I’ve now been told that I will be having rads after all. I’ve got 5 weeks of chemo left then 3 to 4 weeks before they move on to the rads.
I just wondered what’s involved when you have tissue expanders in place. My surgeon said the other day that my chest wall (muscle) is now on the outside of the breast shape as that’s what holds the implants in place. So do they still zap the whole “breast” or just the outer edges?
Also, does it matter if the rads cause capsular contraction of the expander as the expander is going to be removed anyway when the implants go in.
Just wondered if anyone been in the same position and knows the answers.
I’m in a similar position but none the wiser I’m afraid! I’m going in for mastectomy Monday with immediate recon with tissue expander, to be followed by rads 4-6 weeks after surgery. I think they still zap the whole ‘breast’ as the idea is to destroy any remaining cancer cells that may be in the chest wall (muscle). I’ve been told I’ll have 5 weeks of rads to the chest wall followed by an extra booster week of rads to the tumour site.
Not so sure about the capsular contraction thing. My surgeon made noises about a hard capsule forming and if it got too tight and uncomfortable they’d have to remove the implant with expander, and then my only recon option would be using muscle/tissue flaps. So I’d say that yes, the capsular contraction thing would matter, but I only ever take in about half of what my surgeon says at any appointment anyway so I may be wrong!
Good luck with your operation MidnightCat. I guess I’ll have to wait and see. They do often tell you worst case scenarios and I’ve found that generally speaking things tend to work out better.
I had bilateral mastectomy in Nov with immediate recon using tissue expander. I started my Rads on the 2nd Jan, i have rads to the chest wall, armpit and neck/collorbone. So i would have to say yes to them zapping the whole breast area. i have just had my 14th out of 15 and am just starting to feel it a little. Just a little tight to my underarm area and of course i have gone a very lovely pink colour. My surgeon said that there could be a chance that i could get capsular contraction and that if this happened they would do an LD flap as the radio doesn’t only harden the implant it can harden the muscle. So far so good though as i keep checking that i’m soft and got no hardened bits.
My surgeon also told me that the statistics that this happends is 25 - 50%, think poitive and we’ll be the 50-75% that will have no problems hey
I might be a strange case but I wonder if you can just say that you want to keep the hardened not-so-good reconstruction rather than messing around with another big operation. Anyway, I’ll see how it goes. I assume you’ve still got your tissue expanders in - did your surgeon say how long after the rads before you can have the implants put in if everything ok?
Which ever way, whether the expanders/muscle go hard i will be having another operation, so far so good and its my last rads today, just feeling a little tight and pink, breast area still feels soft the only hard bit is where the port is. you have to wait a couple of weeks after your rads finish to continue with the expanding. The BN said that she will over fill me and leave me for a while for my skin to get used to that size so when i do have the permanant implant put in there will be a natural droop. Permanant implants will be going in all being well approx May/June.
you havn’t mentioned if you have had any expanding done, i Don’t see my surgeon again until the 1st Feb but i’ll ask what the exct time scale is from Rads to Implants and let you know. Hope your Chemo is going well, i’m thinking of you. Has your hair gone yet? Mine is coming back now and got a good 16mm. After Chemo though you will find the Rads a walk in the park.
Hi Midnight
just to say that i hope your surgery went well and that your home soon. Keep up with the exercises its the way to go.
Thanks for your reply. I’ve just had two expansions so far but I think they’ll now do another one before rads start. They’re a bit less than a C cup and I was hoping they’d do maybe another two expansions. I’ve got four weeks of chemo left. On Xeloda tablets at the moment which aren’t so bad. I actually feel a bit scared about the rads even though I keep hearing they’re ok after chemo. I think I find it hard to adjust to anything new at the moment - it sometimes seems too much to cope with.
lol at your precise measurement of your hair! I know where you’re coming from!! Mine started growing back halfway through chemo when switched from epi to xeloda tablets. It started appearing just before Xmas and is now about 3-4 mm long. I can only dream at the moment about having a whopping great 16mm!!!
Thanks for your good wishes. I had the surgery on Monday and was sent home on Wednesday. Can’t believe I was in and out so fast, but the hospital is closed for all but emergency and cancer ops due to norovirus and visitors are banned, so I think they were booting people out as quickly as possible to avoid infection. The surgeon managed to squeeze 50ml into my implant during surgery, so at least I’m not going to look completely flat when they take the dressing off on Wed - not looking forward to that part!
Nicola - I know what you mean about being scared about rads, I’m the same! Everyone keeps saying they’re much easier than chemo tho’. It’s the practicalities of having to drag there and back every day that’s going to be a hassle as well, but I’ve been told that my hospital are pretty accommodating about arranging appointment times to suit you.
Think my hair falls somewhere between 4 and 16mm!! I thought it was growing in really dark, but just in the last few days I’ve spotted an awful lot of grey. Still can’t wait for it to be long enough to actually do something with! I’m also finally getting eyebrows and eyelashes back again, which makes a huge difference.
midnightcat - well done at getting your surgery over and done with. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how I looked after the mx - you think of mx as losing the whole breast yet you’re actually keeping most of the skin and it was nice just to see a “shape” there afterwards.
You’re right about eyebrows/lashes making a big difference. Also, I feel happier now when out and about just to know that I do now have some hair underneath that hat, albeit not very much!