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One step implant procedure with Alloderm - Anyone?

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Comments

  • mareluna
    mareluna Member Posts: 275
    edited May 2013

    Hi,

       I went to PS today. I am having an in-office procedure on Tuesday. He's going to numb me and fix the dog ears. He said that he will cut a little more incision and tuck the points in. Then at some point I will do the 3d tattoos. Has anyone had the revision done in office? How was it? Thanks.

    Rose

  • mareluna
    mareluna Member Posts: 275
    edited May 2013

    Hi,

    I had my dog ears removed the other day in the office. Did not really hurt and it took less than 30 min. I am not in pain really. Had the mildest discomfort yesterday. I am pleased with the out come.

    In the autumn I think I will get the 3D tattoo nipples. I want to enjoy pool season. I start working 40 hour weeks on May 28th I think. Yayyyy! I will miss my free time but it's time to get into the groove.

    Have a great day!

  • PeggySull
    PeggySull Member Posts: 368
    edited May 2013

    Fantastic news Mareluna!



    Celebrate!



    Hugs,

    Peggy

  • lilithmoon
    lilithmoon Member Posts: 97
    edited May 2013

    That sounds great Mareluna.  Glad you are doing so well!

    Jocelyne

  • Lmimp64
    Lmimp64 Member Posts: 88
    edited June 2013

    Hi there. It's been a while since I posted. I finished chemo the middle of April and went back to teaching 29 5th graders May 1st. They were awesome about my wig and scarves. My last day was May 30 and I went back into surgery May 31. I had the implants replaced with smaller and wider ones with less projection, they were also moved in slightly towards the middle of my rib cage, and the thick alloderm was scored in a checkerboard pattern to release/thin it. My dog ears were also revised. I am in some pain, have some swelling and bruising, but I can tell it is surgical, not the muscle pain and pinching I have had since my original surgery in January. I can move my arms without pain and this is early days yet! Here's hoping!



    Hope you are all well.

  • lilithmoon
    lilithmoon Member Posts: 97
    edited June 2013

    It's so good to hear from you! Sounds like your revisions are going to be great and it will be smooth sailing after the pain subsides.  Glad your chemo is over too.  What an ordeal!  I was worried about you!

    I'm having my (hopefully) last surgery on June 14th.  Exchanging the round one for a gummy and putting one in the non-cancer boob.  MRI tomorrow though, and blood tests this week. Not fun I'm crossing my fingers that I'm on the final stretch. Best to you and your healing!

    Jocelyne

  • mareluna
    mareluna Member Posts: 275
    edited June 2013

    Hi ladies,

      Glad to read your posts.

    Lmimp, I am happy to hear you are done with chemo. It gets better. Sounds like you are healing. I hope you get feeling better. Surgeries are so tiring.

    Jocelyne, I will be waiting on news on your test and upcoming surgery. I hope all goes well.

         I am doing okay. Just getting over 2 colds back to back. I went to a fishing pier yesterday with my sweetie. I was sunbathing. Today I met my friend up at water Country and am even more sunburned. I like my smaller foobs. I also like the fact that these are not hurting like my real ones did. I am a bit tender in the area that was revised. But it should pass in about a week.

       I started working full time last week. I will be working with babies for 4 more days, then moving to 4 year olds. I wont have to wear the compression sleeve in there. I am back at my old job so I am happy. Have a good evening ladies.

    Rose

  • Lmimp64
    Lmimp64 Member Posts: 88
    edited June 2013

    Sounds like we are all turning the corner! That's great. I'm starting tamoxefin this week too. Hoping for ease with that change too.



    Let us know how your surgery goes, Jocelyn.

    We are all due a great second half of 2013!

