Posted by kristina
on 1/5/2004, 4:37 pm
I have debated on placing my story here, but I have only found one other woman who has had a similar experience (her's is also posted on this site) and thought it might be helpful for anyone else who experienced something similar that they are not alone. This is my story. I began contemplating BR over 3 years ago. I was wearing 40FF or 42DDD bras and was experiencing the back, neck and shoulder pain and at times had numbness down my left arm (my left breast was bigger at the time). I finally decided the time was right and saw a PS in 6/03. In 5 weeks I had IC approval and surgery was scheduled for 10/21/03. The PS removed 730 grams from the left and 525 from the right. Prior to my DC from the hospital the next day, she came in and examined the work and made a comment about tissue looking a little dusky but I should not worry. I thought she meant the nipple as that's where I heard most complications came from. Little did I know... I saw her for the first follow up visit 8 days later. At that time I was concerned over blisters that had formed on my left breast that were filled with bloody looking fluid. She took care of the blisters and became concerned over the look of the tissue on the underside of the breast. She placed me on antibiotic ointment for the areas under my breasts as well as an oral antibiotic. That was Thursday...Saturday, the tissue on the underside of both breasts was BLACK, DRY, LEATHERY...it was dead. I called the hospital only to be told by the PS on call that I should not worry. I am a nurse, I knew better than that. I emailed my PS on Sunday and Monday morning I had a response to be at her office at 9:00. When I saw her she confirmed that the tissue was dead and began the process of cutting it away and my DH and I began the process of twice a day dressing changes. On 11/19 she was concerned about infection based on discharge I was having and took cultures and started me on more antibiotics. I continued to see her every 2 weeks. On 12/16 I went to her office concerned about an increase in pain to my right breast and increased drainage. She again took cultures and made the decision I needed to be admitted and placed on IV antibiotics. So, the next day, I showed up at the hospital where I would spend the next 6 days having dressings changed every 6 hours. (Mind you back in November, we started using a gel dressing instead of the wet to dry because the wet to dry's were so painful for me I couldn't keep doing them). Now every 6 hours someone was coming in and ripping off dressings. Thank goodness for the IV morphine that I was given prior to the dressing changes. It made it almost bearable. I was also getting IV antibiotics which were incredibly hard on my veins requiring frequent new starts of IV's. I was fortunatly able to be DC from the hospital before Christmas. We are back to doing the wet to dry dressings and tylox controls the pain of doing the changes now. Things seem to be finally on the upswing...almost 3 months after my surgery. I was told I would be out of work 3-4 weeks. My current guess-ta-mate for a return date will put me out for 13 weeks. My family medical leave will expire which means I must now worry about the stability of my job. My husband and I were able to pull things together that all the finances were fine for December and our kids had a good Christmas but I have no idea where to pull money from for January. In general I am not really unhappy about the size my breasts would have been if things had gone as they should have but because of all the tissue that needed to be cut away, the left breast is now quite noticeably smaller than the right. I will have "dents" on the underside of my breast once I finally do heal so I will have to decide at some point in time if I can emotionally afford to go thru a second breast surgery for reconstruction. I am not sure I can answer the question of "Am I sorry"...I don't know. The only thing I know for sure went wrong during the procedure is they did notice the dusky color of the skin flaps as the procedure was coming to an end, but I am not sure if they could have done anything then to reestablish blood supply and I also know that the antibiotics she put me on in November were not appropriate for the germs that were growing. I have gotten some basic copies on my medical records to review and do plan to arrange to see the OR reports. I know that it is very possible that this was just me...my body...I knew there were risks and I have seen skin and tissue necrosis listed as a real risk even though a rare one...but I would like to know if it could have been avoided. I don't even necessarily want to sue...I just want to know if there is anything to know. Thanks for listening. And for those considering BR...remember, it is a serious surgery with real risks but also with real benefits. Go in with knowledge and a positive attitude. Best of luck to all of you.
Kristina
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