Exchange City

VegGal

I was driving 3 days later. Just short trips to the grocery store, etc. For as much pain as I woke up in after surgery, I quickly got off the narcotics.

grandma3X

LADYnKY - I took the dressings off today and had a good look. The incisions are red but not weeping so I guess they are holding up! There is a bit of swelling and I'm bruised in a couple of places but overall not too bad. I did not have high expectations to begin with - just wanted this whole experience to come to an end! I am pretty sure the PS will want to do fat grafting and can see some rippling along the inside edge of my right foob that may benefit from some added fat. But to be honest, I'm not sure at this point that I would want to go through any more surgeries.

How are you feeling?

LADYnKY

right there with you! Expectations low. I'm bruised around breast bone area and more swollen on cancer side. Incisions are not weepy and look way better than I anticipated. I feel like my cancer side foob is a little higher? Maybe cause more skin was taken idk?! I do live how they're pliable though lol those expanders were the devil.

I've showered and all and am just being careful. I go back to wk. Friday. PS appt Tom.

Seedsally

Welcome LadynKY from a Missourian. Glad you decided to post. I will be having my EX in a little over a week. I am so ready! I followed the posts and learned so much from our BC sisters on here. Keep posting. So glad to have you.

grandma3X

SeedSally - the exchange surgery was very easy. I took Tramadol the first 2 nights, but have been on Tylenol since then. Today I went to my grandkids soccer game and then stopped by Dollar General to pick up some Halloween supplies (husband drove of course) and was fine.

robinblessed54

Lady, I never had any bruising from either surgery.

I didn't even bruise ftom core needle biopsy. My cancer side is dented in ever so slightly near my armpit right where the tumor was. I am the only one who would notice. Probably more taken there too!

Robin

Seedsally

I'm so glad you are doing well Grandma (ha that sounds funny-me calling you that). I think my EX may be a little harder to recover from than most because my incisions are going to be widened quite a bit to get the excess skin and tissue out from under my arms. The PS also intends to do a little pocket work and internal node scar release. But I am sooo ready to get it done.

Anonymous

Carla, Thank you for sharing!

LADYnKY

thank you seedsally for the welcome!!! I'm relieved the exchange was not anything like the BMX. I'm sure you're as anxious as all of us to get those coconuts off your chest. Big difference thats for sure! I got mentor memory shape high profile 440cc anatomicals I can't wait to see how they look when the swelling and all subside. I do like the pliable soft feeling.

Thank you robin for replying my bruising is yellow now just can't wait to see how they'll look when the girls settle in they're new home

Grandma how are you sleeping? I'm in my bed on a wedge with a travel pillow around my neck I've always been a side/stomach sleeper so sleeping on my back since BMX in June has been a challenge

Ladies will I ever be able to sleep my normal ever again?

grandma3X

LADYnKY - I am sleeping in bed with a couple of pillows to prop me up. It's not very comfortable. I may go back to sleeping in the recliner like I did after my MX.

Seedsally

Blueorange. How are you. How did your visit with your doctor go. Haven't heard from you here since before your dr visit and am concerned.

LADYnKY

grandma

I want to sleep on my side so bad!? Guess I can't if ever for a while. Don't want to disturb what's trying to settle inside me lol

Not feeling to bad just a little tired. I'm working on quilting a quilt so I must not feel to terrible lol

I go to PS today for him to check them out

Seedsally.... how are you doing w arimidex? I had to stop because SE. Lower extremity muscle weakness and insomnia worse than I already had. My ONC said I could stop since my chance of reoccurance is 10%.

JessieJake

Hi LadynKY and Grandma3x! LadynKY - did your ps tell you not to sleep on your side for a while? I was just curious as I interestingly was never given that advice and even the pamphlet I received said to sleep, "in whatever position is comfortable". I made my own decision that I shouldn't be sleeping on my side until my physical restriction period was over. My implants are anatomical and above the muscle so they needed to heal in place to avoid possible rotation. It seemed so logical to me that I shouldn't risk pushing them sideways by laying on my side. I finally asked at my 1 month post-op and the nurse said of course I could sleep on my side. I still don't lay on my side for very long and I try to lay in such a way that the implant is not being pushed. This caused me to bolt upright out of a dead sleep the other night - the FIRST time that I truly fell asleep on my side but with my arm under my side to keep my implant up. My entire hand and part of my arm was completely numb! I had to rub and shake for awhile to get the feeling back. Geez!

So I can completely empathize with the uncomfortable sleeping. I still use a pillow ramp although I often slide off it and I sleep on my back for the most part. Going on 7 months now with a brief respite right before my exchange surgery when side sleeping was pretty ok. I can tell you that I wake up with some pretty great halloween style hair on the back of my head most mornings from tossing my head back and forth on the pillow!

Hope you are both otherwise doing ok. I had remnants of bruising for over a month, FYI. It continually faded and faded but sure took some time to completely disappear! Not sure how long my swelling took. I kind of felt like I didn't have much although the bruising would be a sign I did. One way or the other, I feel my true size is showing now (fat grafting didn't take) and I'm maybe 7-8 weeks out.

