I look for other flat chested women. A rant.
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Big plus...your husband is a dreammm..
Have your done any research on the BRAVA system...it is a system that will apply a suction (some say it is mild, some disagree) to the chest area for approximately 10 weeks, and ultimately stretch the breast skin/tissue to: a) regrow nerves/tissue and
stretch the skin......There is a 10 week period that is recommended to stretch the skin and then there is a process of fat "harvesting" from other body areas (stomach, thigh etc.) . the fat is then injected with a 14 gauqe needle, to 'fill' in the breast area. The entire breast regeneration process could take 3-6 months depending on how large you want to be. Suzanne Somers did fat grafting......This is similar with the additional step of stretching the skin which is the outcome of a mastectomy (Suzanne Somers did not have a total mastectomy ...she had a partial mastectomy)... I have not had the opportunity to 'feel' the results.....but I would check out any local opportunities to check this option out...Another option would be to go to the FORCE (Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered) conference to check out any women who have ventured down this path. Look online....It is mainly for genetic mutations but there may be some opportunity to 'feel' any BRAVA reconstruction results. I am unable to do so this year, but will try to attend next year, unless I stumble upon BRACA patients before then....Be prepared that the FORCE community if very 'Pro' mastectomy. So if you do not have the BRCA gene mutation don't let them scare you. Genetic predisposition or not, I have found that this organization is the most comprehensive in breast cancer options.....Good Luck and ....again..count your blessings (but don't let it go to his head....you still need flowers from time to time) that you have a super husband....God Bless.0 -
I responded to your original post..but wanted you to know that i am not anyway associated with the BRAVA system. I know I sound like a sales rep ....but do not work for them....I am interested in them.... and for that reason I refer them to that method of reconstruction...I am an RN with 20+ experience with critical care., but my experience with breast reconstruction is based on a personal experience ....If you need to talk ...send me a private message so I can reply with my cell number.
Edited by Mods to remove member's private phone number. We strongly recommend that, for members' own safety and privacy, that they not post personal contact information, and only communicate personal details to those they know and trust, using the private message feature.
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http://www.miamibreastcenter.com/reconstruction/before-after-photos offers info on Brava and he used to do flaps, photos are interesting ......seems to give natural look
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I am with the rest of you. I found the idea that I am "incomplete" without boobs particularly offensive.
Like Crystal, I am not willing to endure multiple surgeries and a lot of pain only to end up with oddly shaped, oversized, silicone boobs full of scars. I am happy the option exists for those whom it would make happier with the whole situation, but I know myself well enough to know that it would not do that for me.
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CC, damn! It would be kinda fun if we could at least make people faint
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CC, you rock.
Djustme: rant on! That's what we're here for. Don't forget: AJ might just be simplifying for the paper. She might just be upset, actually, but "fronting" so women with a similar diagnosis to hers won't be scared..
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Yes, that "Bridging the Gap" website is extremely insulting. Boy, we seem to have a long way to go in the arena of women and beauty and the media. I have always felt this way but boy it is just so much more obvious after having breast cancer.
Djsutme, regarding Angelina Jolie: A friend of mine asked what I thought about her and I was just starting to answer her, when she interrupted me. I heard myself shouting, "I'M NOT FINISHED, LET ME FINISH!". I had no idea I was this angry. I think where it mostly comes from is, you are right, this is not what 99.9% of women with breast cancer go through and what a missed opportunity. She could have said she "chose" reconstruction but that many brave, beautiful women choose not to reconstruct. "I don't feel less of a woman". Oh good, I am so relieved Angelina. Geeeeeeeeeeeez. Although it is good to put some light on genetic testing, the opportunity lost is what is really ticking me off.
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Purl51 - I guess what angers me is that I feel Angelina belittled the reality of bc patients by trying to making it seem like she had 'the whole bc experience' and faced it courageously and beautifully. She should have talked about the fact that her experience was not typical. It's kind of like implying that we are all inferior beings since we haven't been able to handle it with as much grace. It's like the whole pink thing all over again. BC is ugly and the experience changes you. Truth is, she had what amounts to a modified boob job - it's not typical. She didn't loose her hair or her health. She didn't loose her career over it. She didn't lose her self esteem over it. She didn't even lose her nipples over it, never mind boobs. She didn't have to agonize over whether Brad or the rest of the world would still find her sexy. She didn't have to agonize over how she would dress her new body. In my opinion, since she didn't tell anyone until she was well and beautiful again, why tell them at all except for attention. (wow, 2 rants in 2 days, I'm on a roll. Actually I think it is partly because I am having serious hormone fluctuations due to the pre-menopausal thing that is currently making me feel like I have pms times 50, every day of the month. All the ladies who keep telling me this is going to last for 10 years had better be wrong - they have to be - otherwise there would be alot more stories in the news about female serial killers in their 50's!!))
