Has anyone had immediate breast reconstruction?

Hi encee
I know 2 women who have had immediate breast recon, both of whom have just completed radiotherapy. I can't remember the medical terms but one had muscle (?) & tissue brought from her back, and the other had tissue, blood vessels etc brought up from her stomach. Both were v happy wt the results even tho the 2nd didn't have a great post op experience. She is going on to have her other (old!) breast lifted to match the new one. She is delighted that she had a tummy tuck & new breast at same time! The other woman had a good experience and had no probs wt the wounds healing. As far as I know neither had an implant so radiotherapy wasn't a problem.
Hope this is of some use,
Janeymac

Hi Janeymac

I'm delighted to hear that there have been others that had immediate reconstruction - stories like those are a bit slow coming out of the woodwork!

I wonder, Janeymac, if you are in a position to ask those two ladies would be interested in sharing their experience on this forum? Having said that, I will completely understand if they are unable to.

Once again, thanks so much for taking the time to reply Janeymac.

Hi encee
I'm not sure either of the two ladies use this forum, I doubt I will be seeing them again for a while.
Have you tried www.breastcancer.org? It's a large site with a lot of info, chat rooms & message boards, you may find it helpful.
Janeymac

Hi Encee,

My sister and cousin had both breasts removed and had immediate reconstruction with tissue expanders. My sister then had chemo but my cousin had both chemo AND radiotherapy and both are happy with how things went. They have not had the expanders removed and replaced with permanent silicone implants yet but this is scheduled for March or April for them.

There is a book called the Breast REconstruction Guidebook that goes thorugh all the recon options in fairly normal, non medical terms which might be worth a look. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Breast-Reconstr ... 316&sr=8-2

Have your team said what options are available to you? WHERE are they suggesting it to be done? And by whom? Your options may be limited depending on the hospital you choose. If you want a particular type of recon, you may need to shop around a little.

Regards,
Flo.

Hi Janeymac and Flo
Thanks for info- Janeymac; I went into that website board and it was ind boggling with the amount of stuff on it - a bit hard to trawl through it with all the conversations!
Flo - meeting the surgeon again this Tues; I'm worried that I don't have enough time to check everything out so I'm going to have to use her opinion and my gut instinct I feel as to whether this will be the right time or place to do the job.
Thanks so much ladies, glad to hear there have been positive stories on this!

Hi Encee

Sorry to hear you have to go down this road.
I had a lumpectomy in April 2010 and then a masectomy in
May 2010 with immediate reconstruction using tissue expander
I then went on to have 8 rounds of chemo and 25 Radiotheraphy,(which I just finished 3 weeks go) I had to have
the tissue expander replaced by the permanent implant before
I started RT which was another surgery I could have done without . I am still quite sore and a bit swollen but am hoping
this will clear in the next few weeks, I havnt had any major problems so far just quite a bit of soreness. I also know 3 other
ladies that have it done also and have no problems, 1 of them was very similar to myself and the other had a double masectomy but didnt need RT and has her permanent implants in place now also.

Good luck with it all and ask the surgeon plenty of questions
before you make up your mind.

Deema
xx

Hi Encee,

Good luck meeting your surgeon today. I think its important that you DO trust your gut instinct. If you like your surgeon and trust her, its a big step in the right direction.

Let us know how you get on and what she is suggesting for you.
Hugs,

Flo.

Thanks for that Deema and thanks to everyone else who took the time to post - really, really appreciate it.

Well, I met with my gorgeous surgeon today - I took a deep breath and jumped the great divide from undecided to decided - I've elected to go for an immediate reconstruction for many, many reasons:-
I'm still young and most likely will want to have some shape of a boob for my girls to cuddle up to;
It means hopefully only one big surgery as opposed to having the mastectomy and delayed reconstruction;
It means not being away from my family longer than necessary;
My down-time is going to be the same for the mastectomy and reconstruction, as having a mastectomy on it's own;
I run the risk of getting infections either immediately or delayed;
And lastly I'm doing it because I'm up for it!!!!

Since I last posted I had a few chats with people who had either delayed reconstruction and immediate reconstruction which helped me choose so I thank them for that.

So back into hospital in the morning for Sentinel Node Biopsy for the day hopefully and then out tomorrow or early next day.... my journey has begun - BRING IT ON!!