Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 01:47:17 EST

Hi; 

I'm from North Carolina in the US. I had Silicone Implants put in 1981. I was working at IBM earning good money. Loved my Job and Life. I was never the same with my left breast from the day of my surgery. It looked bad from day one, but I kept putting up with it thinking it would soon straighten out and look right. No; it never did right, but they'd stayed in for 11yrs. I didn't think they would make me as sick as I am now. I just though they looked deformed. 

I started getting worse daily. Pain, tired, headaches, joint/muscle pain, IBS, swelling, redness, rashes, etc. You know the story about that as well as I do. When my implants were removed in '92 the outer shell had desolved inside of my body. Raw silicone was lying inside of my chest cavity with no outer shell present! 

I ask for and kept my implants. They were in two separate containers. The silicone had lots of black and dark yellow spots all in them. The evening I came home (only took the Dr. about 30 min. to remove them) I had the drainage tubes we all know so well! The bulbs that was to catch the drainage was lying up on my recliner arm chair, I was dozing in. The burning pain woke me, where my thumbs were touching the drainage bulbs. There were blisters that stayed on my thumbs a few weeks. 

I am now on disability due to all of the medical problems. I had gallbladder surgery and the stoned that was removed looks like crystallise silicone. If I leave it in the tube it's in, it will stay kind of soft feeling. After I leave it out awhile, it gets hard as a rock.  

It sparkles like a diamond! That was an awful surgery also, because in N.C. they were still cutting you open, to remove gallbladders at that time. I hurt all of the time. 

My husband knows as well as myself, that the implants made me sick. We together, watched the changed happen to me after I had them put in. I also was told they would last a life time. Guess the Dr. was planning that my life time was gonna be short lived. Maybe that's why they tell all of the women, this lie! I will visit your site often. Thank you for the time I'm sure you spend, caring about us other women. 

I still burn so bad in my left breast area where there is still tissue there. My MD and me are concerned that there may still be some silicone in the tissue. The PS sure got them out in a hurry. Some women on the internet have said it tool their PS 4,5, or 6 hours to remove theirs. The PS told my husband he irrigated me real good, after he removed the silicone. Now I'm not so sure. He did not remove any tissue. 

Again; Thank you for listening and for your time. 

Linda from N.C.