Come join others currently navigating treatment in our weekly Zoom Meetup! Register here: Tuesdays, 1pm ET.
Take our poll: Caregivers, what do you find most difficult about caregiving?
Weigh in: What are the best and worst gifts for people with breast cancer?

TE TROUBLE

1…217218220222223…293

Comments

  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 1,750
    edited October 2013


    Purple, so glad to hear you are headed back into surgery in the morning. Hopefully the surgeon will be able to close your wound. Please let us know how you are.

  • moonflwr912
    moonflwr912 Member Posts: 5,938
    edited October 2013


    praying for Purple today. Hope it stays closed.

  • minustwo
    minustwo Member Posts: 13,357
    edited October 2013


    Purple - my thoughts are with you. Hope for closure (pun intended).

  • goldie4040
    goldie4040 Member Posts: 404
    edited October 2013


    Keep us posted, Purple. Prayer's are with you.

  • Binc
    Binc Member Posts: 71
    edited October 2013


    Purple- I hope you're all closed up!

  • purple87
    purple87 Member Posts: 93
    edited October 2013


    Thank you ladies for ur prayers and encouragement. PS was able to close my wound...I am so excited about it. It looks really good. I have a Jp drain he put in a large 14 so I don't think its gonna clog up. I feel good about this. Pain is under control and I sm home healing. THANKS again for all of your support. Hugs and kisses to all of you.

  • specialk
    specialk Member Posts: 9,261
    edited October 2013


    purple - yay!!!!!!! Keeping fingers crossed for you!! Thanks for keeping us posted.

  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 1,750
    edited October 2013


    Good news, Purple. We been concerned about you.

  • goldie4040
    goldie4040 Member Posts: 404
    edited October 2013


    Keeping my fingers crossed this will do it, Purple. I hope you don't need the drain very long.

  • moonflwr912
    moonflwr912 Member Posts: 5,938
    edited October 2013


    oh how wonderful to hear! Still praying for FAST healing, Purple.

  • Jtapp9
    Jtapp9 Member Posts: 34
    edited October 2013


    So glad your wound is healing Purple!!


    My wound was completely healed (with scars of course) 2 weeks ago and I got to start my fills finally! Yay!!! Only 2 1/2 months late :). I came out of surgery with 200 cc's. The nurse gave me 100 cc's first day. Last week she put 120 cc's in left and 80 in right because the right side looks larger. Yesterday I got 200 cc's in the left and 120 in right. The right is not larger but the left side is drooping better because there is more skin. The right side had the wound and the stitches so there is a tighter skin spot top to bottom down the center. It causes it to sit higher and look fuller in the cleavage and flatter on the bottom than the left. I'm a bit lopsided right now but its not really noticeable by those that don't know.


    I know that seems like a lot of cc's but I am a bigger gal and had fairly large breasts. PS saved a lot of skin so I have really had NO discomfort other than the port entry with the needles. Bit tender the next day. I'm glad he saved all that skin. I'm guessing he will have to take more of it from the left at exchange in order for both to "droop" the same. My left side actually looks really wonderful compared to the right side with the bit of pucker down the middle. I'm very hopeful for a great outcome at exchange in February. I'm not sure how many more cc's I will choose to get. I'm still not very large looking compared to my body size, but I don't want to be anywhere near where I was before cancer. I would like to at least get some nice, perky boobs out of this deal :).


    Thank you all for welcoming me "home", even though I am not around very much!

  • goldie4040
    goldie4040 Member Posts: 404
    edited October 2013


    Jtapp, sounds like you are going to breeze through this. I hope it all works out just the way you want it to. I have my exchange on Dec 3. I realized yesterday that is really only a month away. Dec seems so far off, but it's not.

  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 1,750
    edited October 2013


    Jtapp9,


    Loved your comment that you wanted to get some nice perky boobs out of all this. As they say, "Ain't it the truth!" Most of us are quite happy with little ones too. I love not having to wear a bra for the first time in 50 years!


