TE TROUBLE
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darn
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Sorry 😕
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Hi so, January 2012- 4 attempts at DIEP - all failied, ended up with saline one step exapander.
slowly got filled- April incision opened, a few attempts at stitching me up, FAILED, new implant MAy,
September, incision opened up, spent all over October being restitched- 4 times, and now im tired!!! so im going in tomorrow (as incision open again) im having implant removed!!!!
im done and tired of this crap! i wont to give my body a rest! NOT HAPPY !!!
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Oh, redninrah I am so sorry.
Been there & it sucks. What finally worked for me was leaving the implant out for a couple of months & letting the radiated side settle down. Radiation really impairs the circulation, & even with a lat flap to counteract that I still had healing issues due to rads.
Will be thinking of you...
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thanks DLL66- i hate it! my 2012 has been quite a waste and all those parking tickets I paid for, for what?? nothing!!!
so what are u doing now DLL66
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red - sorry to hear about this - I know you have struggled with recon. I had my left side expander out for 7 months and the area finally healed very well. When I had it replaced I had no further healing issues and was able to expand and exchange without problems. I hope just allowing all to heal for a period of time will work for you - what are you being offered in the way of recon at this point?
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nothing! it was my choice, after being back anf forth for the last 4 weeks, 4 times to be restitched, i told my PS, im coming tomorrow to have it taken out, enough is enough, this is BS, clearly my skin needs to be healed.
So he told me to come in tomorrow. Im going to ask for fat injections.........im wondering if this will work?? i know in usa its ok, but its new in canada
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redninrah, after leaving the implant out for 2 months I had an adjustable saline implant put in. It was filled slowly, overexpanded & then the overfill was removed. It did what we needed it to do, which was to get the rads side expanded enough. If it matched the silicone side well enough, we would have left it in as a permanent implant. Instead, my PS replaced it with a silicone implant that is slightly larger than the one on my non-rads side & adjusted the IMF fold.
This is the best that my rads side has looked. Yay! Scheduled for nips in December & some fat grafting in 4 or 5 months.
It is nice to not have so many doctor appointments for a change.
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I know the member dancetrancer did fat recon (in the US) but she could advise you - I am sure she would respond to a PM from you.
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im not sure I want to go under again........
its too much for my body to take.....
i have a cruise in may and i was so excited to have my new boob and bought some nice halter maxi dresses, and now, im not going to have a boob...............
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Oh, redninrah, I know how hard you were fighting for this....
Maybe right now it's time to just give your body a rest, and a chance to heal.
Down the road, you may feel differently, but it sounds like you are doing the right thing for right now.
Gentle hugs to you, and wishing you good healing!!!
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thanks blessings, I had tears in my eyes today, but stopped after a few minutes, and realised BC is getting the better of me..........
im still angry, disapointed...........but i can fight fight fight all the way, but my poor body just needs time.
im thinking about askign about just fat transfer instead...........
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I'm recovering from my surgery last Thursday and trying to behave. It wasn't as bad as the first surgery last year. I was in the hospital one night. I felt worse from the pain medication they gave me than anything else. Me and percocet do not get along. Give me good old tylenol any day. I started out with 2 drains and now am down to 1 on my left side. Also on my left side my breast expander leaked, so I definetely belong to this club. My PS put in a new expander & in about a month I will have to start the refill process for the third time for this side. My PS said he wants to give my body a chance to heal and I'm not eager to go under the knife again real soon. My problem on the left side is also my BS did re-excision surgery to have clean margins. I was also radiated on my left side. My PS surgeon said that will hurt trying to get my left side the same as the right side. But I can live with that problem.
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hi ladies
ive had these TE's in for 2.5 wks and i am still in awful pain...and still on meds. Anyone feel this way? they are horribly tight, painful just awful. I understood they would be uncomfortable not unbearable. Im really starting to wonder when my boyd will adjust to these
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Rozem, i took my pain meds for almost 3.5 wks. The tightness does stay around for a while, but one day you will wake up and you will feel great. Have you tried propping yourself up at night with pillows? I was told at around week 2 to sleep propped up. That helped ALOT! i propped myself up with 3 pillows, then one underneath my back anf then one on each side so i couldnt roll onto my side. Now that im 7 weeks out i still sleep with my body pillow to hold the girls up at night. Hope that helps.
Christy0 -
Rozem - it does get better hang in there! Granted I've had my TE for 5 months now but I've been able to even sleep on my stomach for a while now. I sleep on my sides as well and almost never feel the TE. The only time I remember its there is when I bend over from the waist and sort of feel like plunk down.