LADYnKY

hi jessejake! my PS said not to sleep on my side 😓 Nurse in OR said I could but I'm like you.. I'd rather not disturb what happening in there. I too slide down my ramp lol I put a travel pillow around my neck that has helped a lot.

I feel like my cancer side is a little higher. Maybe cause that's where I lost skin and nipple ?! Or maybe it has to settle in picket more ? Idk.

Tell me how you feel about your anatomicals.... I have mentor memory 440cc high profile. I had teeny tiny real boobs so they seem big to me lol.

Do you like them? Shape ? Etc. I love the softness so far. Mine are not real close though so it doesn't look like cleavage. I'm thin and had thin skin so not enough skin to put them close on my breast bone area. I'm ok w that I'd rather not have Uniboob.

JessieJake

Me too, LadynKY - I don't want a uniboob either! I also don't have cleavage and your last paragraph sounds like me. I have space in-between the implants (less than what I had with my TEs, though) and my whole journey consisted of comments about having very tight skin that didn't stretch much. My implants are only 290cc.

I do like the implants. I'm still smallish, but I think at the end of the day, they are correct for my frame. I am also super thin on top - ribs showing, etc.. That's what prompted my PS to recommend anatomical and the fat grafting. They are definitely flatter on top and then full on the bottom. Probably more what I was like naturally. Prior to healing, I felt fuller on top which may have been a combination of fat grafting and some swelling. I am pretty positive the fat was reabsorbed, though. Because I know I have implants I can sort of see the edges of the implants around the top but I think it's better than what they led me to believe might be the case.

Based on reading online, I'd say antatomicals are right only for some. Given that I also had a teeny tiny chest before this i'm not completely sure what real boobs should have felt like. I like the feel of these but I can't give an honest opinion about them being firm vs. soft. I can move them around to fit in a bra (not the whole implant, of course, just the "fooby" part, if that makes sense).

I see my PS again on 11/21 to discuss a 2nd round of fat grafting which is actually scheduled for 12/15. However, I think I will not do it. As crazy as it sounds, I don't think she will agree I have enough fat left to harvest and if it didn't work the first time...... My fat was harvested from my butt. I now have a flabby pancake butt (it wasn't all that perky before!). However, I do plan to push her more on the fact that I have one side lower than the other. I noticed you mentioned that for yourself, but certainly could be for other reasons than me. She tried to correct this during surgery but couldn't. UGH. When I saw my previous pics it's clear that by nature this is how I was but......she had told me it was "fixable". To me that's more noticeable than the top edges that she tried to blend in with the fat grafting. My PS did tell me to wear an underwire to attempt to hold the lower one up while it healed so they would be more even. I don't think this worked, but I do still wear an underwire and lift the lower one into the underwire to make them closer to even.

I wouldn't be surprised if maybe over the next month you might see a change and maybe feel they aren't quite as big as you feel currently. It's great you are liking the softness, though! If you are like some of us you might find yourself feeling them up off and on all day! I still do that once in a while

That was a lot of info plus me venting a little. I actually dreamt I had my appointment with my PS to discuss if we should do anything more. In my dream she was going to give me entirely new implants and schedule the surgery for this week! LOL, apparently this is on my mind!

Keep healing!

LADYnKY

jessiejake thank you so much for taking the time to post! I too do not have the cleavage but he did get them moved in more so not as much breast bone shows as w TE. That's the best as can be. I'm very small never liked my minuscule real boobs so I'll take these and deal no cancer and better boobs!

I saw PS today he was very pleased with them said they looked like augmentation instead of reconstruction I guess my swelling will subside and I'll see how they change in the weeks to come he mentioned FG if I want around edges on breast bone I'm not going to do it or worry about it I'm pleased over all my cancer side implant seems a hair higher but it's prob only noticeable to me and DH I'm not going to worry about it I am going to get PS to do nipple then get tattoo artist match new nip and make aerola like real one. He will come to PS office and do this this spring

I'm wearing a sports bra and will for the next month a bra will be optional after that not sure what I will do I love the free feeling after having teeny real boobs all my life and wearing super padded bras the thought of finally having bigger boobs and NOT wearing a bra sounds pretty good lol

Yes I do touch them and poke at them! Sooo much softer than those horrid TE PS said they'd soften more over time

Hope all goes well w you thank you ahsin

grandma3X

I don't think I'll have cleavage when this is all over and done either, but I'm not sure I would feel comfortable with cleavage. I'm more inclined to wear bulky things to hide my boobs (not that I ever had any). The 300 cc implants are about 100 ccs larger than my natural breasts (both were less than 200 gms), so I'm feeling pretty buxom as it is.

I was surprised to get a "pathology" report back for my exchange surgery. The PS submitted the TEs to pathology, who weighed them and now keep them in a special drawer full of used TEs somewhere, I'm guessing Interestingly, the left TE was about 80 gms less than the right one. I've been complaining to my PS for several months that the left TE was not as big as the right one, and asked repeatedly for another fill to make them even, but they kept assuring me that they had been filled the same amount. Ha! Guess they either miscalculated or I had a slow leak in the left side. Anyway, my left Foob is swollen more than the right, so it will get to be bigger for a while until the swelling subsides.

