TE TROUBLE
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tfee : it is quite the wake up call, isn't it. I had a similar wake up call with my last episode, removing my implant, infections, seromas, open wounds, hospitalization. I can't retire because I support the family, but I sure can slow down.
Bless your heart....keep on keeping on.
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mkw1: I have been sleeping on an incline pillow, with pillows on top of that, in bed. My PS wants me to sleep like that for another 2 weeks (4 weeks total). It helps reduce swelling and fluid buildup (the latter of which I tend to produce a lot of!). The surgical vest (which I am also to wear for a month) does the same thing. I was told to sleep on my back during this time period also, so I don't put undue pressure on the implants. No lifting or pulling either; PS wants my chest muscle to heal over the implants as he positioned them. The less I use my muscles right now, the more the implants will heal in the proper place. At least that is my PS's philosophy! Every one has their own instructions (which makes all this rather confusing).
tfee: Thanks for stopping by and sharing your good news! As women we often need to be reminded to take care of ourselves. So glad you are back on a healing path. You had quite a scare there! Good luck with your fills and may they remain uneventful!
I am feeling SO much better! Not 100% yet of course, but my fever finally went away on Friday, and that made all the difference. I have more energy, and I got out of the house for the first time yesterday and went to a birthday party for 3 hours. Man was I tired when I got home (at 7PM!) but I slept like a rock last night. I also wore a stretchy bra instead of my surgical vest (which comes up so high I can't hide it in hot weather) and I noticed that for the first time since BMX, wearing a bra didn't hurt!!! I felt very comfortable in it (unlike trying to corral the TEs into a bra!).
SheChirple: Nope, people have no idea what reconstruction is really like. Heck, neither do we and we are going through it! Yesterday at this party I attended, a friend (who had a boob job years ago) came up to me and said, "So! You're done! Are you happy with how they look?" I just stared at her. How do you answer that, 10 days out from surgery? I tried to explain that they change daily and they aren't even right now, but that just confused her more. So I changed the subject!
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Renn: did you post your party story over on stupid things people say board? Folks really don't know the difference between a boob job and building breasts from scratch. If it were me I would of flashed her my new set, squirted hand sanitizer on her hands and invited her to touch the TE's and scar tissue too, just for the fun of it.
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Hey all. I agree with you Jill, about always having to explain why I need more time off from work than Sally, or Sue did when they had their "boob jobs" they were back in no time! Gets somewhat annoying...
I am so sorry for all of you guys having problems still.
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I am too, I was feeling fine until this past Tuesday evening. When I got out of the shower the left side had an opening and was bleeding... Well, went in the next day and the PA said it looked ok. I thought so too. I was not worried, until Thursday night I started feeling drained & icky.. Then woke up Friday morning to not pink blood stains but icky stuff coming out of the opening, soreness, and very pink and hot skin on that foob.. Got to my appt, and the PS said he can try to save the implant!!! I stopped crying. There was hope?
So, (leaving most gross details out) he took me to his recovery room where he cleaned it, then pushed a whole bunch of betadine inside, cleaned up the opening before stitching it closed then told me what to do over the next few days. He says that this has worked a couple of times before.. But, not out of the woods yet. He will know tomorrow (Monday) if it is working or not.
I'm feeling better now, thanks to antibiotics.. And, the foob is no longer red or sore, so, hopefully there will be good news on tomorrow.
Fast healing to everyone out there!0 -
shae - hope things stay quiet from this point on!
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Shae - hoping for good news Monday....
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Hello Everyone... I appear and disappear a lot. You all uplift me but I also stress with you. I get mad when we, including ME, struggle with disappointment and setbacks and illness...
To catch up, I started reading from the end and am working my way back... I have a LOT of catching up to do!
to start:
Shae...UGH!!! MAN.... UGH... I really, really, really hope this works for you!
Time to put me back on the TE trouble surgery list. I am so discouraged.
No infection, but the implants did not hold so I'm going to give my PS (who I love) one more shot. She's going to use alloderm but I know she's not experienced with it so I am not as hopeful as I typically am going into surgery. This will make 5 surgeries since my March 2012 BM.
I see her tomorrow for a preop appointment. QUESTION: sling or full coverage? Anyone have a pro or con to sling or full?
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(my surgery date - September 24th - a week from Monday)
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SHAE: OMG I'm so sorry to hear this. Did you have steri-strips or surgical tape or glue on the incision still or had those fallen off already? You and I had our exchanges on the same day. I still have surgical tape on my incisions (I have no idea what the actual incisions look like) and I had to wait a week before I was even allowed to shower. Please let us know what he says tomorrow! Sending you hugs!
