College Student Shares her Breast Implant Research

[Guest guest]

Thought I'd share with the group a research paper forwarded to me by

our Helen W... who was interviewed by these students ...

Thanks Helen and Rogene and Dawn for helping educate these college

students!

With love to all.

Ilena Rosenthal

www.BreastImplantAwareness.org

Dammen

Sarina Chen

Journalism 48J:007

10 December 2004

For Helen

For my third research paper, I chose to continue

researching cosmetic surgery. However, once I began searching for a

group to post my questions to I narrowed my topic down slightly. I

didn't find a site that talked about all different kinds of cosmetic

surgery; however, I did find an excellent group that talked about

breast implants—alt.support.breast-implant. This group was very

active and every day there were over twenty-five new postings.

Sometimes there were even forty to fifty. I observed this group

four times before I posted. I also received an email from Dawn, " a

survivor " of breast implants. Another woman, Rogene emailed me and

like Dawn, she invited me to join her own group at another website.

The fourth woman that contacted me, Helen, is the woman that I will

be basing the following paper on. Helen served as my ultimate

source for information.

Many of the women in this group felt that their breast

implants were the source to all of their health ailments. Many of

them were sick from the silicone or saline placed in their bodies.

It was very sad to see the amount of women affected every day by

breast implants. In the following paragraphs, I will share with you

Helen's story and her responses to my interview questions. I feel

that it is important to hear her story first to completely

understand her responses to my questions. Considering that Helen

was the only person willing to talk personally with me, I adapted my

questions specifically for Helen. The time spent emailing Helen

back and forth and talking to her on the phone has forever changed

my views on breast implants and on life in general.

At age 20, Helen experienced her first breast tumor. In

1973, after nine breast tumors, the last being pre-cancerous Helen

decided to have what today we would call " reconstructive surgery. "

Due to her breast tumors, Helen had lost both of her breasts to

mastectomies. At that time, no one under 40 could have mammograms

done. Helen's surgeon mentioned that he had heard of something new

for people like her. He explained that he would not do the surgery

for cosmetic reasons and that she would be no bigger. In 1973,

Helen underwent her first silicone implants after a bi-lateral

mastectomy, which placed the silicone above her muscles. She

recalls having to wear a device for some time to keep them in

place.

From the beginning they were hard and painful. When she

asked him about the pain, he felt that it was because they were

directly on nerve endings. Helen was very thin and remembers

feeling stretched-out from the implants. Following her

augmentation, Helen was sick on and off for many years, and her

mother was convinced that the implants were the source of all her

ailments. For many years, Helen struggled on and off with different

health problems. In 1985, she underwent a hysterectomy and almost

died again. Another doctor found that Helen was experiencing immune

deficiency. However, Helen continued to live every single day with

health problems that arose from unknown causes.

Twenty years had passed since the implants, yet Helen's

health condition continued to remain fragile. In 1996, Helen saw

her first plastic surgeon. In September of '96, Helen was scheduled

for surgery. This surgery initially required two doctors; however,

one of the doctors was late so the other doctor went ahead on his

own. He informed her that her skin was very thin and that the

implants could be stuck to her chest cavity, but he said he could

fix this all later. She explained years later that this is their

key—they can always fix things later with more surgery. They

proceeded to remove her breast implants and did get them out in one

piece. However, following the surgery Helen had to return home with

drain tubes in place due to the infection caused by the implants.

Her doctor explained that while the reports for cancer were

negative, they was a hodge-podge of other substances within her

breasts that could turn cancerous.

In November of '96, Helen was sent to yet another

general surgeon. However, this surgeon was a woman. This surgeon

did a complete mastectomy bi-laterally. Her silicone, however, was

replaced by saline. Helen explains that at that time she had no

idea that saline would cause her ailments as well. Years later, she

explained that considering that saline only has a shelf-life of one

year imagine putting that into your body. Following this

mastectomy, Helen continued to be sick and experience extreme pain.

She had three to four surgeries in the office because she reopened

and got infected. Her doctor, who was a complete perfectionist,

continued to be frustrated with her because he had no control over

her situation. Helen recalls feeling that her experience probably

humbled this surgeon, considering he had never had problems before

her.

In January, a surgeon filled her expanders (implants)

with saline. Helen remembers that he made them too big. She never

wanted breasts that big—that is their mentality. The labs following

this surgery did show silicone throughout her body. Her implants

were ruptured and leaking into her body. A lung scan also showed

silicone in her right lung. Following this, the surgeon decided to

take these implants out and replace them—this only ending in Helen

rushing to the emergency room with leakage. It was following this

that her surgeon left Iowa. She believes that he left because he

was such a perfectionist and could not deal with her. He simply

could not fix her. She was then passed on to a younger surgeon.

She explained that she was not ready to go through life deformed and

she kept her hope up.

From September 1996 to May 1997, Helen had undergone

eleven surgeries! She had pain in her joints and other severe

ailments, yet no one knew what was causing all of these problems.

In June '98, she was still not ready to give up. She underwent a

tram flap on the right side, which is where they take muscle from

the stomach and pull it through the breast area to make a breast.

