Today is my 1 year anniversary of explantation!

MY ONE YEAR EXPLANT ANNIVERSARY IS TODAY!
I have come so far from that day.. 1 year ago.

I will be happy today and celebrate that I got my implants out and am regaining my health.

1 year ago today I was a scared little girl in a 26-year old's body. My memory was gone, I was dizzy and tired all the time, had aches and pains.. and had no idea that the 5 months POST explant would be the worst for me.. having a sezuire and being in a coma.. being hospitalized 2x for being so bad and scared.

Things looked up 8 months post explant and have gotten better every day since then.

Today I am an informed, strong 27-year old woman - with a new body and a better outlook. I have gone through hell and back and survived. Thanks for supporting me and my website www.myimplantstory.com - and helping inform other women so that they either make the smart choice to not get implants, or to remove them to regain their health.

Happy explant anniversary to me :)

Love,
Gretchen

Krista in NY Times

Click the link below to read an article in the NY Times from 01.17.08 - last week. My friend Krista - whom I met on the Saline Support site, is featured in the article. My 2nd explant surgeon, Dr. Susan Kolb, from GA - is also quoted in the article. Thank you!

New York Times Article

"Breast Implants: From Hell to Healing"

Click the image below to learn about the book I just finished. A book written by another sick woman, Donna Townes & publishes in 1997. Hopefully this is something I can do one day soon - in order to spread the word and also help other sick women find hope & answers. I got chills & tears in my eyes as I read page 57 - it sounded like she was writing about ME...about my memory loss, brain fog, and dream-like trance state that I was in for so long. It felt terrible to know someone else felt so impaired - but gave me a sense of relief that someone else understands. I would like to talk to Donna..There is no contact info for Donna on her book, except for a P.O. Box from '97. I will try writing her - but if you know of her, please let me know. Maybe my website will reach her somehow.

"It is as if I were disembodied. I do not see as me. I do not hear as me. I do not feel as me. I AM NOT REAL ANYMORE.
This body moves, but I am not real. Perhaps the closest thing I can compare this state of being to in my life experience is when I was drugged after surgery and was allergic to the medication. I am somewhere out there, not real, not me; but, in the waves of autonomic dysfunction, I know that it is my body that is trying to die, and I fight to live.
A strange aura envelopes me. Perhaps it is like epilectics experience immediately prior to a grand mal seizure, but mind is unending. My ears ring..I rage against this horror!
To be out of control is unacceptable. I could never be happy drinking alcohol because of the diminished capacity it causes. Perhaps this feeling in my brain is spaced out, or drugged, or high; but not drunk because to be that far out on alcohol would be impossible. I would be unconscious first!!
My months have run together and melted into a nightmare from which there seems to be no waking. Some days it seems that I may shake off the chains of darkness and walk in the light again, but not yet. I sink once more into the abyss."

When does it just get stupid?

http://www.tmz.com/2007/12/11/gimme-new-boobs-mario/

Please pray for this sick woman, "L"

Another sick woman who has emailed me..

"YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS WAS SENT TO ME BY A FRIEND

IN NEW YORK. I AM A PATIENT AT USC FOR A MULTITUDE OF MEDICAL ISSUES.

I AM MOST INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT YOUR DOCTOR. I HAVE BEEN SUFFERING FOR MONTHS WITH WHAT I BELIEVE IS SILICONE POISONING. MY LIFE IS BEING TAKEN FROM ME.

IF YOU COULD PLEASE SHARE WITH ME YOU EXPERIENCES AND TREATMENTS, I WOULD BE FOREVER GRATEFUL TO YOU.

I AM WAITING ANXIOUSLY FOR YOUR REPLY.

-L"

"Enough already with the fake tits!"

Read this article:

http://men.style.com/details__details/2007/11/enough-already.html

This magazine definitely grabbed my attention when I saw it in the grocery store last night. “Enough already” is exactly what I have been thinking ever since I got sick. I could not believe that so many women get sick from something that is a HUGE trend in society right now, yet nobody talks about it. It is more like the “cool” thing to do. Didn’t you ever just look at someone like Dolly Parton or Pam Anderson like they were silly Jessica Rabbit cartoons - nobody would actually want to WALK AROUND like that, would they? Oh ya, this guy hits the nail on the head with this article about “Uber boobs” - he doesnt like the way they feel or sound or the concept that women are maybe getting these for men or for whom?

I also loved how he says that ya, the FDA approved them, but do breasts go under food or drugs? I mean, if people got sick from spinach and the FDA was quick to pull it off all shelves in supermarkets, why do breasts get to stay on the shelves for women to almost die from? It is seriously not fair. I didn’t touch spinach and am still kind of scared to, yet breasts are supposed to be “safe”? Ha!

Sick women who have emailed me..

I thank everyone for checking out my site and sending it to friends. I have heard so many tales in the short couple of months that my site has been live. I have had women email me who have had implants and have terrible symptoms similar to mine and wanted advice on where to go to get them taken out. I have had women email me who were sick and had their implants taken out and have gotten better. I have even had women email me and thank me for changing their minds about wanting breast implants. That is what the site is for.. to make people aware, to help people and to tell my story. I have tried contacting publications and shows and haven't heard anything yet. Hopefully you will hear of more and more women coming public with their stories. We are women who signed up for something that was wrongfully proven safe, our lives have been affected and we have no legal rights. I really hope that this upcoming year - 2008 - will be our year.