A couple of weeks ago myself and my partner Sean went to meet the specialist reconstructive surgery nurse at the Newcastle RVI.
We spent about an hour talking about the various surgery options and which she would recommend for me. After looking at my upper body shape the nurse recommended implant only reconstruction, potentially with strattice.
This is the option that I was looking into as it is the simplest, with the shortest time on the surgeons table and normally has the shortest recovery. It doesn't, however, give the most natural results in both look and feel. The nurse showed us some implants and explained that, since changing to the more solid silicone, they are completely safe and the silicone cannot leak out as previously believed. She also explained that implants will deteriorate over time, meaning I would need an operation to replace them in 10 - 20 years.
I now have to decide whether to keep my nipples or have them removed and reconstructed a few months after surgery. If the nipples are kept there is a small risk of cancer developing in this area. I will write a post about this decision at a later date. I will also write a more informative and in-depth post about the surgery option I choose once I have seen the surgeon.
I came away from the consultation feeling very positive. The nurse never once patronised me, told me I was too young to make a decision like this or told me it was all just a silly idea. These are all things that my previous genetic counsellor made me feel whilst going through genetic testing for the BRCA1 mutation. The vast majority of genetic counsellors are lovely, professional, knowledgeable people, I just got a bad egg.
We spent about an hour talking about the various surgery options and which she would recommend for me. After looking at my upper body shape the nurse recommended implant only reconstruction, potentially with strattice.
This is the option that I was looking into as it is the simplest, with the shortest time on the surgeons table and normally has the shortest recovery. It doesn't, however, give the most natural results in both look and feel. The nurse showed us some implants and explained that, since changing to the more solid silicone, they are completely safe and the silicone cannot leak out as previously believed. She also explained that implants will deteriorate over time, meaning I would need an operation to replace them in 10 - 20 years.
I now have to decide whether to keep my nipples or have them removed and reconstructed a few months after surgery. If the nipples are kept there is a small risk of cancer developing in this area. I will write a post about this decision at a later date. I will also write a more informative and in-depth post about the surgery option I choose once I have seen the surgeon.
I came away from the consultation feeling very positive. The nurse never once patronised me, told me I was too young to make a decision like this or told me it was all just a silly idea. These are all things that my previous genetic counsellor made me feel whilst going through genetic testing for the BRCA1 mutation. The vast majority of genetic counsellors are lovely, professional, knowledgeable people, I just got a bad egg.
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