Breast Reconstruction Kingston Area

Cairth

Hi, I'm considering breast reconstruction and I live in Kingston, Ontario. Has anyone had flap surgery at KGH? I would very much appreciate any information about the surgeons doing flap procedures at KGH.

Thanks. Cath

Yvonne1

Hi Cath - I am not sure about KGH.  Sorry.  Why not a referral to Toronto?  Dr. Stefan Hofer at Princess Margaret has wonderful comments from his patients.  Google his patient reviews.  There is also a Youtube video "Cancer Changes Everything" where you can see him speak.   You are so close to the best Cancer Care Centres in the world, I would personally opt for a referral.   There are so many stories of disappointment (not necessarily at all from KGH) but in general.  My very best to you Cath.

Adaptecss

hi cath,

Just got on here today... I have personal experience...

I strongly, and I mean very strongly, suggest that if u haven't yet had your surgery yet, that u ask your doctor or family physician for a referral to Dr lipa at sunnybrook! avoid kingston!! She actually told me her (great) success rates... Too late for me though... also, I ended up with a beautiful handmade custom prosthetic by anaplastologist, Irene Healey owner of New Attitude in Toronto, paid for nearly in full by manulife insurance, following my complete flap failure. It is extremely light and I wish that someone told me about this option7 years ago, as it would have saved me years of pain and now disability. Let me know if u want more info

Moderators

Adaptecss, thanks for joining our community, and sharing your experience!

Kathy044

Welcome Adaptecss, we are actually quite an active group on BCO it is just that all history of much of the discussion on this forum before about February 13 2015, pages and pages of past postings, suddenly disappeared.

Mods, please, please help to get the "Canadian Connections..." thread on this forum back again so that new members (and older members with new questions) can easily find a current place to enter a discussion. As you may have noticed the activity on the forum Canadian Breast Cancer Survivors has dropped to a trickle.

I sent a private message to the mods over a week ago and rec'd a message back this problem would be looked into. Ossa also posted a mod request on the British Columbia thread.

Kathy

Adaptecss

hi,

Thanks for the welcome. I would like to get the word out on a few items, and get some feedback... After the long, difficult process I have and continue to go through, I really hope a group might form from these exchanges, to maybe change how things are done around breast cancer care... At a minimum, I would like us all to get practical info out to those who need it as early as possible. At best, I hope for major policy and process change throughout the chronic as well as acute needs of us and our families!

So, here's the first issue...

(1) please tell anyone who is considering reconstruction, at whatever point post 'ectomy', to at least contact their insurance provider to ask if they cover the costs of "custom made breast prosthetic" . This prosthetic is made of mush lighter silicone than those u get for a few hundred dollars through ADP (ontario, assistive device program, max $195!! Per breast I think). My new right breast prosthetic fits into to caved in part of my chest wall, doesn't aggravate my lymphodema and looks so natural, even better than the silicone implant on my left, but well matched to it. Manulife paid $5600 of the $5800 for it, with the proper prescription letter with "suggested" text written by my surgeon (he didn't know this was available). This seems like a lot, but with ADP, it cost me nothing but 3 days sitting for a sculptress while she painstakingly created this piece of art! Had I had this offered to me, I would not have put my body through the disastrous surgery, and would have returned to work within months of my prophylactic double mastectomy surgery. The cost of surgeries and care are likely in the hundreds of thousands at this point... Let's all do the math! So, who can I thank for this amazing new breast, which will allow me to wear summer tops and not baggy shirts with stuffed breast pockets ala teenager? Irene Healey. Anaplastologist. Company is New Attitude in Toronto. It kills me to know she isn't even busy, in fact, needs new clients or we might lose her talents to the States! See her website... Call or email. Spread the word. Please ask me anything about this process. I can all send pictures.