Expander question

Hi Jan! I was in the same
Hi Jan! I was in the same boat. I had a bilateral in August and then got expanders put in on May 10th. Of course due to not having the procedure done at the same time I didn't have extra skin that could have been salvaged. I was totally flat chested and the skin was tight. The expanders are very hard. The surgeon started me with 180cc's, then the following week, still with stitches and dressing I got 60cc's. OUCH! My 3 week follow up I was to get all dressings off and stitches out and a fill of 120cc's. Well, I did get the dressings off and stitches out of the left but I had some weeping from the right so the ps wanted to wait another week for the right to heal more with the stitches in and she did not do a fill at all. So, on Tuesday I'll get another fill. Anyway, they are very, very hard. It does hurt because the skin is stretching. I also had to wear an ace bandage of sorts wrapped twice around right under my arm pits for 3 weeks. This kept the expanders down in the pocket. You also cannot lift your arms over your head for awhile. I still really haven't. As time has passed the skin has stretched and is now not saggy...but looks normal and I can tell the stretching is over and ready for another go. As one of my bc survivor friends explained it to me....it feels like you are wearing and iron bra under your skin. I'm sure you'll be on muscle spasm med, pain med, antibiotic, and I was also prescribed and anti itch and nausea med. About the sleeping...pretty much back to when you had the mastectomy...on the back. Just the past couple of nights I have finally been able to lay on my side. Hey....no drains though! That's a big plus! Hope all goes well! Keep us posted!

JanInMN said:

Thanks so much for your
Thanks so much for your reply! :-). My PS said recovery would be 2 weeks. Was that your experience? I don't plan to be lifting things or even raising my hands above my head for even longer than that. I just hope I can go back to work, even if it is with restrictions. One more question...What do you wear for a "bra" after you get past the ace bandage stage?
Hugs!
jan

My ps office sold me a
My ps office sold me a couple of bras. I don't care for them and they were $25.00 each. And I was told to wear the bra and the ace. So, I went from no bra for 9 months to wearing a bra. Just like puberty....I didn't like it then and I don't like it now....but I'm getting used to the bra again. The bra has like 4 or 5 hooks in the front and back. You'll need a front hook bra for awhile as you heal so you can get it off and on yourself. I am still wearing these bras I don't like but I've decided after my next fill I am going to Target or somewhere and getting a different kind.

Expander Question
Jan- I currently have expanders after NSM in March. I think the expanders were the thing I was most unprepared for by my doctors. I kind of thought it would be like implants they would pump up every week or so. Not so! They are rock hard and as you do your expansions your boobs become rock hard as well. It's not intolerable just unexpected I guess. As far as sleeping on your stomach- highly unlikely. A lot of women can't even sleep on their sides. The fills are fine for some people and difficult for others. I fell into the difficult category until I had my PS prescribe a muscle relaxant called Flerile (sp?). After that I had no problem whatsoever.

The bra thing can be kind of challenging. It kind of depends on your expander and your body. I've seen some women be able to wear a regular bra and they have cleavage and everything. Others, like me, the tissue expander creates a very strange shape and the breasts are kind of far apart from each other. No bra, even sports bras, were comfortable so I just didn't wear one.

One thing I never knew, but I'd seen a lot of women advise, is to talk to your PS about what you want your final result to be. This will determine what size and type of expander they place. My PS never did that and I think my TE is way too wide for my body. I wish I had found these sites before my surgery. I would have done things differently with my PS. I am having my TE removed on 6/29 and getting my implants. Cannot wait!!!

expanders
I had just one breast removed and an expander put in, to me it's very uncomfortable. Feels like just a big hard "thing" in my breast, now it has so fluid build up, which is worse. My PS said its okay for now,until I am done with chemotherapy. Honestly I wish I hadn't done the expander but then he felt reconstruction later on would be harder to do. I am a side sleeper but now have to sleep on my back and my surgery was 5/3/2010

Isabel

rm22111 said:

Expanders
I had my expanders put in at the same time I had my masectomies. I was hugging my 18 year old daughter the other day and she said I was hurting her. Now we joke and call my expanders boobs of steel. We now do the side hug thing. To me I feel like I have really worked out a lot and have strong pecks.
I can not sleep on my stomach, but I can sleep on my side for a while with extra pillow support.
rm22111

My TE's were put in at the
My TE's were put in at the same time as my bilateral Mx in Feb. I have had 5 fills as of now,and when they are first filled, you should find alot of the discomfort should ease up.
When they are empty,they can move around and rub a little,but as they get filled,they become more secure.

Yes it can hurt to get filled.I've had a mixture#some were ok,some hurt like hell.But its short lived. As soon as the skin and pec muscle start to loosen up,the pain eases.
Get a stock of pain med's and muscle relaxents in!

You may find it helpful to take some pain med's and a muscle relaxant (Flexirile) about 45 mins before and expansion.And then take them regularly for the next 24-48 hours.

If you are in severe pain when they've filled you,you can always ask them to take a little bit out.It may be harder with you not having the TE's put in at time of Mx,as now the skin will have healed down to your chest so lifting it again will be a little harder.

