POSTED UNDER Breast Reconstruction REVIEWS
Reconstruction After Mastectomy - Virginia Beach, VA
ORIGINAL POST
At 62, it was discovered that I had breast cancer....
WORTH IT
At 62, it was discovered that I had breast cancer. I had a mastectomy with expander and reconstruction on May 14, 2015. Then had my final implant placed on Aug. 20, 2015. Dr. John Alspaugh was awesome! He was kind, compassionate and went above and beyond helping me get this all covered by insurance. His work was amazing and he put me back together better than I was before.
GayeDoreen's provider
Replies (4)
August 13, 2016
Would you please tell me how much must paid to your surgeon if i am not from USA and not covered by insurance for breast reconstruction .
August 15, 2016
Hello - Handle, I have no idea what it would cost if you had to pay for it with cash. But I do know that Dr. Alspaugh can do reconstruction in his own office surgical suite which would probably be less expensive than the hospital and it would be just as good. I suggest you email his office and ask. I think they could give you some answer about what that would cost. Here is a link to the website. Hope they can answer some questions for you.
https://associatesplasticsurgery.com/financing/
https://associatesplasticsurgery.com/financing/
UPDATED FROM GayeDoreen
11 months post
Breast cancer and reconstruction afterwards.
So this is the whole story in detail. At 62, I decided to do a 3D mammogram instead of the regular one I had been doing for the previous 25 or more years. They discovered a clumping of calcifications and upon doing the biopsy, it was discovered that I had stage 1 Invasive Lobular Carcinoma. You get choices - lumpectomy with radiation or mastectomy with reconstruction. I basically had no breast tissue because I had old implants that eventually compressed what tissue I had and made my breasts so dense there wasn't much left. So I chose the mastectomy (left side only) and reconstruction (with a new silicone implant on the right and a temporary expander on the left). The permanent implant on the left would come about 3 months later. My surgeon was great but my reconstructive surgeon was awesome! He made sure I had a skin and nipple sparing mastectomy if no lymph nodes were involved. None were. So I had the surgery May 14, 2015 and had to spend the one night in the hospital. I could easily have gone home that night but my insurance made me stay. I know that having implants previously made this whole situation so much easier and I had very little pain or discomfort. The expander in the left side was really weird - more flat than the implant but not too bad looking. I wasn't sure my nipple would ever look or feel the same again but I didn't care. They had gotten all the cancer and I was glad. Everything went so well that I had no complications or issues of any kind. Then I had the permanent implant on the left side on Aug, 20. This was done as an outpatient this time and again, all went well. But about a week later I developed contact dermatitis from either the drain tube or the surgical glue. No way to be sure which did it. That was of course over a weekend and I had to go to an emergency clinic to get that treated. Unreal!!! But every day that passed, my mastectomy breast looked better and better. The nipple came back to life and really looks normal again. Very thankful and so pleased with my PS! I stayed the same size that I was originally - 34B. I had no desire to go any bigger as I am small framed and this was perfect. They are beautiful!
Replies (6)
July 14, 2016
Because of the mastectomy all of my tissue was removed internally. The doctor had to use the dermal matrix tissue to hold the implant up and in place. Pretty amazing what science has come up with! It gave me a perfect pocket to hold that implant.
July 27, 2016
Thank you for sharing your story. I will be undergoing this same type of surgery in the next couple weeks. It helped me to see your photos and put my mind at ease. Your results are great.
July 28, 2016
Good luck Ottovon! Hoping for the best for you too! I would love to hear how it goes. <3
August 15, 2016
Sounds like your implant was placed above the muscle. Do you know why it was placed over rather than under the muscle ?
August 15, 2016
No - it was placed under the muscle originally but once they do the mastectomy, they take everything out - muscle as well. So they used the dermal matrix to give me support back because all that's left is skin. The implant on the right side (no mastectomy) was placed under the muscle in the place the original one was. If not for that dermal matrix, I don't know how that implant would even stay in place. I think it would just hang and sag down. But I guess I never really thought about it since I knew what he was going to do. Some doctors use mesh too. I would guess something has to be used to keep that implant where it needs to be.
UPDATED FROM GayeDoreen
11 months post
How I look today (just took the newest picture a minute ago!).
Every day I look better and almost forget what I went through. Yes, the implant on my mastectomy side is a lot harder than the right due to the fact that there is only skin covering it. The silicone implants are a lot colder feeling than saline were but I am thrilled with where I am today.
Welcome to the community and thanks so much for offering your opinion of your doctor.
It would be great if you could give us a little more detail about your experience, like why you had the surgery, your tips for getting good results, pros/cons, and info on the recovery process.
Our community members especially love seeing photos from before, during, and after — a realistic look at what they can expect. Photos grab the attention of the community and encourage more support for you.
As a community manager, I get requests all the time from other members who want me to to keep encouraging people to share their experiences, which are so helpful for others considering these procedures. So please accept this as a well-intentioned request from thousands.