LADYnKY

interesting Grandma! They weighed them?! Guess you were right huh

I got filled to 400 but PS put in 440 implants so I do indeed feel buxom for me lol never having boobs before this is different but I think I will like them once everything calms down lol looking forward to seeing them in about a month to see the chsnge

El_Tigre

Hi

I just found this discussion!

For those who have had fat grafting, how'd it go? I had my exchange surgery on 9/30 and I'm on the books for a dec 9th grafting.

Did it take awhile to heal? How was the bruising? Did you wear spanxs?

Seedsally

Lady so far I am not noticing too extreme a change from my normal with the arimidex.

LADYnKY

whewww seedsally it did not do well with me. With the leg muscle weakness it gave me I figured if I stayed on it for 5 yrs I wouldn't be able to walk!

Seedsally

Lady I'm glad you're recurrence score is only 10%. Mine is 24%.

LADYnKY

oh seedsally sorry yes I would prob continue on as wel

LADYnKY

seedsally how do you sleep at night... position and all

JessieJake

I just had to share this because Grandma3x reminded me of an interesting note I had read back when I had my BMX. A few of us are talking about our original breasts being tiny. I found my pathology report from the BMX - one side was a whopping 45 grams and the other was even bigger - 50 grams! I need to remind myself of that when I sometimes oddly wish I had bigger implants. My TEs were only expanded to 200ccs so I guess getting 290cc implants is like going slightly Dolly Parton for me.

Just to share for fun......

Seedsally

Lady if you mean position. I still have the TEs. My recon was in April this year. I sleep halfway on my stomach but mostly on my back. My TEs are under the muscles and everything has really softened up. But for the first 2 months I slept semi upright on a hospital bed on my back with lots of pillows. If you mean the quality of sleep. Not so good but it hasn't been for years. I snore terribly (have sleep apnea and can't wear the mask to use my machine). My regular dr has me on a mild sleeping pill and I take neurontin. But that only gets me about 3 hours of good sleep

robinblessed54

Seed and Lady, Arimidex was horrible and Aromison was worse!!! Muscle and joint pain was beyond belief. I felt like I was 90 when getting up or down. It also gave me arthritis in my hands so severe that I had to have trigger finger surgery as a result! I am now on Femara and it is fine!!

Half of the women that are on AI meds never finish the 5 years because of SE.

Robin

LADYnKY

haha jessiejake!!! I had the teeniest ever now with my 440 mentors I'm Pamela A lol but I'm a good way!!! So when I read that some get 800?! It blows my mind!!

Seed I was sleeping 2-3 hours a night on arimidex !? Ugh! I hope to be able to sleep in regular sleep position at some point in my life ...

Robin I'm very lucky to have my ONC let me stop taking the arimidex. I feel for all that have the diabilating SE. I knew I would be crippled in 5 yrs if I kept on it.

So lovely to be able to discuss these things w women w shared experiences. Thank you

SpecialK

eltigre - the pain from fat grafting is directly proportional to the amount of fat harvested - it is usually a burning type of pain that hurts when moving, but doesn't when still. It dissipates fairly quickly - usually a week or two, but for me, it has not been painful enough to keep me too sidelined. There is a soreness similar to way too many sit-ups. I have had FG for a variety of reasons but have always worn compression garments on the donor site afterward. This is to provide some supportive comfort, but also to compress the flesh that the lipo cannula has traveled through because the tunnels created by the back and forth motion can fill with fluid, and or cause a seroma. How long to wear compression varies by plastic surgeon. Surgeons who use tumescent fluid during lipo can usually control some degree of bruising, but some bruise anyway - I have had both happen. Strangely the FG with the largest volume of fat removed was the one with the least bruising, and definitely more bruising at the harvest site than the graft site - I had no discomfort there.

MrsB88

Lady and Jessie - I have Mentor Memory Shape anatomicals too. They are 685cc and I love the soft natural feel and shape. My native breasts were a D & DD but when I had my first set of implants post MX.- round regular silicone in 2010 they were too small for the remaining skin I had left & looked like large (in circumference) flat pancakes. The feel was unnatural too, slightly too firm. I'm 6 1/2 wks post revision surgery & I finally feel almost like my pre MX self. The shape is so natural & I love the projection which I didn't have previously. Also, they are not quite as large as my native breasts but suit my body just right.

Grandma3X - I was filled 50cc less on the right (which was my smaller breast) too. It bugged me although my PS thought it looked OK. I asked her if she would fill it an additional 50cc to balance me out so she did. I don't think it makes any difference in the final implant outcome that's why she didn't think it was necessary. I'm sure your implants will even out once the swelling subsides.

Re: sleeping on side - my PS said I could after the drains came out but I found it created pressure/discomfort even with a compression bra on which was more uncomfortable than when sleeping on my back. Now I'm alternating between my back & side but plan to wear a bra to bed indefinately for support.

SeedSally - You might have additional tenderness in the areas where they need to remove some additional tissue. My PS had to remove some additional scar tissue on the right so the implant would fit & it was more tender but not bad. I only needed Extra Strength Tylenol after I got home and for about 5-7 days.