The Silicone Summer

Just a girl telling her story

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Reconstructed Nipples!

Soooo, I always feel so awkward when I talk about my reconstructed nipples. I don’t know why, I just simply do. I am though, extremely proud of my new nipples along with my freshly tattooed areolas. They look so real and I don’t think that anyone would ever know that they are fake, only for the fact that I still have 2 huge scars that run along my skin. The tattooing took about 1.5 hours to do and it hurt so so so bad! I assumed it wasn’t going to hurt seeing that I don’t have much feeling in my foobs. When my foobs are itchy the sensation of the itch won’t go away for a while, even when I scratch it. Yeah, it really sucks! So that’s why assumed that I wouldn’t feel much pain, but I was so wrong. Eh, all the pain was so worth it, because my nipples look so great! I love them way more than my previous nipples/areolas.  

Also, nipple tattooing was the final step to my breast reconstruction. I AM FINALLY DONE!!! Praise Jesus! I still have other minor stuff to do, but at least I won’t have to get anymore surgeries done. 

P.S I suck so bad at blogging, I’m sorry! :( 

[thesiliconesummer-blog]

My timeline w/ pictures soon to come!

Every time I go to my plastic surgeon’s office they take pictures of me. They’re pictures of only my torso. At my appointment on Monday they gave me all of my pictures, from the very first consultation (April 2015)  to Monday’s pictures (Dec. 2015). It is sooo amazing getting to see every single step of the process in pictures. It’s also so weird seeing the pictures of the old boobs I had and I am so glad that they’re gone now and replaced with even better ones. 

I will be adding a lot of my pictures on here soon so that everyone can see a part of my journey. 

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Day 2 post surgery: I got liposuction done on my inner thighs and my sides for fat grafting to fill in my foobs where they were lacking shape and fat. I wasn't sore at all yesterday, but I am very much feeling it today. It's very hard to get up from the recliner to do anything. I do have muscle relaxers though which help a lot, but they make me go to sleep for a very long time. Also, the antibiotics give me really bad heart burn for some reason, but tums help with that. I also got bi-lateral nipple reconstruction. I still don't know what they look like because I'm not allowed to take my bandages off for a week. I'm excited to see because I hadn't had nipples for about 6 months 😁 I know people probably think that's weird or whatever, but I think it's pretty cool! Tip #1: Invest in a bell and make your little sister and brother get you whatever you want. 😂

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Got out of surgery and I’m feeling super weird! 🤗

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It's surgery day! 🤗

I’ll be having liposuction done on my thighs again for fat grafting. This will be injected (?) into my foobs to fill and round them out so they don’t look like the shape of my implants. Also, my plastic surgeon will be doing a nipple reconstruction (I have no idea how that’s done). I’m super excited because I believe this will be my last surgery. Praying to God that it will be! 🙏🏽😘

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Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃

I am so thankful to God for my amazing family! For all of the love and support they show me and for being by my side every step of the way!

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This video was taken after my 3rd surgery. It was outpatient, so I got to go home that same day. The anesthesia still hadn’t worn off and that’s why I’m weird and floppy. I also tried to translate it to the best of my abilities. 

Enjoy! 

[thesiliconesummer-blog]

Phyllodes Tumors

(From my understanding)

Phyllodes tumors are super rare. They account for less than 1% of all breast tumors. Most of the women who get these types of tumors are well over 40. I was 15, making it even more rare and uncommon. Since this tumor is so rare, there isn’t a whole lot of research for it and knowledge of how they really behave.

A phyllodes tumor can double in size every 2 weeks. This explains why my tumor was so big and I felt that it kept on growing. If I would’ve waited any longer to have my first surgery the tumor would’ve broken through my skin and possibly destroyed my breast and chest area. This is how I know that our God is truly amazing.

My first phyllodes tumor was very aggressive. My surgeon had to take out the tumor along with surrounding breast tissue in order stop the tumor from coming back. He took out a decent amount and had clear margins, but it kept coming back, hence the rest of my surgeries. I visited many different surgeons and oncologists and they really couldn’t explain to me the reason behind this tumor and how it kept growing after 3 surgeries.

I didn’t know what to do with myself, I was physically and emotionally tired...

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Foobs (fake boobs)

90% Silicone Implants

5%  My thigh fat through fat grafting with lipo suction 

5% My own skin on the outside

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Surgery #1: Left Breast Lumpectomy

I was 15 when I found my first lump. I didn’t think much of it, 15 year olds didn’t really get breast cancer or so I thought. I kept putting off seeing a doctor, because it wasn’t important to me at the time. 

On July 3rd, 2011 my older brother Juan passed away. He was in Tennessee on a summer internship with other of his UT classmates. It has been the absolute saddest moment of my life, but with the strength and help of my family we all pulled through. We became closer to God and thanked him for the amazing life of my brother, but it was still really hard to focus on other things like my health. 

For a really long time I didn’t do anything about the lump in my breast. It just sat there growing and growing for about 8 months. I was now 16 and thought “hmm I should probably do something about this” which I then proceeded to do. I saw my doctor, the pediatrician I had been seeing for my entire life, and she scheduled ultrasounds and an appointment to see a general surgeon. (I got breast ultrasounds done because mammograms don’t get a good reading on the breast tissue of younger women. Also, the radiation emitted by the mammogram is more harmful to a younger women than beneficial.) The doctor who read my ultrasound said he thought my tumor was the size of a tennis ball, that’s ginormous for a tumor, and he suggested I have it biopsied right away. When I saw my general surgeon he suggested we remove the whole tumor right away rather then waiting for biopsy results since I had already waited enough. 

So on March 1, 2012 I had my very first surgery.... 

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A lot of people don't know this about me, but I had a double mastectomy with breast reconstruction this past summer. I've had 5/6 surgeries so far with one left in 2 weeks. I am beyond ecstatic to (hopefully) finally be finished and put cancer behind me. So I decided to start a small blog where I share my story. I got through a lot of emotional pain by reading other women's blogs. They were all very inspirational and motivational but, I never read one where the woman was near my age. I know that there are other girls out there who could really use the support even if it's through a blog and I really want to be there for them. So I introduce- The Silicone Summer ☀️ I've been wanting to start this for a very long time and today was the day.

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I thank God for this victory.

CP