Exchange City

skibunny - glad to hear I am not alone. My mental outlook is improving, they are not as awful as I first thought but still not what I hoped for. how are you doing

QUESTION.....



I have some swelling on the inner edge of each incision. Doesn't hurt, not red, or hot, or oozy. Just swollen...is this normal?

Dulcigirl - WOW - your LE alert sleeve may not have been free, but it sure is obvious, and I really like it much better than my free one! Although they did let me wear the plastic one in my Exchange surgery thanks to the stupid mistake they made after my BMX.

The morning after my BMX, the nurse, a BC survivor herself, came in to take my vitals. She wrapped that cuff around my left arm and started to inflate it,  and at the same time we looked at each other in horror and yelled NOOOOOO!!! Then she got mad and wanted to know why no sign had been posted above my bed. (Uh, can't help ya there....I'm the patient, get it? )

Obxflygirl1 - Ooooohhhhh....Freya in pink!!!! ***SIGH***

staynsane - You got a BAG from Kaiser? I'm so envious!!! I got a ratty paper folder. And like you, I'm no hero because I got BC, or because I'm wearing pink. If anyone wants to find a hero, go look for someone wearing camo just coming back from active duty in the Middle East.

CindyLooWho - let's see....four days post-surgery....I'd say you have swelling in places you didn't know could swell!!! The process of getting permanent implants creates a LOT of fluid under the skin and tissues. It could show up anywhere, and incisions are an especially weak place for a while.  

You know what to look for (fever, pain, redness, oozing) but it's always a good idea to run things by your PS just in case. I would say it's totally normal, but these are the times when we can't take any chances with infection. Just make the call and let the doc tell you what to do. You'll be glad you did.

Miss LAYLA LOU!!!!!! I will have you know that I only bought five o' them expensive bras!!!!!   You must have me confused with one of the other BRA DIVAS!!!! DH and I haven't exactly taken a second honeymoon yet...I'm still having some issues with my recon. Oh, they look pretty good in a bra and under clothes, but I still have that Iron Bra feeling like with TEs. I'm seeing a Myofascial Massage Therapist, and she is helping me a LOT. (But it's funny you brought up the bras...I'm seeing my PS for the first time in two months tomorrow, and I was just thinking which of my fancy bras might impress him!!!!  )

Thanks blessings. I spoke to my SIL, the nurse, last night and she said all sounded normal and reminded me what to look for. I'm on heavy duty antibiotics for another two days.



Thanks again!



They do get softer each day!

Hi ladies just had my exchange and lift last Wed., I got for my 1week check tomorrow. Not too painful, just uncomfortable. I have lots of swelling, yellow and deep purple bruising. I am having all kinds of weird feelings going on and my muscles on my MX side arm are just awful. I think PT is in my future.

Blessings2011,

Don't be envious of the purple bag from Kaiser.  It was lightweight, and basically a "goodie bag" of sorts, filled with about 15 booklets related to BC, along with a little heart pillow (to protect from the seat belt on the trip home). It wasn't emblazoned with anything related to BC, but was apparently recognizable nonetheless.  Which Kaiser do you use?

Just got my phone call! Yes, I was waiting by the phone more anxiously than a highschool girl before the prom.....



Guess what I'm getting on Valentine's Day?????!!!!!!



Two weeks is enough time to get well AND order my hazmet suit.



I am so grateful. I was truly prepared to have to wait a month or two. It is in an ambulatory surgery center rather than my hospital, but I am trusting that he would not use it if it weren't equally safe.



So if you'd like to write "depressed, crying and congested" by my name for today's date OR just delete and add me to Feb. 14th you may. ;-)



Now I must find orange knee socks....

Thank you...sigh...still have an hour before my husband gets home to take me to the doc. appt...BUT I am actually in regular clothes nd even managed jeans over my spanx( hopefully, PS will be ok with the cheat) it feels SO awesome to e wearing 'normal' clothes...I've never been much of a sweat pants gal.....

So bored that I've actually resorted to playing, candy crush saga.... I'm so embarrassed ....blush

Great news all around Merlcat!  While we had different exchanges since you still have a natural breast, I cannot sleep on my sides still until the middle of February, although I find myself cheating just laying on the side of my hips for a while, PS that is o.k. but not go crazy. 

Dulcigirl:  congratulations on your V-Day X-change!  Wonder if Hallmark has a card for that?!?  2 weeks away and you'll be good to go, have you seen your GP for your  sickness?  Has a lung or sinus infection been ruled out? Seeing your GP may not be a bad idea, you have time to burn through a 10 day dose of antibiotic if you need it.

FYI everyone I had my 2nd post exchange check up w/ PS on Tuesday and the bandages/tape were removed for the first time and you can still see the clear glue in spots but my incisions are healing perfectly, ...phew...that is a biggie for me since the mx incisions required debridement.  Nurse put on new bandages/tape and PS will remove on Feb 13 and will lift of all restrictions which means vacuming and running again!!  Sporting my new Genie XXX bra today, with TE's I was wearing a XX comfortably, I guess I am bigger and fuller now .   

merlcat.. woohoo.. Good news

I wasn't told not to sleep on my side.



