" My Odyssey into the world of Silicone & Saline Breast Implants"

Rosanne's Story

My name is Rosanne. I am cuurently 49 years young, but much of the time I feel as though I am 149. This oddessey started for me in 1984. I had recently been divorced and decided that getting breast implants was something that I had always dreamed of doing. I had always been unhappy with my very small chest. In fact, I probably wasn`t very happy with myself in many ways, but at that time I didn`t know any better. I thought about the fact that I suspected that my own mother had breast implants, so I figured they couldn't be bad for anyone if my own mother had them! So, off I went and found one of the best surgeons in the area. The end result was wonderful. I loved "the new physical me"! I had always been very healthy, so when in the late 1980's, I devoloped an auto-immune disease called "Graves disease", no one could undertand why. No family history of anything like this and I had always been so healthy! After getting this illness under control, everything seemed fine. Then a few years later I started to get sick again with symptoms similar to the Graves disease, except the symptoms would wax and wane and the Graves disease was a constant. Besides, everytime I went to get tested, my thyroid was testing "ok". This went off and on for awhile and then I realized I had what was called "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". The name of this illness is very misleading because it has a long list off many symptoms, but the fatigue and cognitive problems were prominent for me. Shortly after the Chronic Fatigue Syndrone diagnosis, came the scare in the early 1990`s. It was being reported that breast implants were causing illnesses in women. A close friend of mine, (who got her implants shortly after I did) called me and told me about a support group for women who had breast implants. I was totally freaked out and terrified that implants could be making women sick. I even spoke to doctors and was reasured that it could not be true. I went to the support group and wasn`t sure what to think, except that I thought it weird that so many others had "Chronic Fatigue Syndrone". I think this was the beginning of me finding out that I may have a problem. I told the women that one of the doctors told me I had a buldge which showed up on a mammogram and they said, "you may have a rupture!" I took their advice and sought out a recommended radiologist, who did an ultra-sound and found my left implant was indeed ruptured. Finally, I thought I knew why I was sick. I must get these out. The women said "don`t replace with anything." I decided I would not have any replacement. As the surgery day got closer, I started to freak out. By this time, I had spoken to many people, ( including doctors) who had experience with saline implants, and nobody had anything negative to say about them. My mother (who it turns out, did have implants) said, "why don`t you just put the salines in?" I guess I was not ready to be without any implants at this time, because I ended up replacing them with the salines. I knew that I would need to be working on getting these out of me, because they too might cause problems or just plain wouldn`t last. As time went by after getting my newly implanted saline implants, I began to develop new symptoms. I have this numbness and pain and tingling in my right foot and lower leg. I constantly had to keep the foot covered, because when it got cold, the pain is just awful. I have also had developed asthma and had small spots showing up on my lungs. My CFS symptoms worsened and I began to be sick more of time. I knew the saline implants had to come out. I just needed to find the right surgeon, the finances, and mostly the courage to "just do it"! It took me approximately two years for this to all happen for me. In the meantime, with feeling so ill so much of the time, I had devoloped something else that no one seemed to understand. It was a constant problem of a gelish foam coming into my mouth, everyday, all day long. It was driving me crazy at times, because it is was so thick and annoying. My fears were that maybe the saline was contaminated somehow, and that may be the source of the problem. The day after Christmas of this past year, I decided I better do this sooner, rather than later. I was getting sicker all the time. Somedays I just felt like I would die. I had met with Dr. Feng approximately 6 months earlier, and felt that she would probably be the best plastic surgeon for the surgery. I selected an early March date, and it is now 2 months since they have been removed. I can not say I'am any better yet, but I will say that I am so very happy to be rid of those bags of poison. It was possibly one of the best things I have done for myself. I am very, very small. In fact, I am smaller than I was prior to implants. How unimportant that all feels to me right now! Sure, it would be nice to have some fullness in my breasts, but I am learning to accept myself as I am. I am now waiting for Dr. Peirre Blais`s report on my implants, so I can hopefully begin some treatment that may help with some of my symptoms. Thank you everyone, for taking the time to read my story. If I can help just one other person to know that breast implants do not really make anyone happy in the long run, I will feel sharing this story was worth it. I would feel I have helped put a dent in this nightmare called "breast augmentation". Warmest Regards, Rosanne EMAIL ROSANNE

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