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Double mastectomy caused rare infection

Posted by jenniferw1469 @jenniferw1469, Nov 22 4:02pm

My daughter discovered that she had the BRCA gene. She has 3 babies, and wanted to be able to be healthy for her kids. Her doctor recommended a double mastectomy, which she did. She had so many problems after the surgery. Long story short, she was infected with a rare infection (serratia ribudea) from the original surgery. She has made multiple surgeries, many many trips to the e.r. Now, years later, she has no boobs.....just a mutilated chest that still holds the infection. The impact it has made on her life is devastating. And no one seems to be able to help her. She's in her 30s.....she wanted to save her life by getting the mastectomy, only to be completely mutilated, and is still at risk of dying from the infection. She is both physically and mentally destroyed. I need to help her but I don't know what to do. Can anyone help me?

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myoga | @myoga | Nov 27 2:37pm

I’m sorry your daughter is going through this at such a young age. I’ll keep her in my prayers tonight and hope that God will heal her. I don’t look at mastectomy as mutilation but as flat and fabulous although I admire the women that have the courage to go through reconstruction. I’m still waiting for my mastectomy surgery and hope that I’ll get through it fine. Sending my love to you and your daughter.

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cancerwifemom | @cancerwifemom | Nov 28 8:31am
In reply to @lilacs777 "Wow, glad to hear you're doing okay now @cancerwifemom . Did you ever find out what..." + (show)
@lilacs777

Wow, glad to hear you're doing okay now @cancerwifemom . Did you ever find out what caused it (iow was the expander itself contaminated or do they think you picked it up from the hospital itself when they were doing the procedure or something else)? I'm still trying to decide on what type of recon and infection is one of my biggest fears for implants. I've talked to a few different plastic surgeons and they each tell me something different about the infection risk and what they do to prevent it so I'm not sure what to believe. I understand that infection rates are much higher for BC patients than for implants for just augmentation.

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We think it was the tubing from my surgical drain. It was painful and gave me problems from day 1. Everything happened so fast after my diagnosis that I didn’t look around for different plastic surgeons. Mine was very inexperienced and not confident in her work. She did not tell me the risk of infections and ensured me that I wouldn’t need expanders. Sadly I ended up with infected expanders. After my treatments were complete I found a better surgeon and everything has been fine.

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