DCIS

[Angel2014]

Hi,
I'm sorry to hear your still waiting for the exchange. To give you some comparison, I had Mx/SLNB/LD flap recon with tissue expander in Dec 2014. The expansions were done between Feb & May 2015 and in June a date was set for my exchange op, which was carried out in Sept 2015. The reason It had to wait until Sept was due to me having holidays booked in July & Aug.
My next appt. is end of Oct to plan the nipple reconstruction.
I don't know if my timescale is the norm or not but my surgeon has always informed me what will happen and when. More importantly he has stuck to it, which has helped me plan for work etc.
Do you have a BCN you can call to get some answers or even ask to see your surgeon again.
Hope you get your exchange soon xx

[SALLY PEACOCK]

Was diagnosed with DCIS in June 2013. Had lymph node removed followed by a mastectomy in the July. I had reconstruction and was given a temporary expander implant. I needed no other treatment. The implant was fully expanded by January 2014. I am still waiting for the temporary implant to be removed and replaced with a permanent one. Recently I noticed the implant had shrunk to half the size it was and was very lumpy. The breast care nurse got me an appointment. I saw a different surgeon as mine was on holiday. He said that if the implant had leaked it wasn't dangerous as it was only salt water. I am really fed up with waiting for my implant to be replaced. My initial care and treatment was very good but now I feel I have been abandoned. I was led to believe the reconstruction would take a matter of months. I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has had a temporary expander implant.