Myrl Jeffcoat myrlj@jps.net
29 mars, 2005 20:39
Breast Reconstruction Surgery After Mastectomy
Pam's response to "Breast Reconstruction Surgery After Mastectomy."
As a breast cancer survivor of 30 years, I take exception to the information in this news story. I had total bilateral breast reconstruction, beginning Nov 19, 1980, with a latissimus dorsi flap and three failed implants. Muscle transplant surgeries do enormous permanent damage to the body.
There were no studies in 1980 for me to review. In the spring of 2000, I contacted the ASPRS to get a copy of any study they had done on the long-term impact of breast reconstruction. A representative called me and said no such studies existed, and it was her opinion that to ask the ASPRS membership to gather the statistics on failure rates of reconstruction would create an onerous burden on them. To the best of my knowledge, no such study exists today.
I have permanent nerve damage to my left arm, back, and chest from the latissimus dorsi flap. It is damage that can never be repaired. To attempt to do so would cause me to be at least partially paralyzed on the left side, an event I do not wish to happen.
The doctor's comments can be best assessed in his use of the words "might be". Women who have undergone breast cancer need love and support. They need to be encourage to love themselves as they are. They don't need to be seduced down this long painful reconstruction journey with the word "might".
Plastic surgeons may dress it up any way they want. To promote these dangerous, painful reconstruction surgeries on vulnerable women has NOTHING to do with the well-being of the patient. Breast reconstruction and implants creates a permanent retirement fund for the plastic surgery industry.
I am alive today, not because my implanting plastic surgeon did such a great job, but because I refuse to let the damage done to my body keep me down or keep me quiet.
Because I believe strongly that breast cancer women are used as the blade on the front of the train pushing for silicone gel breast implants on the market, I will be traveling to DC in my old motorhome to testify before the upcoming FDA panel on the safety of silicone gel breast implants. I am not the poster child of this industry without a conscience. I cannot allow them to seduce and lure more vulnerable women into accepting dangerous products and painful surgeries.
It is time we stand up and say who we are is not in our breast, but in our hearts, minds, and souls.
Pam Dowd
Implant Veterans of Toxic Exposure
3631 Durham Way
Boise, ID 83716
208-939-2625
