BREAST IMPLANT SIZING 101
Comments
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Tessa, I think it was actually about 4-5 mths for the fills. Sweet and special is right because you want your skin to stretch on its own schedule. Glad that part is over and heading to the finish line for the nips.
Finally!
Theraputic touch may be the thing, my friend became a massage therapist. I spent an hour on the phone with her today. Why do all the best friends have to take jobs outta state?
whine......
Just started to dinner party club with several couples where you invite 3 other couples and the dinners rotate every mth. Then, fiancé decides to go have an affair! Leaving me all alone on Thxgiving. Nobody invited me assuming I would be with him. We usually go to his ex wife's mansion so he can eat with his adult children who eat with their mother. Its all so awkward. At least avoided that this yr. My son was back in Paris studying and wasnt able to get home. What was the name of the song? "aLL dreams that I believed in let me down". The worst part is the day after when people ask how your thxgiv was and you say awful and they say they would have invited you if they had known. Then they say the same thing the next yr and the next yr after that. I feel I am trapped in an episode of the Big Bang theory. help?0 -
Layla wow, I don't even know what to say lol
I am here for you, I wish i could give you a big hug.
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Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who joins me on this forum!
Layla....I am so disheartened to hear about the time of trial you are going through right now. Consider yourself blessed to be unchained from someone who never intended to be honorable or faithful, and to not have to wait until marriage to find this out. I was talking with Estepp tonight about being "cherished". This is the type of relationship you want to have someday. I am praying that you find this in your life and that you get through the holidays with your head held high.
Love to you all!
Deborah0 -
So...would most of you say that you had pain from stretching skin or from stretching muscle? I don't think my skin has actally started to stretch much, yet (it feels like it from the inside, but I think that is muscle...the skin seems fine). I had a skin sparing mastectomy. I can't imagine having my skin stretched tight against the incision!
Layla.....I agree with whippetmom about the relationship you were in. Your 'whole self' will be so much healthier without him....even though it is so painful right now. I just want to add.....those people who said they would have liked to have you on Thanksgiving if they had known.....please let them know next time! Give somebody a call next time and let them know you are 'going solo'. I am sure your friends would be thrilled if you would spend the day with them! We all love being with the people we love on Thanksgiving, but it's true...we just don't know sometimes! Blessings to you on this journey. I will share that my sister went through what was diagnosed at the time with Stage 4 colon cancer. She ended up with a permanent colostomy, lots of pain and a huge amount of physical disability for quite a long time. Her husband bailed...he just couldn't take it. She was devastated and felt so alone, at a time when she needed support the most. That was 12 years ago. She has grown and changed so much since then. She was 46 then. She went back to school...she had not even graduated from high school! She now has a Master's degree and a profession that she loves. She is active and much happier, and she is just at the beginning of what appears to be a healthy relationship. She would be the first to tell you that these things happen for a reason. Hang in there.0 -
Mmbec thanks for sharing your sister experience with us, I myself feel i need to change fields and this bc has given me the push to do something about it. It is great to hear others have made it.
Layla hang in there it will get better and one day you will be happy and wont even think about it anymore. I am not done yet with Recon and i just want to leave it all on the past. 0 -
Chrisnrenee: No specific formula. But width is the primary focus, especially if the gal already has TEs. If the TEs have a width of 13.0 cm, I am not going to look at implants with a width less than 13.0 cm, unless the implant is say, around 12.8 cm. You don't want that implant moving around in a too wide pocket. Ribcage circumference, height, weight...all tell me something about the chest wall and need for certain width and projection parameters. I just envision what it will take to create the desired appearance on the frame. Most of you email me your photos or post them on the Pic Forum, which is very helpful.0 -
Also, chrisrenee77 - whippetmom just has a GIFT for doing this!!!!
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She's the foob whisperer.0 -
Sandra, I like that title, perfectly put! Gave me a chuckle! Wonder what Whippetmom thinks of it?0 -
Breasts, not foobs.
Everything is new again....0 -
Blessings- I agree Whippetmom is fabulous. She's helped me out as well. Just never thought to ask if there was a formula (now that I'm done).
Whippetmom- I agree they are definitely Breasts, scars and all.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and an even better Black Friday shopping.
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6 hours ago whippetmom wrote:
Breasts, not foobs.
Everything is new again....
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whippetmom - you bring up a really good point. As soon as I was diagnosed, I joked about the "foobs" I would get. (I think that was mostly to put my friends at ease when they heard about my BC dx.)
Then I had my BMX, and got my TEs. Those were DEFINITELY foobs!!! Nothing natural about boulders stuck under your skin!!!
But after exchange, when the implants were in place and I started to heal, a change came over me, and I began to realize that these may not be the breasts that I was born with, but they were the ones the doctors gave back to me after cancer took the originals.
Even with the challenges I had in the beginning, every day brought me closer to acceptance. Now, 15 months later, they are my breasts. NOT my foobs, my breasts. And I am happy to have them, like chrisrenee77 says, scars and all!
Amazing what time can do....0 -
^^^^Same here, Blessings. I even felt that way with my first exchange! Initially I got a giggle out of the "foob/fipple" thing, but one day while reading a thread somewhere here on bco a lady said something that changed everything for me.
"Same couch, different stuffing!"
It cracked me up, but it also completely changed my thinking. I have no idea who said it, but I owe her big time.
Now when I see someone write "foob" I understand where they are, but sincerely hope they can move past it quickly if necessary. I know for some women it's just healthy humor, but I think for some it's a resentment that our bodies betrayed us this way. It helped me a lot when I accepted that they are different, but they are mine.
