TE TROUBLE
Comments
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Had a PS appt yesterday - will be revising both sides in Feb - and then more fat-grafting. Actually looking forward to this one!
moon - I agree with Sandra - your problems will all be behind you on 12/18!0 -
SpecialK- why are you having another exchange problems or not happy with size? I don't recall0 -
Special: I don't recall either. Bigger? Smaller? Different type? Will you have to have TEs again? Jan0 -
Not another exchange per se, just a revision for problems - my left side (non-cancer side) has had 7 surgeries total and has some shape issues and a lack of symmetry. I had fat-grafting a year ago, and I have excellent fat apparently, none of it has re-absorbed, and it exacerbated a band of scar tissue which shows even in a modest neckline - and it has created a bit of a dent. What my PS wants to do is release that band of scar tissue, use a new dermal matrix that he likes better than what I currently have, and then re fat-graft that side. He would apply the new dermal matrix to the right side, mostly for symmetry and support. I have pretty large implants - 600cc on the left and 650cc on the right - the previous fat-grafting that I did was to fill in the divots above the upper pole, I had no fat added over the implants. I am fairly petite, so don't need to go bigger, lol! I am a 34DD now, look like a full C cup.0 -
SpecialK I am glad the revision is something you want to do for a better outcome. That's awesome. Believe me I too hope the problems I had will be over 12-18-13. That will make 7 sx on my lefty. Right is a bit behind at only 2. That's if you count next month's. I suppose that's why my ROM on right is 100 % . While lefty is, um, somewhere below that number. LOL. I so want to wear a low cut sweater for Christmas parties. LOL. To show off all my hard work. We'll also my P'S work. Like I said I think he is almost happier about the exchange than I am! LOL0 -
SpecialK, I may come see you after you have your surgery. I gotta see those fabulous tata's. We have a house in St. Petersburg (where I grew up) and we are planning a road trip early next year. After the hell that was 2013, I am anxious to put it behind me for awhile. Going home and spending time at my favorite beach always fills my soul.0 -
moon and Sandra - thanks - I have been bothered by the scar tissue dent as it shows in most clothing - after all of this I would at least like to not be so self-conscious! Sandra - let me know when you will be in St. Pete - love it there! Not sure how fabulous my ta-tas are, I kind of regard them as things that occupy space in my clothes, not much more than that!0 -
SpecialK: Brave girl, I admire you for fixing your scar tissue & dents! I may get there one day, but I'm too chicken to deal with more surgery. My scars are very wide (I am a keloid-er) so they look pretty awful. And since lefty sits a solid inch lower on the IMF than righty, nips or tattoos are out of the question until I get the fobs re-aligned. Which means an involved surgery. I did discuss with PS when I saw him in the spring, and we said we would revisit the topic next spring. But I am not in any hurry. I also recently made the switch to Femara 2 weeks ago. I see you also started it recently, how are you feeling? I was expecting it to be horrible (since Tamox was!), but so, far so good...0 -
Good morning my ladies
It's been a long journey and I'm finally finished.....I know that I still have further reconstructions.... I spoke to 2 plastic surgeons for the past 2 weeks... My Regular PS I kicked him to the curve he was such a waste of my time.... He was never honest about reconstruction he made it sound like a walk in the park and never mention anything about radiated skin having any issues... He would only say will see how the skin heals..... and had infection cause his floor manager pulled out my drains...which It had some pus coming out and he ignored it... But moving forward I been looking for PS ... One PS said that he can actually help me with AFT the end of December and if dosent work we would have DIEP... My choice is not DIEP or any more scars ... I want to have AFT but I can't find anyone in Miami that could help I did my research and dr. Kroni but will not take my insurance ....... The second ps I saw said that he does not work with aft because it's like making the cancer cell reactivate ... I'm not in rush just want to do some more research if you can please help me I did create a forum regarding Rediated skin without TE.... But not much answers.... I have noTE on the right side... ...
