delayed reconstruction

cahjah75

On my surgeon's advice I have decided to delay reconstruction. I will be having both chemo and rad after bilateral mastectomies. Has anyone ever changed their minds down the road and decided to just get protheses instead of more surgery???
Char

SamuraiMom

howdy
Hi Cahjah,

I am a survivor and so is my aunt.

She decided on prosthesis and honestly loves them.

Do what's best for you. Follow your heart.

XXOO,
SamuraiMom

MOrtiz0810

Hi, Cahjah,
It all depends
Hi, Cahjah,

It all depends on how you feel. I'm sure that if your Dr. suggest delaying the reconstructive surgery, it is for the best. I actually had the bilateral mastectomy along with the reconstructive surgery, which was about 7 hours in the Operating Room. I really didn't feel any pain during my time in the hospital, until the nurses asked me to start walking, which you really have to try to start walking after about a day in the hospital. I did have a minor complication in which a couple of areas were not healing properly, so I had to go back in for a second surgical procedure, and now I'm home recovering, but I really have not even felt much pain.

It's a tough decision to make, and one that we certainly never wanted to make in the first place, but listen to your body and make your decision based on what you truly believe will make you happy. I wish you all the best on your road to recovery

Ritzy

MOrtiz0810 said:

Hi, Cahjah,
It all depends
Hi, Cahjah,

It all depends on how you feel. I'm sure that if your Dr. suggest delaying the reconstructive surgery, it is for the best. I actually had the bilateral mastectomy along with the reconstructive surgery, which was about 7 hours in the Operating Room. I really didn't feel any pain during my time in the hospital, until the nurses asked me to start walking, which you really have to try to start walking after about a day in the hospital. I did have a minor complication in which a couple of areas were not healing properly, so I had to go back in for a second surgical procedure, and now I'm home recovering, but I really have not even felt much pain.

It's a tough decision to make, and one that we certainly never wanted to make in the first place, but listen to your body and make your decision based on what you truly believe will make you happy. I wish you all the best on your road to recovery

Hi Cahjah. I am sorry for
Hi Cahjah. I am sorry for the delay. But, I want to wish you good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Sue

cats_toy

choices
my aunt had a mastectomy, swore that she would get reconstruction as soon as she was able. Her doc told her she needed to quit smoking before they would consider doing it. She tried quitting, then decided she wasnt going through with the reconstruction.
I had a partial mastectomy, was perfectly happy leaving my lopsided booby exactly as it was (I even wrote a poem about it on my expressions page). When I had lumps under the radiated skin that all tests could only state "suspicious", I decided to have the lumps and radiated skin removed and do the reconstruction on the breast. There were issues with healing, etc. but I do not regret my decision. And, I did not start the reconstruction process until August of last year, which was two and a half years after my original BC surgery.
You have time, to decide either way. Use it to weigh all the pros and cons in your own life.
Good luck with whichever choice you make!
Cat

2Floridiansisters

Good morning cahjah
I'm kind of stuck right now, I want mine off and my surgeon wants me to see a plastic surgeon first before he's willing to remove them, he's such a compassionate man.........................let me tell ya.................NOT.

Personally I don't like him one bit but anyway I want to ask you why does your doctor want you to wait? I know that if I don't have immediate reconstruction then I'll never have it because with me I just want to deal with all this pain and healing ONE TIME.

I am expecting a phone call from the nurse telling me my when and where appointment and I'll go and hear him out then make my decision, I want breasts and I don't, I knid of like the idea of the prostheses, that way I won't have so much to deal with. They better have some good drugs for me..............

Good luck with whatever the future brings.

Love Ronda

sweetvickid

2Floridiansisters said:

Good morning cahjah
I'm kind of stuck right now, I want mine off and my surgeon wants me to see a plastic surgeon first before he's willing to remove them, he's such a compassionate man.........................let me tell ya.................NOT.

Personally I don't like him one bit but anyway I want to ask you why does your doctor want you to wait? I know that if I don't have immediate reconstruction then I'll never have it because with me I just want to deal with all this pain and healing ONE TIME.

I am expecting a phone call from the nurse telling me my when and where appointment and I'll go and hear him out then make my decision, I want breasts and I don't, I knid of like the idea of the prostheses, that way I won't have so much to deal with. They better have some good drugs for me..............

Good luck with whatever the future brings.

Love Ronda

is if she has any of the flap surgeries radiation could harm the tissue. After reasearching I decided not to do any reconstruction. Husband agreed with me that it seemed like an awful lot to go thru just to have a fake boob.

DebbyM

cats_toy said:

choices
my aunt had a mastectomy, swore that she would get reconstruction as soon as she was able. Her doc told her she needed to quit smoking before they would consider doing it. She tried quitting, then decided she wasnt going through with the reconstruction.
I had a partial mastectomy, was perfectly happy leaving my lopsided booby exactly as it was (I even wrote a poem about it on my expressions page). When I had lumps under the radiated skin that all tests could only state "suspicious", I decided to have the lumps and radiated skin removed and do the reconstruction on the breast. There were issues with healing, etc. but I do not regret my decision. And, I did not start the reconstruction process until August of last year, which was two and a half years after my original BC surgery.
You have time, to decide either way. Use it to weigh all the pros and cons in your own life.
Good luck with whichever choice you make!
Cat

Good luck with your
Good luck with your decision. Just take your time and weigh all of your options.