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Rozem, I just had surgery 10 days ago , 2nd mx w/ immediate recon (TEs placed) to both sides. I was just about to get on here and post almost the exact same words you wrote. Thank you ladies for sharing your experience with these TEs. Sometimes it's all so traumatic. When I have the pain to remind me everyday, it's harder to cope with the reality of it all. At least when I'm not in physical pain, I can distract myself from time to time and find peace. Rozem feel free to stay in touch and we can compare notes. It sounds like we're suppossed to be finding some relief soon. I really hope so. Let me know how it goes.
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rozem - have you tried Valium? It is supposed to be better for tight TE pain/pressure, or another combination of muscle relaxer and pain med. Soma, Skelaxin and Flexeril are all good muscle relaxers, and maybe combined with Percocet or Vicodin, or whatever pain med your docs have prescribed - would give you some relief. The combination seems to do a better job than pain meds alone. I had pressure, but not really any significant pain, for at least a month, maybe a little longer. I did sleep propped up for several months.
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I had my right implant removed in august. I have PS appt Monday to talk about what we will do to replace it.
redninrah: give your body a break for awhile. When they took out my implant in August it was following exchange in July that resulted in infection, ruptured sutures, exposed implant, etc... That 2 wks in the hospital was the worst of this whole experience. It sent me into depression. More than my cancer diagnosis. When I went home I told the doctors I wanted to take a break for awhile. So, since then I have my left implant, which looks pretty good, but a flap of empty skin on the right where the TE was fully expanded to 840 cc and is now w/out anything.
Just 2 wks ago I finally got a prosthetic. I decided if I had to wear the prosthetic the rest of my life, so be it. I'm sick and tired of being poked, proded, going under the knife, etc....
Then the PS called me last week and wanted me to come in to talk. He wants to 'finish' what we started. He takes pride in his work. At the beginning he was up front and said the whole thing would take a couple of years, we may hit complications, etc... I really appreciated that. But, I have REALLY appreciated the last 2 months of not seeing any doctor about my BC issues.
So, I'm going in Monday to talk. I plan to wait until after January 1 to DO anything. I can't go through another holiday season in pain, on meds, etc... I'm needed at work (I'm the boss) because of have 7 of my 12 employees out right now, through the end of the year. I need to be there.
I'm afraid he is going to tell me that I have to have the implant put in before the skin shrinks back too much. I wont know until Monday.
My body is enjoying the break.
My word to everyone, if you are giving your body a break, ask for an Rx for prosthetic due to "failed reconstruction." It is covered by insurance. I got the prosthetic and three nice bras with pockets for the prosthetic.
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Ok, I believe in miracles, I went to see ps today to have implant removed, and the incision seems to have healed!!!! The next 48 hrs are crucial but if it heals then I don't have to have implant removed, but will take a few months off break before starting the fill process, I only have 120 left anyways
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Crossing fingers for you, redninrah!
SheChirple, I was also very depressed after losing an implant & having to leave it out. You sound like you are in a much better place now. Good luck on Monday.
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thanks DL66- not too much drainage today......... a spot or two, im trying not to get it wet, and just take baths and not to put water on incision, it will make it heal faster.
nervous!!!
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Update- no more leakage, maybe a slight ooze in one spot, but overall bandage is dry.
I tried to take the bandage off the other day but he put some derma glue over incision for double protection, however the glue was attached to bandaid and I got scared of taking it off, so I. Left it .
Will be seeing ps on Wednesday hopefully no more bandages0 -
Red!! That is a great update to read this morning. I am so thankful that things may have turned a corner for you and hope you have continued progress.
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Ditto to what MondaysChild said. I am pulling for you!
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Have an appointment with my PS at 1pm to resume reconstruction - so excited can't sit still!
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Yay, roadwarrior! Good luck today.
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Good luck, roadwarrior! That's great!
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THANK YOU LADIES!
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Thanks everyone! Saw the PS, everything looks good. He said he could do 1-step straight to implant in both sides (I have a TE on the right, and nothing on the left), but that I'd get better results with a 2-step, i.e. putting the left TE back in. That's fine with me since I want to go bigger. I had no idea that I already have 240cc on the right side! He said I'd need 400-450 for a C-cup, so not a long way to go.
So we'll just wait a little bit for my blood counts to recover from chemo, and pre-authorization takes about 4 weeks anyway. So I'm looking at right around Christmas
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