Exchange City
Comments
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Lilah I am thinking of you this morning. I know you are so happy today has finally arrived, but also sure there is some anxiety. Surgery is never fun. I can't wait to hear how everything goes.
Kittycat...that was just plain mean on your breast surgeons part. Like you said he could have just waited and if there was a problem let you know then. I am so sorry, as if things aren't stressfull enough.
I got my surgery pack in the mail yesterday, my surgery is at 10:30 am. for some reason it made me really nervous seeing I actually have a time. You would think as many surgeries as I have had it would be no big deal. On my sheet it tells exactly what the procedures that are being done are. It says bi-lat exchange expanders to silicone implants, bi-lat revision reconstruction with fat grafting and capsulotomies. Does anyone know what the capsulotomies is? Not sure on that one.
Have a great day!
Susan
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Brenda - I had my exchange done on a Wednesday and was back to work the following Tuesday. I didn't have a lot of pain and could of went back to work on Monday but already had the day scheduled off. I think a lot depends if there is a lot of pocket work, etc. Good luck!
Donna
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Brenda, guess I'll speak up for some of the pokey healers. My exchange surgery was close to 3 hours with the exra pocket work. I was told not to drive for 10 days, and at 10 days was barely ready to. I've already blanked it out, but don't think I was on pain meds for too many days. Mostly just wiped out, lost a lot of strength and took me weeks to get back to walking a distance. I waited about 11 weeks to take our vacation, loved it, but sure didn't have the energy or stamina I would have had last summer. I sure hope your surgery heals much faster!
Susan, do you have capsular contraction? Best wishes to you and a successful surgery!
Allie, so glad you're happy with the revision!!
Kittycat, argh!! Not nice of bs. Why do so many people not get that we are so extremely sensitive going thru this?
I am off to NIA exercise, think I mentioned it about 100 pages ago. It helps loosen my shoulders so much, is fun and silly!
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Lilah- Hope you have an easy surgery and a quick recovery. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how much better it is.
Val-Can't wait to hear how the nips go.
Kat and Marianne-Great to hear of two more of my January friends getting their exchanges this week. So exciting that we are steadily going towards our finish line! Hope all goes well.
Allie-Were the dents you are talking about on both sides of your sternum when you lay on your back? I have that and didn't know if it was fixable or not. Its kinda creepy feeling to me and I don't notice it as long as I have on my bra.
Becky
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Paula I tried posting last night it did not work for me but my DH is gonna help me tonight he promised. I am so feeling better today. My PS called to check on me and I explained the area I was concerned about and she wnats to see me on Thursday. What she said is that it sounds like the implant broke through the internal sutures and is now drifting under my arm like the TE.
Luna5 I notice you and I have the same implants do you have pis on the forum?
Lilah you are in my prayers
Rebecca
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Rebecca - Hope all goes well for you on Thursday!
Everyone else having surgery this week - saying prayers for you all to have yippee squishy results!
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Katey I don't have capsular contraction that I know of, although I did have rads on the side I had the expander in and it is definatly much tighter than the other. I guess I need to call and find out what that is. Thanks for mentioning that. Now that I think about it she did tell me she was going to have to go in and open that pocket up some. I bet that is what it is.
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Brenda, I was a slower healer as well - I think my exchange took 3 hours plus and my muscles were a bit battered. At 10 days I messed things up by running a short distance. That was enough to knock me out for the next 24 hours as I needed to back on Percoset. My advice - take it slow and easy the first 2 weeks and then gradually add activities. Do not lift anything heavier than a carton of milk for the first 2 weeks - never carry your groceries if possible for the first month. After a month, things were great for me.
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Susan, when you have your TEs or an implant in your breast, your body will form a capsule around it. Kind of like a defense mechanism to protect your body from a foreign object. When PS takes out the TE or implant, he takes the capsule as well. Then your body will form a new one with the new implant. CC is when that capsule starts to shrink and contract. It squeezes your implant and causes pain. That is why we, with smooth implants, must massage massage massage. That will keep the capsule the way it should be.
