Exchange City
Comments
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My exchange is a week from today. Any advice for me? I'm anticipating an easy procedure. He expects very little pocket work. Do I need a bra? I forgot to ask him.
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My PS sent me home well-wrapped in a large ace bandage that stayed on until I saw him for my follow-up appointment in 4-5 days so I didn't need to take a bra. After that, he had me wear a sports type bra for awhile. I found I needed a "better one" than I'd used for the TEs as they didn't jiggle but my new, softer ones, did when I started walking again. Good luck!
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Loriio- We are scheduled on the same day! I can't wait. It's been a long/short road for me.Good luck with your surgery.
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I had my second exchange surgery this past June. The first plastic surgeon I went to did a terrible job but Dr. Wittenborn (Lee County, Florida area) did a great job on the second exchange. I still haven't done the nipples & areolas because I'm still not sure if I want real nipples or the 3-D ones.
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You too Chrisrenee. I'm in Fort Worth so not too terribly far from you. I wish you all the best!
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Loriio- we'll have to meet up and compare! Who is your PS? And how do I get my name on this list?! I'm ready for next tuesday.
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lorrio; my PS said she'd send me home in the bra I will wear for a while. I'm throwing out the one I have on now the second it comes off and I put on the surgical gown! Since I only had a UMX I have had to weear this fucking bra for months to pad my smaller, healthy, untouched left breast. I am SO SICK OF THIS FUCKING BRA!!!!!!! YAY!!!!! 36 hours and counting. I'm going to BUST from excitment!! LOL! Bust...! I didn't even mean that as a pun when I typed it!
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11/29 exchange to silicone with fat grafting
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Hi Ladies!
Dec 4th must be a popular day... my exchange is next tuesday too. Not sure what to expect. I do have some pocket work that will be done on the left. Thinking it will be easier than the MX but who knows?
Best of luck!!!!
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Ladies - how exciting for all of you anticipating your upcoming exchanges!!!
While I didn't have the immediate "AHHHHH..." relief of exchanging TEs for my saline implants (I had tons of pocket work done during exchange) it WAS much easier recovering from that as opposed to my BMX.
I am now three months out from exchange and VERY happy.
Wishing you all quick, successful procedures, and rapid recoveries!
p.s. One terrible side effect of exchange that no one tells you about: BRA ENVY - and going into debt buying sexy bras for the first time in ????
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Ha! Blessings, I've though about that. I was VERY small before and was never able to buy sexy bras that fit. I'm looking forward to being a bit bigger so I can get nice bras. Soma is going to make a fortune off of me!
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I'm so jealous of all of you girls exchanging. I hate these TEs. I guess I am paying for all the pec work I did at the gym. The darn things are so tight and the muscle relaxers don't work.
But I have a question...what is pocket work and how can the PS tell if you need it. Also I saw someone mention releasing the pec muscle???
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blessings...totally agree with your dh story. sounds like mine.
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Cindy Loo...message me...HATE these TEs...would do anything to do it all over..and do a TRAM or something else. This is the worst!!!
Hollycat
Jill Wesnor
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blessings that is great. My husband was very good when I was diagnosed but the stress got to him. He started to withdraw and it seemed like he resented me for being sick. He sprung into macho mode and started selling all his stuff to get money for the bills he knew were to come. It seemed like during my toughest times when I needed his support he was not there for me. He gets very squeemish so could not see any blood or hear any descriptions of the surgeries. He has always relied on me to run the house and he was afraid. I eventually told him that I felt that was unacceptable behavior and he has been much better about some of it except the idea of surgery or any cutting and blood. But he tells me he loves me every day several times a day. He hugs me (gently) as often as he can, and still gives my butt a pinch or a smack whenever he gets a clear shot lol. I now understand how people can say "All I need is Love".
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Carol; sorry your DH wasn't able to support you as you would have liked/needed. Thank god you landed here.
Blessings; I was given a Victoria's Secret gift card before my umx to look forward to using at the end of all this. Can't believe I'm ALMIST there!0 -
My exchange surgery is in 8 hours!!!!! Can not wait to get the concrete grapefruits out of my body!!
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Loriio – I was wrapped in a giant Ace bandage for three days, and when that came off, the PS told me to wear my sports bras again. So back I went to my JCPenney zip front sports bra, and my Genie bras. Two months later, I was cleared (and encouraged) to wear underwire bras during the day. He said I no longer needed to sleep in a bra. Here’s to your first sexy bra shopping spree!
Denise2730 – after my PS convinced me I didn’t really need a revision for the very minor flaws I saw early on, I decided no more surgery for me. My future plans include a trip to Vinnie for 3D nipple/areola tatts.
CindyLooWho – “Pocket work” refers to any surgical refinements the PS does on the implant pockets at the time of exchange. For example, I got VERY large TEs during my BMX because neither of us knew that I’d be losing so much weight. When that became apparent, I stopped the fills process at 620ccs. But the TE’s were still much wider than my 700cc saline implants (16 cm vs 14 cm).
