Exchange City

Sweetandspe, I have to quote Alice here,that is Alice through the looking glass, "I give myself very good advice,but I very seldom take it".   Was that a Lewis Carrollton book? British? I know all the right things to do. However, making myself eat salad instead of burgers&fries, making myself exercise,ugh! I will be officially laying around for 2 wks. Surgery on July 1st. Take out the Mentors,put in the Natrelles after only 1 yr! Cut out the capsular contracture. I have GNC Lean Shake in the bottle. They were on special,3 boxes for $25,grand opening special. Anybody got Natrelle style 45? Hoping to get rid of Wendy's square burgers and implant round gadgets. ATT has their jet packs on special here in FL. Anybody looking for a new one? I had to get a new one,my Verizon one fried after only 1 and half yrs. Do MIFI packs have a short life?

Layla, I responded on the other thread as well.  I have Style 45s, 700 ccs.  They looked a bit like hamburger buns immediately post op, but they've definitely started to settle in.  They used to be in my armpits some but they've definitely moved in closer to the middle.  The PS says the swelling is just now starting to go down - I had my exchange May 16.  I know you've gone through the exchange surgery before so you know what to expect.  

Layla, I have the style 45's in 800.

NEVER looked like hamburger buns on me! Lol. The shape is great. My PS did a good job. They look quite natural! It took me at least 6 weeks for the swelling to be gone enough to have a good idea of the final outcome. Even at 3 months out my PS said I still have a very small amount of swelling. It all takes time!!

Good evening! Thanks to 3 heavy duty anti-biotics, the infection that caused my seroma a few weeks ago is now cleared up. I will be having surgery tomorrow afternoon to hopefully replace the right side implant that was removed, or to place another TE to re-expand, if the pocket can no longer accommodate an implant. I will not know until after surgery, but I know my PS will do whatever she determines will give me the best outcome.



Tangles, so glad to hear your surgery went well!

Hi ladies,



Had my exchange to Natrelle 410s yesterday. Got to the hospital at 9:30 for an 11:30 surgery. Took me back at 10, but did not go into OR until 12:45. Was done and awake in OR at 2:40. Was so happy I was looking down my gown as soon as I awoke



I left the recovery area feeling great at 4:15 and was home by 5. Felt a bit sore, and tired, but felt really good. Once home, i had a bowl of wonton soup and ritz crackers and went up to bed after 8. I felt wired and took me many hours to go to sleep .



I only have gauze and tape on the stitches at the bottom. No drains. No wrap. No bra. (is this normal?) So far the Foobs look good. Flatter then I expected, but I know from reading they will change. Overall they look really good...no more ripples and hard spots from the TE. The feel softer and that 24hr a day "I have a tight bra on" feeling seems to be gone. I have no idea if she used a 525 or 580. Guess I'll find out on Tuesday at my post op appt.



I took a pain killer before bed last night, not for pain, but to help me sleep since I have a hard time sleeping sitting up (have to for one week) and can't take any sleep aid for the first 24.



I am up now (since 3:00 am), and while I am not in excruciating pain, I can say my stitches and top muscle it/burn like crazy. More so on the right (cancer side) then left. I am assuming this is normal. My ribs are sore as well. I hate taking more pain meds, but may have to as it's a bit uncomfortable. How long until the burning/itching subsides?



Good luck to everyone with upcoming exchanges! And thank you to those that have been there and have shared their experiences. Love these boards and the wealth of info they provide!

Good luck Chi!  Hope all is going well and know that we look forward to hearing form you when you're up to it.

Momof5: I'm interested in the burning pain you're experiencing after the exchange.  That was a major problem for me after BMX and I had to have a change in pain meds to address it (BS determined it was nerve pain so needed a nerve pain med (Neurontin) instead of hydrocodone).  Not many others here ever seem to mention that sort of pain and I wondered if I might have a recurrence when I exchange in August.  I'll plan on talking to my BS prior to exchange to see what she recommends.  If she feels I may need it I'll have to start it a day or two before surgery to get it in my system and then taper off again sometime after.  YOu may want to inquire about the burning possibly being nerve pain and get a different med if necessary.

