So, tomorrow, we report to the hospital for the explant surgery, aka implant removal surgery.
My heart still skips a beat, not because I’m ACTUALLY afraid, rather because of a vague sense of anxiety for the future.
After the original mastectomy, which was essentially an emergency once the breast cancer diagnosis was verified – medical care was reduced to countless visits to hospitals and clinics for pre-op, post-op, then chemotherapy consults, followed by weeks of chemo administered at a clinic across town, then the OTHER clinic visits for Neulasta to control what the chemo did to the did to my wife’s immune system, followed by more pre-sessions…
Two years later, we did another round because the breast cancer appeared to be gone…then my wife jammed her finger against a wall, a doctor said, “Don’t worry.” And then she had full scale lymphedema (which at the time wasn’t considered the business of the breast cancer community on any level, and was “just bad luck, oh well, thank you very much for your concern, *slam!*”).
And so today, after a revolution within the breast cancer community declared that lymphedema was real, but there was no cure for it and very little help…we’ve just learned to deal with it and learned to navigate the things we need to do.
Then the breast implant surgery, followed by ten years of pain…and now here we are. To say that the past eleven years have been a roller coaster begs me to point out that it was an amusement park roller coaster – it was a roller coaster IN AGONIZINGLY SLOW MOTION.
Tomorrow morning, we hope to enter the absolutely final step of this expedition Explant Surgery. What is Explant Surgery? “Explant Surgery and En Bloc Capsulectomy/Implant removal (or explant surgery) is an option for patients who are having problems with their breast implants, or who now simply prefer to be implant-free.
“The procedure removes the implant, usually along with part or all of the surrounding scar capsule. ‘En bloc’ capsulectomy involves removal of the implant and [scar tissue] capsule as one specimen... When performed alone, explant surgery is usually an outpatient procedure. The incision used to remove the implant is usually based on the patient's prior surgical history. The amount of capsule that needs to be removed in conjunction with explant surgery is [also] influenced by several factors (…diagnosis, surgical plan, patient preferences, etc), and is determined on a case-by-case basis.)”
As well, because there were two methods of doing the implant surgery – either UNDER the chest muscle or ON TO OF the chest muscle – hers will be removal from under the muscles. That requires the repair of the chest muscles and necessitates two weeks of extremely restricted movement, followed by two more weeks of limited lifting.
Two weeks from today, I’ll have more to say. As for now, “anticipatory stress” is all I have to deal with. And my wife is doing very well – she’s been baking, cleaning, preparing for the month of inaction, so she’s got things in a good perspective.
I’ll let you know more later!
Resource: https://www.bustle.com/wellness/explant-surgery-breast-implant-removal-experts, https://www.breastimplantcancer.org/treatment/#:~:text=What%20Is%20an%20Explant%3F,response%20to%20a%20foreign%20object.
Image: http://wrex.images.worldnow.com/images/23784252_SA.jpg
After the original mastectomy, which was essentially an emergency once the breast cancer diagnosis was verified – medical care was reduced to countless visits to hospitals and clinics for pre-op, post-op, then chemotherapy consults, followed by weeks of chemo administered at a clinic across town, then the OTHER clinic visits for Neulasta to control what the chemo did to the did to my wife’s immune system, followed by more pre-sessions…
Two years later, we did another round because the breast cancer appeared to be gone…then my wife jammed her finger against a wall, a doctor said, “Don’t worry.” And then she had full scale lymphedema (which at the time wasn’t considered the business of the breast cancer community on any level, and was “just bad luck, oh well, thank you very much for your concern, *slam!*”).
And so today, after a revolution within the breast cancer community declared that lymphedema was real, but there was no cure for it and very little help…we’ve just learned to deal with it and learned to navigate the things we need to do.
Then the breast implant surgery, followed by ten years of pain…and now here we are. To say that the past eleven years have been a roller coaster begs me to point out that it was an amusement park roller coaster – it was a roller coaster IN AGONIZINGLY SLOW MOTION.
Tomorrow morning, we hope to enter the absolutely final step of this expedition Explant Surgery. What is Explant Surgery? “Explant Surgery and En Bloc Capsulectomy/Implant removal (or explant surgery) is an option for patients who are having problems with their breast implants, or who now simply prefer to be implant-free.
“The procedure removes the implant, usually along with part or all of the surrounding scar capsule. ‘En bloc’ capsulectomy involves removal of the implant and [scar tissue] capsule as one specimen... When performed alone, explant surgery is usually an outpatient procedure. The incision used to remove the implant is usually based on the patient's prior surgical history. The amount of capsule that needs to be removed in conjunction with explant surgery is [also] influenced by several factors (…diagnosis, surgical plan, patient preferences, etc), and is determined on a case-by-case basis.)”
As well, because there were two methods of doing the implant surgery – either UNDER the chest muscle or ON TO OF the chest muscle – hers will be removal from under the muscles. That requires the repair of the chest muscles and necessitates two weeks of extremely restricted movement, followed by two more weeks of limited lifting.
Two weeks from today, I’ll have more to say. As for now, “anticipatory stress” is all I have to deal with. And my wife is doing very well – she’s been baking, cleaning, preparing for the month of inaction, so she’s got things in a good perspective.
I’ll let you know more later!
Resource: https://www.bustle.com/wellness/explant-surgery-breast-implant-removal-experts, https://www.breastimplantcancer.org/treatment/#:~:text=What%20Is%20an%20Explant%3F,response%20to%20a%20foreign%20object.
Image: http://wrex.images.worldnow.com/images/23784252_SA.jpg
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