Exchange City

LettyF - I sent you a private message with further details. I hope it helps!

Good Morning Sitti,

I'm glad you don't have a leak. I had my TE replacement surgery last Thursday morning and was out and back home a couple hours later with no drains and felt so much better. I could have totally returned to work Friday morning but took the day off and came back Monday morning. He was able to expand the left expander to 490ccs and get good closure and withdrew saline outta my right expander so now it has 550ccs as he said this will reduce pulling and things will be more symmetrical. I guess if I'm getting a couple fills on the left I can get a couple small ones on the right to get me back to the 685ccs. All went well, and I thank everyone for the well wishes. Just glad again that you don't have a leak and will have the real exchange soon. Best of wishes to you.

Hi all, sorry I missed a few questions, I was on vacation with my daughter and granddaughters. 2Fun, i was looking into SGAP or LGAP, the tissue comes from the butt or love handles. I can't have the DIEP (abdominal) due to prior abdominal surgery. BC101, I get what you are saying about the anatomicals being heavy as they are cohesive. My Inspiras are also cohesive, I think they are supposed to be the mose cohesive of all. They are heavy and very firm. When I hug people I feel self concious because it feels like they are hugging 2 rocks. I haven't asked if it feels like that to them, but it does to me.

Anyhow, the consult went well, the Hopkins ps was an absolute DOLL! So sweet. He looked at my implants, said he had never seen one flip before, grasped it in his hand and flipped it back right (Sunny side) up!! I told him my ps tried that but I made a noise of discomfort so he stopped. He actually was very complimentary of my ps, who trained at Uinv of MD and they had a combined program with Hopkins. He knows him and said my results were very very good. He advised I go back to my ps and have him just tighten the skin, keep the same implants, remove an internal stitch granuloma and do some fat grafting. He said the flap surgery I was considering is 10-12 hours in the OR, 3-4 days in the hospital, leaves a dent in your butt, and I would have much smaller boobs as I am not gifted with much in the butt to begin with lol.

I tell you, I was so relieved to have that implant flipped back over. And I left Hopkins with the biggest weight off my back. I don't have a surgery date for the revision yet, but have talked with my ps and he will do the fg at the same time as the pocket work. Now to find some ladies to talk with that have had revisions, possible downsizing, pocket tightening, fg so I have an idea what to expect!!

Good Morning Sitti,

I hope you're doing well. Your PS was probably serious. My PS does surgeries at my hospital on Wednesdays and he said I could totally come back to work the following Monday. He said it won't be much more than what he did last Thursday. He does any lipo and fat grafting at a later time (about 6 weeks) after implants if needed. Although the lipo sounds great (but its just a small amount they harvest) I'm hoping that I don't have to have that and will just have the 3D nipple tattoos left next Spring. Have a great day!

Experienced Exchangers:

I was just on the photo site looking at implants as I prepare for Exchange two weeks from today! Someone mentioned prepping for surgery and I thought: oh yes, gotta do all this again.

Any tips? I have Hibiclens, planning for clean sheets/towels, hand sanitizer and soaps all over the house (I have a 10 year old boy -- ha ha), extra pillows. Anything else I should plan for? I must have put BMX out of my mind because feel like I'm starting again.

I had a post-op infection the first time around so may be a bit more cautious.

Thanks!

Eastcoast - what is Hibiclens?

Hello TrmTab,

My faulty expander leaked saline when the needle was removed too, I guess from the pressure??? Anyway, I had my TE replacement follow-up this past Tuesday afternoon and everything looks good. I will start back with fills 9/5 and it should only take 2 fills to reach the 685ccs and then the change out to implant surgery 4 weeks after. I'm glad to be back on track and I won't miss bow season after all!!! Best wishes and have a great day!

Elkay, I have 800cc Silicone high profile, and at first I cried and thought they looked very odd a very square flat looking implant. However 4 months later they are actually rounding out and have more projection. I have managed to lose 22 lbs and so my belly isn't as big as it was right underneath my breast so I can tell that with every significant weight loss they're going to project more and look bigger and it is exactly the motivation I needed I was 5 foot 5 + 187 lb my goal is 140 then I will have really big TaTa's. Wait for it and try to loose some weight it made a big difference. My PS explained that us bodacious women have a much more difficult time having good projection from our implants due to the fact that they have to take so much more tissue away during our mastectomies. Good luck and I hope like me you will like yours soon!!

Linda (OG56) - you just made my day!!! I can see changes now but I suspected that in order to truly see results I needed to lose some weight!!! You just gave me the motivation I needed! Thank you so much for reaching out and I hope to stay in touch with everyone as I continue on this journey.

I would love to get updates on your continued success!! I will be thinking about you

Elkay

TrmTab, I would also leak out of the needle hole because the pressure was so great. The fluid could only go so far. I would get filled on Thursday, and be deflated over the weekend. Replacement surgery was fine though. My PS wanted to wait a full 6 months after max fill prior to exchange. I'm glad we did because I haven't had any troubles since;)

Good Morning EastcoastTS,

When I had my tissue expanders placed originally on May 3rd they did not do any blood work or an EKG as they did prior to the Mastectomy because they said they could use the previous since it had been recent. The morning of the exchange of a faulty expander they did an EKG in pre-op but no blood work while I was awake at least. I guess the time between surgeries, age, and hospital preference plays into protocol/procedures. Congratulations on getting your expanders changed out. Best wishes your way!!!!!

good luck east coast!

I have exchange on Sept 8...they used my Aug 7th blood work from the MO and I separately did an EKG...so I guess it is Dr's choice?

Hello wonderful ladies! I currently have tissue expanders and I am scheduled for my exchange surgery on 9/21. WhooHoo!!! I will also be having some pocket work done and a lot of fat grafting. (I had fat grafting with my mastectomy/expander placement too) Pain at the donor site was minimal however I looked really bruised, hoping for the same thing as this time they are taking from stomach. I had decided on Inspira silicone smooth round implants but my PS wanted to check into some other brands to see if any of them had more projection. I will find out at pre-op next week which she recommends.

I am trying to put together a list of questions I should ask at my pre-op. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,

DizzyGirl

Did you get sent home with any info? My PS sent me a 90 page (yes 90) packet of info via email.

Every surgeons recommendations are different. I would suggest calling your surgeon's office and getting everything answered before the end of the day today.

Happy healing!