Exchange City

mammalou congrats on the exchange. I'm sure they will be great given the doctor took so much of an interest in "getting it right"  Geez though I don't envy you that wire biopsy(those are the pits) plus the 2 hour drive. GLad to hear that te side is softer-thats real encouraging to those of us heading towards our exchange. lol

Lezza13 I feel bad that you are having the under arm thing. I had 6 nodes removed in Feb and there are times the numbing and tingly feeling drives me nuts! Mine is more consentrated though in the back of my arm right above my elbow. When it is acting up there is no way to put my arm that it feels any better. Don't know if it will ever go away but the part underneath my armpit is definitely better thank goodness.  I don't blame you for stopping if the fills were irritating your arm alot more-thats a whole different thing. Thankgoodness my fills had no bearing on whether or not my node arm bothers me-the arm just seems to have a mind of its own and when it decides to be a pain (physically and literally) there doesn't seem to be any rhyme nor reason.  I hope yours clears up soon as it is so irritating and uncomfortable.  

serenitywisdom I'm glad to hear that your arm feeling pretty much resolved after a year. Thats very encouraging. I don't know if you've looked at this thread yet but it might give you an idea of some others bra experiences after exchange http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/44/topic/753120 

My arm was numb and wired feeling for many months after node removal, but it did get better. I have to wear a surgical bra 24/7 for a month.

Congrats to all the ladies who had their exchanges this week! It's nice to be on this side of surgery! Mammalou - Did you drive yourself?? I had to swear that I had someone else to drive me, and that they'd stay with me 24 hours after surgery. I hope the pain goes away soon.

Looking forward to seeing my PT tomorrow, and PS on Friday. Even though I'm feeling a little better about the size (except when I don't have any clothes on - boy, do they stick out!), I really want to explain to the PS that I think he needs to re-examine the way he prepares patients for their exchanges. This is a big decision that we're going to have to live with for a long time (though I assume I'll need to swap them out in 10 or so years for 'maintenance,') and the more information we have to go on the better. If I lose weight, I'm really going to look out of proportion. 

Tina - I almost hope you're wrong with the swelling. I don't want mine to go down... I think I'm either at just the right size, or I could have even been a little bigger.



Rachel - I feel the opposite, wishing they stuck out more. They sure as hell don't look like real boobs to me. But maybe I'm just being nit picky... Maybe your idea of losing weight is a good one... Mine will look bigger then! ;-)

This is my first post in this forum.  I had exchange surgery Wednesday June 13th along with fat grafting.  PS also had to lower my left breast pocket and raise the right one.  I was hoping to feel better by now, but feel kind of like I did when I first got the tissue expanders.  I know I am only 9 days postop, but was hoping by now my breasts wouldn't be so sore when I move.

I didn't have instant pain relief after exchange (like I was hoping) so I just want to let you recently exchanged know to hang in there.  It took me many weeks into months and it improved very gradually, almost imperceptively.  Good luck to each and every one of you!  Also, my implants look much better from even the three months to the six month mark.  I wouldn't have been happy if I wound up with with how I looked at 3 weeks out so give them some settling time and you may be happier in the coming months.

Rachelvk.. No, I was in no condition to drive. I was very nauseous and fading in and out of concsiousness. I'm doing better today, but quite sore in the ribs and blistering from the darn Tegaderm bandages. My left arm is numb and tingly. I hope that is normal. I'm also on 10 days of antibiotics. Is that normal?



On the esthetic side. I'm smaller than expected and hope I like it!

mammalou - I wasn't put on antibiotics. But i had just finished up a round of antibiotics for a cough just in case. I did get get antibiotics automatically after my bmx (plus a second one when I developed a UTI... dumb catheter got kinked and the night nurse took an hour to respond to my help call). I guess it depends on the doctor or hospital policy. Fortunately I was fine. I'm sorry you had to drive home like that. Take it easy and rest up.

