Saline Implants 

Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 09:56:58 -0700

Dear Silicone Sisters 

I can remember being 16, and waiting for all the girls to clear out of the Locker room so that I could take a shower without anyone noticing how terribly uneven I was. And making sure that when I did shower my right side was to the wall so no one could see my uneven breast. Or the time that we would have to swim in school, and how embarrassed I was because My right (Falsy) kept dripping, you see back in 1974 they didn't have the kind of prosthesis (msp?) that they make today, which is very similar to what they are putting inside your body with the implants. We had these sponges that looked the shape of a breast, but had no weight at all, and absorbed water and sweat in the summer time. 

I remember when Halter tops were the new Fashion, and how I longed to wear one, But couldn't because I was so uneven. And I remember the day I heard about Implants, and went running to my Mother begging her to please check into this new plastic surgery so that I could be just like all the girls with breast that were the same size. And I remember how my Father and Mother argued about putting a device in me like that. My father believing it was foolish, that I should learn to love the body that God had given, instead of feeling like it was a curse. And my Mother for sticking up for the real feelings I had of not feeling good about the body that God had given me. She was a women she understood the emotional impact this was having on me.  

I remember going to my plastic surgeon (Mom and I won) and telling him we couldn't afford the cost of the surgery, so we would have to wait until we got the money. I remember the day the Plastic Surgeon called my Mother, and told her he had consulted the other doctors on his team, including the anatheisolgist (msp)? and said that they all had felt so bad for me they would do the surgery for free, all but what the hospital charged. And that the implant would be free, because he would use a sample since I only needed one. And I remember getting a choice, if I wanted Silicone or Saline, Saline was fairly new on the market in 1974 and I wished to do Saline because even at 16 I was thinking if it broke open in my body it's just saline. (And I loved the Ocean.) I didn't realise nor was I told about the bacteria or fungus that would grow in it. Oh I remember how excited I was to Look like a Normal Girl. And in one afternoon I became one. I also remember how permisquious (MSP) I became because I now had the confidence I needed, I felt great about my body. 

The first evidence of silicone poisoning was hair loss for me. That was 10 years of wearing my implant. Actually it was probably the encapsulation, this Rock hard ball underneath my skin, those were the first symptoms. And I was in such denial about it. I didn't have it under my muscle, so you could really see this implant. Nothing about it looked natural anymore. I couldn't go back to looking like 16 again and so uneven. So it remained another 10 years before I noticed a neurological disorder. It first started at the age of 36 when every joint in my body ached, I found getting up in the morning was the toughest, I felt all drawn up, and the need to stretch all the time. I was tested and tested for everything under the Sun. Arthritis, Lupus. Until One day when I wasn't able to walk right. Then they tested me for M.S. which is what they ended up diagnosing me with. Only because the T.cells showed up different or high. Right after I was diagnosed with having M.S. The Media came out with the news about the health problems with Breast Implants, and M.S. type symptoms was one of them. I immediately had this Implant removed, knowing at the age of 36 Love wasn't in the Breast, like I believed at the age of 16. I also instructed my Plastic Surgeon that I wanted that Implant in my hands when I woke up, because my Attornies advised me of this. I also remember how convient it was that my Implant should get lost for 5 days, before showing up at the Lab. They then handed it to me, after 5 days of searching and trying to find this implant, and when I got it, I'm not even certain if it is mine. But the pathologist did come back with a report that indeed there was silicone in the tissue surrounding my breast implant. Which means that even though it wasn't a silicone implant, that the outside shell can also leak and breakdown. My Prayers go out to Everyone of my Silicone Sisters, that we can win this Battle of Destruction! 

Sincerely; 

Debe