Exchange City
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Rebecca, I have been down with pneumonia so I am catching up on posts. I am praying for you and sending you lots of hugs!
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Rebecca - You are in my thoughts hun and you will get through this to. Keep your chin up and keep us posted. You are a strong woman. (((HUGS)))
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Rebecca So sorry for your new diagnosis, but thank goodness it sounds like it was caught at a very early stage. Have a great time with your daughter at science camp! I often chaperon my niece's field trips and coached her field hockey team and I can tell you there is no better distraction then children! I'm sure they'll keep you busy. Have fun and be safe!!
Annie - Good luck Monday! Ativan got me through my first mammo and MRI post surgery.
Hope everyone is having a good Friday! I am "working from home" today.
Diane
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Rebecca - Oh hun, hugs to you and will be thinking about you, as usual. Enjoy time with your weee one and stay busy.....and as positive as you have been....
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Rebecca, I an sorry to read this. You have all of us to help you get thru this one step at a time. Prayers and hugs are sent your way!
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Rebecca... I did not want to turn on this PC and read what you wrote.... I am sorry.
On a brighter side.. Deborah is RIGHT ON... this BC probably saved your life... WOW...
Honey..... I am praying for you... I am ! You are right about Deb.... she really is the mother many of us here, do not have. She looks like she is 40... so she looks to young to BE our mom...
.... but she treats us lovely.Deborah... I do want to hear what you think is coming in the near future for our Reconstruction. Unless I get another insurance... like an HMO... I will always have to pay a high deductible. As it is... I pay 400.00 a month for coverage.... then... say I did fat grafting... or something like that.... or anther surgery... I pay the first 3000.00 then my insurance pays 100%. It is what it is. Anyway honey, if you are reading this... call me sometime this weekend... if you have any time... maybe you could share with me what you think/know is coming. I am going t see my PS soon... and will be asking him what he sees in my future..:) My implants do look amazing... for having rads and all... but there are issues. Anywho.... I am getting off my soap box.... as my issues are MINIMAL comparatively..
Bless you ladies... I hope your weekend is peaceful and happy.
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Annie.... you are going to check out AOK ! I know how much this gets to you... these tests... with full understanding...... I give you my love and PRAYERS !
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I had my exchange surgery yesterday and came home today. At this point, I would say it wasn't a better experience than my BMX, but perhaps in a day or so. They had trouble intubating me for some reason so my throat is killing me; I had a more difficult time coming out of the anesthetic. I had fat grafing on the side that had radiation years ago so my hips, thighs and back below waist are black and blue and somewhat swollen and sore. Also, PS went through underneath incisions vs the ones from the mastectomy and they are sore. I also have a rash developing on breasts that they thought might be from the antibiotic tape. So, I am sore in many places but without drains and I have new soft breasts.. I have 450cc implants...not sure what that will give me at my height and weight of 5'3" 120 llbs but is probably smaller than I was. I am OK with that..they are soft and swishy...I had forgot what that felt like. Deborah...thank you for your info and advice going into this. I can see I may need more than one day off work.
Joan
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Thank you, vmudrow. I will try to find your pictures. I am new to this forum so have to figure my way around. I can hardly wait to feel somewhat normal again. These expanders are uncomfortable & I still have pain.
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Joan -- I did not have lipo/fat grafting but from reading here that will leave you very sore. I don't think I quite realized you were doing that (sorry). The exchange recovery will probably be easier than the lip recovery. But, as they say, for all of it: this too shall pass. And you will be back to normal soon and so GLAD. Take it easy for now!
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Hi ladies, I know Rebecca, you are probably on your trip by now, but jic, wanting you to know you are in my prayers, sweetie. Keeping busy is soo helpful as it enjoying your little one.
