TE TROUBLE
Comments
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Goldie....NEVER apologize for unloading that is what we are here for. I am so sorry u are having pain. I will keep u in prayer. Don't give up...you have been through to much to give in now.
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Goldie: I always had better luck getting answers & resolutions with the BS and not the PS. Of course the BS is a woman. But I agree about a 2nd opinion since you're in such pain. Good luck.
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ah goldie! My P'S is a much different man after dealing with me. He is a bit more um, humble. LOL I seem to have confounded him at almost every turn. He will remove TEs If There Is An infection. Always. A lot of P'S will try to save it. But i understand why. I felt the tightness right after sx, but at about 1 week out it seems to be fading. I am not wearing anything but a sports bra or my cami's. ( awww those wonderful, faithful, wornout, but comfy, camis)) LOL
I do truly hope that the tightness fades for you.
Purple good to see you. I am assuming you healed fine from the open wound? You sound like you are doing well.
Much love to all.
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Anyone regret the decision to go with reconstruction after having these issues? You know I've wondered, is this really worth it?? Today I have alot of tightness on the left side after my surgery yesterday, now I'm paranoid about every little feeling.
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Tangandchris, yes, I've had plenty of regrets, but not because of the TE. It was annoying at times but what an experience! How many people get to watch a breast grow from nothing to something in six weeks?
If I'd known that I was going to get an infection in the hospital after the BMX with implants, and that the infection would lead to the second surgery (to remove so much necrotic -dead- muscle and soft tissue under one arm and on my side) - no, I wouldn't have gone further. I would have asked the doc to stop after the BMX and stayed flat. Of course, when I look back I see I would have gotten the infection anyway - it wasn't the implant that caused it, so I guess I would have had to have the second surgery anyway - just not the third one, the exchange with pocket revision. This third surgery has been a difficult one to recover from, both physically and emotionally. Perhaps it's too soon for me to have a good overall perspective. It's only been two weeks ago today.
I've had 51 doctor's appointments since I was diagnosed in July. Don't think I've had 51 doctor's appointments in my whole life before breast cancer. There will be another surgery in two months to try to repair more of the damage caused by the infection. <sigh> The regret is that I got breast cancer in the first place.
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Sandra. That's pretty much it, isn't it? F=×÷£#/&/n Cancer! I regret that to! Everything else is because our choices were limited by what BC left us to deal with. I regret the time I spent worrying the most. It didn't change a thing and just made things harder to deal with. Would I have chosen 7 sx on my left? Never? But do I regret trying. Nope!
Right now I get that pulling sensation when I move. Not surprising only one week out from sx. LOL probably shouldn't have reached so much.... LOL. It's probably good I get that sharp pain. I'm trying to do too much and that reminds me to stop! LOL oh BTW the lumps have gone down a lo g the incision lines. Must be internal bruising and it seems to be healing. I don't have to see my PS for a month! Keeping my fingers I DON'T need him before that! Much love to all. Heal fast and heal well!
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Thanks guys. I am hoping and praying something changes. I think that there is a very slight improvement today, but I did take a pain pill. Also, my husband is home and he distracts me, which is good.
Do I wish I never did this? Yes, sometimes I wish I just had the lumpectomy and rads. But, then who knows, I might have regretted that. There is a reason we all are here, and we all did what we did. I believe in destiny and fate.
Moon. stop moving around so much. Rest.
Sandra, you too. Rest.
My doc told me yesterday to get back to my yoga, but only go as far as is comfortable.
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I had my TE's in for only 9 weeks, I reacted as if I was allergic to them, they were killing me, had them removed and 6 months later had tissue repair, im the great titless wonder now.0 -
Also, the end result looks like i was sawed in half by a magician. My husband won't look at it, and if I had known the hell I would go through in the last year..there is no way I would have opted for reconstruction.
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Moon, your doctor must be pretty impressed with your recovery to let you wait another month to see him. Good for you. It's about time something went right for you.
