Today has been one week since I had those pesky expanders removed and the gummy bears put in. I thought all would be perfect a week later, not so much. I still love the new "girls" however, I am so sore, bruised, tired, and the pressure in my chest is unreal. I had my one week post op appt yesterday, Dr. Saunders is out of town so I had to see one of his associates, lets just say I am glad I have Dr. Saunders. The doc came in looked at my chest and said everything is healing nicely. He moved the implant on the right side closer to the middle to give me "nice cleavage". After the expanders were completely filled the gap I had between my boobs was bad, I could literally fit a water bottle in between them. So, since he moved the right side over I am very bruised on that side. These implants are so much nicer than the expanders. I do feel as though there is an elephant standing on the middle of my chest. They told me that the pressure and tightness will last about two weeks, that I needed to remember someone was in there moving things around and placing two foregin objects into my body.
I asked the fill in doc yesterday if I could see exactly what was in my chest, she got one of the implants for me to hold. Holy crap! It was a large, heavy, squishy round blob. She said the "show" implant was only 600cc's so the one in my chest was 100cc's bigger. No wonder it hurts. I am in no way against people who decide to have implants placed but I do think they are a little on the crazy side. There is no way I would voluntarily put myself through this. As with everything else I have been through this year I am just going to take it one day at a time and heal from this surgery.
Anyway, I still have my stitches in, they can not come out until Monday. Just the thought of those things holding my skin together make me a little queasy.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Dr. Saunders and my new boobs
Yesterday, March 15th, I had my final surgery to have the tissue expanders ( or coconuts as my kids called them) replaced with my new high profile gel implants. It feels so good to have those uncomfortable expanders out. I was very nervous going into this final surgery, it was being done at the Limestone Medical Centers surgi suite. I really wanted to be in a hospital but Dr. Saunders does his surgeries there so I did trust him. Don't get me wrong I was very nervous and I cried A LOT ( shocker huh). Everyone told me it was very common to be more scared of this surgery. The last surgery served a purpose, to make cancer free, this one was just to get implants. I was told it would be a super easy surgery but I was still on edge. Next week marks the 1 year anniversary of all this and my anxiety level is high. Anyway, back to my boobs and Dr. Saunders.
I met with Dr. Saunders last week to go over everything and get the final size and implant information. The biggest implant that they make is 800cc's, my expanders were filled to 650cc's, I asked him if I could go bigger and he said he could pump the implant up to 700cc's since the muscle was stretched to fit a 650 implant. Now, 700cc's may seem like a lot and for a person with breast tissue getting this size it would be very big. I have no breast tissue so I am just implant muscle and skin, the new girls aren't that big. I should be a full C cup when all is said and done. These implants are wonderful, they are squishy, I feel normal again. The expanders were rock hard and they didn't move, making sleeping and pretty much everything else difficult. My doctor decided that since the original scars had healed so nicely he did not want to re-open them, instead he went under my boobs this time. He also fixed my Tori Spelling gap in my boobs. I feel so much better now.
Dr. Saunders was the plastic surgeon that I had always had in my mind from the beginning. I knew he was a great surgeon, he operated on my nephews eyebrow when he was 1. When Dr. Pahnke told me that he recommended him I knew it was going to be good. He is an extremely caring, compassionate, and talented man. He has thanked me for letting him be a part of this. Not to mention that he is pretty funny too.
When I arrived at the surgi center I was beyond nervous. I gave them my name and lost it. Thank God that we were the only people in there at 6:45am. Once I got back in the pre-op room, Ryan and my mom came back with me, I was able to calm down a little. I told the nurse that I was extremely nervous and was afraid that I would not wake up, she said "we haven't lost a patient yet". That's good. Everything seemed to be moving quickly, I figured since I was scheduled for so early in the morning my doctor would be late, he wasn't. He came in after about 5 minutes and said "ready", I told him I was very scared and asked if he would make sure I was ok. He bent down in front me to draw on my chest and he said " have I let you down yet" I said "no", he responded with " well I am not gonna start now". I started to feel a little better, after he left to get the OR ready, my anesthesiologist came in. He was super friendly and funny, everyone at Limestone was incredible. The doc started my IV and said he had something to make feel better, he gave me a shot of Versed. It took maybe 1 minute to kick in. After that I was pretty calm. The anesthesiologist said I had been through the worse and this was going to be simple. When it was time to go to the OR they brought me a wheel chair since I was a little unsteady. I said bye to Ry and my mom and off I went. I felt pretty good going into the OR this time, it didn't last long. As soon as I got in the OR I thought I was going to hyperventilate. I got up on the OR table and saw 2 anesthesiologist and Dr. Saunders. I layed myself down on the table and started crying, I remember I just kept saying " I wanna wake up, please make sure I wake up" Dr. Saunders was standing right next to me and I asked him to hold my hand until I was asleep. He said absolutely. He took my hand and told me I was going to be fine. They gave me another shot of Versed, then they brought over the "oxygen". They said "you are crying so hard we need to give you a little oxygen", I said "that is anesthesia not oxygen". He giggled and said just take a deep breath and relax. Next thing I knew I was opening my eyes and looking at Dr. Saunders. He was last person I saw before going to sleep and the first face I saw when I woke up. I looked at him and I just said "thank you". He said " I told you, you would wake up". Waking up from that crap is hard. You feel lost. After I was in recovery for a bit they said I could get dressed and go home. I was very nervous to see what it looked like. When I took the hospital gown off I was in complete shock! He did an AMAZING job. They are no were near as perky as the expanders, they are round and expand across my entire chest instead of just sitting there. I am very very happy with the results. They are an entire cup size smaller than my orginal boobs but I love them. Dr. Saunders really does a great job. I have to wear a sports bra for the next couple of weeks since I was cut underneath and to help squish them down so they don't rise up before they are healed.