All this crap sucks I'm so sick of not finding any solution for this non TE radiated skin it looks like a raisin on my chest ewwwwww0 -
ren- it has been a year since my fat-grafting, so I am not burned out from surgery anymore and tired of looking at the situation on my chest, so it is time. I just he can improve things - I have not tattooed the areola on the left (I had nip sparing but having a TE under the right for so long stretched the nip out and the little crumpled one on the left does not match) for the same reason as you - don't want to do it until things look symmetrical - whenever that might be, lol! I have lately been dealing with skin cancer on my back, have the last one removed tomorrow morning - so I will be sporting three new 2" incisions in the middle of my back - so far the scars don't look too bad but did have an allergic reaction to the steri-strips on the first one, that bought me stitches for #2 and #3. It always seems to be something, right?0 -
SpecialK have you figured out a way to bandage them in back yet? That's so hard to do!
Pat. So sorry you are having problems finding a P'S that can help you. I didn't have RADS I was wondering if the OR ever brings that up about the rad skin? Or the P'S is the one who knows that stuff? I just wonder who is supposed to inform the patient..You'd think it would be both. Sigh. Seems like they ALL failed for you.
Hugs to all. Much love.0 -
That's wonderful news Tapp and Moon. Keep up the great work of healing.0 -
purple - how are you doing?
ren - forgot to add about Femara - I started on one manufacturer, stayed on for six months and got a bad trigger thumb on my dominant hand. Switched to Arimiddex, stayed on it for a year and developed a trigger on wedding ring finger, one on a toe, bad left ankle trigger, and pain in my right knee bad enough for a cortisone injection. I figured if I was going to have that many issues I might as well switch back to Femara, which my MO likes better. I am taking a different manufacturer (was on Mylan, now on Teva) and not having any problems, except I am having trouble taking off weight.
moon - bandaging is still a challenge - have been going without for a few days as stitches come out tomorrow morning, but it is also the next, and last, excision, so I will be back to bandaging tomorrow! Fortunately DH will be home - he was going to be in Germany this week!0 -
Special: Good luck with the derm surgery tomorrow. Hope the biopsies continue to show good news. I was going to say 'positive news', but I mean negative results. Good thing your DH will be there for bandage changing.0 -
minus - these are not biopsies - they are all cancer - they will take about a square inch out tomorrow, like a lumpectomy. Every skin biopsy I have had has always been cancer, more than 20 of them. This is the last of the excisions though - at least for the next six months! I appreciate the good wishes though - thanks!0 -
special - then I hope they are no worse than Basal Cell. You're ahead of me. I've only had 7 surgeries. But I get at least 20 spots frozen every 6 months. Good luck.0 -
minus - Mine have been all basal so far, but one of these excisions was a recurrence so they did MOHS on that one. I have had them removed by a variety of methods but I am usually on top of these enough to get most of them frozen, then a month long application of Aldara, M-F, with the weekend off. I have had surgical excision, electrodessication, scooping and a hard freeze. This has been going on for about 20 years, so I am used to it, but these three on my back have been an interesting experience - I will be glad to be done tomorrow! Have yours all been basal, or have you had a variety?0 -
SpecialK - I always end up with one or two biopsies every 6 mos & I agree about all the other methods. I did Aldara on my face once. Yuck! I'd forgotten they used to burn instead of freezing in the good old days. Had 7 surgeries for basal cell - the last 5 of which were MOHS surgeries. I was in my early 20's when the first one was cut out and don't think they had MOHS at the time - 40 years ago. As a teen we used to lie in the sun covered w/baby oil & iodine, and I've always lived in the west or the south - so lots of sun & lots of skin issues.