GreenMonkey: OMG to you too! I added you to the list again but I can't believe you have to have the implants re-done. What happened? What do you mean when you say they didn't "hold"? Do you NOT have any now? I had AlloDerm slings put in at BMX, and at exchange my PS added AlloDerm on top of my right implant to help ensure good circulation given my skin healing issues. So yes, big believer in AlloDerm. Hugs to you my friend!!! Tell us how it goes tomorrow.
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GM Alloderm is also thought to decrease problems with rippling.
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Shae and GM: my smile just dropped when I read your posts...I'm so sorry for you to be back here with bad news, damn so disappointing after your exchanges. Big hugs to you both, Jill
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Shae, hoping that things work out & you can save that implant!
GM, hope things went well at today's appointment.
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Shae and GM - thinking of you both.....
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Shaw, oh, I hope you can save it. My ps didn't want to evermore try with mine. Don't know if that better or not. But if you can save it - I will be happy for you. Who needs to go through surgery if you don't have to. BTW, surgery of the month club sucks!
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Greenmonkey, I am praying for you too. Boy I know how it feels when things don't go well.
I got my drain pulled, and all my stitches out. Thank goodness I am so numb, 35 stitches coming out would hurt otherwise. My PS says call in 6 months and well talk. He says there are some advantages to keeping the other te and even going on to Exchange it . Also, perhaps direct to implants with the wonky left if we try one more time. I was over 500. Cc on both , so still a bit small, but at least they would be there. Wheeeeee, are we having fun left? LOL0 -
Hi everyone. Yesterday I became a member of the community. It seems like everyone has been able to get to know one another in this discussion. I'm hoping there may be some room for me. Also, let me apologize ahead of time for being long winded. I'm new and this is completely out of my comfort zone.
In November of last year I was diagnosed with bc at the age of 34. Furthermore, I was 22 weeks pregnant at the time. Because of the pregnancy and the hormones involved, my tumor rapidly began to grow. Two weeks after being diagnosed, I began chemo. After 12 rounds of chemo my beautiful baby was born (She's 6 months today!!) I started up chemo once again and completed 8 more sessions. Amazingly, I was never sick and barely fatigued throughout the treatments. My attitude was continuously positive.
I was tested and was found to be one of the unfortunate ones having the BRAC1 genetic defect. For this reason, I opted to undergo a bm. During the 1st week of August, I had the surgery and te's were put in place. The pathology report came back shortly and I have learned I am cancer free!!!!
Within 3 weeks after surgery I had 2 fills in my te's. I should be happy right? I'm a survivor!! However, 2 days after the last fill, I sudddenly couldn't move from the excruciating pain in my lb. It was suddenly swollen and bright red. The drainage was a brownish-yellow color. I knew it wasn't good and my PS confirmed that I had develeoped an infection. He placed me on antibiotics for 2 days and said he didn't want to take any chances. Two days after that he removed the infected te. The other still remains in place.
Now I'm left with a gaping hole on the left side of my chest and a te on the right side. My positive attitude has suddenly changed. Even worse, I'm starting to feel pain in my rb. There is no swelling or redness. So I'm not afraid of infection.
When I touch my rb, I think I can feel the edge of the te near my sternum. Also, there are times that when I move I can feel something similar to an air bubble moving inside the te. Is this normal? Or is this a sign the te may have shifted? Anyone?0 -
Hello,
Moonflower, sorry that yours had to be removed!
GreenMonkey,, can you give us a little more about what happened to yours? Why they didn't work?
LilLadie, we have plenty of room here and hopefully we can help & encourage you along the way!
Renn, I don't know what sort of closure he uses. All I know is there are inside stitches and I get a scab along the incision after a couple days (when I am allowed to shower). But, there's nothing to remove..
Well, good news the infection looks to be clearing just fine. But, (there's always a 'but') there is now an exposure (again). Since I do not really look hard enough at the incision I didn't even notice. (it's numb too) so there's no real feelings. Anyway, surgery tomorrow to fix that if he can. The skin is so very thin.. He is still going to try to save the implant but only if he can pull the skin together enough to get to some of the thicker skin. He's also going to make sure there is no scar tissue residue or anything else that could cause anything negative...
So, surgery tomorrow not until 4 man will I be hungry or what!!