  • lilithmoon
    lilithmoon Member Posts: 97
    edited June 2013

    Yes, it's so nice to start feeling 'normal' again -- thanks for the encouragement - I'll keep you posted. xo

  • lilithmoon
    lilithmoon Member Posts: 97
    edited June 2013

    Lmimp- good luck with the Tamoxifen.  I started in January.  At first I was tired from it - make sure you take it at night and with a baby aspirin.   My periods stopped when I started taking it.  I had a few hot flashes which I took care of with accupuncture.  No side effects at this point : )

  • Lmimp64
    Lmimp64 Member Posts: 88
    edited June 2013

    Hi. Hope u r doing ok. I have another setback - enough already! I have an infection in the left breast. I went in daily for IV antibiotics (shouldn't have had the port out!) and now 21 days of two more really strong antibiotics. I'm wiped out. If the infection reaches or is on the implant its all over. It comes out. I lost all my eyelashes this week too. Most stuck around through chemo and a month and a half later, they are gone.



    Jocelyn,

    Remember no baby asperin before surgery (2weeks). I'm sure you already stopped but I wanted to mention it.

  • mareluna
    mareluna Member Posts: 275
    edited June 2013

    Lmimp,

        I am sorry to read that you had another setback. I sure hope you don't need to get it out. I wonder what caused an infection.

        I am a little sore right now. I have stitches working out. I think most of the time I feel pretty decent. Just one day at a time. I lost some of my eyebrows again, but that can happen a few times cuz of chemo.

    Rose

  • lilithmoon
    lilithmoon Member Posts: 97
    edited June 2013

    I'm so sorry to hear about the infection! I have a friend who had the same problem.  She ended up getting the implants out and getting a TUG flap - she's very happy with the results.  I hope you start feeling better soon, yes enough already, right? I stopped the baby aspirin a few days ago. I think it should be fine.  Hugs to you, dear one.

  • lilithmoon
    lilithmoon Member Posts: 97
    edited June 2013

    Tomorrow's the big day.  The MRI and tests came out great... and no sign of cancer in the old boob...

    Hope you two are feeling better!

  • mareluna
    mareluna Member Posts: 275
    edited June 2013

    Lilithmoon,

        Glad the MRI results were clear! Best of wishes for your surgery tomorrow. I hope that all goes well and that your healing is speedy.

    Rose

  • Lmimp64
    Lmimp64 Member Posts: 88
    edited June 2013

    Yea!!!

  • lilithmoon
    lilithmoon Member Posts: 97
    edited June 2013

    2nd day post op. Thanks for all of your support. I was feeling pretty lousy coming out of the surgery, threw up when I got home = not fun! It looks pretty good but they're very high up on my chest and feeling mighty tight. PS made the pocket smaller and added some more allodrerm, I think I got a 410 gummy 315cc full height on the cancer boob and 215 on the other.  Feeling better today but what a drag to do this again.  Looking forward to the new foobs though!

    Jocelyne

  • Lmimp64
    Lmimp64 Member Posts: 88
    edited June 2013

    Glad you are doing ok, even after being sick in the hospital. Hope your recovery continues to go well. :)

  • mareluna
    mareluna Member Posts: 275
    edited June 2013

    Joc,

        I hope you get feeling better. It's only uphill from here.

    Rose

  • lilithmoon
    lilithmoon Member Posts: 97
    edited June 2013

    thank you both for your kind words, right now it feels like I'm going backwards into that dark hole waiting to feel better, I know it won't be long... but... I realize how much we've all been through.  Just wearing this tight medical bra-thing feels terrible, especially under the breasts where the incisions are.  They are pretty swollen and strange looking!

  • mareluna
    mareluna Member Posts: 275
    edited June 2013

    Joc,

       I know what you mean. I hated the velcro on the one they gave me. It itched like mad. I started wearing the post op ones I got from Sillouette's mastectomy boutique. I loved my camis. Hang in there it will get better.

    Rose

  • lilithmoon
    lilithmoon Member Posts: 97
    edited June 2013

    thanks Rose - I'm definitely in the itch phase right now, wish I could liberate the new boobs!