Hugs to you all!!!0 -
Any one have an idea if Implants will help this new problem?
how do you deal with that concave area right above the incision line and up to the collar bone where things are concave? to the extent that every muscle movement you can see. the area above the incision and near the sternum is worse for that, to the point that it can hurt when bending over, too much movement, etc. I'm hoping that if I do go with Implants it will fill up the area to lessen that problem.0 -
I'm still in the foob stage, and may stay there forever. Keeps me from thinking about what has been lost and what I've been through this year. It doesn't have anything to do with these things on my chest. I don't really care about them and I had no problem getting rid of the real ones. They caused way too much negative attention all my life because of their size.
If I'd known how much trouble I'd have after the BMX, I never would have started the reconstruction. Infection and complications have left their scars in more ways than one. When I look down, they are not breasts. Of course complications derailed the usual recovery so I still have one TE, but even the other one, a perfectly nice implant that has never given me one moment of trouble in 3 months, is just a foob. I have no emotional attachment. It's just a symbol of a very bad year in which cancer played a part. I'll never be able to return to the life I had before 2013. "Bitter? Party of one? This way please."
You can't see outward signs of my stroke (unless you watch me walk & wobble), you can't tell I have an aneurysm in my heart that will cause me to have open heart surgery, you can't see the disappointment from having to quit work too early, quit teaching ballroom dance, quit teaching Pilates and Zumba, you can't see the hours in rehab, the loss of friends who just couldn't deal with illness, the loss of retirement dreams because of financial disaster, the worry my daughters are going through because breast cancer is now a possibility for them too, and above all, the pain on my husbands face as he bravely keeps a "stiff upper lip" and claims he doesn't mind the 180 degree change in his life and future that my health has caused. But you CAN see these foobs. They have become an outward symbol of all I've been through.
I can't wallow in self pity...that's not my style. I'm a determined type A who is cheerful and happy to be alive after a tough year. I'm a "let's make the best of the current situation" type of person. On the surface you'd never know. I use humor to cope and see a counselor who lets me unload my worries and sadness and tells me its "normal" to feel this way. She is an angel. I'm not angry, just disappointed that the body I've relied on has let me down. Maybe things will settle down in the future when the surgeries are over and I have nothing to distract me from finding that new normal.0 -
i'm sure they will, Sandra!
You are still smack in the middle of the battlefield!!0 -
I personally am with Whippetmom, Blessings and Dulci on the 'breasts, not foobs' thing. I did originally start referring to them as foobs because I thought it was a humorous way to keep things in perspective. But as I travelled the road God put me on I, too, began to think of them as my new breasts. Not the originals, but I do love them because they are now part of me and what still make me feel and look like a woman. I love the 'Same couch, different stuffing' comment!
However, I can certainly sympathize with Sandra and why the implants do not give her warm fuzzies. Sandra, you have been through so much more on this journey than I have, and have suffered so much personal loss that I cannot imagine how hard it must be for you. A stroke plus breast cancer.....I mean, come on! Not fair!! I'm glad you're here, though, because you help me keep things in perspective. Good for you for getting the emotional help you need, and God bless you as you continue your recovery. Love you honey!
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Awwwww, thanks. Now I DO have warm fuzzies.0 -
(((hugs)))) Sandra! So much part of our journey.0 -
Are there any Stage IV breast friends in this group? My docs do not seem to agree that I should have gone through this stage since I "am not out of the woods yet" as my oncologist nicely stated.. Doing this implant is very important to me, whether I have 10 weeks or 100 years of life. Should I go to another BCO group?0 -
activern,
This is for ANYONE going through implant recon regardless of staging! I know there are other stage IV girls who have reconstructed, though names aren't coming to mind at the moment. Ask in the stage IV threads too, but please stay here with us!0 -
Galsal.....why not consider autologous flap reconstruction instead of implants? Could you go to NOLA? You are so close.....a days drive to New Orleans....0 -
galsal, I had a very concaved chest from my incision line right up to my collar bones. I have just started reconstruction, I had my TE's put in just three weeks ago. If you get access to the photo forum you can see my photos. I am amazed how already I am no longer concaved and I have the beginnings of new breasts.
Kathy0 -
Thank you RoseBuds for sharing that info for Galsal!0 -
Thank you Dulcigirl! I really feel comfortable here. I need to also calm down.0 -
If you read through this thread you'll find it is VERY common to "need to calm down" during this phase.
I sure know I needed to!0 -
Activern stay here with us.
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Thanks. I prefer not to go to Nola since family/friends/help is all here. I've already gone the Flap route with a Diep, which was aborted during surgery. It was found to be due to a positive Factor V Leiden blood mutation which gives a propensity for blood clots. It should have been found SIX yrs earlier when the test was ordered. Only after the failed surgery was it found that one piece of the thrombotic panel had never been run as ordered. So now I'm pretty cautious about what kind of surgeries I get. Lat Flap isn't likely a good idea for me since a shoulder was injured while in the Army and progressively worsened with age.
Thanks, I will check it out Rosebud. Hadn't been there in some time but time to look around again. I'd even considered going with the Brava and Fat Transfer route but chose not to in the long run although did have a consult with Dr. Khouri in Miami.0 -
Sandra - I agree with Dulci - you are still in the battlefield, and coping like a trouper!!! I am sending you massive huggage. xoxoxo0 -
Rosebuds - I went and posted on your thread, created one of my own too. Thanks!
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