Exchange City

Here's the difference between men and women:  I am going in for my exchange this upcoming Monday, July 16.  It's a same day procedure.  I'll be leaving the house at about 10:30 a.m. and don't expect to be home until the evening.  We have two boys, ages 20 and 12.  I was thinking that they may be concerned about the procedure and that this was an awful lot of hours to fill home alone perhap worrying about how I was doing. 

So I asked my husband how we should prepare for that day (i.e., in my mind I was thinking maybe their grandmother or a good friend should come stay with them).  MY DH responded, "How about we leave them money so they can order in food?"

JoanQuilts - LOL.  Those boys can eat a lot!!

rachelvk:  I will be sure to take your advice and ask those questions. I am looking for perky and small since I had only 1 fill. Anything to me should feel better than these tight TE's. I am so tired of them!  Glad to hear you are doing better and fitting better in your clothes. Thanks for the good wishes.

leeza, I get my exchange on Aug 2 if my fever goes away,i am afraid I might have an infection somewhere now! Good luck with yours, yep the handout from the PS says not to be upset that the implants are not going to look right for a mth or so til they fluff. She had some great photoes in her album of patients 3 mths out and they looked great so guess it takes at least that long to get things looking right. I gotta ask my friend who recently got her popped saline out and got gel.

I will get Mentor gel only 600 cc so hope I dont get wide pancakes,hmm

Fragrantrose, so sorry you had a bad time at Sams Club,they should be thankful you shop there, what a bunch of jerks! Yep used to the TE now,done with the fills, the TE are so cute now,dont wanna stop being cute, I never had cute boobs before, I have so many old pushup bras.. my closet could be a Marine training boot camp!!

Hi Tonya,

First 3 days???? Never in my wildest dreams heard of that, good for you!! But generally speaking, they do not like  you to use your arms with any range of motion for at least 10 days.  So no.  It's not the same.  You want those new girls to settle down, settle in and stay put!!  They do not want your arms over your head for the same amount of time for the same reason.  No stretches either.  Little tyrannosaurus rex arms down at your sides, that's your range of motion.

It takes a good 6 weeks.  Mind you, you may be able to go back to work after a week or so if you have a sedentary desk job and someone can drive you.  You might be able to drive, re: pain, but due to keeping them where they need to be, not a smart idea.

Yes, no elevated heart rate is the standard of care post any surgery.  That is usually for a good 6 weeks. 

I know none of this is welcome to be heard, but it's the standard issue. 

Good luck, those new girls will be worth a bit of sitting on your tush for a bit.

Hi to all, I am 2 weeks out of exchange. I saw the ps, he said not to wear a bra, or if I have to, just wear a not tight bra, so the implants will do their own thing without the bra 'directing' them. He said to massage as much as possible pushing them to the center (even though they r not far apart. The swelling went down a bit. He said for a month, not to do too much. For the ladies who are asking about the recovery time, I had my full energy back after the first few day, the problem is knowing i can't do too much, but I feel I can and i have the energy to do almost everything. At the BMX, I just couldn't do much even if I wanted. Hope it helps.

Yes you should wear a compression sleeve on the airplane. It is a preventative measure and has something to do with the pressure in the cabin.

Thanks!

Annie, I am only getting one (I am a uni) so the other side (my normal boob) should be fine to raise over my head, drive etc.  It was during MX so I'm hoping it is the same this time round.  I wouldn't have drove with a double!  lol  Though my PS said I could drive as soon as I stopped taking meds.  But to use my left arm.

The reason I'm asking is because I will be traveling and staying in a hotel several states away.  The first 2 days after surgery my hubby will be there, after that, I am on my own for about a week until a cousin comes to visit.  I'll be making my own food, driving, doing laundry, stuff like that.....I'll use my left arm (non surgery side)....the heart rate thing though...I had planned on doing mucho lower body work like I did after MX.  I'll ask him again to be sure when I get down there....will likely be posting here quite a bit and will post pics.....maybe  

Tonlee.... It seems from these boards that a lot of ladies are told to take it easy after their exchange surgery.  I did not find that to be the case. After my Mx and my exchange surgery I was told okay to drive as soon as off the pain meds.  I was never on pain meds from the exchange surgery. Only took tylenol once home for the first day.  I had my exchange surgery on a Friday, also took off the following monday and back to work on Tuesday. I have a sales job where I drive a lot and haul stuff into my accounts. I didnt have any issues.  Personally it was better to get moving after both my mx and exchange surgery. I reached full range of motion very quickly probably because I had young kids to take care of and that forced me to move and reach for stuff, lift them, etc. cmartin... regarding compression sleeve.  I have flown about 6 times since my mx.  1st time wore the sleeve. The next time I completely forgot it and flew without it and then after that never wore it again.  Problem is, its my understanding that you can be fine and then all of a sudden get LE.  I believe not wearing it is sort of like gambling. Just because you didnt get it once, twice, etc doesnt mean it wont all of a sudden happen. And once you get LE, its my understanding you will more prone to get it in the future. I fly again in a couple of weeks and debating whether I'll wear it. Probably will. 

tonlee - I had no restrictions after exchange other than not lifting more than a gallon of milk, and a two week driving restriction.  I did not require any pain meds after the first couple of days and could get around the house and do the normal stuff.  This was an easy outpatient surgery for me - and I was immensely more comfortable after the surgery than I was before it, which is weirdly good!  Ask your PS, but I think you will be fine with what you did after MX.  You know your body well, and what you can tolerate.  Mine never mentioned anything about not raising my arms, and he tends to be conservative. 

ccjj - once you have lymphedema it does not ever go away, it is a lifelong process to keep it under control.

Thanks SK.  I appreciate your input   You didn't have rads did you?  My only real concern now is how much longer I've read it takes rads skin to heal.....

Anyone?

SK, it's been about a year since I finished rads....but my breast has really "drawn up" since then.  The PS says he can "release" it when doing pocket work....

That's good to know though.  I don't think I'll have healing issues, but I've read it can be an issue with some women.

I may post some pics here... just to see if anyone else had what I have....right now I don't have time to mess with it tho.

Hope so SK....I always wear a bra, sports (sleeping), underwire...so as long as it looks good in a bra...I'm good.

TonLee - I had no restrictions after exchange, pocket work, and fat grafting other than no lifting more than 10 pounds.  PS wanted me to raise my arms over my head and stretch them from front to back.  I developed cording with initial mastectomy and again with LD flap and prophylactic mastectomy.   This time I did exercises early on and did not develop any, so this may be why he told me to be sure and do the arm exercises.  He also said walking was a plus.  He said I could drive when I was no longer taking pain pills.  I felt comfortable driving 12 days postop.  My job is strenuous so initially he wanted me off 6 weeks, but talked him into letting me go back in 4 weeks on light duty.  Good luck!

 I have worked med/surg for  many years and have never heard of a physician say they didn't want a patient's heart rate or BP to rise postoperative.  Normally, physicians want their patients out of bed and moving ASAP to prevent DVT's.  With any normal person the heart rate and BP will go up as soon as they stand and start moving.   Every surgeon has a different set of rules, though.