(I want to clarify that this surgery was not performed by Dr. Hauser, who was going to be out of…read morethe office at the scheduled time of my surgery.)
Finding out you have breast cancer is frightening. It does not only affect you, but your whole family.
You naively trust you will have the best care and you put that trust in doctors that specialize in this field.
I want to state that I am writing this review ONLY in the hope of protecting another woman from having the outcome that I sadly face and will continue to in some compacity, the rest of my life.
After my cancer diagnosis, I had a double mastectomy with direct to implant.
I had very realistic expectations and did not expect perfection since there would be no breast tissue and the breast were being created using implants and using ADM tissue to make a sling or pocket of sorts.
I was told it was best that the implants would be above the muscle. Again, you unknowingly trust those you guided to trust.
The double mastectomy was an outpatient surgery and I went home thinking "wow, this was so much better than expected?"
Then I saw my breast for the first time.
I felt as though I was not looking at my body.
My breast were not just a little uneven, but drastically so.
I had rolled skin under my arms like it was an after thought?
My nipples, which should have never tried to been saved due to ptosis, sadly, just for the sake of another nipple sparing mastectomy, mine were left pointing straight down on both of my sadly sagging breast. (my right breast hanging much lower.)
This isn't the worst part.
What I found/find most disturbing and to be honest, I personally felt was cruel, was the lack of care. Not just medical care, but such a lack of empathy to my circumstance and my unhappiness of the outcome.
A month after surgery I started feeling new swelling and pain in my left breast.
The swelling became so intense my breast was bruised from top to bottom.
This scared me and I am not a person that is faint of heart. I am pain tolerant and I have a positive disposition.
This is my first negative review and I felt convicted to write this only to state to women who need to understand as I needed and wish I knew, that you must be your own advocate.
After seeing this swelling increase, and calling the nurse of this surgeon, I was told to take pictures of my breast and send them (text) for viewing.
Upon receiving a text back, it was stated that the bruising and swelling was not specifically caused from the implant and it would heal?
Now, I found myself after being cleared of cancer, which I thank God for, I was facing what was supposedly the easy part of healing with new breast and moving on with my life, became the nightmare that was far more than I could ever have imagined.
Days after being dismissed by the surgeon who would have NEVER tolerated the results of the incompetency of this surgery if it was his wife or family member...I ended up in the ER with my right breast swollen so badly it was like a balloon and I could not even touch without pain.
I had to have a CT guided aspiration to alleviate the swelling and help the pain.
A seroma had formed under the breast implant causing it to push forward and blood to pool. Which he probably knew and if not, that in itself is beyond questionable.
I contacted the oncologist surgeon who performed my dmx and who works with this surgeon and I explained that I did not trust his surgical skills, his care, and stated how disappointed I had been from day one with what I thought were going was going to breast of some degree.
She basically took over my "care" and after five CT guided aspirations, ( the radiation exposure each time, as well as all the stress) I had the radiologist and members of radiology, who were all very kind, tell me that they were sorry for what I was having to deal with and that they were going to write in my report that I needed to have surgical intervention, they were going to refuse to do any more aspirations.
I had to have explantation by a surgeon my oncologist suggested and when he removed my implants, basically by emergency through the ER, when he made the first cut under my left breast where the seroma/now
hematoma developed, blood actually gushed out.
Please....for your well being, ask to see pictures of your plastic surgeons work!
Don't settle for the doctor that your oncologist works with. It is far too important of a decision, choose wisely.
Pictures paint a thousand words!
Look at their work, feel at ease in your choice and please, take your time! This is your body.
Go to multiple plastic surgeon consultations that specialize in reconstruction. Ask any and all questions. Write them down.
You deserve the best outcome that is available and that begins with both the right surgery choice and your choice of a plastic surgeon.
I lost my breast not once, but twice.
To anyone on this journey, I wish you many blessings and an outcome that leaves you happy and at peace.
