(Article) A Few Words About Fake Breasts
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Hi @Vangirl, yes I had a left Latissimus Dorsi flap reconstruction and a right reduction to make them more even. It was a pretty painful process, but worth it. I’m still waiting to get the nipple tattoo. Am almost there after a few years of surgery.1
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and an implant with the LD recon0
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@Rose18 It's a weird thing eh, to go though a lot of pain and suffering for something that you're not especially happy with, that is substantially sub-optimal compared with what you had before... yet still be pleased and grateful for it.
Like @Vangirl I am so helped by walking this path with people who understand here. K xox1 -
I'm in touch with another breast cancer patient away from this site who is really struggling with her reconstruction options at the moment. She has larger sized breasts with wear and tear from breast feeding so she is worried her reconstructed breast won't match the other side. She is frustrated that her surgeons are saying that her multiple tumours cannot be removed individually by lumpectomy and her only choices are full mastectomy, with or without implant or DIEP.
I got the feeling when we spoke that she really wants is what I'm guessing we all yearn for, which is to be told, 'guess what, we don't have to take off your breast after all'.
Even my oncologist doesn't understand why I'm so tense about the prospect of the surgery. I couldn't explain it to him, other than to say I wanted there to be an option C, which doesn't involve cutting off any of my body parts!
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For me, any feelings of attachment to my breasts took a hike when I reset my mind from their previous esteemed positions of having been the source of much fun and also hard work on the lactation front, (total 4 years 5 months). I now looked upon them as potential killers. Much like if I'd lived next door, for many years, to a funny, somewhat 'different', quirky avuncular chappie, who I had now learned was in fact a rapist and was also suspected of murder. I guess I would no longer chat over the fence to him, nor invite him round for a family barbeque. My left breast, was well down the road, stage 3 grade 3 and the right was going feral and so the decision was very clear for me. Yes, I miss them, yes that part of my life will never return, but f**k - a - duck...I'm still here, although rather buggered and bent.
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I still don't know about reconstruction and the surgeon won't consider it until next year. The cost aside (ha!), on one hand I would love to go back to some sort of normal without special bras and prosthetics and to be able to wear what I wanted, braless as I prefer if I'm not trying to look respectable. On the other hand, the thought of more surgery and major at that as it would be some sort of flap surgery and the prospect of it not looking "right" after all of that, leaves me feeling sick and slightly anxious. I hate f*&#ing cancer! Bring on option 3!
@vangirl I too always thought it would be the right one that went bad on me - my second child was never impressed with that one during feeding, and it was also the one that got most tender pre-period time, but apparently those signs don't mean anything (until they discover they do, perhaps).0 -
kmakm said:@Rose18 It's a weird thing eh, to go though a lot of pain and suffering for something that you're not especially happy with, that is substantially sub-optimal compared with what you had before... yet still be pleased and grateful for it.
Wow, I read this and thought, bloody hell this basically sums up my life now! xx2 -
@AllyJay it's not your boobs you've got to look out for, how about those immune cells?
https://youtu.be/IvyJKrx5Xmw
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@Vangirl , indeed, I have a realistic awareness that Feral cells have set up shop elsewhere, and will reveal themselves in time. However, I have done all that I could to extend my life on the cancer front. The Cosmic Gods have, however tossed many other cards on the table for me, including three autoimmune diseases which overlap, and any or all which have a mortality rate within ten years of more than 40%. The latest shitty card dealt was a wonderful cerebral aneurysm in my internal carotid artery. 7 - 11% chance I'll cark it on the table during surgery and a 3 in 7 chance if I survive the chopping, that I'll be left severely brain injured. Blindness, stroke, incontinence, inability to speak some of the more charming possible consequences. I live one day at a time.
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The whole reconstruction thing is so fraught. It's a deeply personal decision which sometimes does get made in haste.
I've got what I call the Frankentitties which have given me nothing but grief in the last 11 years. I was only 43 when I had to decide what to do and, unlike now, there was very little in the way of anecdotal advice about the risks and varied results. My options, because of my location and personal circumstances, limited what was possible for me and once I was on the cancer train there was no time for reflection or research. Would I have made different choices if I had the amount of information now available? Probably not. I think we are geared to hope we will be one of the success stories, that we will be the person who has a good outcome and moves on.
I also think it pays to understand that people who are unhappy are more likely to be vocal than those who are satisfied. We hear the hard luck stories in greater numbers than the good luck ones. Yes, there are indicators of risk that should be better investigated and used to inform decisions, but luck seems to be the thing that tips the scales.
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