn't wear the strap last night or today and i swear it feel like the girls are creaping . It could completely be my imagination but I think I will sleep in a t-shirt with the strap on tonight just in case. What is interesting is my PS told me she will not do nipple reconstruction until 6 months after the exchange to make sure everything settles but yet she keeps telling me that the foobs arent going anywhere, drop, fluff, or otherwise. So we'll see. I put a bra on this morning before I went to work and I have to admit the girls look pretty good in a bra.
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Well, I had a really rough day yesterday after surgery. I am very sensitive to anesthesia and allergic to most pain medicine. I had requested the same anesthesiologist I had with my BMX, but she was on vacation, so I had someone else. He gave me something different and then not sure what they gave me in recovery, but when I got home, I felt as though I had 20 shots of espresso.
I fought it all day, but I couldnt rest or anything. My BP and pulse were off the charts. The PS called in a sedative for me, and it worked like a charm. I am so much better today, as far as that goes. I am in quite a bit of pain. The exchange has not been a breeze for me at all. Sorry to report that, because I know some say it is a piece of cake. He had to do a lot of cutting away the capsule and scar tissue that had formed around the TEs. He had to do something to get the girls close together, and they are! I am very swollen and bruised there. Most pain is in my sternum and right side where the TE wasn't under my arm as much and he must have had to stretch that more to get the implant to fit. Be glad if you are overfilled and TEs are huge. I think tht will make your exchange easier.
Jaegergirl, I am so glad you have no infection!!! D2012, April 15 will be here before you know it.
Cheryl0 -
Cheryl sorry to hear about your eventful exchange but glad to hear you are feeling better. Be kind to yourself and rest. Our bodies have been through so much and a few days of pampering is a good thing. Happy healing! Take care.
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