Double Mastecmony with Reconstruction Tissue Expanders - Palo Alto, CA

I am so sorry for your pain and suffering and the lack of compassion this doctor gave you

I'm so sorry that you he e had to go through all of this.

I had my breast reconstruction in San Antonio, Texas at PRIMA. THEY SPECIALIZE IN BREAST RECONSTRUCTION. Not all surgeons have the skill.

I had a virtual consult and Cancer Society paid for my flights. Check out their website. My doctor is Dr. Chrysopoulo, but all their surgeons are highly skilled and very patient centered.

Sad! He is a monster!

Should be stripped of his license, as should my surgeon! !

Have you gone to another Dr for consultation? I am so sorry- I had similar results- so unhappy - wish I hadn't even tried reconstruction.

Why don't you report him to the medical board in your country. This is not acceptable. Contact one of your American current affairs programs like 60 minutes and expose the way you have been treated and left without completion . I have just had my seventh surgery to try and fix my breast mess. So don't give up.

I'm so sorry for all of the. Entail and physical pain yiu are going through. You. Ithat want to see about getting an appoint with Dr. Terry Dubrow in Newport Beach, CA. He's been known to fix messed up work. Might be kind of expensive though - not sure if takes insurance? Unfortunately, there are a number of Drs out there that although they may try to "fix" a mistake (or two or seven - like mine!), just either don't have the ability or can't fix the messes they create. My story is slightly similar to yours - except through surgical errors, I now have 3 breasts (I'd give you one If I could!) I was diagnosed with breast an er I. June 2015. In July, the absolute BEST surgeon (Dr Bradley Bassinger) performed a double mastectomy. The next day, my plastic surgeon was going to do TRAM flaps on both breasts. After 14 hours in surgery, it was determined that the blood flow to one of my breasts just wasn't strong enough, so he put in a expander on one side. TRAM flap on the other. Let's move forward about 10 days. . . . .my abdominal would was not healing. Round one of antibiotics and really strong tape. Another 10 days and my incision had a big gap(a hole like a paper punch) and was bright red. "Oh, don't worry about it." More antibiotics. I happened to go to. Y primary care physician for an unrelated issue, and was telling him how I felt like crap and my incision just wasn't healing. He took a swab sample of the stuff that was leaking from my abdomen. 2 days later he called - I had MERSA. Didn't have it before the surgery. Had it now. GREAT!! a boob and a half, and now an infection that if left untreated could potentially kill me. So, back to the plastic surgeons office. Told him about the MERSA. Responsewas "don't worry about it, everybody gets that" Really? Everybody gets that? So, next step is to have a visiting nurse come to my house once a day and "pack" my wounds. (Saline, cotton strips, yellow stuff oozing out). I guess finally (after 4 months of this) the infection was "under control". His words, not mine. So they started injecting filler into my expander. I. December, he replaced the expander with an implant. But oops! In January, the implant started sliding under my armpit. So, another surgery. Maybe a little bigger implant (to match the other side), this time, he created a "pocket" (I.e., stitched it in so it wouldn't head back under my armpit). All good, right? Oops. Now I had a "dent" in my chest because the implant was incorrectly placed under a muscle? So another surgery. Fat transfer. But that didn't work either - actually made it worse. The implant started to sag after the fat transfer. Now I wasn't looking for perfection, but come on! Okay, so another surgery. Replaced the round(ish) implant with a teardrop shaped one. Oops. Still in the wrong place. Worse dent than before. So, let's try a "Latismus" (muscle from my back) flap. Ok. Whatever. He did the surgery, I went home the next day. Took the drains out two days later. On day three, I wake up on bloody sheets. My breast won't stop bleeding. Hubby takes me to his office, Dr says it's probably a hematoma. This all happened Wednesday night, Thursday morning. Dr cauterized the bleeding incision, gave me some pain pills and sent me on my way. On Friday I noticed that my back, where he did the Latismus flap was swelling, almost like a hump. Hurt a lot. But I thought I was just being a hypocondriac, and let it go. Flash forward to Saturday morning. Hubby went to a trade show, I was still asleep when he left. When I did finally wake up, blood was running, uncontrollably down my back. Called hubby - got voicemail. Called the Dr on both his service and cell. Waited another hour or so, and no word. So, what the heck, Im leaki g blood everywhere, why not get in the car and drive by his office in. Y way to the hospital. As luck would have it, he called me back while I was in the car, said to meet me at his office. I got there before he did. He was on a bike ride in the mountains. His wife was in the office doing paperwork and saw all the blood. She's. A nurse practitioner. So she's trying to stop the bleeding. He shows up. Also tries to stop the bleeding. Hematoma? Doesn't appear to be that. Their office manager drives by and sees cars and his bike there. So she stops. Here's where it gets funny: she gets lightheaded at the sight of blood. By now, their office looks like a crime scene. I'm bleeding everywhere! She passes out. So dr decides that there really must be something wrong from the Latismus flap surgery (ya think?!??) and since he's on a bike, and I probably shouldn't be driving he drives me, in. Y car to the emergency room. So we wait in line. Mind you, I'm STILL bleeding. Attendant wants to know what "the problem is", thinking that my bicycle short clad dr is my husband. He explains (-as well as you can to an administrator that only wants my insurance info), and back to the emergency ward we go. Get hooked up to machines, an IV. . . ...STILL bleeding. Another hospital administrator comes by and tells me that my copay
(because it was not a pre-approved surgery - hello!!! Emergency!?!?). Would be $2800, and how would I like to pay for that? Excuse me? Good thing I was I. Some pretty strong pain killers or I might have said something not very nice. They wheel me off to surgery - and when I wake up, I have a bag of blood (transfusion) and a bag of something else in my IV. Dr comes in. (Still in bicycle shorts), and when I asked him WTF? Oops. He accidentally nicked a vein doing the Latismus flap. Oops?!?! So I'm in the hospital for a couple of days, getting blood transfusions (I guess I lost a pint or two?). He "forgot" to write me a prescription. For pain pills, so on our way home, hubby and I stop by Drs office for the prescription. There's a room full of people in the waiting room, but they got me in and out FAST! Guess they didn't wa t to hurt future business? A couple of days later, I go back, he checks my incisions and drains. A few more days go by, and they take the drains out. Another couple of weeks go by, and he notices what looks like a third breast growing under my armpit. NOPE. Not letting him cut me open again. First the failed TRAM, then the MERSA, then the wrong implants, and lastly a nicked vein. Would I like to be able to move my arm (the one with the third breast)? Yes, absolutely! Would I let him try again? Absolutely NOT. So I'm deformed. But guess what? I'm still ALIVE! By all counts from either the cancer or the surgeries, im lucky to be alive. Not sure if I'll ever have it fixed. It was a lot of drama over an 18 month period. I just recent,y for a bill from his office for the last surgery, after insurance paid, it was for $850! Guess he has balls! Ladies, if you're still with me here, what should I do with/about the bill? I have some ideas, but none of them are very nice! Just remember, even if yiu have screwed up surgeries. You're STILL alive!

Do you plan on trying to reconstruct again down the line? If not, your insurance should cover a revision to remove the excess skin and leave your chest smooth and flat.

If you are, since tissue expanders didn't seem to work out last time, have you looked into the flap reconstruction options?

I am so sorry for everything you have gone through. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. My son was 15 and 16 when I was going through my surgeries and was my biggest supporter. I hope things begin to get easier for you.

So courageous for sharing! It shows compassion from a lady who wants to help others. These stories have helped me bc my surgeon is not touching me next month unless he's willing to be more patient and explain to me what his ideas are and what MINE are. I just don't and never realzed so much of this was going on.