All About Gummies

Hi Ladies.  Sorry I've been absent for a while.  I was so overwhelmed with the decision I had to make and the conflicting doctors opinions that I went a bit reclusive.  We decided to go with radiation, and I began on Monday.  Now that I've started, I feel much better about the decision than I did leading up to that point, and am a lot less anxious.  I still have concerns over what this will do to the appearance of my implant, and am a bit depressed that no PS wants to cut into a radiated breast unless he has to.  I was always keeping an exchange to rounds a future option, but now I can see that risking the healing problems are not worth it.  The fat grafts have reabsorbed, as my PS said they would.  But said that we can do more next year, after radiation, and the changes that may occur up to several months later.  They still feel ridiculously heavy.  690cc on each side is a lot, and my back pain still comes and goes.  I feel like they look almost like they did before, just a little higher, and with scars twice the size. The fat grafts made a huge difference in shape, so I feel better knowing that I still have that as an option.  I don't mean to sound like a Debbie Downer, but It's just been one of those days.

Christina, thanks for sharing your story.  It's unfortunate that a doctor would sway you away from an option that may have been perfect for you because of their own limitations.  I was (and still am) happy I did my revision.  Even though some of the "perks" that I thought were permanent, have diminished, I know they are within reach again.  And, if I hadn't done the revision, they wouldn't have found more cancer and I could have been dealing with an IDC recurrence instead of DCIS.

Gemini- Gummies in the hands of a surgeon who specializes in them, and has gone through training from Allergan, STILL don't always turn out a great cosmetic result.  I wouldn't trust them with someone who has never used them before.  If you have to fake an address, you may as well have it done by the pro.  The DC PS doesn't know the St. Lois surgeon, or has ever seen his technical skills in the OR.  He might be fabulous with rounds.  He has no way of truly knowing how he would handle gummies, or you, in terms of creating a pocket.  It's different than rounds.  I don't know how he could feel confident in sending them out to him to do on you.  Not to mention, if you do have any post-op issues because of the surgeon's inexperience with gummies, I would think the DC surgeon could be liable, or potentially tossed from the study by Allergan.  He might be a great PS, but I wouldn't want to be anybody's first case.

Mantra and Sweetie, I'm glad you are adjusting!  It does take time.  I don't hate mine like I used to either.  I'm totally fine with the firmness now too.  They actually feel squishy and, dare I say it...NATURAL to me.  Hopefully future fat grafts will give me back that perkiness that was reabsorbed.

 I haven't gotten a check yet either, but was told I would eventually. 

The gummies do seem to get softer with time (well mine have for sure).

Sharon -- glad you have a plan and I'm sure it does make you feel better now that you are executing it!  I believe I've read that fat grafting can be really helpful with radiated skin... do a search of posts by Whippetmom (she is the one who has posted some interesting articles about how best to handle implant reconstruction with radiated skin).  One GREAT thing in your favor is that you already did all the reconstruction you've done so far -- which means you are in a better place as far as avoiding issues that radiation can cause.

Happy Thanksgiving ladies!

Thank you ladies for sharing your stories on here!  It's been very informative, supportive and encouraging to read how you are all doing with your gummies.

I'm still in the TE stage - just one more fill to go.

I had 28 rounds of radiation, with some burning and some skin breakage along my collarbone but I'm happy to say that my skin is stretching very nicely and I've had no issues with the stretching/TE process so far.  Other than the pressure/pain right after a fill of course!

We have been going very slowly with the fills and that may have something to do with it.

My surgeon (PS in British Columbia Canada) only uses Gummies but I'm not sure of the type. 

He did show me a gummy at an early consult but I have a feeling that he has been waiting to see how the TE stage goes before committing to anything specific. 

Whenever I ask him about sizing he just tells me that I'll be a "perky C cup" but nothing more specific about the implant.  I'm ok with that since I was a saggy C+ before.  Speaking of saggy he will "fix" my natural breast at the exchange surgery but will not put in an implant on that side.

My next fill appt is on Dec 3 and after that we will be booking the exchange surgery date. 

I have some questions for him but would welcome any input on what more I should ask him.

These are my concerns:

I'm at 270 ccs (300cc TE) which seems small from reading other posts but in reality it feels like a generous "handful" to me and I can't imagine going bigger than what I have.   I guess it depends on the type of TE or are they all the same? 

My next appt should fill me to 330 cc but I'm worried about projection.  Right now I'm kind of "round".  Will I get any projection with an implant under the muscle or will the muscle always make it look flatter?

My other concern is some excess fat/muscle that I have where my chest meets my underarm (on the front) just under my shoulder.  I'm wondering how that will look after exchange.  Right now I have a ridge/indentation where the natural tissue meets the TE.  I understand that the TE is pushing stuff up with the top fullness (like I said I'm very "round") but I'm hoping that will "blend" in when the gummy is put in.  Does that sound right?  I've seen photos on the other site and I've not noticed that on anyone else - their TEs seem much lower to me.

Thanks for reading my post and for offering any suggestions you might have for me.

Marie

I think that sounds right Mantra.  I noticed some movement around 8 weeks myself.  But I don't think you will (or should) get "a ton of movement" -- mine move now about as much as they did at 8 weeks (though overall are softer).  I think it's due to the reduction of swelling in the area, a natural result of healing from surgery.

