TEs. A Beginner's Primer
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BB please wait if you can. I lost one TE when I had it placed 6 weeks after chemo. It was too soon for me I got a bad infection. This takes time to get stronger. Now of course other people have had better outcomes. But you have to know t a not. Also I was like special k for 2 years on and off- only about 6 weeks with both m plants over that 2 year pan. I was half filled on my right. Crater on my left. So had a Size 5 on my right and a 10 on my left to look balanced.
As for shaving i had sparse hair under my arms to begin with. After chemo it never came back. Not my legs either. My eyebrows and eyelashes are sparse too. Oh well. So is my head hair very thin on top in front. LOL. Typical male pattern baldness. Probably due to the AI that i take. I rarely shaved. Good luck.
Sirry I've been absent. Had to babysit way more than I expected. Should be better now.
Much love to all
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Ladies - I have a funny. You know how every so often you splatter all over the front of your shirt when you are cooking... Well I did this the other day, I just went to spot my shirt, and due to the odd position of my TEs, the stains were in different places. I was quite confused and then realized what was the cause. Made me giggle.
BBwithBC45 not a TE question but curious... I think you posted you would be done with chemo in 8 weeks... how many rounds of chemo are you doing?
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knmtwins - I have 12 rounds of Taxol/Herceptin, weekly. Now it's 5 down, 7 to go.
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Gotcha - I did TCHP, so was 6 cycles, every 3 weeks... then every 3 weeks for Herceptin, till I've done that 12 months... but we had different cancers and different sizes, so of course our treatment is different. I just got confused... ha ha, I'm confused a lot with this whole cancer thing.
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I think originally I was going to be on TCHP, but once my MO got my final pathology report after the mastectomy, he decided on Taxol and I wasn't going to argue. I will also have Herceptin after Taxol, every 3 weeks to complete the 12 moths.
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Works for me, less chemo, YEA!!! Also, your tumor was too small for the Perjetta. I think the FDA only approved it for 2cm or larger and it had to be done before the lumpectomy or mastectomy, to follow the FDA guidelines although the NCCN guidelines allow it afterwards.
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Hi ladies!
I have been reading some of your posts and am finding them very informative as well as amusing. Hope you don't mind my chiming in. I had a bilateral mastectomy February 12 th with TE put in immediately. They only have a recommended fill of 200 cc but we are going to try a bit more. I am just wondering if it's normal to feel soooo self conscious about my little chest rocks? As well, am I going to damage them or my skin when I accidentally bang them on things or scratch them when I am itchy? Also, I have had three fills of 50 cc ( with 50 cc already done during surgery) so I am technically full. But my last fill caused me the most discomfort. Is this typical?
Thanks for being part of this great discussion board, you ladies and your posts have made me feel so much better. Especially since no one I know has had this done. Also, I am SO going to try the flashlight trick on my TEs tonight!! Lucky dh lol!
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Zukicat-
I was self conscious of my TE'S especially when someone would hug me! They looked good in clothes but my right one was a little crooked. I had 400cc TE'S filled to 500cc and the last couple of fills were extremely painful for a couple of days. I just had my exchange last Thursday and I now have 595cc gummy bear implants. At this time the TE'S looked better but I'll have to give them some time. I would be careful with scratching and banging your breasts since the skin is so fragile after the mastectomy and you may have some numbness. If the fills continue to be painful you could get smaller fills. Good luck!
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Zukicat- I am self conscious of my TE's since they look like porno boobs! My husband and I went on a hike and I felt like everyone was staring at my chest. These things don't move and sit up so high. I think they do look good in clothes which I am thankful for! Be careful with scratching them as you know the skin is thin and numb. I just bumped my left TE into a clothes rack the other day and looked around to see if anyone saw it happen. Also, my DH had a dream that there was a 12 inch spider in our bed and in the process of throwing a pillow at the imaginary spider he elbowed my left TE very hard ! I woke up startled and asked for him to sleep in the guest room. It shifted a little downwards but overall it's fine. My exchange surgery is set for May 1 and my TE's are filled to 440 cc's. Each fill was different for me but more of them were painful for me. I would take Advil and a muscle relaxer 2 hours prior to my fills to help. (my husband was the DD)
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thanks for the reminder about the flashlight trick. Pretty neat. And yes the more fills the more uncomfortable. I have my exchange on April 22.
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i missed something, - what's the flashlight trick??
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AnotherNYCGirl - Go back here to page 12:
https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/44/topic/...
...and we have Juliecc to thank for this one. You'll see it right in the middle of the page.
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LOL! I remember that trick!
