Exchange City
Comments
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Bonnie and MBJ ~ THANK YOU!!! Yes, I am feeling very rushed and my head has been swimming. I hear you both and think I shouldn't do something that doesn't "feel" right. I appreciate your input. The punctured TE throws a curveball into the process. Thanks for the referrals, MBJ. Bonnie ~ I'm sorry to hear of your failed implants. BC is not for sissies! I'm hoping in the end you will be happy with the final outcome!
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Xray girl - I have not been active on the forum for a while so I am catching up and in need of support myself. I will tell you to take your time, I had a deflated TE for months and my PS threw a fit when he found out how long thinking he would need to re do expand. I said no way. This is my first saggy boob ever now I'm fifty and just make it match the one that had the rads (which was way up on my chest due to rads). Anyway to his surprise the deflatedTE side did not shrink up. I waited for many different reasons for the exchange. One was I got a new job and worked like crazy and got out of the BC world for a while and wore business/dress atire and had some fun. No one knew until I told them. I made a list of pro cons for both and looked at the items, read and chatted here with women and spoke with 6 women in local in my area that had different surgeries. My main concerne was the foob made from my stomach would grow and shrink different than the natural side. At the time I was 48 and was a 34/36 D. But when my weight would go down I would be a C or B. If the new foob acted like stomach fat what would I look like! (Before I decided on Double Mast) At the time with my type of cancer which was not text book so 2 tumor boards at major Houston hospitals gave opinions on treatments. I decided that I wanted the shortest fastest recovery route - which was implants. My doctor wanted to wait 6 months after my rads (I did not have chemo) to do exchange but that put us in a rush to extend the tissue (about a month before rads and not a happy memory) I ended up having 2 more surgeries expander out then back in due to infection but doc did new procedure on me and wrote a medical paper so I hope it helps others with TE infections. I was worn out after all of that and with a new job and my procrastination I waited 2 years to do the exchange. Which my doctor is now ok with, he said the more time to heal the better the chances. My % were similar to yours I remember something like 40-60% failure rate and after all my other surgeries I just put it off. I am glad now and so is my PS doctor he has not given me the % but he thinks the implant will stay, he did have to clean up lots of the scar tissue. My cancer type comes back the first 2 years your out look is not so good, so I thought why would I spend that time getting foobs and operations when I could be living a pretty nice life with my family and do the surgery after the 2 years when the outlook is much better for a longer time before recurrence. Read, listen and follow your heart & gut feeling. The few times I did not follow my gut feeling, later I regretted it. Doctors are great and educated but they are not always smarter about what you need. I wish I could help many others with what I have learned but every one has such a different road ahead you have to figure some of this out for your self. My breast onc told me I prob. saved my own life by refusing standard textbook treatement from another oncolg. with my cancer. I knew something was not right and I had read more about my type of cancer than the onc. that was treating me. That does make me feel a little better. This forum is full of support from wonderful women that just want to help you feel the love and have the life you deserve. Love & Hugs to you while you think over all of your decisions.
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I am sorry I have been so busylately. I do pop in and keep up on all of you though. I am hoping things slow down a bit soon.
Best wishes to all the ladies who are having surgery this week and healing to all who are done.
Happy Holidays,
Rebecca
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Rebecca: So glad to hear from you and I hope you are doing well.
Xraygirl: I forgot to mention: Fat grafting with implants is supposed to help. I posted an article awhile back on it here, but it helps with the scarring after radiation. If your PS doesn't do this, find one who does. Don't worry about hurting anyone's feelings--this is about what is best for you and finding a dr who is not only comfortable with the procedure but who is also very good at getting great results is key! Do you have access to the picture forum so you can see what is possible?
Looneymom: Great advice!
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Looneymom ~ re: the inflated side - it hasn't gone down all the way. But when I had 100cc put in 2 wks ago, that same amount was gone by the next morning. I decided to skip my appt yesterday for another fill because it makes no sense to me to keep filling it if it will deflate by the next morning. I loved the sense of control I had about my decision. I feel so relieved from the advice about not rushing! Kudos to you for your research and living your life the way YOU wanted to live it after treatments. btw ~ I love your name:-)
MBJ ~ I liked the PS I saw for a second op. I still want another opinion before deciding who to go with. Any tips on finding out who really is getting good results? Re: pic forum - I just haven't devoted attention to that yet. Now that they want to move the sx up 3 mos - I guess I better. It's so darn time consuming! I had the "ok" but don't even remember my password. ~ Daiva
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xraygirl: PM me as it might have changed since then. I got all of my referrals through my Onc but I found my hospital where I did the surgery through my women's support group, so ask everyone and also Whippetmom, as she knows which doctors are the best.