Saw my PT today. He's pleased with how I'm doing, but stressed that I shouldn't do a lot of raising my arm over my head and stretching, at least for now, to avoid raising the implant up. He gave me some exercises with one of those rubber bands (I'm back down to the really easy one) because he said it's important to get the muscle moving well over the implant. Just passing that on. 

Hi everyone,

My exchange surgery is scheduled for August 21st. I have 420ccs in now with two more fills coming for a total of 540ccs. I actually like the way they look right now. I love the fullness on the top - makes me feel like an old-fashioned pin up girl does that fullness on the top get lost in the exchange? I've heard so many say that they actually feel smaller with the implants - I definitely don't want to be smaller! Otherwise I wouldn't go through all this TE stuff.



Some have talked about the high profile implant and how they project more but still not as much as the TE. Is that right? Does an implant ever look like the TE? (My TEs look really good, my PS joked that he couldn't tell if they were implanta of TEs. He wanted me to do the one step implant but I wanted to be bigger. He took out 330 ccs in the operating room so already I'm bigger.)



Thanks for any guidance you can provide!

Blessings that is funny.

Had my last fill today.  I am at 400ccs.  My natural breast was equal to about 100ccs.  Not very big.  I have a very small frame so I look huge.  PS said I could have one more fill if I want in a couple of weeks but right now we are shooting for mid August for my exchange. I will be gettng high profile silicone.  He is also going to bring them in the center a little more but thinks everything looks great.

Blessings thats hilarious , who would have thought there would be such advantages to all this crap. I wonder though if you will lose your "ability" when you get your squishies.

Karen1028 I was pretty big all my life but droopy after childbirth. Even though I'm not the size I was before bc, I am enjoying the way certain clothes are looking now; I need to get a little fuller before I can get the pin-up girl look. But mine are definitely looking I guess is just more "youthful"  but that's good enough for now. Who would have thought we could go thru all this and end up feeling  like youthful pin up girls though! 

Denise2730 Thats great that your liking your re-reconstruction. Isn't it funny how we can see our selves as "normal" now despite a few scars etc. Since I've gotten a few fills with these TE's , I'm feeling much better about looking "normal" again- meantime I did the NS and had some necrosis that the ps had to cut out so I look like someone took a bite out of the apple and I too have scars out the wazoo but that's ok, I'm seeing progress. lol

Sherryc Wow your exchange is scheduled and everything, how nice! When you say your ps is moving them in the center more, is that something you can requested do you know. I'm thinking that I would like that but didn't know if its possible. My tes seem to be closer to the side with more space in the middle but I'm thinking now of asking since you said your's are going a little closer.

2friedeggs- have you been checked for lymphedema? I have the pain you described on the back of the arm above the elbow and is is from my lymphedema. Might be worth looking into.

From Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care

Hi Layla here: Just wanted to share this article because after the study these docs and scientists seem to be thinkg that the Premarin and such are a cause of breast cancer. Odd its not on the news that Wyeth makes Premarin and the stuff might cause cancer. Nope,they are keeping it quiet and only known in these medical journals to doctors. Hmmm.....what about US? yep us,ladies,we need to know.

Does Hormone Replacement Therapy Cause Breast Cancer? An Application of Causal Principles to Three Studies

Part 4. The Million Women Study

Samuel Shapiro; Richard D T Farmer; John C Stevenson; Henry G Burger; Alfred O Mueck

Authors and Disclosures

Posted: 06/13/2012; J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care. 2012;38(2):102-109. © 2012 Faculty of Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare of the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists

Physician Rating:   ( 0 Votes )            Rate This Article:

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• Abstract and Introduction
• The Million Women Study
• First Report (2003)
• Second Report (2004)
• Third Report (2006)
• Fourth Report (2011)
• Evaluation of the MWS
• Conclusions