    It's a good day. I just came from the plastic surgeon who "topped off" my TE with a final fill. I don't know where he was going to put it 'cause I thought I was maxed out last week at 680. But you know how it is...the saline moves around and redistributes and skin stretches during the week between fills. So he was able to fit in a final 60 cc's today (painless as usual) for a grand (and I do mean GRAND) total of 740 cc's. The TE side looks much bigger than the implant side, even though the saline implant is 800 cc's. Because it can't expand towards my armpit because that area was necrotic and had to be removed, the TE is much higher than the implant. It has a prominent rounded "shelf" on the top and it presses right up against the implant in the middle of my chest. The PS will use all this extra expanded skin to shift over to cover the side of the new implant where there is nothing but scar tissue now. Amazing what they can do, isn't it?


    My chest from the side looks like a b on the TE side but slopes nicely on the implant side. Even though the implant side is healed after 2 months, the PS says a smaller Allergan 410 will work better on the TE side so I will have the saline implant replaced with a smaller Allergan 410 to match.


    Now it's back to waiting. I know it will be in November but they will call me with a date as soon as the staff figures out where in his schedule they can fit me in. It's so exciting to see the finish line! This was supposed to be a "one and done" operation - BMX with immediate reconstruction/implants, but as Moonfwr says, I took a "scenic detour."

  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 1,750
    edited October 2013


    Moon,


    As promised, I asked the PS about radiated skin. He said the TE failure rate is about 50% so he encourages one of the flap procedures instead for women who've gone through radiation.

  • jnprsn
    jnprsn Member Posts: 59
    edited October 2013


    Hi Ladies, Haven't been on here for a while. Was hospitalized for seroma and cellulitis infection.


    Question: Even though the infection is gone, how long will the skin remain red?


    Thanks for any responses.


    - Jane

  • minustwo
    minustwo Member Posts: 13,357
    edited October 2013


    Sandra & Moon: My PS also says that implants don't work well w/radiated skin & recommends Lat Flap or Diep. I've had my implants since 2011, so I can only hope that the rads that will be required by the recurrence won't mess w/them. If there's a problem, I'll be going flat - not enough fat for a Diep and I won't do the LAT at this point in my life.

  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 1,750
    edited November 2013


    Jane,


    I'm certainly no doctor but it makes sense to me that if the infection is gone, your breast should not be red. Is it possible some of the tissue has turned necrotic? The skin can be pink, bright pink, red, purple, and finally black and you will need another surgery to remove it. Please check with your doctor tomorrow.

  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 1,750
    edited November 2013


    Minus,


    Your thinking seems sound. For what it's worth, I would do the same thing. I was flat on one side for a month after the infection and repair surgery and really didn't mind it. The only problem was I still had a viable implant on the other side so it was awkward. I wanted one or the other, not both.


    If I'd known 2 months ago before surgery #1 that I was going to have trouble that would require a second surgery, a TE, fills, a third surgery to try an implant again, and a fourth surgery to do fat grafting...well, I'd have said no way. I'll stay flat.

  • moonflwr912
    moonflwr912 Member Posts: 5,938
    edited November 2013


    ha, Sandra! Yes if we only knew! LOL! I would not have tried my 3rd time if I didnt need to prove to my ortho doctor my body can KEEP an implant! But it seems 3rd times the charm. 3TTC, 3TTC! Just got another fill. PS filled 50 each. Hurts but not as bad as last time. He had some trouble putting it in. I made an appt for next week to try 50 more which will put me at 800. He'll have 900 and 800 ordered just in case. My date for exchange is Dec. 18th. Really happening! Two plus years since my BMX! Keeping my gingers crossed.

  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 1,750
    edited November 2013


    Moon,


    It's going to happen this time for you or else I'll have to come up there and do it myself! You must be uncomfortable with 2 bulging softballs stuck to your chest. I know I'm full to the brim with 740 cc's so your numbers sound epic.


    I've been lucky and have had no pain with my fills, just some tightness and mild ache for a couple of hours. The final 60 cc's today are making their presence known however. It still didn't hurt to get the fill, but for the first time I can feel it pressing into my chest wall, not just stretching my skin. I would not call it pain but it is certainly peculiar and a bit more uncomfortable then usual. To my usual Tylenol I have added a couple of lidocaine patches tonight on the side of the TE and under my arm. That scar tissue does NOT appreciate the pressure against it and apparently is in no mood to consider stretching without a fight. The lidocaine patches are mild but help.