I'm a fast healer too. I had my arms over my head washing my hair the day after my BMX. I know I took narcotics for a couple weeks tho. I remember I got a refill. The day after exchange I went on a "field trip" to the Celestial Seasoning Tea factory with my in-laws from out of state. My MIL would ask me, "How much does that weigh?" any time I picked anything up for a week. She pretty much took over my house and I didn't have to do much. That was actually pretty nice. Maybe that was why I was up to all the field trips with them. LOL
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Lilah, good luck- can't wait to hear about the exchange!
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Brenda: My exchange was 4 hours long as my PS is a perfectionist and he had lots of work to do. I only took 8 days off work but should have had a full two weeks just to get my strenght back.
Estepp: I totally agree with your comment to Deborah. I had just asked her what size I should be (thinking i am a
and she said try a 30 C or D. I too have friends that are natural Cs and Ds and they have full on HOOTERS! I do not. But I also know accroding to Deborah and Val I have not been wearing the correct size for my ribcage. I dont even know where to find a 30 bra?
Off to two baseball games in 45 degree weather. Love my boys!
Kristen
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Wow, thanks to the ladies who responded to my question! From your responses I gather it's anywhere from a few days to several weeks!!! I have 2 possible trips, but one of them may have to be canceled depending on how I recuperate. I do have a radiated side. While it is not really acting up at the moment, PS may have to pay a little more attention to it. Thanks again, ladies. I really appreciate it.
Does anyone have the url of the implant exchange video?
Brenda
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Hi Paula..I think Maggie went to my website that I use to share my art work with my students and others
http://jizogarden.wordpress.com/ I also have a flickr site which is more compact. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jizogarden/Rebecca I'm so glad to hear you spoke with your ps....hope your appointment goes well on Thursday
Lilah if you read this tonight or in the morning I hope your doing well!
Strength and healing,
Laura2
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Hey ladies, I just read on another thread that some lesbians with BC don't feel very comfortable on a lot of the BCO threads. It just about broke my heart. My oldest son is gay, and I view it as part of my maternal mission to promote understanding and acceptance. So if there are any lesbians on exchange city, I am your friend.
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Kristinka:
I've no personal experience with friends/family being gay, but I agree with you that promoting understanding, acceptance and not being judgmental is a necessity. Members on these threads should not be made to feel abandoned, unaccepted or unwanted, no matter what the circumstances of their individuality are. I have received so much support from every thread I have "visited" and just hate to think of others that feel otherwise.
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I feel bad also that anyone has been made to feel unwelcome, I only know the threads that I keep up with, EC being one of them and I have never read anything that I feel would make anyone feel unwelcome, so I hope that everyone feels welcome here. I think that everyone is so open and accepting to anything that anyone feels and says and shares. So, anyway, just thought I'd say that I welcome all new friends!
Paula
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Isn't that sad? No one should feel uncomfortable on BCO. We are all sisters joined by this disease no matter what our persuasion is.
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Girls: is there a thread where the lesbian pop have been talking and how can we reach out to them? We all learn and grow together by sharing our ups and downs.
What can we do?
I have members of my family who are gay and would like to reach my hand out to those sisters as well!!
Kristen
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Currently obsessing over the fact i am swimming in my warners 34 B bra. Pissed because i acctually put it on for the PS at the three week check up afraid it was not snug enough around my ribcage. he said it was fine and i didnt need a bra. TOO COCKY on his part girls??? Lets not forget surgeons usually have egos. (no offense to any surgeons on here) .
valium for IMF discomfort for third night
"Diversity introduces a woman to herself." ~ Unknown
Kristen
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There's a whole forum - Lesbians with BC, and it has a lot of threads. Kristen, I think if we welcome all of our sisters on the threads we visit, that's a step in the right direction.
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BC doesn't discriminate.....I hope all ladies no matter what their personal lives are like, feel welcome here or on any list. The is all about supporting each other through this very bumpy ride we must navigate...no judgements.....just caring for each other....nothing more nothing less.
Strength and courage,
Laura
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LILAH!
Sister, I prayed for you random times throughout my day... and i keep thinking about you also. I pray now, that your pain is under control.... Love to you...Laura
ps... ladies. I too, am an artist...lol.. and when someone said.. I love your art " Laura" I thought.... how did they see it?? Do I still have random abstracts out there online??? LOL..
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Lilah you are in my prayers.
I posted pics they are my TE's full at 750cc and then The first pics after my exchange. I will take some new ones since I don't have any since the 1 week post op mark. Any advice or comments will be appreciated.
