Acceptance - 12/1/20

If I can do anything from my recent reconstruction experience it will be to hopefully educate others on the breast cancer support groups that I have become a part of through my journey who may be considering implants to GET THINGS IN WRITING from their Plastic Surgeon as far as exactly what type of implants that they are wanting. Even if they agree to what they want and they SEE them & touch them, have it put it in writing. We had my first postop appointment this morning and my plastic surgeon took full responsibility for the breakdown in communication and the use of the wrong implants. He seemed to focus more and emphasize the risk of BIA-ALCL associated with the teardrop implants when in all of our other discussions with him he said there was a risk but it was very minimal. Today he said he typically uses the anatomical teardrop implants for a single mastectomy reconstruction for symmetry purposes but with bilateral reconstruction he uses the smooth round ones because having TWO teardrop implants just increases the risks of the ALCL - none of that information was ever conversations we have had with him since August when we first met him. We also asked him how he came to choose the profile of the implant that he used (there are THREE different profiles that are available and never did he ask me which I'd prefer). He used the middle of the three which he explained that he almost ALWAYS uses on reconstruction patients unless they want an augmented look; which I didn't want to have. So where do we go from here??? 1) I am adding this to my "Mentally Accept It" list and moving on. I don't want to have another surgical procedure on my chest if I don't have to, so I'm going to get used to the new me and embrace it. The more that I stew on the whole mistake the more depressed I get and I can't do that; it's not healthy for me. 2) We will be writing a letter to the hospital where I had the surgery done, informing them of the complication and miscommunication with the Plastic Surgeon and that while we aren’t doing it for punitive reasons, more for informational purposes and to request that additional "protocols and checks" be put in place in both the plastic surgeons office and pre-op procedures so that something like this doesn't happen again to someone else. If I can help prevent this kind of mistake from happening to another “Pink Sister”, then that will be a huge positive coming out of this. We have one more post-op appointment next week when my dressings will be removed, incisions will be checked and I’ll be given some ROM exercises so that I can get rid of my TRex arms 🦖 that Tim keeps laughing at me about. Everything will be held snuggly in place for the next 6 weeks while new scar tissue/capsules form around the implants. From then it will just be appointments with all of my medical team periodically to be watched and monitored for recurrence or anything else related to my breast cancer. For now I am considered NED (no evidence of disease) and we hope to keep things that way for a long long time.