I have been wearing the compression bra over a wife beater teeshirt, with the ace bandage around the top, in the house. Then a sports bra if I go out. She said I could also wear a soft genie type bra if I go out too.



One week tomorrow, they look good in clothes, but not quite there yet naked. No going topless yet Blessings! I know they are disappointed at the grocery store!



I see her next Friday and hopefully she will remove the steristrips.

I had PBMX (LCIS, ALH, ADH, and cysts out the wahoo) on May 29th. Had exchange on August 2nd (it would have been sooner, but PS went to a conference in July). Right around 8 weeks (maybe 9), I was very pleased at how quick it all was. Now, the L had fluffed and dropped and we're waiting patiently for the R to do the same (the R is the "problem child" according to my surgeons).

Hi Andrea! Yes! lol! I've been doing the "i'm getting new boobies in 1 week" dance all over the house today...oh my goodness. The things we do when no ones watching!!

Oh right, implants...I'm getting Allergan HP 20 style, as big as he will give me. He says hes going to bring in a size smaller, and a size bigger than what I am right now. I just have to remember to ask the OR staff (theres alot of them because Wiell Cornell is a teaching hosp) for their opinions when Doc puts them in.

Dulcigirl, you are going in a few days after me! Hope all goes well!!!!

WooHOO to those who have crossed over to the Squishy Side...and congratulations to those who were waiting for exchange dates and got them!

MissCindyLooWho - can't wait for your first topless visit to the supermarket - LOL!!!

Merlcat and others - a few words about swelling: Immediately after my exchange, Righty was a perfect Baywatch Boob; Lefty looked like a small animal trying to crawl over my shoulder. There was a tremendous amount of swelling that the PS was a result of all the pocket work he did during exchange.

He said the fluid would "probably"  reabsorb into my body, but it might take months. It did decrease a bit, but was still significantly bigger than on the right. It was only in the upper pole on the left, nowhere else. Five months later, it was still there.

I finally made an appointment with our LE specialist at the hospital, who dx'd LE, and immediately ordered me a big honkin' compression bra with a HUGE padded insert. She wasn't concerned that it didn't even begin to cover the swollen area. She also sent me home with three pages of LE exercises. She never touched me.

Long story short: I went to see an AWESOME Myofascial Massage Therapist and LE Specialist, who said she doubted that the fluid build up was actually LE (I didn't meet any of the other criteria), but that it was still there because there was no place for the fluid to go.

She said that's where the LE exercises came in, and she gave me four basic exercises to do. She said to think of a bathtub - before you put fresh water in, you have to let the old water out. So our plan includes me doing my LE exercises to get the fluid moving, wearing a home-made compression garment part-time, and next week we are going to try Kinesio Tape just over the specific upper pole area.

(She also does the most amazing Myofascial Release massage, which has helped with the Iron Bra feeling.) Anyway, my point in this long post is that if you still have fluid build up long after surgery, please get checked for LE, even though it doesn't seem like you have it. Sometimes the same treatment can reduce the pockets of swelling that just hang out in miscellaneous places.

I'm on a roll!!! Instead of one post that is two pages long, I'm breaking them up into sections!!!! How thoughtful of me 

BRAS....it seems like no two PSs will agree on what is best. Immediately after my exchange, I was wrapped like a mummy in a giant Ace bandage, just like after my BMX. But this time I got to take it off three days later and shower. WOOT!

At that point, the PS said wear a sports bra, or any other comfortable bra, 24/7. Thank goodness for my Genie bras and my JCPenney zip-front sports bras - I lived in them!

I had to wait to wear anything else. I had a lot of pocket work done at exchange, and the PS wanted to make sure that everything INTERNAL had healed. That can take a while.

When I got cleared (maybe a month or two later) he told me he wanted me in a bra all the time except when I was sleeping. He encouraged me to get underwire bras, as this gave the implant a very firm boundary, and kept it centered in the capsule where it belonged.

Only one of my old bras fit, so I went to a specialty shop to be fitted for a "mastectomy" bra. This is kind of a misnomer - the bras these shops carry are not only for women who have not had reconstruction and use a prosthesis, but also for women who have had recon. 

Unless you have had nipple/areola sparing MX, or have had nipple recon, your reconsructed breast mound will always be a bit shallower than your original breast. These shops have bras that are specially made to be a bit shallower to accomodate this. Of course, they cost an arm and a leg, so what you want to do is let a Certified Mastectomy Bra Fitter measure you (and you want to do this when you're sure the swelling has gone away) and suggest bras that would perfectly surround your implants.

You don't have to buy anything right there...but later on you can find places online that will allow you to order nice bras at a lower price, once you know what works for you.

If you really are having trouble finding a bra that does not wrinkle or buckle up because you're not filling it completely, try a minimizer bra. Those cups are made especially shallow, and seem to do well on a reconstructed breast.

There are some great threads here that discuss bras...one of them is 

Bras 101: The Great Post-Exchange Debate

p.s. I am 5'5" tall, weigh 144 pounds, have a chest measurement of 32", and have in 700cc high profile saline implants. The fancy-schmancy bras I have (all different brands) are 34DDD, 36DD, and 38C. I look pretty much the same in all of them.