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Xraygirl - I agree why would they want to keep filling but thats how they think. Mine had real slow leak and was not weird or uncomfortable until just before I had my exchange. I think it was trying to turn inside out or turn around but for 6 or more months it was just a little flatter than my rad side TE. I don't know why he thought he would need to redo the stretch?? Why are all these women getting surgical help if our skin is going to shrink back that fast?? Common sense to me and he ended up putting 800 cc instead of 550 or 600 cc gummy implants as he thought when he saw me deflated. And they feel pretty soft 7 days out of surgery compared to those (I called them water jugs) TE's with salane. The weight with the saline is just not natural compared to real breast tissue and I hated that swish or delay in movement for that heavy saline. I would not ever want to have saline implants after that. I would tell my friends when I turn over in bed my foobs followed later. The wieght & delay is terrible. You just wait for them to catch up with the rest of you body. My gummy bears feel like the real thing or a close as I can remember. I also want to let other know I have so much more mobility with the exchange. Maybe it was the years I had the TE my chest. I drove today and I am not on pain meds since Wed. (since they took daracet off the market and did not tell me until after my surgery on 10th and I can't to the others with codene) I was a a mess and could hardly open a door after the mast/TE but this exchange was soooooo much better. If that is anything to look forward to because was dreading being handicapped with this surgery. The PS and docs will try to rush you for many reasons . Some may be they say best for you but just step back and think about all of it and how do you want to spend your time. Remember it is your time, not theirs and nobody can take that away from you. Keep us updated.0
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Bonnie - thanks for responding to my post.
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Another open question. Feel free to jump in.
I just came back from my first appointment post exchange, and I can say that I was shocked at the difference. I have read time and time again, for months and months about the dropping and fluffing stage, but needless to say I am speechless. My breasts look half the size that they did with the expanders, and I hadn't expected such a dramatic difference. I had my expanders filled to 660cc and exchanged with Mentor silicone implants 650cc's. One is also slightly higher than the other.
So my question is this, during the dropping,fluffing.settling stage, do they appear larger? What is exactly happening during this phase? I know I should have asked my PS, but she didn't seem concerned, and I have trusted her word so far. I am a very outspoken person, but for some reason I couldn't find my voice this morning. I have a follow up appointment in 2 weeks, so hopefully I can get the courage to address my concerns then. She only advised me to press down on the upper poles, and press the implants together about 10 times a day. I am hoping that in 2 weeks there is some sort of difference because it's not the most comfortable thing to do. But ugh! I am doing it. Can someone help me out? What happens during dropping and fluffing stage?
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Dear MSNOMORELUMPS - Others more experienced and knowledgeable than I can fill out the answer to your question but here is my understanding and my experience. Others may correct where I'm wrong. The TE's are hard and immovable as we all know and the implants are soft which is one reason why you don't get the projection you had with your TE's. Your muscle is tight and it takes months for everything to relax and settle in the pocket. For me, the drop and fluff has been dramatic. Yes, you will get bigger over time as the muscle relaxes. That is the 'fluff.' The drop, again, is from the muscles relaxing. Some docs have ladies in special bras, I think MBJ had one, to help press them down. I'll post a link to that site ... it's an expensive bra but it has helped out some ladies. I just wore the post-surgical they sent me home in, nothing special. The drop and fluff usually occurs 3-4 months post-exchange but some ladies it takes longer than that time frame. I wouldn't worry about symmetry this early out ... especially at the op. Are they symmetrical at the bottom?
Hang in there! It's always a shock when we see them the first time. They're smooshed, tight ... I can't think of a good illustration ... but over time, they will settle in quite nicely. It will be a gift to you for 2011!
Here's a link to that bra:
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x-ray, take a look at the NOLA threads (Dr, Dellacroce and Dr. Sullivan) and the Charleston threads (Dr. Massey), and maybe PM some of those women. Those docs are really on the leading edge for autologous fat flap procedures -- can find enough fat on just about anyone, and avoid doing Trams or other muscle damaging procedures. (Dieps, Siea's and SGAP's don't take muscle). Their patients are some happy girls, too! It is BIG surgery, and can have lots of complications and almost always at least two stages, but implants are not as simple as they seem when you start out. So many women end up with problems along the way, and then lots of revision procedures, as well. I think implants are "presented" to us (at a time when we can barely think straight), as the quick and easy reconstruction method. For some, this is actually true, but for so many women it turns out not to be. Add up the time out of commission +/or the time in limbo for each -- especially if the TE phase is difficult and prolonged, and you might be surprised. I was! Good luck.
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Thanks to all for the warm wishes! Sorry it took so long to write!
I am one week post exchange. Yes, It feels so much better now. The drain on the right was god awful painful for some reason. That was out on Tues and then constipation caused alot of other henorroid problems like never before! Ouch! I do not do well with surgery. I can feel the slight tension on the right from the pectoral pain caused by the TE but is so much better. I get the steri strips off next week...Thanks to all!
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x-raygirl: I was coming here to comment and saw that Jerusha posted exactly what I was going to suggest. When you are talking about a DIEP, it is extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY important who performs this procedure. There are techniques which can be applied to tissue expansion to implant reconstruction which involves stem-cell rich fat graft transfer to the rads breast during the tissue expansion process, with follow-up FGT at the time of exchange. The PS has to be dedicated about changing the integrity of the skin on that rads breast. I have the study links on Breast Implant Sizing 101 if you want to copy it off and discuss it with your PS.
Deborah
P.S. Jerusha...you never emailed me back about your decision re: NOLA....
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Congratulations Pinkie!