Rebecca
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Kristen, what I've loved about BCO is that it has, for me, really cut across political, religious socioeconomic and geographic lines. We're in this craziness together and the common ground has been so heartening for me in the many dark days of this. I love that we buoy each other, laugh, worry, cry, share stuff that's hard to admit, etc. I hope that everyone feels welcome here. Maggie
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My PS scheduled my nips for 5/26. This will be good timing for me as at my work my insurance starts over June 1 so if I do it before June it will cost me nothing. The only thing I am a little worried about is that I have minor rippling on the left side. It only happens after I stand up after bending over. I asked my PS about it today and he said it "was because I am pencil thin maybe I should eat a sandwich". Ok so there isn't a fix for ripples if you are thin. Is that right? I just don't want to prematurely get nipples if these ripples get worse and something has to be done. Have any of you had anything done to fix ripples and if so did you already have nipples? Sometimes I am afraid it is my surgeon's ego and especially since he has a resident in there observing.
Becky
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binga aometimes you just have to wonder what these surgeons are thinking. What kind of response was that? I don't know anything about it, but hope you get your answers.
Has anyone heard from Lilah? Hope all went well with her. I am sure she is sleeping it off tonight. If you get on here Lilah just know we are thinking of you!!
Susan
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Susan, I'm with you. Becky, I want to smack your surgeon upside the head. The sandwich comment just doesn't help at all. My PS worried that I'd have ripples because of my thin frame, and I do have one. It doesn't bother me enough to want to change it as it goes away when I sit up/stand up straight, but my shoulders seem protectively hunched this year. I know others will chime in about their ripple solutions...
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OK.. Deborah will be RIGHT behind me in this... so I will start...
The " eat a sandwich"
Stupid and coming across as uneducated.
When we have a mastectomy, they REMOVE all our tissue and fat in the breasts. SO... if you are skinny or pudgy.... your skin is VERY THIN and HAS NO FAT ( duh, it has been removed)... so... rippling comes from ALL OF OUR thin skin and sometimes too small an implant in the pocket that was made with the TE.
Lordy.... PS... ... NO WONDER we all need to help on another SO SO much.
((hugs)) to you skinny sister.... you just need to try some fat grafting... many hear have done this... thin... and pudgy...:)... I myself and going to try this soon.
I hope I helped answer your question.
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Becky - forget the sandwich...what a jerk......ripples....or "ruffles" as KristenPink calls them! .....are a part of we thin girls' lives......my ps said it's inevitable.....thin tissue=ripples.....sorry...
KristenPink - I'm glad Deborah agrees with me.....I'll help you with the 30 bra....I have great sources....
Estepp - I think it was you.....I've been trying to catch up on 5 days of this thread, so may be confused....who was asking about how we look much smaller than we measure. It DOES have a lot to do with projection - like Kitty said - but it also has to do with the width of our implants. They tend to be wider than natural breasts, and consequently require a larger size cup to accommodate those puppies. I measure a 30DD - and sometimes a 30E - but by no means do I even resemble the size of my friend who's an augmented C cup. I don't mind, though.....it's nice to finally say a letter higher than "A"!
Thanks for all the well wishes for Thursday, everybody. I'm strangely (for me) not nervous. In fact, I told my dh it was okay to leave and go see his own patients after he got me tucked in at the surgery center! (Don't worry...I have a friend who'll pick me up if he doesn't make it back in time!) The nurse who called to do my phone pre-op said the surgery is fairly quick - about 90 minutes or so. My ps won't ever tell me a time...."it takes as long as it takes" is his favorite line. I picked up all my meds today - 600mg ibuprofen, keflex, and vicodin. Okay....if it's supposed to be a piece of cake, why the vidodin? Not that I mind....I'll gladly bank THAT stuff!
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Brenda - Kristinka and I had very similar exchange experiences.....so it's not always a walk in the park, so to speak. I did have a good deal of pain.....and my ps always uses drains, so I had those to deal with.....I also was not allowed to lift my arms away from my body....elbows at the waist...."T-Rex arms" as my son called them.....for over a week. I had help dressing and with all the house stuff for a couple of weeks. Just so you know.....but we were the weird ones, it seems.....0