Zucicat, welcome! TES are very strange! Yes, I bumped into doorway s all the time. It's embarrassing! As the other ladies said, remember that your skin isn't normal yet and you will be numb in the area for a long time, years. Are all your incisions closed? That's another reason to be careful.
But now is a good time to remind everyone that your implants will never project like the TEs. So that you are not disappointed, they really dont. The TES have a hard back to push skin and muscle. The implants, even the anatomical, will be seated farther n the chest filling every crevice in the breast area. So enjoy the stripper boobs now. It's the compensation for the pain of the stretching and the embarrasment of walking into things!
And here's a little fun.
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Oh shoot!! I completely forgot to try the flashlights last night! We were home late from Easter dinner at my parents and DH and I had zero kid free time before bed. Hope I remember tonight lol!
Thank you all for your replies. During dinner my 11 year old daughter kept poking me in the left foob area with her elbow! Was really getting on my nerves but my mother in law was smirking across the table. And she kept reminding my daughter to keep her elbows down. I actually feel the most self conscious around my family as they are the ones witnessing the changes. So I wore a loose sweater. My TEs are actually pretty small as I apparently have a small chest/rib area and I am kind of worried that I will be disappointed when I get the implants. Hopefully I will have a better idea as or when my exchange surgery is after this week and I can prepare some questions for the PS. Should I be looking at getting the highest projection possible or will that just look insane?
Oh, yes my incisionsare closed well. But I don't really like how dark they seem. And it's been almost two months since the mastectomies. I hope the colour lightens up.
CaliRN I hope your implants settle soon and look as great as you hoped! And you're right, hugging is just plain weird!
Trailrose, I hade my last 50 cc fill on Wednesday, 5 days ago, and things really seem to have settled down pain wise ( except that my lower back has been killing me!!) so hopefully when I go for my small 30 cc fill this Wednesday it will be much more comfortable. After that I am not sure if I will even be getting any more.
Thanks again and I hope you all had a nice Easter weekend! We are lucky, we get to do it all again next weekend as my DH is is Greek Orthodox! Yay!
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Thank you for reposting flashlight trick! Gotta have fun these right? I have to say, regarding "bumping into things" I fear bumping into someone at work while rounding a corner so I give myself a wide berth at these intersections! My solid chest could send someone through the wall!
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zukicat - give it some time for those incisions to lighten. I recently looked at my progress photos and noticed how dark they were up until about the 6month mark. One is practically almost gone now. The other experienced a bit of trauma shortly after BMXsurgery, so it's a tad darker, but still fading nicely.
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What to wear on top when you have tissue expanders in? I had TE surgery almost 4 weeks ago - got my drains out and have been wearing the mastectomy camisole because it has some support underneath the breasts. But I'm getting tired of wearing this, as I wore it so much last year after my mastectomy too. I can't wear the padded camisoles that I had that held the breast forms. I was thinking of getting some camisoles that had a shelf bra? What do you all wear for support with your tissue expanders since you can't wear a bra during this phase? And where did you find them?
Thanks!
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Fit bit -I went all over looking for bras! Could not stand the amoena bras I got at hospital. The band under my foobs was too tight. So I found the greatest camisole bras at Walmart. They. have tons of colors and some have a little lace detail. They are soft and stretchy. Hand wash as the washer is rough on the fabrics. The best part is that they are about $5 each! Seriously. I wear them to bed and just packed a few for my biz trip to NYC. They come with inserts and I used them while getting fills. Now that I am all filled I removed the inserts. The camis have pockets so u can use your own insert too. Seriously the best deal in town!!! Jockey also makes some but I found them to be too tight. The Coobies were tight as well and hard to get on. My exchange is at the end of the month so I am planning to wear these through that recovery too. Oh yeah, and I can pull them up over my hips too which is great if your arm mobility is compromised.
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Fitbit- I wear sport type bras that have either a front zipper or clasps. I feel like they hold things together in the front end. The only thing with buying these bras is that I can't have a seam or stitch in the back area as it causes me pain because I can only lay on my back! I went to Wally World and found the Genie front zip bra and the Fruit of the Loom front clasp/hook type bras. My PS said to keep them on as much as I can stand it and I pretty much wear them about 20 hours a day!
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fitbit, i was uneven for 2 years. So I wore a camisole. Mine was Amoena with the fluffy forms. I took out fill as i got my fills. Some people like the genie bras. But I wore and still wear camisol s cause mine are comfortable for me and so stretchy. And mine are nude or black.
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so Ewwwwwwwww!! I tried the flashlight thing last night!! Both cool AND gross lol! Plus it seems to have raised some questions in my mind...... Like why does one TE look normal and the other one slightly rotated lower? And why does the one with the port lower take up less space? It's like it was jammed into a smaller area than the other one and actually still has some "fold" left even though I am technically full?????