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I am so glad to see your posts as I also wrote I thought AJ had mis represented a lot of the BC and MX experience and was accuessd of all sorts.....!!!
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Djustme, I have that too! Sending you a hug -- unless you don't want one because you are irritable! LOL. I went into menopause -- actual menopause -- overnight. Blood tests confirmed it. Not chemically induced. Stress related? I'm only 42.
Once when I was wrapping presents (at Christmas this year), I had ten hot flashes in a row! Of course, no hormone therapy. Rant on! Don't kill anyone.
Hmm. Angelina Jolie. I can't stop thinking about how she got to keep her nipples. I know that is stupid. I wonder -- just aside from her -- why is it that there is such a wide variance in outcome for that surgery? I know, I know, she had preventative surgery, and that makes a difference. But otherwise, is it just the skill of the surgeon?
It stung when she talked about how her kids won't notice anything but a small scar, and the rest was just mommy. But I was touched that she cared to keep things the same for them. It's funny. I thought I was thinking about my daughter too as I thought about surgery and being flat. I thought that I thought about her because I was going to show her that a woman doesn't need to attach implants to conform to expectations. And I thought about the implants obscuring cancer. And the multiple surgeries, which would take me away from taking care of her. And then more surgery every ten years or so. I thought I was thinking about her when I thought about all that. But now... should I feel badly about not trying to make it the same mommy?
I cannot believe I am ranting. Djustme, it is your fault!
I have been kind of an AJ defender on the boards. I feel badly that she faces such scrutiny. I think she was trying to speak to women who she thinks could benefit from a PBMX.So shall we do something constructive? Pardon the use of language.
Shall we mobilize against this Icing on the Cake place?0 -
Bobogirl,
Yes please! Let's get 'em:) i'm also offended that they are using 501c3 status to form a "foundation" that is essentially a marketing mechanism for her crappy looking 'Breasthetics.' she has major sponsors like Alliance Bank and Waste Management, so I am writing them as well. What really pisses me off is how she talks about how she does this for women's self esteem...ha! "Stuff your donations in this stripper bra so that I can restore poor breast cancer survivors to 'real girl' status." grrrrr.
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Okay, let's do it!!! Do you have address and contact info for this place? And website address? Have three jobs, but still have the ability to make this really ugly.
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If we want to shake up "Breasthetics", we should contact the sponsors. Letter of complaint to the IRS?
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Op-ed article in the paper in the city in which the company is located?
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I actually saw a flat and fabulous woman tonight, she was sitting across from me and had such a lively twin set on, I didn't notice for about 20 minutes!! I wonder if she noticed me? We were at a lecture, so we didn't have time to talk.
A question about Anjolina keeping her nipples, will they have feeling? or is she completely numb also?
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A friend asked me to post something I wrote as a guest post on her blog. She, like Angelina, is BRCA+ and had a prophylactic BMX with recon. Due to many ongoing pain and problems would go on to deconstruct and now lives Flat & Fabulous. I was tempted to post a link on this board but then decided the rage is so great on this board towards the PBMX that I won't. She has heard it before but I don't want to drop it in her lap again.
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I dont see rage towards pmbx? I see concern about the media portrays it and how companies hi jack bc and pinkness for their own motives....
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Dear Starak,
I also had a friend who had the BRCA gene. She lost her mother to BC at 13, then her sister died 10 years ago when my friend was in her 30's and her sister (mother of 4) was in her 40's. My friend did not have a PBMX, sadly developed BC, had an MX, a recurrence and died of BC 2 Christmases ago, leaving 2 small sons. (This was just a couple of weeks before my own dx). If you were in her shoes having lost 2 close relatives I could well see that PBMX would be an option to seriously consider. But it IS an option. You don't HAVE to do it. I think that's the difference, when you actually have cancer as opposed to simply an elevated risk of cancer, the MX or whatever surgery you have, is a necessity, with no element of "option" about it.
For anyone (with or without BRCA) MX or BMX does not guarantee that you won't develop BC. No surgeon can guarantee 100% removal of breast tissue. There is an author named Emma Hannigan, lives a few mile away from where I am writing this, who discovered she had the BRCA gene when she was in her early 30's. She sprang into action with a PBMX and double oopherectomy, AND within a couple of years developed BC - despite the precautions. Bummer doesn't begin to cover it. She went on to do 8 rounds with BC, is in remission, and wrote a very successful and funny biography about it called "Talk to the Headscarf". She also became a bestselling fiction writer.
