This is my breast implant illness healing journey continued, on my explant surgery which happened in February 2017…
Wow time flies. At the time of writing this its been 4 months since I have had my breast implants removed en bloc. En bloc means removing the capsule (scar tissue that is formed around the implant) at the same time the implant gets removed.
Its super important this happens as the capsule can hold all sorts of infection, rupture, fluid and inflammation that is not beneficial if its left in the body as you can imagine, and if left in can make recovery harder or impossible.
However during en bloc removal sometimes breast tissue has to be removed at the same time, and this can also be why some surgeons are reluctant to do en bloc. There are surgeons skilled in this area, so its worthwhile researching, far and wide, the US has great surgeons that could potentially do this skillfully.
Unfortunately, some breast tissue got removed during my surgery, and one of my breasts has a good chunk missing. Thankfully there are options that I am looking into such as fat transfer to correct this.
For those of you new to my journey and wondering why I chose to get them removed and what Breast Implant Illness is please read my blog here as I talk about the beginning of my journey with this illness.
How am I physically, emotionally now?
A whole bunch of interesting things happened after surgery.
Firstly I was relieved that I did still have breasts! The surgeons can sometimes put this fear into you that you will only be left with nipples and skin.
Thankfully that is not the case with most women and there is some ‘fluffing’ that occurs after surgery too where they start to grow back and fill out a little.
But I also had an emotional roller coaster of a few days after surgery.
My sense of self was completely gone and I did not know who I was anymore. I realised that a lot of how I identified with myself was tied up in those implants!
And it was all happening on a conscious, sub conscious and unconscious level. I loved filling out a t-shirt, bikini, I felt ‘feminine’, and sexy naked with those big boobs.
So what came to light for me was that because I felt I was missing some part of myself or not loving that part of myself by getting implants, that gave me a false sense of being complete and I could then give myself an identity. Which I did. And got very attached to.
These realisations came to light loud and clear since removal during my emotional few days after surgery. And only since then have I been able to process all of this and re-connect to my ‘self’ again, fully, wholly, completely.
It’s a journey that is still going and requires a gentle, loving, approach.
I love how I can touch my heart again, lie on the floor, at yoga, or a massage table on my front and not feel pain, and not have back pain and neck pain, constant gut issues, joint pain and most of my other illness symptoms have gone away and for that I am eternally grateful.
I feel like ‘me’ again and I have zero regrets about getting them taken out.
Chatting to most women in the Facebook Support Group about BII 99% all the say the same thing. Eternally grateful to have their life, their health and their “selves” back.
Diet and Detox
Pre and post op I have been focusing mainly on a Ketogenic Diet using KetoOS supplements along with other supplements and it has done wonders for lowering inflammation, blood sugar levels, switching my body from using glucose as fuel to fat (this helps stop feeding bad bacteria, candida and parasites – all of which I was dealing with) healing my gut and keeping my energy up as well as losing the weight that I had gained. The implants also affected my thyroid and because it was sluggish it was also contributing to weight gain.
Lately I have been moving back to more of my raw food lifestyle diet while still using KetoOS and finding that I am still reaping the therapeutic benefits of the KetoOS.
Having just landed in Bali with the heat my body wants to eat more tropical fruits and raw foods so I’m listening to my intuition. So far so good.
There is still more detoxing and cleansing to do, physically and emotionally and I am feeling the urge to do a cleanse soon.
Perhaps a coconut water fast or juice fast for a week. Anyone want to join me?! We could support each other! If you are keen let me know and I can set up a support group via FB and choose a kick off date :)
If you have breast implants and have unrelated illnesses and symptoms please head to the Facebook Group here. There are thousands of women supporting each other through this process, so you will never feel alone in what you are going through.
There are no judgements, the journey and decisions to be made around having breast implants or removing breast implants is very unique and individual to everyone.
And if this is you, please be kind to yourself, love yourself through the process. And I am here for you if you have any questions or need support.
Much raw <3
Amanda xx
http://healingbreastimplantillness.com/breast-implant-safety/
http://www.publichealthalert.org/breast-implant-illness.html
Head here to find out more about KetoOS – and if you would like to try the supplement out.
I’m using the 30 day Chocolate flavour caffeine free OTG (On The Go) sachets. You can also buy the KAN (tub) and it’s slightly cheaper too! Bonus.
Annnnnnd you gotta try my Fat Bomb Recipe!
