My Explant Journey
Thank you for your curiosity and non-judgement. I am so grateful to live the life that I do, as a single mother and solopreneur, by helping people heal themselves. I appreciate that my community supports me when there is an unexpected challenge - like I experienced earlier this year.
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My younger self saw breast implants as a good choice. I thought it was a one and done surgery, that I would never have to redo or revise (I was not informed that these would require surgical maintenance every 10-15 years, nor of the possibility of breast implant illness, aka BII). It felt like a necessary step to feel good about myself and be found more attractive. To be honest, I enjoyed them for many of the 16 years I had them and they felt like they were a part of me. But a few years ago that changed. I began to feel that one palpably felt off - there was an inexplicable border that I could feel. I began to consider replacing them, but kept putting it off due to the expense. Separately, I also was dealing with autoimmune concerns (hashimotos, candida, low iron, hair loss, low energy). In January 2024, after several conversations with sisters who had gone through similar health concerns and after explant saw improvements, I had the realization that they no longer felt like a part of me. I also intuitively knew that they were either the cause or exacerbating my health concerns, and decided on an explant surgery. Literally the next day, I found out that one was ruptured and leaking silicone (the border I felt was a part of the shell, which was broken in pieces). One month later, I confirmed the other was ruptured as well.
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I am so grateful to have health insurance, but they only cover part of the surgery (which I am still working to be reimbursed for). Plus my surgeon did not accept insurance, so I was "out of network." However, she is considered the explant specialist of Colorado, and I felt confident in her skills and expertise with BII (I had one surgeon tell me BII hasn't been proven but if I believe they are making me sick, than removing them should help, but wouldn't guarantee the removal of all affected tissue).
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As of October 2024, I'm almost fully recovered from the surgery, dealing with minimal tenderness and inflammation. I am still on the road to recovery regarding my autoimmune concerns, but am confident that now my body has a real chance to heal - now that it is no longer fighting the foreign objects that were in my body.
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I will update this as I continue to improve and am always available to chat, should you have any questions. It's a very personal decision, but one that I made with the support and experience of women who went through it before me.