Tit....anium clips.

AllyJay

Here is one picture of the titanium clips left on my right side after bilateral mastectomy in April. More under Metal Clips posting. I was shocked to find this on having an x ray for a crook shoulder. Was not told by anybody about this hardware being left in my body. These are just some of them....there are more...lots more.  Lost the tits and got the tit...(anium) instead.

Afraser

As far as I know there is very little evidence of those causing any adverse effects, but it's the not telling that rankles! I tend to be nosy and ask questions (it's my body after all) and that can result in worrying about some things that never happen, but it seems like a basic courtesy to me to at least explain what you are going to do and talk about how harmless it is before you do it. 

AllyJay

@Afraser, my point exactly.....it's not that they were used, it's that I was not told that they were used and will remain there. Titanium appears to be a safe option, that the older version had nickle as well, which caused problems in some. However, there is a small population of patients who can, in fact have an allergy to titanium, specifically those with autoimmune problems which put them at risk of their bodies over reacting to what, in others, would be seen as no threat by their bodies. That is, an inert substance not worthy of getting excited about. In my case, by body goes apeshit over essentially nothing, as a matter of course. I have scleroderma, Sjogren's Syndrome,and antiphospholipid antigen syndrome, as well as positive antibodies to lupus. All autoimmune diseases. I just feel that a heads up would have been appropriate, so that if at some point in the future, I manifested signs of some sort of allergy or whatever, it would have been on my radar that the clips might potentially be a cause.

Zoffiel

Hmmm. I'm full of them too after my last surgery. Had none at all when had both boobs off in 2006. I'm sure it's a brave new world, but given I have had zero success with dissolvable stitches--all the surface ones I've had in  six surgeries over the last year have had to be manually removed, sometimes months after the op--im wondering if they are better or easier. 

I was taught to build houses the old fashioned way. When you had to drive every nail in by hand, you were careful where you put them. Watching an apprentice with a nail gun these days gives me the willies. I'm wondering if the whole 'This is easy and you can't have too many' mentality has permeated to the theatre. And I'm pissed off I wasn't told. It not like I don't ask many questions.