Explant Surgery - My Story with Breast Implant Illness

Removing my breast implants...and Breast Implant Illness

Not my traditional style of video and definitely not a video I thought I'd ever be making but nonetheless, here I am.

This story started a couple years ago, back when I didn't even know it was going to be something...I didn't recognize the symptoms as anything to be overly concerned with. At first, the symptoms were spread out and very non-specific. As time passed they slowly got worse. It was about six months ago when I'd had enough and decided to spend some time trying to figure out what was going on, I scheduled doctors appointments which lead to blood and urine tests...everything kept coming back normal. Frustrating is a word that comes to mind when I think about that time period. I didn't give up but I had sort of settled into this new "norm", that was until about two months ago...everything sped up and I was legitimately scared!

I scheduled another Doctor appointment and brought in a list of all the symptoms I was experiencing and I also brought in the pamphlet I printed about Breast Implant Illness. I broke down a little in front of my Primary care, I was so scared and overwhelmed. She listened and supported my decision to have my implants removed. Along with that she ordered up several tests including: Blood work, Saliva Home Test and a Urine Analysis. The waiting game began (that's honestly one of the worst parts of going through something like this....WAITING).

When I got home from the appointment, the search for a surgeon began immediately. I wanted the implants out ASAP. The criteria for my search was based on referral, experience, compassion, willingness to do full En Bloc, someone who respected my decision and also who could get me in now. Some of the first 10-15 calls I made (surgeons from the website I'll list below) were booked out as far as October...there was no way I was waiting that long. I got lucky and the person I was referred to by several people was actually the one who could get me in the quickest. In fact, I was hoping for a specific date (it worked best with my racing schedule) and I got it. Felt like that was FATE.

My surgery was done on January 22. The recovery has been exactly what I expected but it doesn't mean I'm not already going Stir crazy!! I feel like a caged animal, pacing...

From what I've read it could be upwards of 6 weeks before I'll be released to full activities and more importantly, Mountain Biking and ATV Racing. Those will most likely come with "feel" rather than a specific set date.

As for my symptoms, the list is long. I've provided them in the video but if you're really curious you can check out the website that helped me so much...it has a wealth of information and resources available
www.breastimplantillness.com

If you have any specific questions that I didn't answer in the video, drop them below in the comments and I'll do my best to answer/help!

My results so far...
-My hands/fingers have not gone numb or turned completely white since I had the implants removed (Coincidence 🤷🏼‍♀️, it was happening multiple times a day before surgery)
- Rashes have been very limited (assuming the couple I've had since were food related).
- I was still sensitive to the sun when I went for a walk last sunday
- Not sure if my muscles have improved, I've been restricted to keep my heart rate under 100bpm, I'll have to wait and see on this one.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm praying that having my implants removed will be the answer and that my body will return to normal function and I can get back to being myself!

Видео Explant Surgery - My Story with Breast Implant Illness канала Donna Espensen