Exchange City

I'd say for a young 'un like you, maybe a week for a basic blow out. Maybe 2 weeks if you want to get fancy. Have a great exchange AND a great semester!

I'm going in for exchange surgery tomorrow. Eight long months and getting FG same time. For some reason I'm more nervous than my bmx. I don't know why. I have this vision that he's gonna make an incision and the things are gonna bust wide open and confetti is gonna pop out or something. My chest is so tight!

Ringelle- I'm so sorry you had to take a bunch of steps backwards. This whole things just stinks. Have you found out anything today?

Bet

Beth, wishing you a successful surgery and peaceful recovery!!

BethL, I hope the surgery is behind you already and you are doing fabulously well. I'm also hoping no confetti popped out during surgery - I must admit this visual just cracked me up.

Hi JCS,

I had silicone implants put in. I didn't have to have any fat grafting with mine. I was off work a total of 10 days (7 work days) and I probably could have went back sooner because I have a desk job. The exchange surgery for me was the easiest part of this whole journey and it feels so good to get those expanders out! Good luck

JCS28 - I have had fat grafting done four times. The degree of pain is directly associated to the quantity of fat harvested. I have had C-sections and an abdominal hyst/ooph and FG pain was different for me in that it hurt when I got up or down, but did not hurt once I was up and moving or laying or sitting. I found that wearing compression on the donor site helped also, but did smart a bit when putting the garment on or taking it off. If you have the fat taken from the abdomen I would suggest using a compression garment with a snap crotch - much more comfortable than pulling it off each time you need to use the bathroom! After a few days, to a week or so, it felt like I had done too many sit-ups and the more intense discomfort on rising or sitting was gone, even with the largest volume FG.

exchange went well yesterday. My expanders were 670 and I told him they were too big. So he put in 600cc silicone and lots of fat grafting. Said anything smaller in the pockets that was expanded so much might float a little. Glad he didn't go smaller! They seem so small in comparisonbut I'm happier than I was with the bricks in.

I saw ps today and my chest is very red so I'm now on bactrim. He thinks it's just from the grafting so I'm not too worried. My chest doesn't hurt that bad, just upper pecs which both have sutures (assuming that's where he went in for the grafting). He said he inhected me with nesprel? I could have that wrong but it's an anesthetic that lasts for up to 3 days. It must be working. I hurt only where he didn't put it. Belly is sore. From what I can find there are 4 spots where he took the fat. One of the sites leaked a lot but is better now. I've got my spanx on!

I can't wait to see the results after the bruising and swelling go away! Was nice not to wake up with a chest spasms.

thank you special! I googled it and didn't realize it's bupivicaine. Didn't realize it could be given like that. When I had my bmx, they put it in my epidural and I was great until the catheter fell out. Certainly didn't last long then.

I've had laprascopic oopherectomy and I think they (FG compare. But neither was near be as bad as a c-section.

Mominator -- oh goodness, no. I was only out of work for 1 week with the laproscopic ovary removal. I was really back to normal by about 10 days. I only had one done. The pain was a little different than the C-section (a little higher), but it healed so much more quickly. I needed the full 6 weeks for both C-sections.

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I have a mostly desk job and can take it easy and even work part days if I need to. I'm going to plan for 2 weeks off work but hope to come back after 1 or 1.5. I am having surgery on a Friday, so hopefully that full week with 2 weekends will get me far into the recovery. But my doctor said it's the fat grafting from the abdomen that will be the most sore. UGH.

I had nipple reconstruction a week ago and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how realistic they made my reconstructed breasts appear....for some reason I hadn't expected it to make such a difference as I was fairly content with everything before. They seem to be a perfect size so I'm a little worried they will flatten too much as they heal because they didn't start out as swollen or big as they had warned me they would be. They gave me some rings made out of coban to place over them under my bra so nothing rubs on them but I'm worried my bra might be a smidge snug and pressing on the rings a bit too much (seems to leave a slight indent on one side)....although they wanted the bra snug enough that it would hold the rings in place. They said I only needed to do this for 2 weeks...

Hi Ladies - I haven't been here in awhile - had my exchange surgery on March 8th and I am going back for corrective surgery in November. My mast. side is higher and smaller than my other side. Part of my issue is I had radiation that left a lot of scar tissue. So that side is very stiff and hard. Not at all what I expected but not much I can do about it. So PS is going to give me a lift on the other side and take out some of the saline in the small implant that he put in to give me a more "even look".

I did find a great local place that sells bras for mastectomy patients - thankfully! So with my new bras I look perfectly even and normal. But without I am definitely lopsided. I am disappointed but it could be worse. Hopefully corrective surgery will be an easier recover than exchange since it is only the one side. I found the mast./radiation side took a lot longer to heal.

BethL, I feel for you! When I had surgery in June I think my PS said the patch was good for 3 days. Maybe the patch med has worn off and that's why you feel sick. Better that than an illness. Hope you feel better soon!

BethL - call your surgeon and ask them to call you in some oral Zofran to your pharmacy - if it worked for you after surgery, it should calm your nausea now regardless of the cause. Beware though - it can cause a wicked headache.

The Scopolamine patch is a 72 hour med, it should be removed at that point. While the patch is on you should not touch it and then touch your eyes, you can have blurred vision afterward, but it usually resolves relatively quickly.

BethL - do you think the headache was from the Scopolamine or the Zofran? If you got the Zofran IV you may have gotten a larger dose, and they may have given you more during surgery. I read both my surgical and anesthesiology reports from my most recent surgery in May and even though I expressly asked not to have Zofran, they gave it to me after I was asleep. Twice. It doesn't work for me and gives me the awful headache. Maybe try a BRAT (bananas rice apple toast) diet, that helped me during chemo.