Comments on: Kathy’s Story- Breast Implants and Cancer

By: Lizie

Lizie — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 12:37:45 +0000

Thanks a million Kathy, Your post is a real moral booster for women suffering from breast cancer. You are absolutely right, women need to learn more about breast cancers and implant surgery.

By: Joy Geltmacher

Joy Geltmacher — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:52:12 +0000

Thanks for that information. There is never anything said for those of us with implants. I will be more aware from now on and more careful.

By: Kathy Lassen

Kathy Lassen — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 14:37:42 +0000

Dear Route 53,
Thank you for your questions. My goal is to just let woman with implants know that routine mammograms and even ultra sounds are not foolproof. My cancer was tubular and hid in the scar tissue surrounding my implants. So here’s the unknown …. had I not had the implants and there wasn’t any scar tissue, would they have then detected the breast cancer? Your guess is as good as mine. I just want to emphasize to women that once you get implants, they aren’t necessarily there for life! One of mine became encapsulated, i.e., very hard and painful, so I chose to have them replaced. I went through the surgery, they looked awesome, and THEN 10 days later I was told I had cancer and that I needed a mastectomy! An expensive detection, but one that saved my life. Women HAVE to listen to their own bodies and have anything that they feel is abnormal, checked out. I don’t for a minute believe that implants caused my cancer. And long ago when I had mine done, they were placed on top of the muscle instead of under the muscle which is routine today. So that was another deterrent in their detection. I had a double mastectomy and once again have silicone implants. I get scans once a year and get checked every six months. I’m still paranoid about any little ache and pain I have …. right now I have a mass in my knee that I’m praying isn’t bone cancer!! I hate the cancer med I’m on right now (aromasin) as my joints ache and I have terrible arthritis in my hands. Maybe I’m just getting old but I still “think” that the cancer “could” recur. I don’t dwell on it by any means, but women need to speak up to one another and share their stories. So thank you for your inquiry and I hope I answered your questions. If not, ask away and I’ll be happy to share what I know and/or think. Many blessings.

By: Route53

Route53 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:45:50 +0000

Thanks for sharing Kathy. And thanks for helping to spread awareness.

So the way I understand it is you are making women who have had breast augmentation aware of the need to undergo further testing as the implants were impairing detection.

Can you share what the irregularities were that your physician found?

How did this affect you? Did you decide to still go through with replacement of your original implants? I think those who have had implants post surgery have been told that their oncologist will still check with them as they will not be able to get mammograms to detect cancer again.