June 2020 Surgery Group
Comments
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Is this thread regarding saline implants? I'm almost 4 years past BLX and my one silicone implant has a small rupture. It is on the side that my first BC was back in 2003 which I had chemo and radiation. The radiation does damage the skin making it difficult to achieve good fat grafting results. I've had three.
Since I'm going in to have the ruptured (silicone) replaced in Oct, 2020, I was thinking about having both replaced with saline.
Before my first BC (2003), I was a bodybuilder and lost just about all the fat in both my breasts. Had augmentation done and they looked and felt great, under the muscle and were saline. I was a full C, more of a D. Had them for 19 years and until they were removed Jan 2017, still looked great.
Because I had breast implants, I didn't need tissue expanders and it was all done during the same time.
Had them replaced, had an infection and as mentioned, three fat graftings.
I know that saline implants won't feel or look like the good old day ones but, wanted any opinions from anyone who has recently had saline implants and especially after having prior BC that was treated with radiation.
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I still have TEs, I have no idea how Saline Implants would look compared to Silicone. I think most of us are just had surgery at this point.
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Morrigan, I have read that the placements of the TEs is a different than the final implants. My TEs have remained in place and they don't move when I lay down, which by the way I am still on the recliner.
The TEs haven't been annoying. I am tolerating them pretty well. Glad to hear it is the same with you.
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The implant surgery is scheduled for October 7th. I need medical clearance and also a covid test. On September 8th I see my plastic surgeon for pre-op.
I also started physical therapy this week. My left arm isn't making the progress I hoped. In just a week I have noticed a big difference in my movement. I still have swelling underneath my arm and the physical therapist is massaging the swelling down. She says it will take about 4 weeks to reduce the swelling. She wants the swelling to go down before the surgery. but she also said that my swelling will go down some after the surgery and the TEs are removed. My plastic surgeon said the same thing.
I am almost at the finish line. I am more nervous about the implant surgery than the mastectomy.
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Hello June group,
Has anyone been through reconstruction already? Is anyone considering implants and what kind over or under and why? I have my exchange surgery scheduled for oct 23 and I am still going between OTM vs UTM
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You are the only other person I have found here with LCIS on opposite breast!! I already have my diagnosis from an MRI biopsy. Like you, I am opting for bilateral mastectomy. Good luck! Glad to find someone else with same issue
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I had my exchange today. My chest doesn't hurt that much. The pain is much more tolerable this time around. I can't even say it's pain per se. It's more that I'm aware my chest is there, if that makes any sense. We'll see if I feel the same way tomorrow.
In the end, I decided to get fat grafting. The majority of the pain is coming from my abdomen. That is pain pain. Not pain that comes with being uncomfortable, again I'm not sure if that makes any sense. I'm just trying to describe the best I can for everyone so the exchange is less of a mystery.
The surgery wasn't long. I went in at 6:00 a.m. and was home by 1:00 p.m..
I am feeling good overall!
Hope everyone is doing better with each passing day.
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Hi LaVue - good to hear from you and happy you’re doing well and have made such progress. Hope the pain is manageable and diminishes quickly. I’m still dealing with some wound healing issues from the DIEP but nothing too bad. I’ll also be having fat grafting to improve the contours but not until December. They’ll take that fat from my thighs/butt since belly fat was used up already to make the recon breasts. Thanks again for starting the June surgery thread, It seems so long ago now but we’ve all been through a lot since then!
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laVue - thanks for the update and giving us a look at what's ahead. I've heard the donor site of the fat grafting hurts more than the exchange. Hopefully the pain passes quickly.
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LaVue
Are your implants under or over the muscle? How did you decide? Did you need fat grafting immediately? I was told I have to
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Before the fat grafting find out strategies to help cope with the uncomfortableness. I imagine the graftng on the butt/thigh will make it very difficult to sit.
The only way I am comfortable is either standing or lying on the recliner .
For me, the pain feels as though I was on the losing end of a physical confrontation.
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I chose under the muscle because they say it's easier to catch the cancer if it returns.
I did not need fat grafting immediately. The fillings went well and I didn't have any indentations. I did the grafting to avoid the rippling that may occur. In essence, it was a preventative measure.
Originally I wasn't going to get the fat grafting but my physical therapist recommended that I do so. I go to a physical therapy office that only deals with breast cancer patients so I trust her. She said in her experience the majority of the women go back to get the fat grafting. I decided that I didn't want to have another surgery next year . I am so done with surgeries.
Instead of nipple surgery next year I'm weighing whether I should go nippleless or get a tattooed nipple.
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If it wasn't for the fat grafting I would be able to work. The exchange does not hurt at all. My chest is sore on the places where they injected the fat.
My physical therapist said that in her experience if your tissue expander experience went well then the implant phase will be smooth. However, if you had a lot of pain and uncomfortableness with the tissue expanders that increases the chances that you'll have pain with the implants.
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The the pain on the left side of my abdomen is almost gone. On the other hand, the right hand side is still more tender, but doing much better.
It has only been two days since the surgery and I expected to be in much more pain in my abdomen than I am.
Conceivably, some of you may feel almost no pain at all within 2 days of the surgery. That's pretty damn good.
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Thanks for the update. Glad you're feeling better
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LaVue, that's great to hear, hope your healing continues at this excellent rate!
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Just a quick update. I still feel a little pain on the right side of my abdomen, which is a shame because if it healef like the left side I would be 100% right now.
It looks like my breasts are too far apart I noticed this with the tissue expanders but thought that maybe with the breast implants it would work itself out. Maybe it will in the end? The implants will drop but I'm not sure if they will move/fluff more to the center.
Google isn't very helpful because most of the information is for breast augmentation and not for breast reconstruction.
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i pointed that same issue out to my PS when I went to see him after I finished Rads. He said my breasts were probably always like that it just looks different because of the TE shape. I said no sir 😁
He promised he'd address it during the exchange surgery.
I actually took pictures of my boobs before surgery and right after surgery. This spread didn't start until the got filled. I assume they are just too heavy.
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Went for my four week follow-up today and everything is going well save for tissue that had accumulated after the bilateral. My medical team wanted to wait until the exchange to see if the tissue would adjust itself. It hasn't so it looks like I may need liposuction to remove the tissue . That surgery won't happen until next year. In the meantime, I'll have the physical therapist continue to massage the area to reduce the swelling .
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