Yesterday I got the OK to drive so of course I had to go to my favorite store by myself. Didn't have anything to buy but I wanted to get out of the house and go somewhere besides to see a doctor. Although I don't wear a bra anymore, my PS told me yesterday to get a sports bra to have on hand for when I start exercising again. So I grabbed a few to try on - didn't know what size to get. I got the first one on but couldn't get it off. How stupid of me. I'm only 14 days out from surgery and although the exterior scars are healing, the interior plastic surgery has a long way to go before it is healed. No wonder I couldn't get out of the bra. I couldn't pull it over my head, couldn't maneuver my arm so that I could pull it down.. No one was around to help. I was stuck and upset with myself. Well I finally managed to get it off with a lot of struggling but boy, am I paying for that today. I'm quite sore everywhere and feel like I've gone back a week in my healing. So stupid. I know better. Sometimes I think I'm my own worst enemy.
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Goldie - I am so sad for you. Hoping it is just a temporary tightness as your body adjusts to the implants. WIth all that we have been through each new disappointment can be crushing. You are on my prayer list.
Monica - yay! Mud flaps are gone? That's wonderful. Please take it easy so you can go the full month without a PS visit. Sounds like a dream.....
TangandChris - If we only knew.....I would definitely have opted to be flat. if you told me there would be 13 weeks of drains, four surgeries, a drain broken off inside of me, a failed TE, an open wound,not being able to work, and whatever else is ahead of me... yea, there would have been another choice.
Sandra - Your bra story was actually SCARY. I mean, what could you do???? Yell for a salesclerk and ask them to please remove your bra? They would think you were some sort of pervert.
Willysuz - Sorry for your bad experiences too. We all wish things could have been different. Especially not to have cancer in the first place.Try to find some positivity this week. After all we are all still alive and have eachother to lean on.
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Thanks for all the well wishes. I really hope some miracle happens over xmas break and I feel better.
Sports bra....always step into them, and pull them down to take them off. Even in the best of times (before BC) I never pulled them on over my head. If they are stretchy enough, and the right size for you they should easily slip down over your hips.
Willyz, so sorry about your bad experience. Did the TE's hurt you, or did you actually have a physical allergic reaction to them? Have you ever looked into any of the flap surgeries? They work miracles with those.
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I am exactly 1 month post BMX with TE placement. I am getting so sick of feeling so swollen and tight on my right side. My right side feels rock hard and it's been that way since about a week after surgery. The left side feels totally opposite, it feels squishy and soft. The swelling hasn't subsided one bit on my right side and I think it may even be worse the last couple of days. I went to my PS a week and a half ago and he said it was fine. He never explains why the right is so tight and hard and why the left feels so different....he just says "it's fine". I am so frustrated, I am so scared that something is not right with the TEs. Is it normal for one breast to remain rock hard and the other be squishy? I saw a physical therapist one time two weeks post op and she said that massaging may help with swelling but never showed me how she said that the lymphatic fluid needs to be pushed back and around my stitches?!. I called her a week later to ask if she could show me how to get the swelling down and she never returned my call. I am starting to regret reconstruction. Neither breast feels hot or red but the right one is pretty shiny. I seriously feel like I am completely alone and have to just suck it up and hope it's going to be ok till my appt next month. Has anyone else had their breast feel brick hard? Why does it do this and what can I do to make it better? I've been wearing snug cotton camisoles hoping that would help but it hasn't yet. Should I try something tighter? I'm sorry this is so long, I find myself crying most of the day now jus because I am so frustrated with the lack of help from any of my physicians. I'm not a doctor and till now have never been sick, had stitches or broke a bone. I just don't know what's normal anymore....
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Sandra I did something similar after BMX. Pretty stupid. I couldn't get out of my living room chair. I couldn't push up out of it with either arm. My legs wouldn't lift me at all. It took me a hour to work myself to the edge of the chair lean far enough forward to get my but off and i used my head on the coffee table to push myself upright. Duh. I used the recliner after that for a long time. Oh, I used the Amoena camisole from the start. It has been great. I've worn out 2 and have 2 others. You step into them. They have 2 adjustable puffs that I put fluff in and took out and put in and took out as needed. I am now wearing them instead of the ace bandage. LOL
AnnieC, I am sorry you are having problems. TEs By Their Nature ARE hard! They are meant to push tissue, skin, and muscle out. So if the skin or muscle is tight they will be ungodly uncomfortable until you stretch out. For whatever reason your other side is looser. Perhaps they removed more tissue. Perhaps you had more tissue in there and so you are more stretched out with more room. Perhaps your muscle is much stronger on the one side and fighting the TE every tiny bit. I know up until my exchange my right side gave me no trouble until the 2 last fills. But then it made it known it did not like it. I hurt. I took hydrocodone for it. But for the 2 years I had it in it was ok. You can lightly massage your foob around. If it feels better you must be doing it right. Right after my TE was implanted I hurt a lot from the alloderm. I had to hold my rib area when I moved or got up or down for at least a week after. More like 2 weeks it felt like a broken rib. So weird sensations are normal. But take your temp. Watch for redness. Watch for localized heat on foob or incision. If it doesn't feel right call and talk - to the nurses. They will let you know if it has to be seen. Good luck.