Not-me, congrats on being 3 weeks out! Are you using OTC pain relievers? They help (especially the PM version). Fifty years young, of course you need to make you a priority. If you don't, who will? There are good days and bad, hoping for more good than bad for you.

Oh I meant to add that I did not have drains with the exchange.  Also, the PS never talked about pockets.  Maybe I ask the wrong Qs...I am always worried about the restirctions more than anything.  We will get thru this.  

MNSusan,thx for the info. hoping the foobs will look good after all we've been thru.

Momof5, I figured I would not wanna eat much after surg. I got some no salt veg soup to warm up. If I decide to milk it I will send fiance to China cafe for noodle soup.st

dulcigirl, we stay swollen that long? last surgery was last Aug so I kind of forgot a lot. However, was thrilled when after returning from various stores at which I could not find the bra the PS sent me to buy.....wow tucked in my underwear drawer was a hardly worn hooks down the front bra almost like the Walmart one she wanted me to get. This one I forgot I had from last yr. Hardly wore it but its nicer, had removable adjustable straps. She is gonna fit me into it 3 days after surg so I gotta bring it to the office. Last surg told me nothing except get a sports bra.

NYCmom your last sentence sums up my feelings - and for many of us- "we're alive, whew!"



For me everything else is icing on the cake.

Enjoying every single day.



Hugs to all.

Hi Goldie, I had the iron bra feeling after my BMX too, but it went away. I can't remember how long it took, maybe 2 months? I know it was gone by the time I started rads. The TE discomfort eased after I began my fills, and I only was filled to 340 on the cancer side and 310 on the other side. My exchange to implants is coming up on July 10. Personally, I would have preferred flap reconstruction, especially since I had radiation, but I don't have enough body fat to do it.

Bayoubabe, so even when you took the elastic front bras off you still felt the iron bra feeling, or just when you had them on?  I had my bmx 3 months ago and the feeling has gotten worse now that they started to fill expanders.  And, it never goes away no matter if I have nothing on, or not. Sometimes it feels worse when I have a sport bras on.  Actually, it all stinks.

Goldie:  I still have a slight iron bra feeling 6 months later but I've gotten so used to the TEs by now that I really don't notice it any longer.  You really can and do get used to them.  Mine got more and more comfortable the fuller they got. I'm over-expanded to 750cc in 600cc expanders and will exchange on August 7 to 750cc implants.

And I ditto what BayouBabe said above. The iron bra feeling was VERY uncomfortable for a good 3-4 months, and it was something that I just couldn't get away from at the time. My fills started out quite rapidly also (100cc at surgery and 2 weeks later started 100cc more each week for 3 weeks). Figured out it was going to fast and dropped to 50cc fills.  Took longer but that's OK.  I also started stretching as soon as I was able.  I've always been very flexible and the limited range of motion drove me absolutely crazy until enough healing took place to start gently getting back to normal.

I don't have any problem with upper body workouts at all.  It took a while to get back up to par but I'm doing fine.  Yes, the boobs look goofy when the pecs flex, but thank goodness they're not naked for the world to see the goofiness!  The flexing also feels different than before but again, that's something I've gotten accustomed to.  I fully expect that after I'm fully healed up from the exchange I'll be right back at it with no problems except getting back up to speed again.

Hope you get the best results possible regardless of the type of surgery you end up with

Bayoubabe,

I have thought about PT and might have to do it even though I have a $40 co-pay for every visit.  I thought our insurance was good, but every time I turn around there is something else they don't cover, or I have a co-pay for, and it adds up!  I am off work now.  We never realized how much my little part-time job cushioned us, and I thought I was doing it just to keep myself busy.  Well....

I am wondering if I go through the breast clinic at my hospital if it I would have a co-pay because I met my out of pocket maximum for hospital stuff?

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions.  It helps more than I can say.

Goldie: My BMX was 11-5-12 and by the first part of December I was truly wondering how the 'F' I was ever going to make it several months through fills and then the wait until exchange.  Lots of crying and feeling rather hopeless......Then I found bc.org and all these lovely, wonderful, caring, sympathetic, beautiful women and my outlook totally turned around.  (a change in pain meds helped too )

If you haven't already come across it you might want to check out the TE trouble topic.  That's the thread I found first and it truly saved me.

We're all here for you, girlfriend.  You can do this, you're stronger than you know!