The 200th Post

As the title says, this is the 200th installment of BoobCast. Today I am writing about you, dear reader. Today’s installment is all about the support and the stories that people have shared with me since I first started this blog on Oct. 11, 2008.

When I first started writing this, I was also fairly active on a website called All About Plastic Surgery (http://www.allaboutplasticsurgery.com). When I posted what had happened to me it didn’t take long before I was inundated by questions about various aspects of the surgery. You can find that entry here: http://boobcast.net/2008/10/14/questions/ People expressed a great deal of concern about how well I had checked out the surgeon, what indications I might have had and what legal recourse I might have taken. During that period so many people gave their support and I am grateful for it. So my thanks goes out to the women of the All About Plastic Surgery forum. They were the ones who inspired the idea for BoobCast.

Now you’re probably asking yourself, “Gee Maria, why do you call it BoobCast? Were they wrapped in plaster or something at one point?”

No, dear reader. There are reasons this site is called BoobCast.  In 2007 the podcasting community lost a precious member by the name of Joe Murphy. He died of a vicious type of cancer that took him quickly. During his medical treatments he talked in vivid detail about what was going on, the testing and all of it. His strength inspired me. I wanted to be as strong and as brave as Joe Murphy. So I planned to podcast what was going on with my breast necrosis. The name of that podcast was going to be BoobCast.

I never met Joe but his life inspired me. It just turns out that I’m not that strong or that brave. To honor that bravery I have kept the name.

I also owe thanks to a very dear friend, Tee Morris. When I was trying to find the strength to create BoobCast, He was there for me. He gave me mental and emotional support by letting me know that I *could* do it. I’m sorry I disapointed you Tee but want to thank you for being a friend when I needed one.

In the time I’ve been writing BoobCast I have had people email me directly for advice. Of course, after reading the email, my advice was always “Contact your PS (plastic surgeon) and ask for [fill-in-the-blank]. Whether it was about bruising, skin texture or pain, I advised talking to their doctor. If they couldn’t get a decent answer from that doctor, talk to another one.

The one that really broke my heart was the husband of a woman who, a few days previous the email,  had the same procedure I had. According to her husband, the pain pills her PS had given her weren’t doing much and she was in constant pain. She couldn’t eat or sleep and she was suffering. I told her husband to call her PS immediately and insist on different pain meds and not take NO for an answer. i explained that, right now it was his job to advocate for his wife since she couldn’t do it herself.

A couple days later I got an email from him saying that her PS had changed her meds and she was doing MUCH better. It’s emails like those that made BoobCast well worth the emotional pain of writing those early posts.

I also want to thank everyone who talked to me about BoobCast at DragonCon last year. Being told in person that I’m making a difference means the world to me. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.

Finally, my thanks to Carol Montoya, Lolly Daskal and the Woman At Denny’s. I promise that once I’ve had nipple reconstruction and recuperate from that, I WILL write the book. The foundation is in the works already.

My thanks to you all for reading, commenting and talking to me. Here’s to another 200!

 

Surgery #2

As my regular readers know I developed necrosis two weeks after the October 2nd breast augmentation and lift surgery in 2007. After several weeks of Hell I was scheduled for a second surgery on November 2. This surgery was for the purposes of removing the implants and the remaining necrotic tissue. We showed up in the afternoon at the surgical center – which we had to pay the fee for – I was prepped and before I knew it, part two of my nightmare had begun.

When I was able I looked at what had been done. It seemed, in retrospect, Frankenstinian. The line of vertical sutures looked like someone had whip stitched the skin together. I also found out that, on the left side, there had been a half inch spot left open.

I also found out that over  300 ccs of serous fluid had built up in each pocket. The implants were both intact. That explained the pressure and the bubble under my flesh. Fortunately this time the HiQ put in what passed for really crappy drains. He had inserted open-ended surgical tubing. The outer ends were covered in gauze to absorb the leaking serous fluid that my body produced. Compared to the closed-system drains I had after my reconstruction, these things were positively primitive.

I was also an A cup now down from a DD cup and before that a C cup. This wasn’t nesecarilly a bad thing. I finally had the ski slope breast shape I had been after from the beginning. By ski slope I mean the breasts that are heavy and rounded on the bottom and on the top the breast gently slopes down to be capped by a pert, rosy nipple.

I was just missing the nipple.

The HiQ assured me that after i had healed, we could do reconstruction. At this point I was already starting to have my doubts. But I’ll talk more about that later.

For those of you joining me from NaNoBloMo and reading my blog for the first time, please go read the first post for more information about what BoobCast is all about.

