Exchange City

hi there i just had a left mast with te's (yesterday!) and have a question. how long can i expect to be out of work for my exchange surgery where i will also be augmenting the contralateral breast with implant? thx

Mirbelle good for you 34DD, awesome!  How far out are you from your exchange?  Anna

Stacey - I was only out a few days with my exchange, but mine was bilateral TEs (surgery Wed am, back to work on Monday).  I was still sore, but it was definitely doable with a desk job.

Anna - I am 5.5 weeks out from exchange (4/28).  I told DH he could now brag about my ample bustline, as I was formerly a B/small C LOL!

ok... funny funny funny thing happened to me today, and a FIRST TIME EVER...

I should pre-empt by saying i just finished exchange and nips - and went from A/B Cup to D

I was at work (corporote environment) and a co-worker(young male)  shyly asked me(who is 20 yrs older and relatively new)  if I "accepted compliments?"

I said "huh?"

So he repeated himself and I said "Ya lol"

He said "even if they are of a sexual nature?" -in his best politicallly respectful voice.

I said.... "huh????, lol"

He said " ok, I'll just say it.....that service worker over there said you have 'Really Nice T*ts'!!! lol

OMG!!! NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I EVER EVER EVER HAD THAT KIND OF COMMENT ABOUT MY BOOBS, lol (and I was in a button collared blouse-full coverage!  )  I blushed a most obvious shade of PINK, and was reallly lost for a response, lol.... UM, do u say "thanks'?, "i'll tell my Plastic Surgeon"?

I didn't realize men thot this way!? lol.  Maybe us EC ladies should require a little social license to drive this new "girl junk" around in public, LOL!Any really good one line responses , from some of you more experienced Ladies???? lol

I can't wait to tell my PS that he contributed to a "first time" experience for me at the age of 46!lolWOW?

Quite ironic.....if they only knew what we had to endure, huh?

P.S. My co-worker doesn't have a CLUE what I've been thru either, lol

You go geneskirt!  Wear them proudly after everything you have been through.  It sounds as though you had a great exchange outcome!  Anna

My exchange surgery is in four days (the 8th) and I'm getting really nervous.  I just can't imagine how I'm going to look but I'm imagining the worst, as I've been told.  Then maybe I won't be so shocked.

So, he's sending me home bandaged and I'm supposed to sleep on my back (if possible) for a week.  Then he'll remove the bandages and I can wear a soft bra, he said.  But, since I won't know what size I am, I'm not quite sure what to do about it.  I guess I can go to Nordstrom but I can't go out braless - so do I wear one of my C cup bras or what????  Stuff with kleenex?

I was a C cup before my mastectomy but he says I won't be again, that I "might" get to a B.  I'm jealous of those of you whose skin could stretch that much - mine doesnt' seem to want to.  Even though my last fill was two months ago, the skin still feels stretched from the back and it's so tight - you can see the expander valve right through me. 

 But, I'm a uni and he's adding a small implant (175 cc) to my real side to give me upper pole fullness and try and make a match.  I am not quite sure how I'm supposed to end up smaller *and* get my real side augmented though.

I don't think my PS explains things well enough for me.  I always leave thinking I understand but then when I think about it, I realize I truly don't. 

You know, I stupidly never asked him if 'd lose feeling in my real side.  I assumed I wouldn't, because so many women have breast augmentation these days, I assume that it wouldn't be as popular if they all went numb.  But, maybe I'm wrong...anybody know?

I read a lot of excitement in this thread and I wish I could share it.  I'm really dreading this surgery.  I want the expander out of me but I'm not so sure I'm ready for the finality of what I may see.

Thank you very much, Deborah.

I went back for my last fill in March,  and he said no.  My skin is extremely tight and you can see the valve right through it, and in fact, the ridges of it are above the skin.  I was done.  I was pretty umcomfortable and still am.  It's very tight.

I *think* he expanded me to 320 ccs.   I am terrible with numbers and I promptly forget them.  And, I *think* he said he was going to put in a 275 cc implant in my mastectomy side.  (I posted it here somewhere then promptly forgot.)  He did say he was going to use a high profile one.

In my left side he is going to put a very small saline implant, under the muscle he said.  The sole reason is to try and give me some symmetry, which confused me as he said I "might" get to a B cup when for 35 years I've been wearing a C cup bra.

I posted my ribcage size somewhere here too - I'm pretty small.  (27, maybe?)  And, I weight 99 pounds.   

He has been explaining it to me.  I am not a stupid woman but as I have posted here several times, I somehow have a mental block when it comes to this process.  He has not been encouraging to me and I've taking his words to heart.  He says I'll look fine in a bra but I my skin is very thin and I may get rippling and that step-off thing. 

Thanks for seeing the humour ladies!!