• References

Abstract and Introduction

Abstract

Background Based principally on findings in three studies, the collaborative reanalysis (CR), the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) and the Million Women Study (MWS), it is claimed that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with estrogen plus progestogen (E+P) is now an established cause of breast cancer; the CR and MWS investigators claim that unopposed estrogen therapy (ET) also increases the risk, but to a lesser degree than does E+P. The authors have previously reviewed the findings in the CR and WHI (Parts 1-3).
Objective To evaluate the evidence for causality in the MWS.
Methods Using generally accepted causal criteria, in this article (Part 4) the authors evaluate the findings in the MWS for E+P and for ET.
Results Despite the massive size of the MWS the findings for E+P and for ET did not adequately satisfy the criteria of time order, information bias, detection bias, confounding, statistical stability and strength of association, duration-response, internal consistency, external consistency or biological plausibility. Had detection bias resulted in the identification in women aged 50-55 years of 0.3 additional cases of breast cancer in ET users per 1000 per year, or 1.2 in E+P users, it would have nullified the apparent risks reported.
Conclusion HRT may or may not increase the risk of breast cancer, but the MWS did not establish that it does.

Introduction

In Parts 1-3 of this series of articles we have applied generally accepted epidemiological principles of causality^[1-4] to studies of the risk of breast cancer in users of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), as reported from the collaborative reanalysis (CR)^[5] (Part 1,^[6] and the Women's Health Initiative (WHI)^[7-18] (Parts 2^[19] and 3^[20]). In Part 1 we concluded that the CR findings for HRT [both unopposed estrogen therapy (ET) and estrogen plus progestogen (E+P)] did not establish causality. In Part 2 we concluded that the WHI findings for E+P did not establish causality. By contrast, in Part 3 we concluded that valid WHI findings suggested that ET does not increase the risk of breast cancer, and may even decrease it; the latter possibility, however, was statistically borderline.

In 2003, a year after the WHI findings for E+P were published,^[7] the Million Women Study (MWS) investigators reported an increased risk of breast cancer in HRT users,^[21] and based on the combined evidence from the CR, the WHI and the MWS it is now widely believed that E+P is an established and major cause of the disease. The MWS investigators (but not the WHI investigators)^[15-18] claim that ET also increases the risk, although to a lesser degree than does E+P.^[21-24]

Here, in Part 4 we apply causal principles to the evidence from the MWS.^[21-24] In the MWS the estimated levels of risk associated with the use of HRT were greater than in the CR or the WHI, and in view of the impact the study had on regulatory authorities, and on the public perception of safety, it is especially important to evaluate its validity.

lezza - Good going on the PT! I believe it really helps our bodies prepare for and recover better.

Blessings - I love it! I hope you have a relatively storm-free summer!

Karen - Squishies are different in size and shape, even with the same amount. Definitely make sure your doctor understands exactly what you want - the more you can describe, the better, and it sounds like you have a really good sense of what you want to look like.

nurseronda - Sorry to hea you're in so much pain. How do you like the Coobie? I've  heard raves and thought of buying a few. I was back at work within a week, but I probably pushed it. If you have a lot of control over how much you raise/lower your arms, push and pull, and can avoid it when necessary, you're probably okay to go to work (unless of course you're in pain). Otherwise, check with you doctor, let him/her know what work entails, and see what they say.

Saw my PS yesterday. He seemed really, sincerely, sorry when I said I wasn't completely happy. Says he didn't receive either of the two messages I left pre-surgery, said that some of what I see is probably swelling, and that they will drop a little. He did remind me that I said I wanted cleavage, which means more projection, so that was definitely my own doing. I am getting used to things. I look fine in clothes, which is I guess what counts most (and my BF certainly is not complaining), but when I look in the mirror, I still want the old ones back... but that's not an option. That said, it's not weighing me down like last week. My PT said the best thing to do is learn to love them. The PS said we could swap them out if, after some time, I am still not happy, but I don't think I'll do that.

Have a great weekend everyone.