Nipple reconstruction
Comments
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Thanks all. Will check my in to let you know details of the shrinkage. And donkey dinks.... that made me laugh!!!
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8 weeks for me since nipples on the 30th. They are little buttons now. They were like thimbles at first.
greenmonkey I had to wear the protective cones on mine for a month. The minute I took them off the deflated by half, that day. Looks much better now.
I work in a store selling bras (i know its ironic). Yesterday I had two BMX survivors with diep recon needing bras and they both showed me their new foobs. One was only from this past tuesday. They both looked very good to me. I told them I just got my nipples and I actually showed one woman. She liked them and now wants to get them herself. We also talked of husbands not being what we wanted through all this. I hope mine like the new foobs eventually. I decided not to let him see them until after I get tatoos. So at least 3 more months now to see my PS and get the ok.
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Carrol I LOVE that you work at a bra store and how lucky those two women were to have you help them. I remember trying to shop at my local shop and how I horrified the sales 'girl'... I now shop online
My husband was TERRIBLE at the beginning but he's come around. Because he was laid off the day before my diagnosis (and with the job went our insurance) he was able to join me for every single appointment. Eventually I heard him start to say things like..."we have another appointment next week" or "we have to have another surgery" ...anytime he'd talk about MY cancer he'd say WE and it was so sweet. he's not a great communicator but "WE" told me that we were in this together.
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GreenMonky my DH was already unemployed (before me) and we were on Cobra. I was laid off 5 months prior to diagnosis. He too came to almost every appointment unless I told him not to. He did have some consulting work though.
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lago, so much to deal with all at once. Is your husband working now? the cobra was so expensive but thank god we had it. As of January 1, we have new insurance with husbands NEW JOB! but this is also why I pushed the fat grafting/ nipple surgery up since all my deductibles were met. I hope I don't encounter any insurance issues with the new company (BCBS).
Also... today, day 11, I finally feel pretty, pretty good. Still painful getting in and out of bed or chair but its minimal discomfort vs sharp, excruciating pain.
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Got my nip on Friday. They did general anesthesia which I was grateful for. Didn't want to know what they were doing. The anesthesiologist thought that last time the muscle paralyzing drug was my problem and they didn't do it this time.
Haven't looked yet. The stitches from the skin graft in the groin are very sore. Not enough for pain meds though. I feel bad for you ladies that got a skin graft on both sides. Ouch!
Lago, I love the candy buttons, I'll never look at them the same again!
It feels SOOOO good to be done with that part. I met my plastic surgeon pre-mastectomy on Dec 22, 2011. Got the nip on Dec 21,2012. Long year but we got through it! Now healing and on to Femara.
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Greenmonkey my DH started working Jan 2011 before my last chemo but insurance wasn't available till much later. Cobra ran out so we were on the state high risk pool insurance. It was even $$ than Cobra but still cheaper than not having it. After that last chemo in January our deductable was met.
Rosie I've been on several insurances through this process. BCBS of MA and BCBS of IL both PPOs. It all depends on your plan but all in all I prefer BCBS. BCBS is non profit. Aetna is not and I think they are assholes. Congrats on your nipples.
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I had nipples reconstructed on Wednesday. When I woke up I did not have much pain. But the next day I started feeling very sore under my armpit and the pain radiates down my right arm. I am perfectly fine when I am sitting down but the second I get up and try to put my arm down to my side I get a shooting pain down my arm. I also had revision surgery done on the right side where he swapped out the implant for a new one.
If I squeeze under my armpit I can feel exactly where the pain originates. It is almost like a pinched nerve feeling. Anyone else have this problem?0 -
Going in for my aeriola tats tomorrow getting excited!
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It's lots of fun. I got my Feb 7th last year on my birthday. My PS did them. He numbed me with lydercaine so I didn't feel a thing. Didn't feel anything when it wore off either.
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My ps is going to do mine too, he will also use a local. Yes, I feel like this will be a closing of this long journey.
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Roula, I've never had anything like that. Have you had a chance to talk to your doctor?
bcs2011, good luck and have fun tomorrow! curious how you picked your color.
lago, how did you chose your color?
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GM - My PS pulled out a color chart. Felt like I was at Sherwin Williams. Since I'm a Uni, he tried to match the color of my existing nip. I have to say, it was a bit embarrassing. Who would think after everything I could still get embarrassed?
Someone here used lipstick colors to try out and see what she liked. I thought that was a clever idea.
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Hi, I am 3 weeks post nipple reconstruction (right side) along with 6 months post-BMX adjustments (excess skin removal, repositioning implants, removing some beginnings of capsular contracture on both lower poles). Bandages stayed on nipple for two weeks. I removed the bandage from the nipple last Saturday. Very disappointing. At least the skin has not necrosized but it is flat. PS plans to use hyaluronic acid injections to help with projection, which is an office procedure, but apparently only lasts for several months and must be repeated. Has anyone tried that?
I still have to wear my Triumph triaction sports bra and Merena velcro band 24/7 to keep the implants in place for 6 weeks. I can only remove for 3 hour periods during holiday parties, orders by PS. I see my PS again on Jan 7th.
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GreenMonkey I let my PS pick the color. He based on the photo he took of my old ones. I had to trust him. I'm partially colorblind so no way could I do the matching. My mom thought they looked great… and she is a painter with terrific color sense. The nurses say my PS is really picky about mixing the color. He did that in another room. Guess he didn't want any distractions.
