Time To Be All Natural! Dx with Pre cancer so I decided to explant for better imaging and implant issues.

I’m 39 and previously healthy. My first BA/Lift was in 08’ and I went from a C to a DD with 325cc HP mentor textured silicone gel over the muscle. I had a revision for a bit larger and another lift in 2012 to 555cc moderate profile mentor textured silicone gel. Always been pretty healthy and implants have been so fun and I and my husband felt they looked great. I felt super heathy until I felt a lump and had pain in my breast last year. Had my first mammo in March 2017 where I’m pretty sure my left implant ruptured and they couldn’t even see the one inch lump in my rt because of my super dense breast tissue. I had to have an ultrasound to find the lump and then a biopsy and was originally dx with just a B9 fibroadenoma. It was in my right breast at 6:30 and was about 2cm is what I was told on the US (ultrasound). It hurt, and felt like bee stings and it sat right on my implant. Because of the pain, I made the appointment to have an excisional bx (biopsy) where they take out the whole thing and send it to the lab. This was in Aug 2017. Yay! I felt better for awhile but also got a new dx of ADH, or atypical ductal hyperplasia. It was small so that’s why it could hide in there and it’s pretty rare to have that in a b9 tumor I guess. ADH is a form of precancerous lesion. My surgeon was shocked and so was I! She got it out so I went on with my life for awhile. I felt great for awhile but I still had some intermittent pain in my breast but nothing terrible till around February 2018, where the pain in my rt breast was pretty much every day, and I developed really terrible chest pain, and my left breast had a lump. I was due for a mammo in March cause I have them every year now so I waited. They don’t see anything on mammo except for enlarged axillary (armpit) nodes on the left. No reason seen for lump or pain on mammo. I go to my primary care for X-rays and blood tests for a blood clot because the chest pain is terrible! Those tests come out clear no clot no nothing. So mid March I get a diagnostic mammo on the left (thereby squeezing more silicone in my nodes haha but we didn’t know that then) and a bilateral ultrasound. Nodes in left axilla are about 2x what they should be and they *think they have silicone in them. US shows no reason for rt breast pain. So about a week after this I start feeling an achy full feeling in my left armpit. I keep thinking I have something in my armpit and I had an aha moment and knew my nodes had grown because I was now feeling them and they were so achy. Now I get another US and an MRI. Then another MRI, then a new Dr lol. Finally, some answers! My nodes are full of silicone and have grown to 3+cm x 3 nodes in the left axilla. My left implant was very ruptured (There is no other reason for the rupture since my nodes were previously clear one year prior and no trauma). Still no reason for my even worsening pain on the right. Or chest pain, except that surgeon thinks it’s inflammation caused by the bx last year and the chest pain is from the weight of my breasts? All of the sudden? It’s mostly on the right side so that doesn’t sound right but we really just don’t know and she’s awesome so I figure she’s probably right. After the first couple rounds of tests, I went to see my PS and had decided to just take out my implants and have him clean me up cause I might have silicone running around and also do a reduction to lower my risk of BC for the future since I’m high risk now. I want to make imaging clearer since I’m already densely breasted and implants don’t help. My PS sends me to a better facility with breast specialists. Ar my second appt with them today, I find out the cause for my chest pain. I have a late seroma in my right breast that my arm hits and it’s slightly swollen and thick. No one at the other place mentioned this, as well as an area of thick tissue that is being irritated by my capsule and seroma? The radiologist says the last MRI showed this. Why didn’t the last place tell me this? I can feel it every day. I feel like I have been breast feeding with the fullness, letdown feeling, and slight swelling, and vibration feeling, except for add A LOT of breast pain in there. Oh and some chest pain so it hurts to take a deep breath, lift anything, and move on the right too. At least I know now and don’t feel like a crazy lady tho I’m sure my PS is tired of getting all of these reports from drs lol. I am scheduled to have explant/capsulectomy/reduction on Friday, May 18 2018. Yay! Will this be the end of my constant pain! Pretty sure it will be. I’ll post better pics in a day or two.

I had some new symptoms and I didn’t want anything to mess with my surgery so I went in to the breast surgeon the other day because I had such bad pain in my right axilla and breast (I know they’re sick of seeing me lol). I knew my dr had mentioned my node on the rt was slightly enlarged on my last mri so I thought it/they had grown. US showed one larger than normal node but it looked good otherwise. No silicone like the left side. Maybe just reacting to the inflammation so it was not that causing my pain. I was so glad because I may already have to get a few nodes out on the left in another surgery. The radiologist went to look at my prior MRI to get a better feel for my breasts and came in to tell me I have a late seroma which is a fluid pocket. I also have one area in my breast where I guess I have an area of fibrous tissue rubbing on the seroma. It’s so weird looking at my ultrasound pics, because I can see that one area at 9’o’clock where the tissue looks different from all of the rest of my breast. The radiologist thinks the increased pain and weird feelings was from the swelling and the fibrous tissue rubbing on my capsule. I also had weird vibrations in my breast which I had never had b4. I’ll be so glad when this is all over. I added a few pics. I’m sure the sight of my heavily tattooed boobs is a shock lol.