I am so glad that I can put this behind me now. They are very sore today and itchy. I have an allergy to steri strips and tape but, he stitched, glued, and steri-stripped me, then covered me with gauze and tape. The two things I am allergic to, which is probably why I am itchy. Oh well, I can live with the itchiness over the expanders any day.
I am sorry if this post seems all over the place, I am jacked up on pills. I am going to rest now and let my new girlies heal. Thank you Dr. Saunders!!!!
I met with Dr. Saunders last week to go over everything and get the final size and implant information. The biggest implant that they make is 800cc's, my expanders were filled to 650cc's, I asked him if I could go bigger and he said he could pump the implant up to 700cc's since the muscle was stretched to fit a 650 implant. Now, 700cc's may seem like a lot and for a person with breast tissue getting this size it would be very big. I have no breast tissue so I am just implant muscle and skin, the new girls aren't that big. I should be a full C cup when all is said and done. These implants are wonderful, they are squishy, I feel normal again. The expanders were rock hard and they didn't move, making sleeping and pretty much everything else difficult. My doctor decided that since the original scars had healed so nicely he did not want to re-open them, instead he went under my boobs this time. He also fixed my Tori Spelling gap in my boobs. I feel so much better now.
Dr. Saunders was the plastic surgeon that I had always had in my mind from the beginning. I knew he was a great surgeon, he operated on my nephews eyebrow when he was 1. When Dr. Pahnke told me that he recommended him I knew it was going to be good. He is an extremely caring, compassionate, and talented man. He has thanked me for letting him be a part of this. Not to mention that he is pretty funny too.
When I arrived at the surgi center I was beyond nervous. I gave them my name and lost it. Thank God that we were the only people in there at 6:45am. Once I got back in the pre-op room, Ryan and my mom came back with me, I was able to calm down a little. I told the nurse that I was extremely nervous and was afraid that I would not wake up, she said "we haven't lost a patient yet". That's good. Everything seemed to be moving quickly, I figured since I was scheduled for so early in the morning my doctor would be late, he wasn't. He came in after about 5 minutes and said "ready", I told him I was very scared and asked if he would make sure I was ok. He bent down in front me to draw on my chest and he said " have I let you down yet" I said "no", he responded with " well I am not gonna start now". I started to feel a little better, after he left to get the OR ready, my anesthesiologist came in. He was super friendly and funny, everyone at Limestone was incredible. The doc started my IV and said he had something to make feel better, he gave me a shot of Versed. It took maybe 1 minute to kick in. After that I was pretty calm. The anesthesiologist said I had been through the worse and this was going to be simple. When it was time to go to the OR they brought me a wheel chair since I was a little unsteady. I said bye to Ry and my mom and off I went. I felt pretty good going into the OR this time, it didn't last long. As soon as I got in the OR I thought I was going to hyperventilate. I got up on the OR table and saw 2 anesthesiologist and Dr. Saunders. I layed myself down on the table and started crying, I remember I just kept saying " I wanna wake up, please make sure I wake up" Dr. Saunders was standing right next to me and I asked him to hold my hand until I was asleep. He said absolutely. He took my hand and told me I was going to be fine. They gave me another shot of Versed, then they brought over the "oxygen". They said "you are crying so hard we need to give you a little oxygen", I said "that is anesthesia not oxygen". He giggled and said just take a deep breath and relax. Next thing I knew I was opening my eyes and looking at Dr. Saunders. He was last person I saw before going to sleep and the first face I saw when I woke up. I looked at him and I just said "thank you". He said " I told you, you would wake up". Waking up from that crap is hard. You feel lost. After I was in recovery for a bit they said I could get dressed and go home. I was very nervous to see what it looked like. When I took the hospital gown off I was in complete shock! He did an AMAZING job. They are no were near as perky as the expanders, they are round and expand across my entire chest instead of just sitting there. I am very very happy with the results. They are an entire cup size smaller than my orginal boobs but I love them. Dr. Saunders really does a great job. I have to wear a sports bra for the next couple of weeks since I was cut underneath and to help squish them down so they don't rise up before they are healed.
I am so glad that I can put this behind me now. They are very sore today and itchy. I have an allergy to steri strips and tape but, he stitched, glued, and steri-stripped me, then covered me with gauze and tape. The two things I am allergic to, which is probably why I am itchy. Oh well, I can live with the itchiness over the expanders any day.
I am sorry if this post seems all over the place, I am jacked up on pills. I am going to rest now and let my new girlies heal. Thank you Dr. Saunders!!!!
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