It will be worth it in the end!!! =D

I would speak to your PS about some physio exercises also,as the sooner you start them,the sooner you'll get your range of movement back.This is real important.

My PS had me start physio stretching the day after my BMx! I put a list of physio up on here on another thread but i will find it and bump it up. Do ask your PS first though.I did as i was told and i have 100% movement back in my arms now.I also stretch out the skin across my chest directly after my fills. If it feels tight,raise your arms slightly and push back your shoulders like you would if you stretched and yawned. Hold it a few seconds then when you let it go,the relief is instant. It helps the skin loosen up quicker after the fill also.

I had bilateral mast March
I had bilateral mast March 26th with expanders. My first fill was 1 week after surery, and have gone weekly since then. I did skip a week just before my last fill. Stretch marks were appearing so the wait was good. They are very hard, and spaced too far apart, my arms bump into them. I will have my pre-surgical appointment June 23rd, and will fine tune how I want them to appear, and which implants I want, there are lots of different ones to choose from. I am scheduled for surgery to replace them with the real ones July 6th. It is day surgery, and only 2 weeks recovery time. Then wait 2 months for nipples, then 2 months again for tattoos. The expanders are uncomfortable the day of, and the next day, but advil or tylenol seemed to work fine. I did get pretty severe back aches, but those have also subsided. I am a side sleeper and have always done fine, no problems. I am glad I chose this route, it is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. And hey, no bra is a plus. Good luck on your upcoming surgery, You'll do great!

youngnana said:

I had bilateral mast March
I had bilateral mast March 26th with expanders. My first fill was 1 week after surery, and have gone weekly since then. I did skip a week just before my last fill. Stretch marks were appearing so the wait was good. They are very hard, and spaced too far apart, my arms bump into them. I will have my pre-surgical appointment June 23rd, and will fine tune how I want them to appear, and which implants I want, there are lots of different ones to choose from. I am scheduled for surgery to replace them with the real ones July 6th. It is day surgery, and only 2 weeks recovery time. Then wait 2 months for nipples, then 2 months again for tattoos. The expanders are uncomfortable the day of, and the next day, but advil or tylenol seemed to work fine. I did get pretty severe back aches, but those have also subsided. I am a side sleeper and have always done fine, no problems. I am glad I chose this route, it is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. And hey, no bra is a plus. Good luck on your upcoming surgery, You'll do great!

good lord there is so much to figure out about all this.
I've been thinking I don't want any more to deal with so I was leaning towards no reconstruction at all, but I am curious somewhat.

When do you have the radiation if you have these expanders in you? Wouldn't they be in the way? Or does it not matter if thery're in you?

When do you say "that's it they're big enough", who decides you or the doctor?

Do they take these extenders out and then put something in their place and that becomes your new boobs?

And last but not least, do you still get mamograms following all this?

uuugghhh how are we supposed to make choices when this is so overwhelming?

Ladies have a great day! Love Ronda

Christine Louise said:

Some expander info
I can't answer about the radiation, since I didn't have it. I'll bet someone will answer. Also, in the upper right of the "page" you can search for a subject. (The resulting list has the oldest threads first, by the way.) You might type in something like "Expanders and Radiation."

You decide when they're big enough. There is still lots of unfilled room in my expanders, but I chose to stay small like I was before. There are limits on how large you can go, however. There's only so much skin to stretch, especially if you were smallish before surgery and/or if a lot of skin was removed during surgery. If you get expanders, ask the plastic surgeon if you need to get filled bigger than you actually want, because some make the expanded "pocket" bigger than the final implant.

Surgeons seem to have different requirements on how long the expanders need to stay before they can be exchanged for permanent implants. Several months, anyway. My expanders were put in during my mastectomy. After the breast surgeon removed one breast, the plastic surgeon started expander placement while breast surgeon did the second breast, working side by side. That was end of January. Chemo delayed my exchange to implants only a little. That will be in early July. About five months.

Implants aren't actually considered "permanent." They say you should expect to get replacements, but I don't know how many years -- lots, though.

I will not get mammograms anymore because my implants can't be compressed in the machine. I'll do self-checks and so will the doctor during follow-up office visits. She didn't mention MRIs. Maybe someone else knows.

Thanks Christine
Okay and now I know this isn't for me. shudder to think about it. I think I've got enough on my plate for now, one thing at a time.

Happy thoughts everyone, love Ronda

Expander question
Hello,

My experience with the expanders were:

- My chest hurt constantly due to the expanders being underneath the chest muscle.
- Could not sleep on the stomach.
- My upper back hurt all the time because of the chest muscle being pulled.

I had so much pain that I decided against the implants. After the chemotherapy treatments, I had surgery to remove the chemo port, so I requested to have the expanders removed as well. I feel so much better now without the expanders. The prosthesis are wonderful. I was told that the Implants were softer than the Expanders, but to me they are still a foreign object. I was in so much pain with the expanders that I did not want to go through with the implants. The pain was not worth it for me.

My recommendation: Please visit the Plastic Surgeon office and ask to see the Expanders and the Implant. You would want to touch them and imagine how they would feel under your skin to help you make your decision. I wish I had asked to see the items before my surgery.

Good luck with your decision and I wish you the very best.

Sincerely,

Trang