Hugs, Debby

Chickadee1955

sweetvickid said:

is if she has any of the flap surgeries radiation could harm the tissue. After reasearching I decided not to do any reconstruction. Husband agreed with me that it seemed like an awful lot to go thru just to have a fake boob.

I decided on delayed reconstruction.
My sister had BC and had immediate reconstruction at the same time as her bilateral mastectomy. She had some difficulties with healing, but is happy with her decision. I decided, for me, that I wanted to fight one battle at a time. I had surgery in April; I'll start chemo next week. My plastic surgeon told me it would be best to wait for about 6 months post-surgery for the optimum result, so that's what I'm planning to do.

I'm thinking about a tummy-tuck when the plastic surgeon is putting the expanders in!

greyhoundluvr

Cahjah75 -
I have seen it both ways. Some surgeons/PS want to do the delayed reconstruction and some are OK with putting the expanders in after the mastectomy. I have also seen women post that they just didn't want to go through another surgery when it came down to it and opted not to reconstruct. I had option #2, just finished chemo and will be starting rads. My expanders are in and fully inflated and my PS has over-inflated the left side where I will be getting radiation to account for any scarring. My radiation oncologist said they are seeing very little difficulty in getting the exchange surgery done after radiation now. My PS said we will wait a minimum of 3 months after radiation to do the surgery (I told him I wanted soft boobs for Christmas and he asked if I had talked to Santa about that). I don't think I would have done it differently but when I made the decision, chemo and rads weren't in the plan - a year with the expanders is OK but certainly not what I had envisioned. I think there are pros and cons both ways and like the others said, you will have plenty of time to decide what is best for you. Best wishes!

Chris

cahjah75

thanks
thanks for all of your comments. I actually have an appt with PS tomorrow morning to discuss what delayed reconstruction will entail. I've made an appt with boutique to get measured for a camisole to wear home from surgery. I'm buying 2 so I can wash one/wear one. They zip up the front and will have some boobs in them. I've already talked to the same woman who will fit me about 4-6 weeks post surgery for prostheses. I have good insurance that will pay 80% of them. So, I may just decide not to have more surgery afterall......
Char

Angie2U

cahjah75 said:

thanks
thanks for all of your comments. I actually have an appt with PS tomorrow morning to discuss what delayed reconstruction will entail. I've made an appt with boutique to get measured for a camisole to wear home from surgery. I'm buying 2 so I can wash one/wear one. They zip up the front and will have some boobs in them. I've already talked to the same woman who will fit me about 4-6 weeks post surgery for prostheses. I have good insurance that will pay 80% of them. So, I may just decide not to have more surgery afterall......
Char

Good luck to you Char in
Good luck to you Char in whatever you might decide to do!

Hugs, Angie

VickiSam

Angie2U said:

Good luck to you Char in
Good luck to you Char in whatever you might decide to do!

Hugs, Angie

Wow .. what a topic for discussion ..!!
It is so personal .. but more importantly -- YOUR'S to Make.

My surgeon and I decided on reconstruction right away .. I am glad we made that decision .. however, please note that I have had several bumps in the road with my expanders .. due to my aggressive chemo treatment .. 18 weeks - straight .. my body did not have ample time to heal .... so I have had some set backs .. staph infection, emergency surgery .. etc..

However, I would not change a thing.

Good LUCK!

VickiSam

Megan M

VickiSam said:

Wow .. what a topic for discussion ..!!
It is so personal .. but more importantly -- YOUR'S to Make.

My surgeon and I decided on reconstruction right away .. I am glad we made that decision .. however, please note that I have had several bumps in the road with my expanders .. due to my aggressive chemo treatment .. 18 weeks - straight .. my body did not have ample time to heal .... so I have had some set backs .. staph infection, emergency surgery .. etc..

However, I would not change a thing.

Good LUCK!

VickiSam

Sorry for the delay, but,
Sorry for the delay, but, maybe that is good. It will give you more time to think about what you want to do.

Good luck!

Hugs, Megan

Noel

cahjah75 said:

thanks
thanks for all of your comments. I actually have an appt with PS tomorrow morning to discuss what delayed reconstruction will entail. I've made an appt with boutique to get measured for a camisole to wear home from surgery. I'm buying 2 so I can wash one/wear one. They zip up the front and will have some boobs in them. I've already talked to the same woman who will fit me about 4-6 weeks post surgery for prostheses. I have good insurance that will pay 80% of them. So, I may just decide not to have more surgery afterall......
Char

Hi Char! Whatever decision
Hi Char! Whatever decision you make, just do what is best for you!

Glad you have good insurance. That is so important.


Good luck!

♥ Noel