  • Nancyinct
    Nancyinct Member Posts: 17
    edited June 2013

    Hi All! I am waiting for my surgery date for mx (right) I've opted for immediate reconstruction with saline implant and AlloDerm. Can anyone weigh in on saline implants?

    Thank you,

    Nancy

  • lilithmoon
    lilithmoon Member Posts: 97
    edited June 2013

    if you are doing immediate to implant with Alloderm you might have more rippling with saline than silicone. Are you doing a sub-pectoral Mx? You might want to ask about the Allergan gummy 410's which I just had put in.  They look great.  Best to you, let us know how things go.

  • mareluna
    mareluna Member Posts: 275
    edited June 2013

    Nancy,

       My PS suggested Silicone over Saline because of rippling. I am fairly comfortable with my round silicone implants. PS said that the tear shaped ones can move around and get out of position. Hope you get your date soon.

    Rose

  • JFfromTN
    JFfromTN Member Posts: 1
    edited June 2013

    I had a bilateral Aug. 30, 2012.  I also had the Alloderm at the same time.  One side wouldn't heal and was painful even though my plastic surgeon wasn't concerned.  It poured drainage for a month at which time I underwent chemotheraphy.  Four days after that, I ended up in the hospital in serious condition and nearly died. It was infected and the chemotheraphy killed all my blood cells and I had no ability to fight the infection which took over.  The amount of antibiotics I was given caused kidney damage. It was ten days before they thought I could go back into surgery without dying to have them removed. During the surgery, it was discovered in the problem side, that the implant had moved out of the mesh holding it and the mesh was wadded "up in a corner."  And, the doctor didn't know how that happened.  I'm glad to be rid of it all.  Yes, my chest is not a pretty sight. I am wearing Amoena prosthesis.  People in the medical profession have the gall to make comments like, "but you may want to date again."  Hello.......if some guy can't get over it, then I wouldn't want him anyway.  I'm 59.  Maybe I would feel differently if I were younger.  But, after, cancer surgery, implants, kidney damage, blood transfusions and nearly 3 weeks in the hospital, thanks, but no thanks. I've now had radiation and there's no way I would consider reconstruction again.

  • Nancyinct
    Nancyinct Member Posts: 17
    edited June 2013

    Thank you Everyone! Your input is most appreciated.

    Nancy

  • lilithmoon
    lilithmoon Member Posts: 97
    edited June 2013

    I saw my PS yesterday and he seemed very pleased with the results.  It is pretty amazing! My new boyfriend seemed pretty excited too!  Still more pain around the incisions but manageable.  A bit of swelling around the reconstructed breast.  The implants are slightly visible on the upper pole but that should relax and drop down, forming a nice slope.  Nipple on cancer boob looks good.  They still feel heavy - much more firm than the round silicone but no rippling/wrinkles. Adding the extra Alloderm strip on the upper pole made a huge difference.  I think my PS is a genius!!

  • PeggySull
    PeggySull Member Posts: 368
    edited June 2013

    Well, just when my life started seeming happy again, I found a lump on my cancer breast in shower Sat night. Sure it was a local recurrence. After two doc appts yesterday (Monday) and an ultrasound it is highly unlikely to be a recurrence but is a large hematoma that's growing quickly. By this morning breast HUGE with more lumps. Seeing PS at 2:30 since my reg breast surgeon on vacation and his stand in was covering his ass and making me wait to see my reg surgeon on July 3. Also, to his credit he didn't want to puncture the implant. He's glad I'm seeing PS.



    I've heard hematomas are common a few weeks or days after surgery but not three months out. I'm truly grateful it's not likely a recurrence (only core biopsy with risk to implant could definitively rule that out). But, heck ladies, does this s--- ever end?!



    Thanks for listening,

    Peggy

  • maureen1
    maureen1 Member Posts: 87
    edited June 2013

    (((Peggy))) so scary...glad it isn't a recurrence, whew...good luck at PS appt today, hope they can get the hematoma resolved:)

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