Joan, I have a 600 and am the same height (- 1")/weight as you, it turned into a full C cup. this looked an awful lot smaller in the beginning during the "squished hamburger bun" phase after exchange. They do perk up nicely in a month or so. I had dreadful rashes from tape, try either the paper tape (which really doesn't work too well) or a sport bra and a large soft sterile bandage underneath. I still have marks from my tape rashes....cocoa butter is great for that.
Everybody thank you so much for the prayer for monday. I am pretty sure it'll be OK, but oh that ole anxiety rears its ugly head. Twice bitten i guess. I really appreciate the prayer tho, that is the very, very best thing. I'll post results on monday.
everyone have a lovely weekend, rebecca I am off to check on my "wee no longer" one tomorrow but will check when I get back to see how you are doing.
Chin up, sweetie. It is so lucky that they found this so very early,so I am in agreement with those that say BC is saving your life. There is always a silver lining to this stuff, tho sometimes we sure have to dig for it.
xoxo
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Hi Rebecca...I'm relatively new here and not familiar with many posters, but wanted you to know that you will be in my thoughts and prayers...you, too, Annie...
Regarding the lipo questions...my PS said during my exchange that he was going to lipo the area on my side directly adjacent to my expanders...where do those side boobs come from? Anyway...was wondering if anyone has had that done? He said that if all goes well that he thought I would be very pleased.
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nanadee, you must have some fat available under you arm, adjacent to your breast area. Sounds like PS will extract that fat and use to fill in for fat grafting on your new breast.
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Mammo was good! Thank you to all of you for your great prayer and good thoughts.
love to all!
a
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Annie -- awesome!!!
JeniferJKZ -- thinking of you today! Hope all goes to your liking
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Hi Joan/Annie,
I am very interested in how your sizing worked out. I am going for my last PS "fill" visit before my exchange (approx. 3 months). I am also 5'2" and 120lbs. Currently I have 300cc expanders filled to 475 on non-lat flap side and 425 on flap side. I was a 34C prior to BMX. I would like to remain a 34C.
Joan, what size were you prior to surgeries? What size did you expect to get to with the 450cc implants?
Annie, you say you got 600cc implants and are only a "C"? I was under the impression that 475cc High Profile would get me there. I know it is hard to compare cup size, but I want to make sure I am on the right track. My rib cage is 30".
Thanks, Missy
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Rebecca: I just read your post. I just wanted to say that I'm thinking about you and sending all my prayers your way. Hugs and love, Diane
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Question for everyone....where did or do you plan to have your exchange surgery? At the hospital?
My PS has a Surgery Center at his office. He does most of his work there. I have already been in it as I had to have some necrotic skin cut out at the incision of my left breast. He wanted to put me out and go that route in case there was infection inside and he could clean up etc, if need be. It was fine but the exchange is more involved and I'm not sure how I feel about doing it there. He said he preferred it...reasons being: something about being able to bring in different sizes, etc, can't remember exactly, cleaner then the hospital (staph etc?) and we had a big "to do" in this area and the anesthesiologist here lost contract with a major hospital. (the one I would go to) So, they hire in outside anest. to do the work from other areas of state/country. Whereas he has the top ones that he works with and has for years. I am sure he has his own personal reasons as well.
Thoughts??
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Just to note....yes I had my BMX at the hospital with one of those anesthesiologist and it was fine. My PS did however puncture my lung. (first time ever happened to him) and they had to have a lung specialist come into the OR for me, xrays, etc. It didn't collapse and had no issues really because of it but it delayed my surgery by about an hour or so. Turned out fine but stilll.......SOOO part of my hesitance. I feel confident in him just unsure which way to go.
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Annie, yippee! Glad all is well for you.
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Missy I am 5'1" and was a 34c before and still am
(2 revisions later) I have Natrelle high profile 600ccs on the right and 300ccs on the left (augmented side) which really just gave it a little OOMPH! I am able to wear my old bras, I know that may change in a couple of months but right now I am very pleased. My PS tried the Mentor 750/650 but it was just too wide for my frame. Natrelle was a better fit. Good luck!
