Exchange City

I hear you Rachel. Maybe others that have been through chemo will chime in too. And please don't think I was inferring you were making a bad decision either. I"m not . We are all here to look out for each other. You may do just fine. I trust my PS and he flat out said he would not touch me b4 6 weeks. At 6 weeks he would have done it if I insisted. I just can't do that because to some degree he is the boss. It just seemed right to wait as bad as I wanted this behind me. I'm sure he is basing this off previous experience. I'm thinking it's because chemo has a cumulative effect and the further out you are probably decreases the chances of infection. He is also one that wont do fills during chemo. It was hard for me to wait because I breezed through chemo. If you proceed maybe you can ask for an extra lab draw a day or 2 before to be sure your counts are still good? We are in this together girl!

I have my exchange, fat grafting, and port removal next Wednesday. It will be 7 weeks post chemo. The breast surgeon, oncologist, and plastic surgeon all prefer to wait 6 weeks after chemo. Throughout this entire process, I’ve been surprised at how doctors have such varying opinions on every step of the treatment

Scrafgal, my PS said mastectomy with expander placement has about a 10% infection rate, whereas the exchange surgery is about 1%. Again, different doctors and such different opinions. It has made each decision so stressful, not knowing if there is a definitive “right” answer

Deb, I didn’t have drains, even with gummies. He said there was the smallest chance I could have them, but it wasn’t necessary. I only had drains in for 6 days with bmx. I too chose spring break for my ex. We get 2 weeks so I had plenty of time. Just like others said, no lifting, pulling, pushing etc for at least 2 weeks. I had some pocket work on one side but not too bad.

Remember, “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should “. Be careful! You don’t want to disturb anything. Follow your doctor ‘s orders to the “T”. It is easy to do too much.

I wore s soft front close bra, no underwire, 24/7 for a long time. It just felt better to keep them put.

Take care,

Robin

Good morning! Exchange is over and feeling pretty good. Thanks Rachel, I need to look into a more supportive bra in the next few days. Never did find the "perfect" one even after my mastectomy. I love your quote about not doing just because we can. Everything went well. I believe I have a 450 high profile round mentor implants. I peeked briefly lol pretty bruised. My belly is REALLY bruised from the fat grafting but he warned me. Can't wait to see how it looks by the weekend lol. I look 4 months pregnant even with my spanx on. My surgery went 3 hours. Reason being I'm relatively thin and he mentioned its tedious work to lipo and collect the amount of filtered fat needed. He managed to get what he needed but I will count the holes and let u know! . I believe there is a suture in each one. Like others said I feel like I've been punched HARD. More of a soreness than pain and way easier than mastectomy in my opinion. Just walked a slow mile and a half around the block but it felt good. Plan on a few cat naps today. Not looking forward to 4 weeks of spanx in August. I got the ones for just the belly area. Maggie, Best wishes to you too!!

Sometimes, to give your skin time to adapt to the size of the fill volume...

Mine waited 5 weeks which she acknowledged was quick but but she was changing practices and I was only filled to 330.

I'm asking because my PS wants to do exchange right after my last fill, reason is their practice won't do radiation if you have te's in only after the exchange and I need to start my radiation asap but I have to have an axillary node surgery first, it's a mess.

Debsmisto, My PS preferred doing the exchange before radiation as well, so I did my exchange four weeks after chemo and about 6 weeks after last fill. He said he prefers not to operate on radiated skin due to healing issues, so if I was able to delay starting radiation by a couple weeks, then he would rather do the exchange. I talked to my oncologists, and they felt the timing was fine, so that's what we did.

No, I don't think grafting will help that. It will help hide ripples and fill in the upper poles or other places that need more coverage. 

Hi Skiboots!

As ReadyAbout mentioned, prepec is a good solution for animation deformity if you are a good candidate. I had it done. My exchange from the tissue expanders to the implants was July 3. I have no animation deformity. I do not think fat grafting with sub pectoral would help with at all with animation deformity. Good luck!

Skiboots- I talked with two PSs at my Kaiser's Plastic Surgeon dept--one who only does pre-pec and the other who only (so far) does traditional. Both said that fat grafting will not fix animation. This is why I am strongly considering having my implants re-done. I have rippling, plus my right implant is moving over into my underarm, plus I have terrible animation. They both said pre-pec is the way to go. I wish I'd lived here (near my current Kaiser) when I had my exchange b/c I would've just done pre-pec. Now I need to have it done all over again b/c of the animation issue. Both PSs told me that a switch of my implants to pre-pec was the way to resolve it. Also, I don't have too much fat for grafting anyway.

I agree with checking out the pre-pec thread-- you might find it helpful.

minute, I'm sorry you may be looking at another surgery but you need to be happy. I can't imagine dealing with all that animation even when trying to open a jar. I'm 5 days out from pre pec exchange. Still bruised and swollen. I also don't have much fat to transfer but he needed some to target certain areas to get the best cosmetic outcome. As an active person I just couldn't go with subpec. Even if it's not perfect due to my "thinness" i will take function over look any day. Best of luck to you. So frustrating I'm sure

Two days ago, I just had my exchange surgery with fat grafting and chemo port removal.  I can echo what so many others have said about the surgery. The donor sites for the fat are much more uncomfortable, swollen, and bruised than the actual implant incisions.  I can't comment on nipple reconstruction and the associated pain with that procedure.

Anyone told to stop Tamoxifen before exchange surgery? Mine is coming up and no doctor has told me to stop. But my PS office is very disorganized so this is a ball they would totally drop.