Willisuz I am so sorry you had a rough go of it. There is a forum for New and flat sisters with people who have chosen to go flat or who had to make that choice. You might find a lot of support and ideas for coping on that board. Not that we don't want you here, but It might be helpful to you right now. We all have had disappointment with our recon but we all deal differently.
Gold I will continue to pray that things loosen up a bit for you.
Denise, I'm not sure what I'd have done if I knew what I faced. But i am glad so far! LOL could have wished a few less Scenic Detours though! LOL
Much love (and patience) to all.
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Goldie, sorry you are so uncomfortable, but hang in there they will get softer. My right side was a lot harder right after exchange along with muscle spasms. I am right handed so I think that may have something to do with it. Guessing that it just wanted to tighten back up after getting the hard TE out. However now that I am 4 weeks out and have been massaging them every day they have softened up considerably. Hang in there they will soften up might just take a bit of time
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AnnieeC, I know what that feels like when your skin gets shiny. Mine was like that right before the exchange. The TE side was absolutely like a drum...I could have bounced a quarter off it. But you are just a month into the TE experience so I understand your worry. If it's this uncomfortable NOW, what will it be in six weeks when the fills are over? Did your plastic surgeon put any saline in when he put in the TE's? Have you had any fills since? Some women have their doctor remove some of the saline until their body adjusts. Or they reduce the amount of cc's in the fills - others get fills every two weeks instead of every week. There are lots of different ways to cope.
Do you still have drains? Probably not but even after they are out, some women have difficulty with fluid building up in certain areas before their bodies can reabsorb it. Could be one side is producing a bumper crop of fluid and will reabsorb it soon. I agree with Moon. Call the doctor's office for advice and a possible appointment so the doc can tell you for sure what is causing it. Take your temperature regularly. Even a low grade fever is a concern. Look for color changes on your skin. Keep us posted.
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Catey, thanks for the well wishes. It's not that the boobs are hard, it's just this awful tightness all the time. I feel like I have the expander's in still, or worse even. I can feel these implants pressed against my chest. Maybe I need regular round soft implants, and not gummy bears. I don't know. I am going for a second opinion ASAP. I might actually see another doc as soon as Dec. 30th. I hope.
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Good Goldie. Hope you do get to see a doc next week. I'll be thinking of you. It just doesn't sound right.
I cannot feel a difference between my saline rounds and the new gummy bears. I had been told they would feel hard, but for me, they don't. Isn't it weird how we are all so different?
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Sandra - a drum that you could bounce a quarter off of is EXACTLY how it could be described! He did fill them during surgery but he never said how much. I'm a little concerned too because I have permanent TE's, there is no exchange just a small incision made to remove the filler part. The filler part is very uncomfortable on the right side, you can feel it near my breast bone. I can't imagine getting a fill, I haven't had one yet. My boobs are already larger than I wanted! I wonder if it's actually just overfilled and I should ask to have some fluid removed. I noticed a large vein now showing on my breast but that is the only change in appearance. Was the filler part uncomfortable for you?
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Thanks, Sandra. Interesting that the saline and the gummies feel similar to you. Just as long as you are comfortable and they look good in clothes is all we ask for, right?
Annie, I am not sure what you mean by permanent TE's. Are you saying you have saline implants that they are expanding, and then they take out the valve when they are completely filled? Sorry you are having discomfort?
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Goldie- this is what I had done. He will add or subtract fluid till I'm happy then remove the valve. I am finding that this is not common for plastic surgeons to offer...makes me even more nervous.
