after Rad.skin & muscle care (have expanders)

rm22111
rm22111 Member Posts: 54
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I currently have expanders in on both sides. I am currently having radiation on just the left side. I will be able to get my implants put in next summer. So, I will be living with the iron bra for over a year. What have people heard from their doctors for the best way to care for the skin and muscles after radiation until the exchange. I would like to do what I can to help the skin and muscle heal well so that the implant exchange goes well. I currently am drinking protein shakes once a day and I also am drinking a glass of Juven( a poweder mixed with water suggested to me by my radiologist for wound healing) If finish radiation next week. Should I also be doing some excersise to help with the muscles. I see my radiation doc. today I will ask him. My plastic surgeon has said he will go thru the scar area to put in the implants so that I do not have another scar, but I wonder if it would be better going thru unscared skin if it has had radiation to it. Any info would be helpful.

rm22111

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  • greyhoundluvr
    greyhoundluvr Member Posts: 402
    #2
    rm22111
    It sounds like you are ahead of me so you may have more info than I do (but I did want to at least say congrats on being almost done with rads). I know from what I have seen on here that the timing of the exchange surgery after rads is an area where the PS's seem to differ greatly. My PS said the same as yours - that he would go back in through the same incision. I know he can't go under the prosthesis because he built shelf there to hold the prosthesis in place. Barring any unforseen problems (fingers crossed), I should be done with rads the end of August. My plastic surgeon says that if all goes well, we can do the surgery at 3 months and if there are complications, it would be 4-6 months. He hasn't mentioned any special care other than to keep my skin in as good a condition as possible during and after the radiation. Good luck!
  • rm22111
    rm22111 Member Posts: 54
    #3
    greyhoundluvr said:

    rm22111
    It sounds like you are ahead of me so you may have more info than I do (but I did want to at least say congrats on being almost done with rads). I know from what I have seen on here that the timing of the exchange surgery after rads is an area where the PS's seem to differ greatly. My PS said the same as yours - that he would go back in through the same incision. I know he can't go under the prosthesis because he built shelf there to hold the prosthesis in place. Barring any unforseen problems (fingers crossed), I should be done with rads the end of August. My plastic surgeon says that if all goes well, we can do the surgery at 3 months and if there are complications, it would be 4-6 months. He hasn't mentioned any special care other than to keep my skin in as good a condition as possible during and after the radiation. Good luck!

    update
    I talked with my radiation doctor and he said it is important to eat well to help your skin and muscles to heal. He said that it is important that the plastic surgeon does not put an implant in that puts a lot of pressure on the incision area. That is why they like to over expand with the expanders and then put in a smaller implant. I was not able to be expanded as much as I was hoping. My plastic surgeon was concerned that my skin was looking thin. So, we stopped doing the fills. My plastic surgeon wants me to wait for 10 months to do the exchange. I mentioned that I had read that a lot of people on this sight were having it done after 3 months. He says that if I wait longer I will have less complications. So, I will wait because I do not want to have any complications.

    rm22111

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