Fitbit, for the longest time I could only tolerate wearing a regular snug fitting tank top with no built in support. Anything that has an elastic or any support just felt awful and unnatural and confining and like blood supply was being cut off. I think it was just the numbness that freaked me out. But now I can wear a sports bra for a while and a tank-type bra from walmart. And the only reason I wear anything is that I feel less self conscious out in public.
Hope you start feeling more comfortable!
Thank you Sunflowercat. I hope the incisions do fade! I was wondering, though, if you had your exchange surgery yet? And if so was it through the same incision site? What did that do to the colour of the scars?
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zukicat - so my experience is a bit different to most. With my mastectomy I lost my nipples, my PS did manage to save part of my areolas (which btw, were HUGE) and did a purse string closure with a mastopexy scar. So he drew what remained of my areolas in like a purse string and then made a small vertical incision (about 2 inches) right underneath the areolas, kind of like what they do in a lift. For my exchange he made a new inframamary incision but it's a little higher than the fold, so in the event I ever wear a bikini top again (hahahaha) it won't show if the top rides up. I'm only 1 week out from exchange and my incisions are bandaged and covered in tagaderm so I can't see them at all. My follow up is tomorrow and I'm hoping he takes it all off, because a) I want to see them and b) adhesive makes me itch. I'm on the picture forum (same name) if you want a visual of my scars.
He also gave me bioCorneum SPF30 Advanced Scar Revision cream to use on my scars after they healed up. I'm not sure if that helped. More likely the massage from rubbing it in probably did. Please don't fret too much over the color right now. They do fade, I promise. It just takes some time. You might want to get into the picture forum and see how others scars have improved with time. It's a very helpful site.
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Sunflower, they do make a barrier cream for adhesive sensitive skin. There is also a discussion board on this subject- Adhesive tape. Sorry I truly still can't link from my phone. Just search for it .outs of ideas. And let them know the tag a dermatologist leaves you itching. They may remove it if it's bothering you. They may replace it with something else , but my guess is most PS' s like to leave her open.
Much love to all.
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thanks moonflower, I'll look into that!
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Thanks to those who have shared their comments to my question post! I ordered some camisoles with a shelf bra, so I'll see how those work for me. Appreciate the advice!
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Fitbit. . .I wear both the Genie bras and my original bali sports bras. I was not big before and stopped my fills at my original size about 250cc because fills were just too painful. I'm still having nerve pain.
My trouble has been finding swimsuit tops to wear. All of my tops had underwires. . .not an option any more. Finally found tankini tops on J Crew that look decent and match my existing swim bottoms/skirts. Exchange is not until July 27 so it's going to be a long summer.
Scottie
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scottiemom, you can buy mastectomy tanks for swimming. Try TLC. Also if there are places nearby you that carry medical equipment they may have some or have the pockets to sew into swim suits to convert them. Some of your tops could have the under wire removed and still work.. for those of you still being filled r lopsided, you an make swimming pools out of kitchen scrubbies. There is a board on how to do that. They re WAY cheaper then the silicone prosthetics. They also weigh much less and are cooler to wear.
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lands end also make mastecomy swim wear for anyone looking. I have a couple of regular swim tankini tops from them. they have no underwire and really last. I love that you can order them and then just return what you dont want to sears.
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Good morning,
Hope you're all doing well. I had my last fill yesterday in my little TEs. I had 50 cc's last week and I thought I would never be able to move or breathe again. Even by day 3! But I guess, like the memory of labour, you tend to forget how bad it really was.....so I though that since they were doing a small overfill of 30 cc's yesterday for a grand total of 230ccs ( seems small, I know, but apparently I have a small rib cage ) it should be pretty bearable. Boy was I wrong!!!! I was so sore within half an hour, but this time it stretched along my upper back, one arm pit and arm plus I can't breathe!
So I guess my concern is that even though I was in agony last night I still went out and did a giant grocery shop and carried and lifted many bags. It seems that in my experience if I don't use any of those sore affected muscles then they tend to become even tighter and sore. Like after any time I have been in bed and try and move lol! So I hope I am not delaying my minor healing by setting off today to do a lot of physical house work. If I can, I am pretty tired as I didn't sleep well last night. I also add lots of stretching in during the day and I hope that helps too. Does anyone else feel the same way about using your muscles or else they get worse?
Thanks!
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For anyone looking for a swimsuit that lives near a Nordstrom - they will sew a pocket into any swimsuit they sell for free. Same with their bras, and they are certified fitters.
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