Reconstruction stopped/going flat

TenS4me

Hi Everyone,

My name is Barbara, and I'm a 55 year old, two time breast cancer patient; once with Stage 1 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma and the second time was DCIS. I had radiation treatment the first time and opted for a dbl mastectomy with expanders put in after the DCIS prognosis.

To keep this relatively short, let's just say the reconstruction didn't go well at all. After five surgeries due to complications from radiation on the right side, I decided to abort reconstruction and go flat. I asked my plastic surgeon to "tighten" everything up; I guess I should've said to "contour" my breasts. However he decided to go against my wishes and just took the expanders out, leaving a lot of excess skin. I'm now looking at another surgery because I can't take how I look, and I'm not changing my mind about reconstruction!

The problem is, the right side is so bad...there's no excess tissue/fat ...anything. I can feel my ribs! I know the only way to get a mound (even if going flat) is to do a flap; which I've been adamant I don't want, for a lot of reasons. I haven't budged on that either, but now I'm petrified, I will look worse than I do now. My left side should be easy to contour, but the right side..not so much.

Has anyone else been through this? How did you decide your final course of action? I can't talk to family or friends about this because they don't understand.

My next surgery is April 29th.

Thanks,

Barbara

LivinLife

First of all, Ten, I really feel for you! Makes me so mad when surgeons do not do what patients want/what was agreed on and without telling them - in such a way as you describe. My surgeon did something different though it was an upgrade - aesthetic flat closure so it was really confusing when I first saw it, didn't know what it was, thought they found something and now I'm comfortable b/c I know what it is and nothing was wrong.... And then for you to be left with all that excess skin, esp. by a plastic surgeon! Honestly I'd seek a second opinion with a plastic surgeon and see what options they believe you have.... I certainly wouldn't stay with the current plastic surgeon....! My trust would be gone after that. You've been through enough already....

TenS4me

Thanks LivinLife,

I dropped my first plastic surgeon and received two more opinions. They're both telling me the same thing, so my options seem limited. I guess the good news is, if I don't like this outcome, I can still do the flaps. I just know what a flap entails and as much as they play off how easy that procedure is (FOR THEM), it's a serious ordeal with a longer recovery.

Well, fingers crossed the next procedure goes better than I think it will! :-) The good news is, the cancer is gone. I'm thankful for that.

Be well!

naps

Hi there,

I also stopped recon after a unilateral mx...3 years after having a TE placed. Just couldn't stand the thought of more surgeries for something that I realized wasn't very important to me. I decided a flap sounded like way more surgery/recovery than I wanted to deal with. I am so glad I got the TE out and went flat--it was def the right thing for me. I have a reasonably aesthetic flat closure, I guess, but to remove the whole area with the TE, the plastic surgeon had to go very close to the chest wall. My ribs are right under the skin there now as well--there's no "padding" in one area. So far it hasn't been a big deal, though the surgeon mentioned considering a fat injection or something like that down the road(?) For now, I'm just seeing what happens. Nothing much to recommend really but just wanted to let you know you're not alone in your change in plan.

Best of luck to you!

NoBananas

And just when you think you couldn’t get any flatter, along comes a new cancer on your mastectomy, and the surgeon still manages to cut a large piece out! Lol! Admittedly, some muscle was cut into. But the positive thing about being flat, is if you would be so unlucky to have another new cancer, its very easy to spot.

TenS4me

Thank you Naps! I had a pre-surgical meeting with my new plastic surgeon. He's such a breath of fresh air as he will sit there and answer every single question without making me feel like he has better things to do (my first one made me feel like that). I agree, for me, flaps just seem like too much.

I feel much better after walking through exactly what the surgeon is going to do.

Thanks again!

TenS4me

Oh wow! Sorry to hear that NoBananas! I wish you well ! Recurrence is one of the reasons I wanted to go flat.. BC runs in my family, and this is my second time, second type so I was afraid something would get missed if I had implants.

I wish you speedy recovery.

LivinLife

Well, I'm disappointed for you TenS4me though maybe there's something going on we don't understand medically? I'm not sure about that though if 3 surgeons told you the same thing..... I hear you (FOR THEM) and that concerns me - if indeed it's more of what they want or what's easier for them, etc. I"m glad you're comfortable with your surgeon - that is sooo important! I wish you well with the surgery. Please let us know how things go....