Diane
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EastCoast, my thinking is that it depends on your risk tolerance... kind of like deciding about a home birth! There are certainly pros and cons. Minimal exposure to yukky hospital germs is a BIG plus. Not being a cog in the hospital wheel seems likely to get you better and more attentive nursing care and less likelihood for hospital errors. The issue about bringing in sizers is neither here nor there, as that is pretty standard practice in the hospital, too. In terms of safety -- think about how things might have gone with your punctured lung and what it would have been like without any other docs, or any pulmonary specialists around. That seems kind of scary, to me. I am considering a revision of my implants with a DIEP -- the microsurgical fat flap transfer -- at NOLA which is also not a full size hospital, so I've ben thinking about these issues, also. They do try to screen potential patients, though, for cardiovascular stability and other stuff. I would hope that your PS makes sure you are totally healthy first. Remember, the exchange can take a few hours on the table, and then time in recovery also. Good luck!
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DiDel: If you are wearing your old bras they are far too small for you! How can you add 300 ccs to the native breast and wear the same size bra? Eh? You need to take a trip to Nordstroms...
rockyroad: Just so that you do not get confused....DiDel also had larger TEs than you do and she was overfilled to around 800 ccs, if I recall! Your PS used a much smaller TE. Also...she is larger than a "C" cup.....I would be willing to wager!!!
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Oh yes, and exactly why I'm concerned. I'm not one to do elective type surgeries at all. As a matter of fact, the BMX was my very first surgery. So I am just not sure what to do. Right now it is set up at his surgery center but I'm waivering a bit.
You are so right , I keep thinking of that, the whole lung thing.What to do?And yes, I have a full history and physical scheduled there 2 weeks before surgery date.
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EastCoastGrl, I would only do your exchange surgery at the hospital - especially with what happened during your last surgery. During the exchange surgery, you're opened up, so I think it's better to be in the hospital just in case there are any complications. And I say that even though I got infections after 3 of my 5 surgeries in the hospital. If you go for nipple reconstruction, I would consider doing that at the surgery center (you're not opened up and they can do it under local if you want).
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I was going to have my exchange surgery at the hospital where I had my BMX but my PS decided to do fat grafting/lipo and they had the machine to do that at the surgery center he is affiliated with. In by 10 am out by 2pm. Exchange in 11 days!
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Annie: Congratulations!!!
EastCoastGirl: I have had major surgery in both the hospital and a private PS surgical location. However, there was a major hospital around the corner in case of any complications for the private location. There is usually less chance of infection and you can get more personal care then you would in a hospital but you have to look at your own situation in order to decide this for yourself. Breasts are very prone to infection.
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Rebecca - sorry to hear about your bad news. My 1st onco told me that the cells in the abdomen were similar to the breast (this is when I asked if I should have my ovaries removed and he said no). Well, I'm getting my ovaries removed and have a different onco now. I hope everything goes well for you. I know how stressful it is to get dx with cancer again, but just know that we are all here praying for you.
MBJ - so good to see and hear from you!
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Hey Kittycat: How are you doing? I believe I saw a post last week about you losing a friend and I just wanted to say how sorry I am for your loss. Hugs.
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Thanks MBJ. Yeah, she was a college friend who was battling colon cancer with mets in the liver. She fought a good battle, but unfortunately the cancer won last week. We were emailing each other and sending cards and stuff, while going through chemo. She had chemo 3 days in a row (she'd bring it home with her). That's brutal! Her services are this weekend in Orange County. I won't be able to make it because I'm doing a speech for Susan G Komen that day. I'm still thinking what I should send... flowers? a gift certificate for a restaurant for her DH and kids? Something else???
How are you doing? I was getting into a funk this past week. I can't get any meds to help me sleep except Adivan. I'm going to try camomile tea and melatonin. I took the the melatonin once, but it didn't do much. I know I need to be more patient. LOL! Any suggestions????
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