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Jerusha and Whippetmom ~ thanks for responding. I haven't checked those sites but will definitely do so. Holy smokes, stem-cell fat graft transfer to the rads breast? I think we should get honorary degrees once this is behind us! I will check out the links, Deborah. Many many thanks for everyone's input. btw, how do people figure all this out when they have a full time job?
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xray: You might want to consider a temporary leave of absence till you get it all figured out. It's alot to take care of and work, too, though I know some have done it.
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MBJ ~ I have taken a leave since June. I thought I'd be going back in the New Year but am scheduled for ooph mid Jan. I need to give them an idea of what my plans are. Argh!
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DAWN-HOPE- Thank you for your reply. I was just about to make my first post in the bra thread. That's exactly the type of bra I was looking for. I definitely need to check those out. I had a couple of my friends drop by last night to see how I was doing, and unbeknownst to me, I subconsciously kept pressing my breasts down, and pressing them inwards in the middle of conversations. Finally, my friend asked what I was doing, and we had a good laugh. So errr umm yeah, I think having a bra to do that for me, might help. I can just see myself walking through the mall pressing and pushing and wondering what people are looking at.
But as far as symmety goes, the right breast is lower at the bottom. I'm not well versed in the boob language, but it's not as round and full as the left. I don't know exactly what bottoming out is, but to me it looks like it slipped out of the pocket. If that makes any sense. I'm really shy about posting pictures, but maybe after a couple more vicodin, I can get the courage to do so. In my opinion, I have quite a few issues going on.
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MSNOMORELUMPS - If you don't feel comfortable posting on the forum, you could private message whippetmom and have her take a look. She'll likely know what is going on and could give you some helpful advice. You might want to go ahead and read the header for the bra thread, there is a lot of helpful info there. Keep in mind, though, that all PS's are different. My PS told me to wear a sports bra for a couple of weeks right out of surgery, then a bra without a wire for the first three months, then an underwire after that ... so know doc's opinion on the bra issue are all over the place.
Hang in there! You're still really soon after exchange. Maybe a good bra is all you need. Keep us posted!
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Hi all, just reading what alls been going on.
x-raygirl--you live in old stomping grounds. My sis lives in Frederick (New Market), brother in Monroeville. I think all the advice you've been given is GOOD! You don't have to rush into this. Get your ducks in a row before deciding, even a 3rd opinion.
pinkie--congrats!!
MSNOMORELUMPS--There's no pressure to put pics up. That is such a personal choice. Before ever posting on the pic forum, I sent my pics to Whippetmom and she was so very helpful! Just love reading your posts. They make me laugh! The TE's project more than the implants because they're so hard. Difficult to get projection with an implant after MX because there's no tissue. It does get better. But you won't be "out there". My cancer side is a bit lower than my non-cancer side, even though I had a BMX. If I don't really pull it up, you can tell in a bra, but not in my clothes. All PS's are different. Mine said after 6 weeks I could wear an underwire. I have been the whole time, except at night when I wear a sports bra. I had my nipple recon nearly 2 weeks ago, too like Dawn-Hope. I know MBJ can't wear an underwire yet. What kind of bra are you in now? It will get better!!!
Nipple sharing??? Wow. New one to me, too!
Have a great Sunday!
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Hi MSNOMORELUMPS. It so nice to see you here on this board. I have really enjoyed chatting with you on the picture forum and you have put a smile on my face many times in the last couple of weeks from your Xmas song to your special tree ornaments. I wish you all the best with your recovery and any upcoming surgeries. You have a great attitude :-)
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P.S. MSNOMORELUMPS. If you don't feel ready to post pics on the forum, that's perfectly fine. You post them when you're ready...no rush! I agree with Dawn-Hope, PM Whippetmom. She's the go-to-gal for advice.
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xraygal - My former inlaws live in Middletown so I've spent my share of time in and around Frederick. Ever go to "James Gang" for Pizza in Middletown? (Former brother in law owns it).
Karyn
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TRAVELGAL, I made a thread and posted pictures in the picture forum. It's called 12/16/10 exchange and I'm already crazy.
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NOMORE - I think you look beautiful. YOU ARE NOT SMALL!
Ladies who've had the nipple sparing MX can comment on symmetry, but for only 48 hours out, I think you fantastic. I expected your pictures to have one foob way up and the other way down ... not that way at all! You look great! 0 -
Lol Dawn it's obvious that my PS inserted a fun house mirror into my eyes when I had my exchange. Because to me one boob IS in the North Pole and the other one is in the South Pole. Who's boobs were you looking at??? LOL But thank you for the kind words
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Hi MSNOMORE: I'll check out the pics. I know its a little scary hitting the "upload" button when you post the pics but all the gals are so helpful and nice. Hope you're a little better today. Diane
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I meant "hope you're feeling a little better today" :-).
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You look great NOMORE!
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HI everyone, I think it's time for me to join this thread! I post mostly on the June Mastectomy thread, I had a BMX with TE's on 6/30 and am scheduled to go for my exchange surgery and get nips on 1/10. Excited and nervous for the day to come. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated! (I still have a lot of reading to do
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