Implants No More

 A few weeks ago, after showering, I noticed a dark area underneath my artificial breast on the right side. I wasn't actively looking for anything, I just happened to notice it when I glanced in the mirror. Of course, I immediately touched it. The darkened area was soft where the implant was pushing outward. It didn't hurt unless I pressed really hard. The rest of the implant felt hard. The skin on that side had a darker hue than the left.

"This has to be bruising," I thought, "but I haven't bumped into anything recently to cause it." 

To the internet I went. This had to be Capsular Contracture. 

Here is the definition of Capsular Contracture from Wikipedia: The occurrence of capsular contraction follows the formation of capsules of tightly-woven collagen fibers, created by the immune response to the presence of foreign objects surgically installed to the human body, eg. breast implants, artificial pacemakers, orthopedic prostheses. . . . Capsular contracture occurs when the collagen-fiber capsule shrinks, tightens and compresses the breast implant. (It is the immune system trying to protect the body.)

The right side of my chest had been tighter than the left for years. However, recently, I had noticed some minor pain that would come and go. Plus, now the right side implant sat noticeably higher than my left.

After some thought, I decided to call the plastic surgeon's office. It was a Sunday meaning I would have to speak to the surgeon on-call, which was fine. All I I needed was someone to tell me this was not an emergency situation. 

My implants were placed in 2005. Since then I have had radiation over the whole area and two other more targeted radiation treatments in that same area. Radiation is probably the reason for the implant's demise.

The doctor on call that day made me feel at ease; there was no hurry to get them removed. He asked that I call the office to make an appointment.

The appointment was made.

As I put on the fashionable paper vest and waited, I thought about how I wished I wasn't there. Yeah, the mask was hiding my looks, somewhat, but I couldn't forget what my plastic surgeon said in 2005 when I was early stage.

He said, "I am so glad you don't have to do Chemotherapy. So many people look so old afterwards."

Isn't that a nice memory to hold on to?

My plastic surgeon arrived, took one look--didn't even touch the bruised area--and said, "Yeah, that needs to be removed." 

Good grief, it seems like every time I think I am through with medical procedures on my scared-up body I have to undergo another one. 

"We could do this or that," never entered the conversation. I had one choice for my capsular contracture: take it out. 

I did have a choice about the left one: take out it out or leave it. I am a fan of symmetry, so I chose the latter. 

The procedure was done on March 12th. Now my 90 pound frame, looks like a prepubescent female. Thanks, cancer.

When I got home, I again revisited 2005 when I underwent bilateral mastectomies. I had forgotten how unpleasant it was to have drains inserted under the skin. Any fluid made by my body as it healed traveled down a plastic tube and into a collection bulb, gross. I wasn't in a lot of pain, thankfully--only took one prescribed oxycodone pill, but boy did my skin itch. I was miserable! Since the procedure was done Friday afternoon, I had a few days to figure out what I was going to wear for work to hide my shrunken chest and to figure out how to hide those awful bulbs at the end of the drains. Monday came, and I decided the best thing for me was to remove the collection bulb at the bottom and tuck the tubes into my pants. I used the cap on the bulb to close off the tubes. 

Since there wasn't a lot of drainage, the two drains were removed on Friday. After the mastectomies, I had 4 drains. Those stayed in much longer. 

I know the image below is ugly, and I might regret showing it--but this is the Cancer Classroom. I wanted to show what the tubing and the bulbs looked like. Images can be more impactful than words at times. I think that is true here.

Cancer treatments damage a person's body in a variety of ways. The bluish area at the center top is radiation damage. There is a lot more of that above it. The scars above and around my belly button area are three out of the four I have from the hysterectomy in November--for me, a cancer preventative surgery. 

As the following week moved along and the next week too landing me here, Sunday March 28th, I noticed and could feel my lymph system at work. There was fluid accumulating; my body couldn't keep up. The right one, in particular, felt like a balloon filling with water. Maybe I should have left the drains in longer?

On Friday, I called the nurse. An appointment was made. There, the fluid will be extracted. In the meantime, I am wearing a tight athletic bra. I have placed soft padding over the fluid filled areas to create pressure to hopefully slow down further fluid accumulation and the to help my body absorb some of the fluid already present. 

Just another day in the life of a metastatic breast cancer patient.