I’m bummed I wasn’t able to wait longer for my surgery due to the pain, because I really wanted to lose some weight first. I’ve already lost a couple pounds and hope I’m down a couple more b4 Friday. Taking out the implants, and the reduction will probably make me another 3/4 lbs lighter too. Yay!
I’m surprised Im a bit nervous. I don’t usually get all nervous and emotional. I feel that I’ve been very fortunate tho and had two good breast surgeries with great results. I love my surgeon and trust him fully, but I’m hoping I’ll be just as fortunate as the last two times with great results. Also, with the presence of painful fluid and intermittent swelling and the bizarre symptoms, I worry about BIA-ALCL. My surgeon will send everything for pathology, especially since I’ve had ADH previously.
My husband and I are going to Nicaragua for 2.5 weeks mid July so I have four weeks to heal. We rented a villa in downtown Granada so it’s not like I have to do anything other than swim, if Im allowed, walk around, and relax. My husband said he’ll be my vacay Sherpa lol I’m so fortunate to have such a wonderful and supportive husband. He said he’s gonna wear a “I love tiny boobies and tattoos” shirt to my surgery lol.

A lot of ladies talk about all of these terrible mystery illness issues with their implants but I never had those issues. The only thing I have noticed since I got my implants is that I seem to have such a hard time losing weight. It could be that I got them when I turned 30 and Getting older can make it more difficult, but it seems so weird that it is just so hard for me now. When I was 30, I weighed 134. Now, I’m 39, and weight 178 and I’ve tried off and on over the years with diet and exercise but I can’t ever seem to lose more than a handful of pounds unless I try to starve myself. I don’t drink soda, don’t eat a lot of junk, and can’t remember the last time I ate fast food. To help me lose weight before surgery, I’ve cut almost all carbs. Seems to work, but it’s just another type of diet and I’m not sure it’s realistic long term. We bought a rowing machine, so when I’m all healed up, I’ll finally be able to use it and hopefully have an easier time shedding some of this extra weight. At the very least, my boobs won’t get in the way lol. I used to be so svelte and cute!

Been a rough but good week. I had my surgery last Friday and the first few days after are a blur. My surgeon is amazing and gave me exactly what I wanted and they’re so cute! Right now, I am a 36B. I was a 36G. I love love love my results and feel so much better. My pain that I had in the right breast is gone and the chest pain that was behind my rt breast is gone. I do feel like the surgical pain is lasting longer than I had hoped. My surgeon did say he took the capsule off of my chest wall so maybe that’s why my chest muscles feel so sore. I had overs so I’m not sure how that works. My sternum is pretty sore still because my incisions meet there. I have a lot of nerve activity that sometimes takes my breathe away but it’s quick. My tiny little breasts are very sore and don’t like me right now. I remember only having to take pain meds for a week after my lift/BA and having leftovers but I’m not that lucky this time lol. My reduction was big for me because I wasn’t ever that large naturally to begin with. He took 200gm per side, leaving me a 36B which is what I wanted. I wake up very sore and a bit swollen from lying flat (even tho I start propped up, I never can seem to stay that way) in the morning and by nighttime Tylenol isn’t enough. My husband keeps telling me to take my pain pills cause that’s what they’re for but I’m so over them. I’ve been on them for months for the chest/breast pain and I don’t want to take them anymore but I know the body does heal better with less stress from pain so I still take a couple of the pills every day at my husbands prodding. I’m hoping a few more days and I’ll be good with just Tylenol or the occasional Tramadol I take for bad IBS flare ups. My left implant was ruptured but there wasn’t really any loose silicone so that’s good. My nodes have lots of microscopic silicone droplets in them that makes them react and swell. I’ve noticed they’ve been pretty swollen this week which is to be expected. I’m hoping they shrink and I don’t have to have that surgery. I hear it’s awful. Another reason I’m glad I had the reduction is that they found more ADH in my left breast in the reduction pathology. This means I have a very high chance of developing breast cancer in either breast now according to the New England Journal of Medicine . I’ll see the breast cancer dr for my MRI in November for a baseline MRI with the new girls so we’ll discuss the plan then unless I have to see her sooner for the nodes.
I’m super happy that my surgeon is so meticulous and clean. He didn’t leave me a mess and all bloody and goopy like I’ve seen so many others. I was all clean and didn’t have to walk around with a mess till I could shower. He also used glue covered with steri strips which were very clean and neat looking. I only have a couple stitches he has to remove on Tuesday. I feel very fortunate to have had such a wonderful surgeon and he was so sweet to me and sat with my husband afterwards and explained everything to him.