Hi @susan7656, 2 years ago when I first got breast cancer I had a lumpectomy and radiation in my left breast, there was some radiation damage to my skin. The plastic surgeon said it wasn’t strong enough to hold an implant so they took the muscle flap from my lat in my back on the left side, he basically made the cut to remove the muscle and then tunneled it under the armpit keeping the blood supply intact and attached it under the skin to shield and support the implant on that side. Evidently I didn’t have enough tissue in my abdomen for him to use and he said the lat muscle usually works really well. I had already lost most of the feeling in that nipple and skin on the left breast from radiation. He wasn’t sure if my nipple graft would take, but so far it looks good! I’m thankful to at least have it, even without any feeling. I still have the drain in my back. Lots of swelling and fluid in my back. I had 3 drains right after surgery one for each breast plus the back drain. The breast drains came out after one week.
I wasn’t able to wear the sports bra for long it was just so tight and painful, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I found a soft one to try today that is bigger and so far it has been okay and I can breathe. I think the reason I think the right side is overfilled is because it’s mainly filled at the very top so it’s way high up in my chest and my armpit is pushed forward if that makes sense, it just looks weird. The bottom section is barely filled.