Appointment with P.S. next week! Have you heard of her?

September 16, 2008

Hello,

So, I have an appointment with a P.S. next week. Her name is

Comizio and she is at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon

NH (I am in Troy NH). I called there because DHMC is probably the

most state of the art and well regarded hospital in this area, and is

associated with Dartmouth Medical School, so I figured it would be a

bit more progressive and research oriented. They had 5 or 6 cosmetic

breast surgeons on staff as well, so I figured there had to be ONE

that worked out.

I spoke with the surgical scheduler today, and explained to her that

I was looking to have an explant, and it was important to me to have

a surgeon who was receptive to the idea that implants may cause

illness. She was very nice. She did say that all of their surgeons

regarded implants as safe, but that she would recommend Dr. Comizio

who is a younger woman, very easy-going and nice, and she thought she

might be the most open-minded. I asked if she does total

capsulectomy, and she said yes.

I did some research on Dr. Comizio tonight, and couldn't find much,

other than she has only been out of residency for a year. That has

it's pros and its cons I think...

I was wondering if anyone had anyhthing to say about Dr. Comizio, or

any of the other surgeons at DHMC. Even any information on other

plastic surgeons in NH would be great. I had my implants put in by

Dr. Grey in Portsmouth, who I must say is a fine surgeon, but a) he

does not accept my insurance, and I cannot get over the fact that

his office told me that they had " never heard " of health problems

associated with breast implants. I don't need my surgeon to be a

champion for this issue, but i do need him/her to acknowledge that it

does happen. I hope Dr. Comizio works out, because I cannot afford to

pay for consults all over the place, let alone take the time off. We

were planning a vacation in Jan. (we've never really been able to

take one), but all of this has put the kibosh on those plans.

I then called and spoke with a nurse at the Rheumatologist's office

where I had testing done a few years back. I never got a copy of

those test results, and wante to know if they contained anything

useful to my plaight. She was also very nice. She explained the six

tests that had been performed- they all came back normal. I asked if

they had a lot of women presenting with autoimmune disorders who had

breast implants, and what their MD's had to say about such evidence.

She put me on hold so that she could go ask a doc. She came back and

said she'd run into 2 rheumatologists in the hall, who'd both said

that they'd heard of such a link, and that women with implants often

got symptoms that mimicked diseases like lupus and RA, but not the

actual diseases. They also said that all of the official clinical

trials disproved any link.

I've been really fretting over whether this is the right thing to do-

I guess I know deep down that it is, but I worry that I will go to

the trouble, expense and heartache of having it done and still feel

awful after. What if I do just have fibromyalgia, and I would have it

breast implants or none? But then I think about all of the other

symptoms- especially the brain fog- and I know that I have to do it.

I'm still really worried about insurance. If I am turned down, I may

see about switching to my boyfriend's (7 years- I hate saying

boyfriend..) insurance. I'll have to see how long it would take for

me to be able to enroll, and to be able to have surgury. His ins.

does not have the same exclusion about cosmetic surgury complications

that mine does.

Thanks ladies,

Annette

September 16, 2008

Annette,I think you'll find a lot more empathy from women doctors than from males . . . If you noticed, most of our preferred docs are female. Doctors don't get in trouble as long as they follow the A.M.A. lines . . . "Breast implants are safe" . . . It's rare to find a doctor who will differ in public. It's also rare for rheumy's to admit there are problems with implants. . . Although they have had have seen plenty of sick women with them. . . But the ones asked sound honest. . . Diseases like Lupus and MS often resolve after explant. It's quite "normal" for ones tests to be "normal" . . .However, watch for an elevated ANA.ly, there is no guarantee though! We've had a few rare women who remain ill after explant. But not often. Usually, if they remain ill,

it turns out they had an extracapsular rupture, a spill during explant, or the capsules weren't removed. . . Getting well seldom is as easy as explant. Explant is followed by a long period of detoxing, primarily by taking extraordinarily good care of themselves. But including a number of detox programs. It's a huge decision to make - especially if it means you will put yourself into debt - and end up flat chested to boot. However, if you've exhausted all other means to get well and are still getting sicker, it's time to consider explant - regardless.Sometimes insurance companies waive waiting periods if you are changing from one policy to another - for reason . . i.e. marriage, death, job change, divorce, etc. . . . But you will have to check the fine print before you'll know for sure. Hugs and prayers,Rogene Appointment with P.S. next week! Have you heard of her?