Breast Reconstruction surgeons in Pittsburgh, PA

SL, Ironic as Dr. Mcguire was my second pick. I was not a candidate for NSM so I stuck with Rubin and Gimbel. Gimbel takes a while to warm up to. Just go in with all your questions and seek answers. I was impatient with the healing process, but somehow managed to go with the process. I am an avid walker and was determined to get back to the proces of being normal. I too had an extremely tight abdominoplasty. Give it time. Hugzz girl............

xoxoxoxo

piper

Hi Pittsburgh Ladies -- glad I found this post. Just had my first consult with Dr. Gimbel. My breast surgeon is Dr. Ahrendt. I love her, and she hasn't even performed surgery on me yet. Haha. I liked Dr. Gimbel, despite hearing about his apparent lack of humor, etc. He cracked some jokes with me! Anyway, it's good to see so many have had successful surgeries with him. I am apparently a good candidate for nipple-sparing, which is super exciting for me. So, my question is this: how many of you have had to do radiation? I am in the middle of neoadjuvant chemo, finishing up in June. We are still not sure whether radiation will be on my plan. I had one known positive node prior to chemo. I swear there are a MILLION different ways this could go, and not knowing whether I'll need radation is the major sticking point. Dr. Gimbel suggested we do the bilateral nipple sparing mastectomy (I'm BRCA1), and then either put implants or expanders in regardless, then revisit if/when/after I need radiation. I am definitely not sure about DIEP yet. I've gained quite a bit of weight and I know as soon as I start losing it, I'll lose it from my belly first. I'd like to do SGAP but they can only do one at a time with that. Sorry for rambling on. So much to think about!!!

Thoughts, anyone???

Thanks,

Lindsay

Hi Lindsay, Dr. Ahrendt was my BS as well. She is the best at nipple sparing mastectomy (NSM). No radiation and no chemo, so I had immediately DIEP recon after NSM by Dr. Nguyen. You can certainly ask Dr. Ahrendt which is better for you, immediate or delayed recon. Before surgery, I emailed a lot of questions to Dr. Nguyen, and he answered all of them very quickly. He also addressed all my questions via email after surgery.

Hi there - I was in your exact situation!!!!  Neoadjuvant chemo, BMX, with 2 (surprise!!!) positive nodes found.   There is too much information to relay to you regarding the subject on radiation versus no radiation and reconstruction, so if you are interested in talking to me, PM me and I will give you my cell phone number and I would be willing to give you my story.   I ended up choosing NOT to have radiation.....as I was in the dreaded gray zone.  I had one RO in Pittsburgh tell me the risks were not worth the benefit and another tell me "yes, he would radiate me.... there are many factors that come into play when making a decision about radiation after a mastectomy and reconstruction and I researched them all so I might be able to help you.   Like I said, send me a private message and we can take it from there???

Hi fellow 'burghers!  I also went through my surgeries and chemo through Magee.  Dr. McGuire was my BS, and I loved her. I had a skin sparing BMX (not nipple sparing - 1 tumor was right behind the nipple) in 5/2012.  I had 3 cancerous tumors on one side, and 3 non-cancerous on the other side.  I had TEs put in at the time of the BMX by Dr. DeLaCruz.  I didn't really click with her and was not a big fan, but the recon was not my biggest worry in this.  Time was a priority and I did not have time to get more opinions (I could have delayed reconstruction). Then I had chemo from June through December, exchange surgery 3 weeks later, then started rads about 4 weeks after that.  I have had some skin infection issues after exchange (both after surgery and after rads), but I attribute a good bit of that to my counts still being in shaky territory since I packed everything in to a short time frame.  I go back for my first MO follow up next week (Puhalla at Magee....love her too, but it is a very busy office and you have to wait a while at times).  I may skip the nipple reconstruction and just get the tattoos...haven't made up my mind yet, but the thought of another surgery is a bit much at the moment.  Take care all.

Welcome Steelersluv!  I see you're from Mars....I live in Cranberry actually!   

Anyway, I was reading your signature line and saw that you ended up having chemotherapy after your BMX.  Im always very curious about everyone's treatment plan......Did you have it because of your one positive node?  Did they do Oncotype testing on you before they recommended chemotherapy, or did you have other prognostic indicators for chemotherapy......looks like your tumor was pretty small?   

Hope you don't mind my questions....I find it interesting to learn how/why MO's/RO's/surgeon's come up with treatment plans!!  

I have learned more from the ladies here on BC.org than from any of my physicians (whom I love) combined!  

G'night!