All: I can still see light at the end of all our tunnels. Smile even if you don't feel like it.0 -
LilLadie:First of all, congratulations on having a beautiful baby despite all the circumstances that you had to face.
I am sorry that you got an infection and temporarily lost your TE. Many of us have gone through the same challenge and can relate to your situation. It is usually a temporary situation and after you heal well they can insert the TE again. About the pain on the other side, it does not necessarily means you have an infection. The TE may be putting pressure in your chest causing you to feel pain. If I were you, I would set an appointment with the PS to make sure that everything is ok with your right side.
I also lost my left te due to an infection. Five months later it was replaced with a new one and two weeks ago I had the exchange to implants. Sometimes it seemed like I was waiting forever, but I got a lot of encouragement from ladies in this board who had gone through the same challenge and had a great final outcome.
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lil - sorry you find yourself here, but congrats on your new baby! What you are feeling in the remaining TE is normal - the edge and air bubbles. Actually you can feel similar things in permanent silicone implants as well, as well as occasional discomfort. Losing a TE is a traumatic thing - this is a group of ladies who definitely understand. My reconstruction road was long but I did finally make it to exchange, and I am hopeful for you too. How close was your BMX to the end of your chemo? I am wondering about what your white count looked like pre-surgery - did you have a CBC?
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First of all, I want to thank everyone who has reached out to me. I have a wonderful support system at home, but no one who knows exactly what I'm going through. The genuine kindness in your responses truly brought tears to my eyes. Thank you!!
mkw1- I have an appointment on Thursday. Luckily my PS seems to be on top of things and is very well respected by surgeons in my area.
SpecialK- thanks for the info regarding te's and implants. I never expected to go through complications after the surgery. So I may have freaked myself out. As far as the BMX, it was 5 weeks after my last chemo. As far as I know, my white blood cells were fine.0 -
Lil, sorry you have to be here, I wish you better luck. My ps closed me up with lovely black stiches he removed today, thank god I am numb over the insicion! pulled my drain too. I can take a shower tomorrow, yay. Now if my port would stop itiching, but I really hate having it accessed for weeks at a time, but then again, it beats a picc line for weeks, I prefer the accessed port! Shae, I hope your surgery went well. Much love.
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Hello Lil :So sorry you've had such a rough time.... But as SpecialK said, Congrats on your baby!
When I lost my left TE due to infection I was so depressed and lost. I thought this whole recon process would be a walk in the park. I eventually got my TE back and now have implants.....it will work out and there are options out there, too.
As for your rib pain, I had that all the time. It was rough...I noticed by shifting my body it could alleviate some of the discomfort.
Shae - so relieved to hear the infection is clearing up.....0 -
Hello Everyone,
As far as more information - during my BMX my plastic surgeon opened the pocket on the right side too deep and also placed the TE's incorrectly. I needed to find another ps and have them repositioned. Unfortunately, after the exchange the implants did not stay in position. The right slid down to where the TE was incorrectly placed so that the implant is resting on the lower lip of my ribcage. It was extra disappointing because the implants look fantastic for about 4 weeks until they dropped.
My PS is now going to use alloderm. What concerns me is that she does not have a lot of experiece with alloderm. If this doesn't work I'll need to find another PS. I also project larger on the right so we're going to use a moderate profile on that side and a high profile on the other.
My surgery is monday the 24th. As I mentioned, I am very discouraged and I'm trying to wrestle up some confidence in my doctor.
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(((((Greenmonkey))))))
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Hi , so I was at the end of everything, I was fully expanded. A small section of my incision opened. The allerderm was protecting the implant. He has sewed it up twice and it keeps opening up. Could this be the end of my implant journey?? ....
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red - oh no! So sorry! It seems that you are not succesfully healing on the incision line, but I wonder why?
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Badly radiated skin? I'm tired of this ......just want a frigging breast aghhhhh
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GreenMonkey, did your PS have you wearing an underwire bra?
redninrah, sorry to hear about your continued healing issues. Radiation was the culprit in mine as well.
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red - There was another member on this thread who had this issue also because of radiation with her first BC. We shared a PS who said that if she removed the TE and completely healed that he as willing to try again after complete healing. If I remember correctly didn't you do autologous and then go to an implant because you had issues with the flap? A long journey for you my friend, I understand your frustration.
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Aw,gee, red! I'll keep praying it heals. I am chanting in my head, keep that foob, keep that foob! Maybe the positive vibes will help it heal.
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