Totally ironic, isn't it???.... for months after Dx and B/LMx with delayed reconstruction, i struggled with (I hate to admit it) a shame of sorts of the way my body was 'mutilated' and maculinized. I withdrew from many social settings and only allowed my closest of confidants into my Mx and Reconstruction world. I was the one and only girl in my friends and family that had BC.  It seemed to strike me at my 'prime' socially, too. It was really ... lonely and isolating.

Now, just when I've grown through SO much - and grown strong from the inside/out, AND completed my Reconstruction journey back to 'whole' again..... I get the most inocent, off colour, off guard, "compliment"(lol) from the most unsuspecting stranger, really.... the irony just makes me smile and giggle.  

I think God has a wonderful sense of humour!

Congratulations Susiered!  How Wonderful to hear everything went well!

You sound very relieved and I can hear the Joy in your words!

Geneskirt:  I am so there with you about the social stuff.  I have been withdrawn for months now--As if losing all of my hair and eyelashes and eyebrows wasn't enough then to be obviously flat chested on one side and now in reverse with one much larger (ok, I admit it's exciting but it sure looks weird) and I haven't shared any of my pictures except with Deborah.  I just can't bring myself to the point of showing my friends.  I am married so my husband has been there every step of the way but it is still isolating to have breast cancer.  I sitll feel awkward socially.  I am glad that there is a rainbow at the end of the journey!

Laura:  I just remembered one of the treatments they are doing a clinical study on at Norris that may benefit TNBC's--Using the cyberknife for breast cancer.  It radiates while cutting so there isn't any need for radiation.  He also, being an oncoplastic surgeon, is just better at what he does.  There are only a few in the US.  He cut into my chest wall to keep me from having to have radiation.

Hi sweet friends!

Thank you for those who wrote to me wondering where I was..:)

I have Lymphedema. I am really struggling with this emotionally. I start therapy on Monday. I have an amazing PT. I am blessed to have her here in Kansas City.

I just wanted to post here and other places on BCO so that those who are writing to me.. know I am alive.. and what is going on with me. I owe that to you, my dear BC friends!

Laura

I have to chime in about Nordstrom too. I have never shopped there regularly - I'm just not a Nordstrom kinda gal - but first went for post-MX camis and then later for prosthetic & bras. THEY WERE SOOOOO GOOD TO ME. My mother had to return one of the camis after I had surgery (long story, but not Nordy's fault) and the bc specialist knew who I was from the camisole, asked how I was, and said she had wanted to call me but didn't want to bother me. 6 weeks later I went in for a prosthetic and she still remembered me and got me set up with one that matches my real breast about as perfectly as is possible (even my husband was impressed) ON THE FIRST TRY. And then she got me into bras I liked and that are probably the only bras I've ever had in my life that fit correctly, and then she had prosthetic pockets sewn into them and called me as soon as they were done. That was all about 3 weeks ago, and then tonight just as I got home, my little (she really is little) Nordstrom friend was calling to see how the bras and prosthetic were working out. She had not sent in my insurance info yet (which means Nordstrom has not yet gotten any money and I have not yet paid my share) because she was waiting to make sure everything was right. I could not ask for better service, not to mention care and compassion. I was nervous about the whole fitting thing, but she was matter-of-fact and helpful and brought me a gazillion bras and put them on me, AND when it came time to pick them up the next day, she left me alone to figure out how to do it all myself (putting on a bra when a prosthetic is involved is not the easiest thing to do). It sounds funny, but I really needed her to do that rather than putting it on me only to find out how hard it was when I got home. And of the 3 bras I bought, the two I like best are the ones she recommended and the one I like the least is one she let me insist on. Okay, I'm done now, but thumbs up for Nordstrom, for sure!

Oh, and ditto for all the isolation comments. That has to be the hardest thing about all this. I only am acquainted with two other pre-menopausal bc survivors and both their situations are very different from mine, so while we have bc in common, we don't really.

Geneskirt, that must have been totally awesome, even if inappropriate. Good for you!

Yes Kate.. I have. Binney has been  on BCO longer than I even..

Ladies, I have faith in my doctor.  I may be wrong, but the reason is he has never tried to tell me I can get my breast back.  He said he'd do the best for me, but he also warned me about all of the problems.  My thinness, my skin, where my cancer was, my unique shape - all will play a role in my reconstruction results.  I recently posted on my blog that reconstruction is NOT the same thing as an augmentation.  You can't put back what isn't there anymore and the underlying structures are different.  The results depend onn body shape, style, age, cancer placement, remaining skin, etc.  There is no one-size fits all here and my doc has made that clear.

I like the fact that I've been told it may not be the results I want - I wouldn't want a doctor who gave me unwarranted hope. And, I haven't probed much because I instinctively know he's right.

But, of course, hope remains.  I know my breast is gone forever but now my goal is to be able to wear any clothing I want without major thought.  And, I hope they are soft enough so my husband will be happy.