Hi Tammy, I figured you would see it was me! I just talked to Lisa the other day and forgot! I'm doing pretty well. It's nice to be done with rads, though I've got some aftermath from them (frozen shoulder and cording).  Found some heart damage (2 leaking valves), but haven't yet determined if it was there before chemo or not. I wouldn't have known it was there at this point if they hadn't done an echo, so it's not so bad for now. Hope you are well.

Enjoy the sunny weekend, everyone!

Hey everyone.  Im so glad I found this post.  I am currently deciding between Dr. Gimbel and Dr. De La Cruz.  I have met with both of them (I actually had an appointment yesterday) and am having a hard time making my decision.  Its great that I found this post and to hear all of your opinions.  I am currently undergoing chemo and will have my surgery in early June.  I am having both of my breasts removed and as of right now, I am able to spare both of my nipples.  I am leaning more towards Dr. Gimbel.  I have a small frame and have to have implants put in.  I do not have enough tissue to create two breasts.  I am interested in the "gummy bear" implants, and according to Dr. De La Cruz, she only uses silicone implants.  Dr. Gimbel said I would be a good candidate for the "gummy bear" and the more I read about them, the more I agree.  Have any of you had the "gummy bear" implants?  Do you like them?  

Currently the plan is to finish up chemo in April, then have my surgery by Dr. Bonaventura with Dr. Gimbel (if I choose him) putting in tissue expanders.  I do not need any radiation unless the docs find a surprise during surgery.  

Its nice to know there are so many others in the area going through the same process as me!!!

I had a double mastectomy with Dr. Gimbel last week.  I did direct to implant.  I have been very happy with him.

So happy to hear good comments about Dr. Gimbel.  I have my first appointment with him on February 25 to discuss my reconstruction options.  I only learned a few days ago that my surgeon, Dr. Bonaventura, was going to recommended a unilateral mastectomy with or without immediate reconstruction.  I thought she was planning to perform a lumpectomy reexcision, but learned that she is not comfortable with that treatment plan for a number of reasons. I have been feeling pretty overwhelmed thinking about all of the possible reconstruction options and dealing with the reality of having a mastectomy.  Although I am keeping an open mind, I am leaning towards the DIEP Flap.  I have a friend who had the procedure done by Dr. Gimbel, and she has been very pleased.

sandpiper1, Thank you for responding.  Like you, I am leaning towards a unilateral mastectomy with immediate DIEP Flap reconstruction.   Did you have a difficult time deciding between a unilateral or bilateral mastectomy?  So many women seem to be going with the bilateral. Because of my family history, I am scheduled for gene testing next week, which will be a determining factor.  What were your deciding factors?

I am rather large breasted 38 (DD-DDD) and am concerned about my breasts looking similar in size without having to do additional surgery on my good breast.  I know everyone's situation is different, but I would be interested in knowing how you came to your decisions.   

motherofone , everyone is different, but I will share my decision process. At every choice point of the process, I choose the one
that I strongly prefer. Here they go,

1. Lumpectomy+radiation vs Mastectomy? Mastectomy won (my sister's experience of
lumpectomy+radiation but DCIS came back within 6-months was the deciding
factor)

2. Single or bilateral? Bilateral won, because I hate mammogram

3. Recon or not recon? Recon won, I don't want to be looking at two holes on
my chest for the rest of my life.

4. Tissue based or implant? Tissue based won, I can’t stand having two cold
foreign objects sitting on my chest.

5. Donor site: it’s a no-brainer, the site that I have the most to spare - DIEP flap

Bottom line: I did my best and the rest was in the doctors' hands. I had Dr. A and love her, Dr. Nguyen is my ps.

Good luck in your decision making, you have some time.

I like having feeling at least on one side of my body.

Less really can be more to your advantage

My Mother had a lumpie. rads and tam. 16+ years cancer free. 

Only you can make a decision, but for DCIS, unless very extensive, try lumpie then you can always revisit down the line.

DCIS cannot travel-it is not invasive. 

No offense Tammy, but your sisters case is a bit out of the ordinary.

There was no medical reason for me to have a double Mx. 

Don't be scared by the exceptions you read here on the board. This is not a fair representation of the whole picture. There is good info.

I would stick to Bessies info regarding DCIS.

Perhaps take a break from the boards and sit down with Dr. A (Arendt?) and review your questions. 

My first consultation was very emotional for me too.

And at my first visit to my BS-I told him "now way in hell are you taking my breast for a non-invasive disease process!!"

My DCIS ruled that decision and I am so happy I lead my decision to have just the UMX with solid information and not from an emotional reaction.

Just My humble opinion

Sandpiper,   My biggest shock in this whole experience so far was learning that my DCIS was 6cm+ and not visible on a mammogram until the cluster of microcalcifications showed up.   Did you take any specific steps to determine that your healthy breast was DCIS free?