 

Packing Up

Even after the debridement the HiQ still had me packing the area with saline soaked wet-to-dry bandages. Every time I asked why this happened his reply was the standard “I don’t know”. When I asked him what was next, his standard reply was “We’ll just have to wait and see.”.

After the debridment I told him that “I don’t know” is no longer an acceptable answer. I let him know that I would accept “I don’t know but I’ll find out” and that I would expect an answer at my next appointment. When he DID finally give me an answer it amounted to “Sometimes these things just happen and we really don’t know why”.

Emotional meltdowns were a regular occurence. Ken still wasn’t allowed in with me. I wasn’t going to expose him to the horror I saw twice a day.

After the debridement there was just raw fatty tissue and flesh. Granular tissue started filling in some of the areas.  granulation tissue the newly formed vascular tissue normally produced in healing of wounds of soft tissue, ultimately forming the cicatrix. A Cicatrix is a scar resulting from formation and contraction of fibrous tissue in a flesh wound So I was starting to heal.

Since the HiQ had removed all the necrotic tissue that he could, the next step was the other bad news. There was no way the implants were going to stay. They had to come out. So they scheduled me for the second surgery on November 2nd 2007. And lucky me, I got to pay for the cost to use the surgical center. Yes. You read that right.

In the next post I’ll talk about the shocking reality of law suits for malpractice.

 

Nipples Or Not

For my regular readers, do you remember when I was vacillating about surgeons or even whether or not to HAVE another surgery? Well it’s that time again. This time I’m starting to research and contemplate nipple reconstruction.

I read some older articles that indicated that up to 40% of all nipple reconstructions fail. Most flatten out within 6 to 18 months. There is also a higher incident of infection and necrosis according to those older statistics.

THEN I talked to Dr. Elliott. He explained that those complications are not as frequent anymore. In the last two years or so surgical techniques have been greatly improved. He reassured me that usually those complications are due to poor blood supply. My tissue is healthy, according to him. He also went to lengths to reassure me that recovery time is going to be greatly reduced since this is an out patient procedure only dealing with topical tissue.

He also suggested that I research the Star Flap Nipple Reconstruction. The link shows the basic steps starting at  Media 7 http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1274411-media – star flap That’s the nipple flap reconstruction he wants to ue for me. He believes that specific type of flap reconstruction will work the best.

I really don’t want to have ANOTHER surgery so soon. I’d rather wait until this winter. So in the interrim, I’m going to get prosthetic nipples. Dr. Elliott is having his PA, Patti Bergley, look into it and see what she can find out for me. I’m expecting her to call today.

Talking to Dr. Elliott made me feel more comfortable about my outcome. I’m still tempted to get a second opinion when I go back to see Dr. Guy’s people in another week about the tissue growth isue on my back. I’d like to see what she has to say too.

The problem is now really the cost. Nipple reconstruction and any tweaking that needs to be done for aesthetics will cost us an additional $7000 on top of the $18000 we have already paid AND the $6000+ we still owe the hospital and the anesthesiologist. Nipple prosthetics on the other hand are only around $200 per pair for the really good silicone ones.

Really, I don’t think that it’s so much a matter of “if”. It is now a matter of “when”.

 

The Next Great Saga

Now the fun truly begins. Ken has started his negotiations with the hospital. Since my reconstruction had to be paid for out of pocket, he has made it his mission to make sure we don’t pay any more than we absolutely have to. At his request we have already gotten an itemized copy of the bill.

In the realm of ridiculous pricing, the hospital charged $10 for a multi-vitamin and $12 for a calcium pill. That’s right. ONE PILL! They also charged us $32 for an Oxycodone. Ken paid $20 for a 30 day supply of that AND a prescription muscle relaxer FROM THE HOSPITAL PHARMACY!! These are just a couple examples of inflated pricing from a major Atlanta hospital.

With billing and prices like this it really is no wonder that our medical system is in the shape its in. If it’s not the insurance companies looking for any reason to bilk the customer, it’s the hospitals screwing the insuance companies. Or the pharmaceutical companies screwing the inurance companies. And since shit rolls downhill, the insurance companies, in turn, screw the consumer.

Getting screwed USED to be FUN!

Originally we negotiated a cash price for the hospital stay. If we had been insured, our insurance company would have had to pay a little over $24,000. Our discounted cash price was$14,600 with an up front payment of $8,200 due 10 days before my surgical date. As far as we can see, there is PLENTY of room to negotiate.

As usual I’ll keep you all up to date as the situation develops.