During the exchange process, the PS removed a lot of scar tissue, and released the pectoral muscles more, so that the implants would sit more firmly in the pocket without the tight muscle getting in the way. He also performed what is called a “lateral capsulorraphy” on both sides….he actually stitched all the way around each individual pocket to make sure they did not migrate under my armpits when I lay on my back. Because of the size difference, this could have been a possibility.
The exchange process was the same, but the pocket work just strengthened the pockets the implants sit in. Usually, you will know ahead of time if there is an issue. Most women do NOT have much – if any - pocket work done at exchange.
CMartin – lucky you, lucky DH…
Carrol2 – our husbands are who they are. There’s only so much a person can change, even in the face of great challenges. So yours is still squeamish…my DH almost passed out watching me get a shot, which is funny, since he used to be a medic. But you were able to communicate your needs to him, and it sounds like he is letting you know how much you are loved. Lucky you, lucky DH!
Juneaubugg – here’s to a great exchange experience, and a rapid recovery, so you can get out there and use that VS card!!!
SLKsMom – you’ll be on the Squishy Side before you know it! Wishing you the best….
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LOL about husbands being squeamish. Mine is not usually squeamish and has been right there by my side through all of this. The morning of my BMX though (had already had a lumpectomy), my PS came into pre-op and asked if I wanted my husband and sister to leave as he examined me. I said no, it was fine if they stayed. Then as the PS proceeded to use his marker and draw huge circles around each breast with lots of other dotted lines (the BS had already done a little marking too), I watched my husband's face over the PS's shoulder as my DH turn an absolute shade of nearly green!
Throughout all of this, I've had what I call my Omms (Oh my! Moments). That morning was one of them. Each doctor also signed their name on each breast near the lines they had marked! Omm! for sure.
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Golden wow that must have been intense for them to see. After my bmx, which was 6 hours, my doctor came out to talk to my DH and sister who had been waiting all day for me. The doctor started to explain that it took so long because it is difficult sometimes to separate the skin from the tissue. My husband tried to get the doctor to stop talking and my sister got mad cause she wanted to hear what he said. I still don't even know myself exactly how they cut that tissue out and I don't think I want to know. The only thing they said to me when I woke up was it was not in any lymph nodes. I heard the rest of the story the next day. Needless to say I had to hide my drains from my husband for three surgeries. I know that if I really needed him to take care of me he would pull it together but it would not be easy for him.
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My BS said "scrape" and "scoop" out tissue. I said going forward lets not use those words. All I could picture was an icecream scoop.....
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ugh Cindy yeah I pictured a lot of gross stuff it's probably not as bad as we think.
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By comparison the exchange seems so nice and clean and simple, like stuffing a pillow lol
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Blessings I love your Thanksgiving story.
Lori where are you from in Texas. I live about an hour south of Austin.
I was scheduled for my revision due to bottoming out on Friday. Mid Monday morning I received a call from the PS office that they had a cancellation Tuesday afternoon and wondered if I could do surgery. DH said it was fine with his schedule and my boss said go for it. I did have to work until 8 to get ready to be gone for two weeks. PS warned me I would be more sore than with exchange and boy was he right. I kept waking up last night in pain. About 2 hours ago I finally started feeling better but if I move around to use my arms at all it hurts. The nurse from the OR came to see me in pre-op before PS came to draw on me. She was looking at the paperwork and was kinda confused because my PS is so good he never has to do revisions. I explained to her what happened and she asked if she could see so I showed her. She said they were going to fix me up but said she was going to teas my PS because this never happens. She said he is the best and she knew this was going to bother him. She said I never get the chance to teas him. I told her go right ahead. He is a great guy. When he came to mark me up I asked him he was going to fix me up. He laughed and said he better he wants his work to be the best. He has been doing breast reconstruction since 1993 and is very particular with his work. This has driven him crazy.
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Lori as I got caught up I see you live around Fort Worth.
Good Luck to everyone that is having their exchange. It was pretty easy for me. I was pretty flat chested before so going a bit bigger I went to Victoria Secrets and bought some really pretty bras. I have found that demi cups fit my implants really well.
Blessings I had my exchange in August as well but had to have this revision yesterday. Sounds like the pocket work he had to do is very much like what you had done in August. I see the PS on Tuesday and he has already said that if everything looks good I can get into my under-wire then. Of course I will still need to sleep in the surgical bra or my sports bra. I plan on doing that for awhile I don't want to take any chances with all the pocket work he did.
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Cindy - I always pictured a melon baller.
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Scrape and scoop - really OMM!
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Good luck to everyone who is having their exchange!! Let us all know how you made out!
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I'm 2 and a half weeks out from my bilateral exchange now, and ugh - just not very happy. Size is good, but my radiated side is sitting higher, and is less wide and more projected than the other side. Any who has had radiation have a similar experience, and might I expect it to even out more on its own over the next couple of months? I also have a couple of places where my skin feels thin and I can feel the implant sort of popping or bubbling out (strangely enough, not on my radiated side). Anyone else have this? How is it dealt with? I had really thought this was the last step in my LOOONG journey, so I'm so bummed to feel less than satisfied with the outcome.
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IV in; exchange/augmentation to commence in one hour. I'm excited, anxious and in need of coffee! Who's jumping in my pocket?!
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