April 2014 Surgery Sisters

Oh boy! I wish you little soreness and a burst of energy for tomorrow!

Sheesh scuba, our surgery dates were only a day apart and I am only going in for my 2nd fill Saturday. Super cool you are closing in on your exchange!

Happyteacher and Radical2squared, 

It's amazing how different each PS is in their approach to fills and exchange.  Some start fills quickly believing that there is less risk of capsular contracture forming if fills can be started soon after surgery (healing etc. permitting), and others believe it's better to wait.  Same with the time period between last fill and exchange.  My PS said he works with one BS who won't allow expander placement until at least 6 months after surgery.  While, I'm sure he has his reasons, I'm glad he wasn't my BS.

Our paths may be slightly different, but we will all get there and I'm glad we April girls can all stay connected on our way to the squishy side.

Congrats to those who have gone back to work and are getting on with their lives. Scubalady, I resonate with what you said about the rat race. 

Radical - my foot hurts, but not as bad as the shot in my heel! Aye yi yi! I didn't cry when the nuclear doc gave me five shots in each boob before surgery, but I cried with the foot shot! I told the nurse it was just the last straw after my breast surgery. The poor nurse felt so bad that she almost started crying.

The podiatrist wanted me to go to PT, but I asked for home exercises. I'm just done with appointments for now. 

I'm doing stretching exercises for my upper body and it's shocking how tight I am!

Finished first week back at work--just over 30 hours was enough...and even made it out to a party last night...(and had WINE!)....Going back to the gym this weekend....now if I could only find a bra that didn't require my tugging at it all day, I'd be golden....What is everyone wearing? I've got the Coobie, the Genie (I hate that one) and a little racer back bralette I found on sale.....but I tug at everything....Docs office wasn't terribly helpful...just said no underwire and just wear whatever is comfortable....second fill is Wednesday.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

I went out today and bought the Bali 3488.  It doesn't give a lot of support, but enough for what I need right now.  It has a molded cup, so even though I don't fill it out on the right (I'm a UMX), I think it will hold it's shape enough.  I did buy a size up to get the height at the sides, but it is pretty comfortable.

I asked my doc at the fill this morning how long the recovery would be from the exchange.  4 weeks. Dang, I feel stupid.  I thought it was two "just to be safe" and that I could possible cut it down to 1.  I ended up scheduling it for December to take advantage of my break.  Is everyone else getting a 4 week estimate? 

The expanders were hitting a nerve again, and the fill today again made it magically stop.  Does this mean once I am near or at full the nerve issues won't occur?  December seems pretty far off at the moment. 

4 weeks off work...

I am not sure if he is planning to or not.  He is also intending on keeping me overnight, and explained that this surgery would actually be a little "more than" the mastectomy surgery.  I completely trust his judgement though.  Just a little surprised. Glad I asked though, because he is a busy guy... I scheduled the surgery today for December 12th to take advantage of my Xmas break as he was already nearly booked for that general time period. Hopefully I will only have to miss 6 days of school, which is about what I had orignally planned on. 

agh, sorry Frostetcat, I apparently failed to notice you are a uni. My apologies! I am very happy you found a bra that works for you, though! 

I have had some complications. sentinel node non cancer side mastectomy incisions have healed wonderfully. Unfortunately, I am having problems with incision and nipple on cancer side. My incision has opened up and is having to heal from the inside out. PS says, not uncommon due to location of my cancer and blood supply being decreased. However, last week, I developed an infection as well. UGH! I was very close to hospitalization, but after two antibiotics and 6 days later, I am feeling much better. 

When the infection occurred, PS removed some of the fluid from expander. I also have been changing dressing 4 times a day and applying liberal amounts of bacitracin ointment per his instructions. A few days ago, my breast has really been itching. Drives me crazy. Any one else experiencing complications or something like this? I see PS again tomorrow. I don't want to complain as I am SOOOO LUCKY, but I really want to get on with living!! Sort of regretting reconstruction, it has been more difficult than I anticipated. Thanks guys for letting me vent. 

vfay, I am right there with you in underestimating how uncomfortable/painful the reconstruction process and specifically the tissue expanders have been.  I found out Saturday that when I have the exchange it will trigger a 4 week recovery, so I ended up scheduling the exchange for December 12th to take advantage of the school break.  That seems like an impossibly long time at the moment due to the pain issues.  I do have to say on a positive note though as long as the TE is not smooshing a nerve, it is only uncomfortable.  If I can avoid the nerve pain it will not be so bad.

Scubalady, how many cc's is your PS doing at each fill? My PS said he is stopping at 600 cc's with me. I'm at 480 right now and waiting for an allergic reaction to adhesive clear up before we can move ahead. Really want this to get going!

KLJ, my PS is doing 60cc at each fill.  There's a chance the one I just had could be the last one and I'll only have one more if he thinks he needs to overfill a bit more.  In my case, we're matching my native reduced breast as I'm a uni.  He typically gives the skin a rest of 4 to 6 weeks before exchange and said I could wait till fall if I want.  I was thinking "spoken by someone who's never actually had a TE".  I want this thing out as soon as things are in good enough shape for the surgery.  I can't imagine saying " nah, I think I'll keep the TE a while.  It's so comfy".

Frostecat, sorry I didn't answer sooner.  We got some company and I wanted to take time and give you a good answer and not rush it.

I am happy with the lift and reduction of my native breast.  I'm pretty happy with the size and shape, and I believe it will fill a C or D cup when I'm fitted for a regular bra.  I've asked my PS if I will be able to wear an underwire eventually to help keep lefty up there, and was told that I will.  The true test of this will be how closely he's able to match my native breast with the implant, so I am facing the unknown.  I do have to say that all my neck and shoulder pain I had related to my original size is gone, and now that I'm near the end of my fills, with proper clothing, I can camouflage the difference in height (the TE is riding higher than the native) quite well and projection is pretty even.  That makes my current situation much easier than yours to deal with.  I can actually wear some of my old swimsuits and not look too bad.

I share your thoughts on the follow ups on the native breast, and concerns about natural aging taking it's toll and also hope I didn't make the wrong decision.  I just didn't have anything at the time I was diagnosed that justified the BMX.  I'm 62, and may have felt differently if I was younger. 

All in all, I've been looking at it this way.  If this PS doesn't do a good job of matching the reduced native breast, there are other plastic surgeons.  I believe he can do it, but I have options if he doesn't.  I can still make the decision in the future to have a prophylactic mastectomy on the left side if I'm unhappy with all the follow up or feel insecure about trusting the results.  I had confirmed this with my BS.  None of these surgeries would be as big as the one I already had.  The decisions I made when I was diagnosed were the best I could do with what I knew at the time, and while I don't want more surgeries, my options are still open.

It's a very tough decision to make when your diagnosed, and like you, I wonder if I should have done the BMX, but I can still go there if that's what I decide in the future.  I also wondered about my PS's decision to do the lift and reduction at the time of UMX because everybody else's PS does it as yours is, but it has made this interim time much easier, and if he does a good match, I'll be very glad he did it that way.

I'm always here if you need an ear.  

UNIs United!