choosing reconstruction after chemo and complications.
Hi everyone, please excuse if you've seen this in choosing reconstruction. Cosette suggested a wider audience here.
Any wisdom and experiences appreciated.
I'm in the middle of chemo right now.
Diagnosed August - carcinoma of (L) breast with pagets, stage 2, grade 3, 2 sentinel nodes (-), Her2 +.
Had (L) skin sparing mastectomy (nipple gone) with immediate reconstruction with tissue expander and intention to follow with implant and reduction of (R) breast for symmetry.
I had complications with continual Seroma and ++ drainage weekly.
Had top ups in expander and then 6 weeks post surgery and in week 2 of AC, low immunity, had cellulitis of breast, Seroma, and hospitalised for a week on IV AB's. My plastic surgeon and Oncologist suggested back to surgery for a cleanse and possible removal of expander depending on what presented at the time.
As it turned out, expander was removed. Swabs were NAD.
i am week 4 of Taxol and Herceptin now and have just had a change of plan.
Decided to move ahead - 8 weeks after chemo with (R) prophylactic mastectomy also, due to grade pathology and wanting to remove as much risk as possible, with bilateral reco with expanders for future implants.
l'm fretting that I still have some tethering of the (L) site skin pouch to my chest wall since expander removal and hope that will not affect the outcome.
My surgeon also suggested possibility of skipping the expanders and going ahead with the implants, given skin spare.?
Would like to hear if anyone else has encountered any of these complications and how they have been able to continue on and reach the 2 new breast goal?
Thanks all for sharing too.
Great support here.
A.
Any wisdom and experiences appreciated.
I'm in the middle of chemo right now.
Diagnosed August - carcinoma of (L) breast with pagets, stage 2, grade 3, 2 sentinel nodes (-), Her2 +.
Had (L) skin sparing mastectomy (nipple gone) with immediate reconstruction with tissue expander and intention to follow with implant and reduction of (R) breast for symmetry.
I had complications with continual Seroma and ++ drainage weekly.
Had top ups in expander and then 6 weeks post surgery and in week 2 of AC, low immunity, had cellulitis of breast, Seroma, and hospitalised for a week on IV AB's. My plastic surgeon and Oncologist suggested back to surgery for a cleanse and possible removal of expander depending on what presented at the time.
As it turned out, expander was removed. Swabs were NAD.
i am week 4 of Taxol and Herceptin now and have just had a change of plan.
Decided to move ahead - 8 weeks after chemo with (R) prophylactic mastectomy also, due to grade pathology and wanting to remove as much risk as possible, with bilateral reco with expanders for future implants.
l'm fretting that I still have some tethering of the (L) site skin pouch to my chest wall since expander removal and hope that will not affect the outcome.
My surgeon also suggested possibility of skipping the expanders and going ahead with the implants, given skin spare.?
Would like to hear if anyone else has encountered any of these complications and how they have been able to continue on and reach the 2 new breast goal?
Thanks all for sharing too.
Great support here.
A.
