Exchange City

Slinky -- well even a real breast will wrinkle up a little when you do THAT!

Yeshua -- the word means "lord" does it not?

Wahooo Alberta!

Lilah, lol!



For all the ladies who are getting exchanged, hope you get satisfactory results and heal rapidly!



For all who have been exchanged recently, take it slow...your body has been beat-up, so be kind and gentle with yourself.

My plastic surgeon has been warning me that I could have my incision open up on the radiated side.  He says that he had a patient have it open up after two months.  When it happened did they go in right away and remove the implant and put the TE back in?  It seems strange to me that a TE would not cause the same problem.  Are you going to have to have one of the other procedures done instead?  Tram flap, etc?  My surgeon says he hates working with radiated skin.  He mumbled something a week before surgery about not wanting to work with radiated skin anymore.  I talked with my breast cancer surgeon about my radiated skin concerns and she said that I had a good plastic surgeon that could handle it.  I hope it all works out well.  I have a lot of people praying for me.  If it does not I may look into a different plastic surgeon.  I have meet someone in my support group that had problems and had some work done and had good results from her plastic surgeon.  My plastic surgeon says he does not do some of the surgeries any more because he does not get reimbursed enough from insurance.( the one were they have to attach blood vessels)  He said I would have to go to a research or university hospital because a lot of PS are not willing to work for what the insurance will reimburse them for.  

Best wishes to all exchangees past, present (surgery this week) and future!  I'm having a hard time keeping up with everyone so just know that I'm sending good vibes out to everyone...

Since I'm finally healed and into expansions I've started asking my PS all the TE, implant, and exchange questions I've been storing up for him.  I asked if there's anything I should be considering now during the expansion phase that will affect my final outcome.  I specifically asked able ripples.  He said that he doesn't hear complaints about rippling issues from his silicone implant patients, but he does from his saline implant patients.  I've been thrilled with him so far so I really want to believe him. 

From what I've read here rippling with silicone implants sounds like the norm and dependent on skin, radiation history, etc.  Does anyone know how much surgical/technical expertise comes into play???

From what little I know, implants have a higher failure rate on radiated skin, and my PS says that risk does NOT diminish with time. I imagine this refers to capsular contracture VS the incision site opening up (but I don't know). Personally, I am not considering flap surgery at this time, especially since I've seen some really good results with implants on the picture forum and in a book a friend loaned me. The only other option I am considering at this time is micro fat grafting, either alone or in combination with implants. I am going to visit a Dr in Miami who has pioneered micro fat grafting for whole breast recon to see if this is right for me. If implants don't work and I can't have MFG, I may consider flap surgery, but I'm not there yet.

Shortlady,

Your PS's comments would not inspire confidence in me. Yes, we may have more complications due to the rads, but we deserve to get the best care possible, even if it means the PS is inconvenienced by this. Don't know where you live, or if you're willing to travel, but if you are considering flap surgery, there are a couple of very well-respected surgical groups who do this (New Orleans, charleston, Chicago). I spoke to one of them over the phone and he gave me a lot of good info. TRAM is an older procedure and a lot of PS no longer do it because of the risk of abdominal wall weakness. However, many PS are not trained in microsurgery, so they don't do the newer techniques. Have you checked out the NOLA and Charleston threads?

Thank you for all the well wishes! Sending mine out to my fellow exchangers this week. Will report back soon!

Kelly

Well as a uni I still have to have a mammogram every year anyway.

The other nice thing about the 10 year shelf life is that you can benefit from advances (as they come) in the future.  And whether you have silicone or saline there is a need to change out periodically... so implants are never permanent.

Good to know Renn! 

I know a woman who had saline implants 15 years ago but had to have them replaced.  I think its just something that can happen... but I'm guessing that more often than not they last closer to 20 than 10 years.

Good luck to all who are about to have their exchanges and good healing to those who have just had thiers!

Renn:  When going for my US after chemo there was a woman in the waiting room with me who had hers in for about that long and her silcone implants had ruptured and were leaking.  Though the new ones are better, and the gummies are even stronger then that, they still recommend changing them out every 10 years as a safety measure.  I would be afraid to have mine in that long!

None for me!

I had a drain on my implant side (could have probably used one on the reduction side since I had a bleed and a HUGE bruise).  If I had ONLY had implant exchange I definitely would have been fine a week later.  As it was, the healing for the reduction side took longer.  I also for whatever reason got very low red blood count following that surgery (perhaps due to having had 4 in a calendar year) and so was extremely tired a week or more later... so much that I drove a week later and got very dizzy attending an event.  My boyfriend was there so he drove us home (I wanted to drive to see if I could).  This was due to low red blood count though. 

BTW, did someone here ask what DH stands for?  It stands for Dear Husband.  I suppose I could write DB for Dear Boyfriend

Ok, here's a sensitive question..."How long do you have to wait before the girls are ready to play?"

I've been too embarrassed to ask my PS questions like this and also about the durability of the fipples.  Anyone care to step up and answer.  I can't be the only one who wants to know....but I am bold enough to ask!

Close your eyes and fan yourself!  My Grandmother just rolled over, God rest her soul!

Oh thank GOODness for Westieluv!  With the new girls Ive got, DH is following me around the house copping feels every hour on the hour!!!!  Why dont we all talk about playtime out from nipples, AND exchanges???  I didnt think to ask when I was coming around from anesthesia!!!  LOL.