Getting Implants Removed After 25 Years! - Santa Barbara, CA

Saw the ps again today along with my husband. He spent 45 minutes with us, answering questions and explaining the procedure. My decision now is whether or not to get a lift at the same time. I think I'm leaning towards doing it, since I'm not going to have much there and I remember what my breasts looked like before I had the implants. Might as well end up with small perky breasts! Anyway, I've got until Monday to decide so if you have any input that might help me decide, I would appreciate it.

It's been five days since my surgery. Had the surgery on Wednesday, 8/29, scheduled for 11:30. Arrived at 10:45 and filled out some more paperwork and met the anesthiesiologist (how do you spell that!) and then the ps came in and marked me up. I walked in to the operating room and the needle went in my arm and I felt the drug immediately and I was out! It was 3:45 when I remember the nurse asking me if I wanted to go home. I said sure, but thought it was weird that I could go home so soon. She got me up, helped me dress, gave me some applesauce and my husband arrived and took me home. I spent the evening sleeping. I ate some soup and went to bed. I took the vicodin every 4-5 hours through Friday. Thursday I basically stayed in bed but didn't really sleep during the day. I slept elevated on a wedge pillow on my back. My back hurt more than my chest from sleeping like that. On Friday I went back to get the bandages removed. I took one look down while she was pulling away the tape and I almost passed out! I had a thought that my nipple would come off when she pulled the tape and that did it! They had to lay me down and elevate my legs and tell me to breathe deeply. It took a good 10 minutes before I could sit up again. That was a totally unexpected reaction! So, I came home and went to bed and took a nap for about 2 hours. The nurse told me I could take a shower that day so around 6 I thought I'd try. As soon as I took off the support bra I felt weird again, so I didn't try to shower. It just felt too soon! So, Saturday I woke up feeling really good. We went to the beach and I sat and read my book and walked in the water. No pain pills. That evening I decided to try the shower again and I didn't have any problem at all. The worse thing I'm dealing with is the itching around the base of this support bra. I have an organic cotton cami/bra that I have now put on underneath this thing to give me some comfort from the velcro and polyester. I go on Wednesday to get my stitches cut and maybe they will change the steri-strips. I've practiced yoga the last three mornings. Today I did downward dog for the first time. I'm lifting my arms over my head (slowly and with great attention) and stretching them out to the sides. I'm not doing headstand yet, just because I want to make sure the sutures are completely healed. There has been some minimal oozing under the right side incision. Oh, and backtracking a bit, the PS said that both implants were encapsulated and ruptured and the right one was leaking through the capsule so it was a really good thing I got them out!

As far as how I look....my husband says I look sleek! He likes the way I look and so far, everyone I've seen says I look great. I've tried on a few of my clothes and I feel like I have new things, just because the way they look on me is so much better! The bathing suit top that put me over the edge that day now looks fantastic on me! So, absolutely no regrets about not having implants! I'm super happy! I'm so grateful to have found this website and being encouraged to take this step. From the day I found this website to the day of explant was 10 days! It's been an amazing experience. I'm really glad I got the lift. I'll try to post some photos.

Went to my second post op yesterday. PS is on vacation but saw the PA. She removed the steri tape and cleaned the incisions and retaped me. She said I was looking really good and each week I'd see an improvement. I didn't get nauseous or anything this time. She told me I could wear a sports bra instead of the velcro thing so I was super happy to come home and take that thing off! I have a little bruising, but it just shows up as a yellow tint, nothing dark. So today I did my yoga practice and did my first head and shoulder stand since the surgery day. It felt really good to get upside down again. I purposely waited until after I went to my appt. yesterday so i could be sure that the healing was where it needed to be. I'm only saying this for those of you that practice yoga and are familiar with these poses, just to share my amazement with the body's ability to heal and bounce back! I don't feel like I'm challenging myself in any way. I'm simply practicing poses that I did before regularly and finding out where I am each day, keeping the energy moving and the structure aligned and mobile. I still hope to post a short video showing a few things that can be done soon after (of course each person is different!). And now I can wear one of my new yoga tops! For the first time in 18 years of teaching yoga, I can wear the cami top with the built in bra! I got myself two of them yesterday! Yipee!

Went back to the PS today and he said I'm healing very well. I no longer have to wear the sports bra to bed, but need to wear it when I'm being active. I wear the steri tape one more week then will start applying a silicon gel to the scars. I go back in four weeks. I'll post some photos next week after I remove the tape. I feel really good. I'm also amazed that my breast always looked white when I had the implants. Now they look like the rest of my chest color! That was not a lighting effect on that implant photo...they always looked like that! And when I would get out of the shower they would be red. Not anymore.....Very happy!