This too did not work. By the time she left the hospital some of

the tram flap was dying and he had to take away the dead tissue and

fix the incisions. She also underwent another procedure to try and

fix her breasts. However, she had three or four surgeries following

this to try to fix places. Today, her left breast looks somewhat

like a mound and her right breast is virtually gone—all because of

these surgeries.

Today, Helen is very sick with rheumatoid arthritis,

immune deficiency, osteoarthritis, MGUS, and osteoporosis. Helen

also lost all of her teeth due to the immune deficiency. All of

this was caused from the silicone. She has very little life and

feels that no one really understands or is empathetic. She does

work every day at the nursing home and to do this she comes home

every night at 6 to go to bed. She says that her husband has been

at her side and supportive but she wonders each day when he might

tire of all this.

It was following this story that I contacted Helen via

telephone. She trusted me enough to email me her story and left me

her phone number to contact her if I felt the need. I immediately

emailed her back and asked her when I could contact her. Through

her story, Helen became " real " to me. She was no longer someone I

just wanted to talk to about research questions; I wanted to know

her and her story. I contacted her December 9, 2004 at around 7:30

p.m. The following questions are going to be listed in interview

format as I feel that it will allow people to see Helen as a person

and not as just a respondent. The following questions and answers

are all very real and educational:

S: So you had implants for reconstructive purposes?

H: Yes, my tumors started when I was 20 years old. All together I

had nine breast tumors, which eventually led to a mastectomy.

S: So silicone is throughout your entire body?

H: Silicone is throughout my body. A lung x-ray even showed it in

my lungs.

S: In all how many surgeries have you had?

H: Since the first breast implants many—bilateral biopsy,

hysterectomy, lattimus flap, tram flap, gall bladder, etc.

S: I remember you saying that the doctors insinuated that you

wanted larger breasts and you said that size was not the issue.

They ultimately assumed you wanted them big. What are your comments

on this?

H: The first time in 1973, the general surgeon didn't say that they

were for size. Plastic surgeons, however, feel that everyone wants

to be bigger. That is their mentality.

S: You mentioned that as long as they get the money the doctors

don't care. Do you feel that they treated you as a human or as an

object?

H: I felt that they treated me as an object. One surgeon was even

late. They just cut straight across and you're mutilated. They

don't understand. You stand there naked and they take pictures—it's

humiliating. They don't tell you everything either. They won't

even admit now that implants cause these problems. Plastic surgeons

are cocky and don't get along. They're all too competitive.

S: Do you feel that the cosmetic surgeries today take the

uniqueness away from natural beauty?

H: Yes, because some of the things they do end up looking like

plastic. Look at —he doesn't even have a nose left.

S: Do you feel it's beneficial for men and women to alter their

bodies cosmetically for superficial reasons? Why or why not?

H: I don't like to judge anybody, but I didn't want to go for

cosmetic reasons. I believe, though, that it's becoming an

epidemic. For instant beauty they will pay dearly.

S: What do you think your life would be like now if you had never

had the implants?

H: I would probably be healthier, but I can't change it now.

S: What are you thoughts on men surgeons vs. women surgeons?

H: They need more women in the practice. Women care and relate

more. If I had had a woman sew me up there wouldn't have been these

scars. Most doctors cut straight across. You're mutilated.

S: If you could tell young women that are getting or have implants

one thing, what would it be and why?

H: Really look into yourself and find your inner beauty. Look to

the future—ten years from now you're not going to look the same.

For instant beauty they will pay dearly. For young girls, it's

momentary beauty. They're not thinking down the road.

S: Lastly, Helen, you never quit. You must be a very strong

woman. How do you keep going?

H: Besides my health I went through a divorce after 28 years of

marriage. Each thing makes you stronger. You cannot just dwell on

the implants because sometimes there is nothing anyone can do for

you..

Following these questions, Helen and I talked for

awhile. I found out that she is an activity events coordinator at a

nursing home. Despite her own ailments, Helen finds the time to

give back to other people every day. She strives to help the

elderly feel human. Like me, Helen feels that often times the

elderly are forgotten. They sit around all day with no reason to

live. Every day Helen finds the time to give to the elderly. Helen

is one of the strongest women I have ever met, even if it was just

on the telephone. Talking to her reminded me of myself, and I truly

believe that Helen has changed my life.

Going back to our original assignment of conducting

online interviews, I feel that I was successful finding

respondents. However, besides Helen, most of the people wanted me

to engage in their own personal groups. I feel that Helen, however,

wanted to share her story with me to make it real to me. So many

times you can interview online and get synthetic responses. From

Helen, I got authentic responses. My experience overall was

rewarding and beneficial. It also touched me very much on a

personal level. Helen is not someone that I will soon forget. Even

though she is the only one that chose to personally share her story

with me, I feel my experience with online groups has been rewarding.

Helen struggles every single day to live a normal life,

yet she still finds time to make other less fortunate people feel

needed and loved. She does it because it makes these people as well

as herself feel good. Helen truly is a strong, courageous woman

that people could learn a thing or two from. Sometimes it only

takes a stranger to touch your life for a moment to change your life

forever.