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Well, the nipple reconstruction is scheduled for January 2. A couple of questions... the doctor said I could drive myself to the hospital and back, and that there are no restrictions, which seems odd to me. He's doing a modification of a skate flap procedure. NO restrictions - does that sound strange?
The next question: how much discomfort can I expect afterward? Will Tylenol handle it?
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lipstick... what a GREAT idea!!!
icefishing, our pain level is different for each of us but I did not have a lot of discomfort from the nipple reconstruction but I did from the fat grafting (done at the same time). Best of luck with your nipple reconstruction. Let us know how it goes!
Jamie, the Sherwin Williams cracked me up! but yes, I think I'd feel embarrased too. I lost both so I guess i can start from scratch.
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icefishing if all your doing is the nipple and no lipo or fat grafting I could see how you would be ok to drive home. I did not have any pain from my nipple surgery. Most of us have very little feeling in this area from the bmx. I had a little discomfort from the lipo. My only restriction was not to exert myself too much at the gym for a month. I would get someone to drive you anyway you deserve a little attention and pampering, this is all very emotional.
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Namaste!
I am 15 days from nipple reconstruction. I posted a couple pics on the picture forum but had a lot of difficulty getting them on and the ones that would post the quality was poor. Don't know what I am doing wrong there. Anyway, I had a tri lobe procedure (was not eligible for skate flap with aereola graft because of thin skin on one side). Surgeon said it could have been done under local but he feels the local injection somewhat distorts the tissue so he does general unless there is a contraindication for that. Also I needed general because I had some fat grafting above my right implant. I only took one pain pill and that was because I was "afraid" I would have pain. The donor site was my jelly belly and as long as I have the binder on I only felt soreness in the beginning if I would bend over. The grafted site was bruised and tender to touch but otherwise no real pain. And the nipple area I couldn't feel a thing unless the tape pulled occassionally. I have had a lot of restrictions though. Off work for 4 weeks, no lifting more than 5-10 pounds, no lifting my elbows above my shoulders, sleep on my back for 6 weeks. I had to leave the original dressings on for 1 full week, then dressings with open space for the nipples for the second week. I had all stitches out at 13 days and was given permission to gently wash the nipples in the shower and then no dressing or anything but told to wear a cami that provides support to the implants (to keep strain off the incisions) but no pressure on the nipple. Now, I have some cami's that have a sort of inner bra that provides minimal support but does put pressure on the nipples so despite being told to leave the dressings off I am still using nursing pads with holes cut in them for the nipple.
Carol, what kind of cone did your PS have you use? My PS just says nothing is needed other than above. But I worry because of my thin skin, my nipples are starting out small (like a pencil eraser) and I know they will shrink. I do have a bit of necrosis on the right and on the left a bit of the incision on the nipple opened up when they took out a stitch.
Karla
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Karla my PS had these like silicone cones, they were kind of big, like maybe 3 inches on a 3 by 2 inch rectangle. I had to tape them to my skin. I wore them under my bra. The minute I took them off and put my bra on my nipples deflated to half their size. I am not complaining though. My nipples now are about 14 inch and it has been almost 8 weeks. Now I am using scar away and they are really making the scars go away.
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You have 14" nipples! WoW, Watch out Madona here comes Carrol2
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Namaste!
Carrol2, typos certainly can make light or is that long of things.
Karla
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Hi Sisters,
I have need of your help. I would like to get prosthesic nipples but want the areola area projection as well as nipple projection. Any suggestions?
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where is the picture forum?
HantaYo, 4 weeks off work? No lifting more than 5 or 10 pounds makes sense. Also no lifting elbow above shoulder also makes sense. I am hoping my fat grafting stays in place. My nipples are still HUGE (got them 12/13). I hope they shrink!
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GM - you need to PM Lilah or Nowheregirl to get access to picture forum.
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identtwins I haven't purchased these but you can check them out. I know some ladies even got their insurance to cover the cost. BTW they may not come in pairs so if you want 2 be sure to specify:
These are European but I like the fact they have lots of color choices: linky
Theser are local and look decent: www.thepinkbra.com/nearlymenipples.html
2 sizes on color: www.metromedicalonline.com/classique125.html0 -
oops ok ok
not 14 inches
* 1/4 inch.
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Well you could have done 25 inches instead of .25 inches. Now that would be impressive!
Not sure if mine are 1/4 or 1/8 but I'm happy. They look real.So you're liking the Scaraway?
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Namaste!
Green Monkey, I see that Jaimie B86 has given you the names of who to contact to get access to the picutre forum. It is totally separate from BC.org.
Where do you get scaraway? And is that the trade name?
My nipples I am sure will end up to be small, but hopefully they don't shrink to fly speck size, being that they are starting out small to begin with. Is it the projection or the width that shrinks or both? My projection is quite a bit more than my natural ones were but the width is only moderately wider. I never was able to get pregnant so my nipples never "matured".
Carrol2, I am still laughing about the 14 inches.
Karla
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ScarAway is a trade name. It's silicone shhets/strips to flatten, soften and lighten scars. I get mine at Walgreens but you can buy it online. There's a gel too but I'm not using that. Just google it
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