Daughter noticed
first and commented that my wife’s chest looked…wrong somehow. This was after
my wife had called to make an appointment for another fill even though the
lymphedema around the left boob was still there. Not as bad as at first, but
not completely under control. This time around also included FB exchange with
my sister – who works at a clinic where lymphedema is CURED.
Apparently there’s
no such thing up here in the city we live in. Lymphedema is just something you “live
with”. So why can they cure it in a city that is world-renowned for its medical
establishment but not here, the home of a premier research university? Is it
sheer hubris of the doctors here that they can’t cure it and tell their
patients they have to suffer? Is it mindless greed, an attempt by the medical
establishment to milk a cash cow until it’s dry (a particularly apropos image
in this case)? What? My wife has discussed moving her clinic to that city some
150 miles away if that’s what it takes to get treatment!
At any rate, our
discovery of the whole process of the placing and filling the expanders has
been piecemeal at best, so I thought I’d present what we NOW know, several
months later…
The expanders
are tough plastic devices – I can’t say “bags” any more – because they are
nowhere NEAR that simple! Checking around, I wasn’t able to find any
cross-sections showing HOW the thing is built, but I did find this description
on the GOOGLE patent page:
Self-sealing tissue expander and method/US 5066303 A/Abstract
“The
self-sealing tissue expander includes inner and outer layers of relatively
nonflowable material and a median layer of flowable material, The median layer
of flowable material which can include one or more sublayers of flowable
material is under a predetermined compression imposed by the inner and outer
layers due to a prestressing of the tissue expander shell during formation of
the tissue expander. The self-sealing shell seals an opening in the shell wall
following removal of an infusion needle. In all embodiments of the invention a
needle stop member is provided to prevent the needle that accesses the fluid
chamber from passing outwardly of the tissue expander. The need for a septum, a
fluid conduit or a special fluid entry opening in the tissue expander shell is
thus optional. The shell can also be made relatively more stretchable in some
areas than in other areas.”
It was accompanied by this diagram:
This made a bit
more sense – if you count the dashed lines as layer of the expander. It would
also explain how the doctor said she would just fill another chamber of the
expander.
At any rate,
that’s what we learned today. Hope it’s helpful!
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