Interesting read for all and especially relevant to those with or considering implants.https://granta.com/a-few-words-about-fake-breasts/?src=longreads&utm_source=Longreads+Newsletters&utm_campaign=e00959e579-Longreads_Top_5_August_24_2018&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bd2ad42066-e00959e579-241364725&mc_cid=e00959e579&mc_eid=f4c4893e99

No agreed. I am aware others read the thread and think always important to have all the info. Agree ...I didn't want to be fussing with prosthesis either. Hense having immediate reconstruction and simplest procedure so not to delay my chemo.

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! xx

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.

A great article. Thanks so much for sharing !

It is pretty much the same regardless of reconstruction choices. I think this person still sounds angry. And the choice to remain flat also means no sensation to the chest. I'm sure the decisions without cancer but with a gene are much more complex in a lot of ways emotionally. Most people are unaware that reconstructed breasts don't include reconstruction of sensation, and most wouldn't think about it. And nipple sparing doesn't mean nipple sensation sparing either.Although implant enhancement is not remotely the same unles you start moving around nipples etc. That would all depend on surgery choices but generally the implant is under the pec muscles so the breast and it's sensations are still in tact.The mind is a poweful thing and yes memory can be retrieved to enhance sexuality. (Although I certainly didnt stand in front of a mirror pinching my nipples, I personally just retrieve moments of gentle lovemaking with the man I love) Interesting she didn't discuss phantom breast sensations. Those feelings make me feel my breasts are still there, regardles of what they are made of.I think it is a harsh view. Her view. But not the view of all.

(Article) A Few Words About Fake Breasts

Vangirl
Member
7 years ago
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!
kmakm
Member
7 years ago
@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 xox
Anonymous
7 years ago
and an implant with the LD recon
Anonymous
7 years ago
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.
Vangirl
Member
7 years ago
@Rose18 by which you mean Latissimus Dorsi flap?
Anonymous
7 years ago
I had a left LD reconstruction and it has transformed my life. I like looking down and having cleavage, and to feel like my old self. The operation was painful and the results are not entirely symmetrical, but coping with imperfection and scars is part of my post cancer life. I find the lack of sensation near the scars to the most upsetting part of having had cancer and I wish doctors would focus on it more. I would go through the pain and I accept all of the risks to be where I am today. I also respect everyone’s choice to reconstruct or not.
Vangirl
Member
7 years ago
Absolutely @primek Important to have input from the perspective of those who have already been there - like yourself and @kmakm

Everyone's experience will be different but I for one feel so lucky to be able to connect with women who have been there ahead of me. So hard to discuss the prospect or experience of losing our boob/s to those who haven't or will never go there!
primek
Member
7 years ago
No agreed. I am aware others read the thread and think always important to have all the info.
Agree ...I didn't want to be fussing with prosthesis either. Hense having immediate reconstruction and simplest procedure so not to delay my chemo.
Vangirl
Member
7 years ago
Thanks for the input @primek
There is no option for lumpectomy for me as the tumour is very big and my breast, not so much!

Also no option for implant because of the neoadjuvant radiotherapy.

So two 'choices': Diep flap boob or no boob at all. Didn't fancy mucking around with chicken fillets down my bra for the rest of my life so the decision was pretty straightforward.
primek
Member
7 years ago
I have some sensation on my breast skin but not at the areas where the cuts are. It's important to be well prepared that all procedures don't restore feeling in the breasts.

It is a sad part of this disease.
Although a lumpectomy for me would still have been loss of nipple so I doubt I would have had a better outcome.