I think the AJ anger is somewhat about all this "wow she's so brave" in the press yet no-one in the media is mentioning SHE HAD A CHOICE, most of us here didn't. Darn it, AJ DOESN'T HAVE CANCER. That's good, obviously, because who would wish it on anyone, but it does mean she has not been completely in the same boat as most ladies on here. We are many of us on this thread because we believe nonrecon should be more widely seen as a perfectly good option after surgery. A non cancer BRCA dx has options - surgery or not surgery, recon or not recon. If you actually have cancer the 1st bit isn't really an option - yet the media is fawning over AJ, as if she hadn't had the option, as if she had actually had cancer. I don't feel the slightest bit negative against anyone with BRCA taking the option of surgery, incl AJ, it's the media fawning that gets my goat.
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My friend Sara did not have cancer either. She has had quite a long journey getting to where she is today. Sara is a Scar Girl from TheScarProject.org, a co-founder of Flat & Fabulous on Facebook and a huge ally of all of us without recon, no matter the journey to get there, as well as her sisters in scars who took the another path. Whether I make it or miss the mark, I try very hard to advocate for each of us to have free and open choices. I never want to see any of us bullied or shamed into a choice that was not of our choosing no matter on which side of the coin.
This was the what I wrote:
http://slbarto.blogspot.com/2013/05/flat-fabulous-guest-post-barbara.html
And finally an article that goes beyond the glossy brochures on reconstruction.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/no-easy-choices-on-breast-reconstruction/?smid=fb-share
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Feline, I can see how the AJ tsunami in the media can be irritating in the extreme. However, I have talked to women who are forced to ponder the whole BRCA issue and face the choice of lopping off the boobs. It may not be cancer, but it still takes a pair to deal with it and make the choice to lose body parts and have major surgery.
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I'm in the camp that the press on this is good, although, I'd prefer the flat and fab option was presented more and more positively. Even though the BMX for BRCA positive women isn't 100 percent, having that surgery willl still dramatically lower the number of women who will go on to develop BC. How is that bad? And I do think that AJ showed courage in doing this. She had choices, and she chose a somewhat controversial and difficult path, not only in having the surgery but in making it public, in trying to use her example to help save other women, and she's getting shit as well as praise for it.
Sure, she's had it easier because she didn't have to have chemo or rads. She didn't have the terror that comes with a diagnosis of BC. But why does that matter? This isn't a contest.
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Alexandria, I completely agree and thanks to the media storm, I finally saw prime time, Greek TV dealing with breast cancer in a measured and informative way.
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Starak, I think the times article is excellent. You know, once again it's all about the choices we have as individuals. At the very least, A J's publicity is good as it brings attention to the issue. I have a relative who had IDC , has the BRACA gene and has chosen not to have BMX although her MD disagrees. I have two relatives who died of Ovarian Cancer and still have my ovaries. My BMX was for a small ILC mostly and I don't have the gene. I had no radiation or chemo.... And no reconstruction. Once again, choices and no certainty that one decision is better than another. Sometimes, I think we get angry because of the ongoing fear of reoccurence no matter what we do. I am grateful for the discussions but I know each person must do what feels right for them. I for one, would have chosen BMX if I was BRACA positive and no reconstruction- but that's me.
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If I had the BRCA mutation I have no idea what I would have done. Having had zero cancer of any kind in my family and on the other hand a total family history of heart attacks and strokes, cancer was never really on the radar. My diagnosis came out of seemingly nowhere. I have said in the past that I don't have the mutation. Looking back at the biopsy and path results, I don't think they even tested for it which would make sense with no family history of any cancer. I had considered and thought through what I would do if diagnosed with breast cancer and mastectomy, and with the actual diagnosis it helped to navigate the choices I had to make. That thought process had come about because I felt too much was made of my breasts. It made me ask what if I lost them to BC, did they think that was my only worth.
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Starak, thank you for both of those links. I wish there was a like button.
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For sure Momine.
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Hi Bobogirl and Alexandria,
I think I have decided to start with Rachelle Hall (the Breasthetics "founder"), and see how she responds before I get more aggressive. My partner reminded me that not everyone thinks like me (silly people!) and that she may not even "get" how insensitive her wording is. I am also going to let her know that as a taxpayer I am curious about her designation as a charitable foundation, and ask her how many women have received free repigmentation (her financials and form 990 were not available online at Guidestar or from the IRS).
anyway, here is an address I found (although it is odd that she does not make it readily available on her website)
Classic Beauty Permanent Makeup
8320 N. Hayden Rd Suite 106
Scottsdale, AZ, 85258
United States of AmericaCheers! Anne
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Anne, that sounds good. Will you let us know about the character of her reply?
If we don't like it -- and if she does not think like you
-- we can get more aggressive. The fact is, she needs to change her tone.0