    Next week when I see the PS it will be for final measurements so he can order the right size new implants. I have to have the "good" implant replaced too so I'll be a bit smaller than the implants I got in round one of this "fight for foobs." . Don't care. Just get me to that operating room and make it snappy!

  • moonflwr912
    moonflwr912 Member Posts: 5,938
    edited November 2013


    Sandra, yes tew bowling balls is more like it. LOL. Ill try a bra tomorrow and see if they fit. Probably not fill out a C yet! No one who looks at them beleives me. But I did not quite fill a C before. They removed over 600 mg at BMX from each breast in one lump. Then they took more tissue there too. My chest must stick out somewhat. LOL. I keep bumping into things with these foobs! And then they hurt! LOL. Man what we do just to look normal. Take care.

  • minustwo
    minustwo Member Posts: 13,357
    edited November 2013


    Moon - thrilled that you have a firm date. We're all ready to celebrate with you.

  • Togetherness
    Togetherness Member Posts: 89
    edited November 2013


    I have my exchange surgery nov. 5 th. I am nervous because I do not want the cellulitis to come back. Right breast keeps filling up with fluid that needs to be drained. There is no infection in the fluid drained off it just keeps filling up. I will have drains and will willingly take them as long as they keep an infection at bay. Also nervous about what the recovery will be like. I hear from other forums you are swollen for weeks and it is hard to determine your size. I am sure the recovery is nothing like the BMX. Any experience would be greatly appreciated.

  • goldie4040
    goldie4040 Member Posts: 404
    edited November 2013


    Togetherness


    I wish there was something I could say about your fluid build up. I only had that for a very short time after my drains were taken about 2 weeks after my bmx. PS drained it off, and then I wore compression for a couple of weeks, and it never came back. If your PS is going ahead with your exchange I am sure he/she is confident that all is well. Maybe the drains will help, like you said, I am excited for you to have your exchange. Mine is Dec. 3, and I can't wait.


    Keep us posted on how you do.

  • Rennasus
    Rennasus Member Posts: 642
    edited November 2013


    A compression vest definitely helped keep my fluid down, as did lessening my activity. Togetherness, let us know how your exchange went.

  • moonflwr912
    moonflwr912 Member Posts: 5,938
    edited November 2013


    Hello everyone. How's everything going? Togetherness did you get the exchange? Everyone doing ok?


    I am doing ok so far. No fevers since my TE expansion pain went away. So my body was definitely telling me enough! LOL. Countdown has begun. About a month. Sometimes I manage not to think about it too much..Gonna keep that up! LOL. Hope things are going as good for most of you.


    Much love.

  • Rennasus
    Rennasus Member Posts: 642
    edited November 2013


    Moonflwr, do you have a firm surgery date? Lemme know so I can put you on the list!


    Hope the fact that this thread has been on the quiet side means that ladies who have had recent surgeries/complications are doing better. Fingers crossed that this is the case! ;-)

  • moonflwr912
    moonflwr912 Member Posts: 5,938
    edited November 2013


    Hey Renn! Yep 12-18-13. Which means I will have had my original right TE for 24 months 10 days! LOL. Left TE for just 4 months this time. Um a total of 3 TEs for a total Of almost 8 months altogether! LOL whew. My P'S is looking forward to this sx too! LOL


    Much love.

  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 1,750
    edited November 2013


    Moon,


    You must have won the award for the longest time with TE's in history! 2 years! Ack! You can now relax. I have taken over your immediate future and there will simply be no more complications - I won't allow it. The next month will fly by and you will have no anxiety leading up to Dec. 18th. Your exchange will be so easy and you will wake up with no nausea and happy with your new foobs. Healing will be uneventful, painless, and rapid. Drains will come out in record time because there won't be any excess fluid. No seromas after the drains come out either. There. I have spoken. 3TTC

  • moonflwr912
    moonflwr912 Member Posts: 5,938
    edited November 2013


    Let it be! Just that way! Thanks Sandra! LOL

Categories

Join Us on Zoom: Upcoming virtual meetups. Read more...
Give your account some personality! Add a profile photo.