Be sure to let us know how it goes tomorrow.0 -
minus - we sound like twins, lol! Today went fine, but this one hurts more! It is squarely in the middle of my back, the other two were toward my left shoulder blade. I just ran a couple of errands and it hurt to carry my purse! So, now I have a strangely angled letter L and a straight up and down letter I on my back. My DH suggested having an E added to the right so I could spell LIE - he thinks he is funny.0 -
Warning: not TE trouble, so I should be asking about this somewhere else, but your skin cancer discussion reminded me. I've been reading a lot about recurrence and learned it is most common to have breast cancer come back in four places: skin, lungs, bones, and liver. I thought cancer in your lung, for instance, would be lung cancer, but I was wrong. Unless it is a primary cancer, and it usually isn't, the tumor is still treated as breast cancer even though it is in your lung (or skin, lungs, liver.) It has metastasized to the new place. Chemo especially formulated for your kind of breast cancer works on the met even though it isn't in the breast. Fascinating. Also a little scary. How do you know if you have early stage skin cancer? I wonder if it looks or acts different than a primary skin cancer.0 -
Sandra - they biopsy it just like any kind of cancer - my biopsies are basal cell carcinomas of the skin, and a breast cancer skin met (which are relatively infrequent) looks like breast cancer under the microscope. Breast cancer in another part of the body, bone/lung/liver/brain, is a distant metastasis of the cancer originally in the breast and usually has the same features as your original breast cancer - hormonal receptors and Her2 status. Systemic therapy can sometimes change this but they can still tell if it is breast cancer versus a primary cancer in that location. There was actually someone on my chemo month group that had simultaneous breast cancer and lung cancer that was not a breast cancer met.0 -
I hope the quiet thread means that things are going well and every one is healing? Much love.0 -
I'll get my last fill Wednesday and am scheduled for exchange on 12/16! I'm excited for us all to finally continue past this phase of this journey
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Jtapp, so happy for you. Keep us posted
Special, sorry about your basal skin cancer's. My dad had them on the top of his head a few times because he was bald, and he love outdoor sports. He learned about sunscreen and hats pretty fast.0 -
jtap, you'll be 2 days before me. Good luck.
Special you should be recovering now I hope?
To all much love.0 -
Today is 10 weeks post BMX for me. 2 weeks ago I had another surgery to remove fluid from R and insert another drain. I am so discouraged to still have drains after all this time and to have had to postpone chemo 5 times so far. Finally my drains were in the 30cc's and I thought I was making progress, but when I had another fill on Monday they shot back up to the 50cc's and have not come back down. Has this happened to anyone else after a fill? Anyone know the secret to shutting off the fluid production?
Thanks
Denise46030 -
I am doing OK - the hardest thing is that I can't reach these incisions so someone else has to bandage them - I have to schedule the bandage changing for when someone is home! I did have to do it myself on the second one when the bandage my DH put on peeled off on my shirt, it was a challenge. I get these stitches out the day before Thanksgiving and then I am DONE! For six months. I am sure they will find something else to look at then.
denise - other than limiting activity I am not sure what to tell you, my drains came out in less than a week each of the three times I had them. There are some ladies on this thread who had drains for a long time, hopefully someone will post, but sometimes the weekend is a bit slow.0 -
I had 4 drains after surgery #1. Two weeks later when I went back in for surgery #2 to take out one implant and put in a TE, I still had 3 of the 4 original drains. Little by little they were taken out but I wasn't completely drain free until three weeks after surgery #2. My PS doesn't take drains out until they are putting out 20 cc's for three consecutive days. Some people on this thread have theirs out if they are producing under 40 cc's. Goodness, I didn't put out 40 cc's on day one! Does that mean I would have had them out the day after surgery? Some people report painful fluid buildup after their drains are out. However some others report they got theirs out early and had no trouble. For my upcoming surgery #3 to put in the new implants, the PS says I'll have a drain on each side. Several others have posted their docs said they will have no drains with the exchange. It's so confusing. How do the doctors know before surgery that you won't need drains? How can they tell that you won't get a seroma or infection?0 -
drains are the enemy!!#!! But gotta have them. Denise had my 1st set for almost 5 weeks. Had another for 4 weeks. This last time I put out 100 every day! They had to go back in and stitch up a lymph vessel. I tried all the usual things: resting. Compression. Fill in foob to add compression. More rest. More fill. More compression. The only thing that worked was the surgery. After that I dropped to 20 that day and down to 10 for each day after so he pulled them. I have had 7 sets of drains. they SUCK!!! Figuratively as well as literally. Good luck.0 -
Sandra ~ drains??? What drains? My PS never mentioned putting drains at my exchange surgery. Tell me I misread that?0