I'm going to find the section for posting pics of reconstruction. Honestly, my right breast is huge. I asked to be a small to medium b cup and it is definitely larger than that. I will try to post a pic
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Annie, He will have to make them even in size. It is something new I have never heard of, but they are coming up with new stuff all the time. It would just seem to me that the shell of the expander/implant would have to be pretty tough to withstand the expansion, and I assume that is why you are feeling discomfort. Well, keep us posted on how it goes.
I know they have expanders now that you can inflate a little bit at a time yourself. You don't have to go to the doc every week or so to have them filled. Yah!!!
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Annie, there is a pic forum you can join. I will try to send you the info. In the meantime, I am sure Whippetmom could help you get in touch with the people who run the pic forum.
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If I have a pic with a tank top on could I post it here? My right breast looks like it might give Dolly Parton a run for her money lol.
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Anneiie,
My PS didn't put any saline in when the TE was put in. My implant on that side had just been taken out after fighting an infection for two weeks. The "foob skin" that was left after the necrotic tissue was removed too was not tight, it was wrinkly and my chest looked deflated and flat on that side. Three weeks later I finished the IV antibiotics and got the first fill - 180 cc's then 240 cc's the next week with no pain at all, just tightness and a bit achy in the evening on the day of the fill. Took Tylenol and it was gone the next day. Those fills just plumped up the deflated, wrinkly skin to form a little mound. The other weekly fills were 100 cc's then two at 80 cc's. Still nothing more than tightness that was gone quickly so I didn't expect the 60 cc the next week would be different. OMG, it was. That last 60 cc fill brought me intense pain for two days. I could feel the hard back of the TE pressing back into my chest and shooting pain. I told the PS that I didn't want the final 60 cc's to bring me to the planned 800 cc total. 740 would have to do. I didn't want a return of the awful pain but was really afraid that it wouldn't go away in a couple days and would stay with me until the exchange, a month away.
I developed the "shiny skin/tight as a drum syndrome at 740 cc's. While waiting during November, what bothered me most was how high up the TE went which made my chest ache (lidocaine patches helped) and how much it stuck out. I could put a red Solo cup on the "shelf" the TE created and it was so obviously huge under clothes compared to the other side that still had it's original 800 cc saline round. There is no comparison in size - the TE was MUCH BIGGER than the implant, even though it had less saline. (I have Allergan 410 size FF gummy bears on both sides now and they are smaller than the saline rounds. Even with the TE, that side couldn't expand any more because of all the scar tissue and lost skin & muscle.)
Some people go through the TE experience with hardly any discomfort. My experience was like that until the end and I finally found out what others go through every week for six or eight weeks. Don't know how they do it. The ones I especially feel sorry for are the women whose PS put a big fill in during the surgery. They are so miserable. Maybe that's why you are having such trouble. Wonder how many CC's your PS put in? Are you supposed to have fills? When? How much?
Help me understand. If your TE's are permanent, does that mean they don't have the hard back that causes so much pain in regular TE's? What are they taking out when they do those two small incisions you talked about? I've heard about this kind of implant from Whippetmom's post on the Implant 101 thread but don't know any details.
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So, here it is. As you can see my right side is wayyyyy bigger than my left. This is with no fills, only what saline was added during surgery. My right breast is so large I can't even put my arm down to my side. I walk around like a body builder holding my arm out. Is it just me or is this larger than a small to medium b?? I have no clue what is going on with it....0 -
The left side looks more b'ish than the right....the right looks C or D to me. IDK though, I was naturally a B, so anything bigger looks huge lol. So, I'm sorry, this is your result right after the TE's were put in??
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I was a small d before BMX and wanted to downsize. The right is larger than my natural breast was. This is how it looked from day one, maybe a touch larger now on the right then at first. I really do like my PS but there is a little bit of a problem understanding him, his English is not the best. I keep asking him how long until the swelling goes down and he just keeps saying its fine. I am starting to think that there isn't as much swelling as I thought and this is what he intended for my breast to look like. Although it is very uncomfortable with muscle spasms still happening I haven't had a fever or change in appearance. I was convinced all the discomfort was from swelling but maybe it's just from muscles stretching.
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annie, you do know that they can REMOVE saline from an implant as easy as they can put it in? If it continues to be an issue I would explore that possibility. You could then go for smaller fills in the future. Much love.
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Anniee, both sides look HUGE to me, especially your right. I can see that you can't put your arm down. I agree with Moon, consider having some of the saline taken out.
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