Mantra -- my PS required me to wear a bra 24/7 for EIGHT weeks post surgery.  After that I was free to do as I wished (and so I stopped sleeping in a bra). 

LOL re: your wish list. 

When do you next see your PS?

It's interesting but when I saw her last week, I asked about the bra sleeping requirement and she said it was fine not to sleep in a bra. That said, I am fairly certain this new moveable implant situation happened only after sleeping braless. Coincidence? I think not!! Maybe they did move before and I just noticed it now. Don't know. All I know is that Big Bertha is being dragged out of hibernation and once again will become a night time ritual. So sexy!!!!!!!!! 

I am not scheduled to see her again until April . ..  nipple appointment. However, I'm having an issue where I think the old surgeon who did my first mastectomy left too much breast tissue in me. I see the second BS (the one who did my prophylactic mastectomy) on Wednesday. So if this is infact that case, I will be seeing the PS sooner than later since she will need to remove the implant and put one back in. Not exactly sure how that works.

Lilah, a few things have been said to me that make me wonder if all possible breast tissue was removed. I had two mastectomies; two different doctors, two different cities, about 7 months apart. First surgery was done at a small local hospital (left breast, cancer side). Second surgery was done in a cancer hospital by a breast cancer surgeon but it was a prophylactic surgery.

I also had a plastic surgeon do TE at the same time. When I had my exchange in October, I was surprised to learn that my left side had a 375 gram implant and my right side had a 410 gram implant. I was told the left envelope was tight and never asked any further questions. At my 6 week follow up appointment last week, my PS pointed out a small ripple on my right side. I questioned why I would have a ripple since I thought one of the advantages of gummies was that they rarely rippled. She said that my skin was really thin on that side; meaning the surgeon scraped the skin clear of all possible breast tissue. Later that day I realized that this must mean my other side was not scraped clean and add to that the fact that the implant is smaller on that side, makes me think that there was less room to put in the same size implant simply because more breast tissue was left on that side. I emailed her office manager and received a phone call from the manager saying that the PS said to tell me that no two mastectomies are alike but perhaps I might want to discuss this with my BS when I see her next week. I wish I could have spoke to the PS since she was the one who actually saw everything when she did my TE and implants but unless you make an appointment to see her, speaking to her is not an option.

This BS has never seen what the other surgeon did so I'm not sure how she will know if too much breast tissue was left by the first surgeon. It's just making me very nervous considering I had aggressive cancer on that side. If excess breast tissue remains, it defeats the entire purpose of having the mastectomy.

I have no idea how the BS will handle this. I think that an ultrasound will show how much breast tissue is left. I think I'm in for a battle on Wednesday.

This "no appointment = no communication" thing always bugs me. On the weekend, we had to put one of my dogs down. It was an emergency and my vet was not working. Yet, tonight she called me to see how I'm doing, express her condolences and spent a good 45 minutes on the phone explaining what had happened, confirming that we really made the right decision and then went on to talk about how we should deal with our remaining dog and what he will be feeling and what he'll need from us. A 45 minute phone call that she initiated. So in reality, my dogs get better service from their medical provider than I do!!!

Hey Mantra, I can totally understand your concerns and agree you should pursue it. I think that sometimes we are told that the placement of different size implants can be due to differences in your bony structure. The chest wall can be shaped a little differently on each side and this may require different size implants to  create the same size /same projection in your reconstructed breasts. Just a thought.

Alright, called the PS office and his secretary said he ordered the 520 MX (moderate height, extra full projection)  Wow, he said between 475 and 500 but that he would play with the numbers (based on expander size etc) and it looks like he is going with 520. 

Ladies, my PS never mentioned anything about bringing a bra, so I called his assistant and she told me to go out and get a sports bra to wear home from hospital. She said to get the "Best Form Sport" from Walmart which is no underwire and opens in the front and is cheap at about $10. Does this sound good? I know they do all sorts of implants there, so I wonder whether she realized I am getting gummies.  Anyway, if you can weigh in, that would be great.  I'll also check out the bras thread. 

I just saw my PS today and the expanding is officially over.  I'm at 400 cc. and he said adding more was not going to be a good idea because the skin was already strethched so tight.  I'm fine with that.  he said he is planning a 450-495 gram gummy on the mx side and a 100 cc round on the native side.  450 gram sounds kinda big compared to some of the numbers I've heard here, but the breast with the TE in it does not look very big at all; just a little bigger than the natural side really. 

Exchange in 5 weeks.............

bcincolorado, NSM look so aweseome, that's must make you feel pretty good, getting a compliment on the recon,always nice to hear those things.  Sorry you had to have gallbladder surgery tho. 

heebie_jeebie - how exciting!!!  I am filled to 500CC (have been since Sept 9th) and I am getting my exchange on Wednesday!!  I am getting 520g gummies, as far as I know.  I told him to squish the biggest, most projectile gummie he could shove in there lol.  va-va-voom!

Hi.  a few  women have asked me if a woman were to get a 410 implant (in the study) does she have an anatomical tear shaped tissue expander - or just a standard TE?

Flower,

I too have 410 gummies & had regular TE's.