Cecily's Breast Implant Illness Story of Healing
Cecily's Breast Implant Illness Story of Healing
I loved nutrition and fashion as a young girl. I read magazines such as Vogue, Women’s Weekly, Glamour, and Seventeen. These magazines influenced the way I viewed my body. My young mind believed that being thin and beautiful was healthy.
I had no idea how this would affect my life.
After my mother passed away when I was 18, I developed self-destructive behaviors and became bulimic and food paranoid. At the age of 30, I developed cancer tumors along my thyroid and sternum. It took 10 hours to remove the cancer. My family did not know if I was going to make it.
My husband looked for options.
We found a medical alternative and I finally recovered with the help of a functional medicine doctor. I had lost so much weight from the cancer that my self-esteem started plummeting. I was worried about my marital relationship, so I decided to get breast implants.
Little did I know this would cause great suffering.
The first year after my breast implant surgery was unremarkable. The following year I started developing symptoms of GI upset, aches and pains, fatigue, brain fog and allergies. It was very disheartening. I just spent 6 years battling thyroid cancer. I went to doctor after doctor trying to find answers.
No answers. Just psychiatric referrals.
As the years went by, I continued to get sicker. I took numerous lab tests, CT scans, MRIs, and mental health tests. My family didn’t know what to believe. Was I really experiencing pain or being a hypochondriac? Some family members were supportive and tried to help, but to no avail.
This was a phantom illness.
In 2014, the unthinkable happened. My legs collapsed and I was having difficulty breathing. My concerned husband took me to a military emergency hospital. The doctors looked at me and shrugged their shoulders. They were about to discharge me when my husband demanded my admittance to the hospital until they found out what was wrong.
Thankfully they listened.
That night, I could not feel my left leg. The progression became worse as it climbed up the left side of my body. That morning, a neurologist came to see me and intuitively started me on 24-hour IV treatments. The next day I was rushed to the IMCU (intermediate care unit). I was having difficulty breathing and became partially paralyzed. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t feel my left side. I couldn’t feel my organs.
I was in horror and fear for my life.
I felt trapped in my body. I was terrified I would not be able to walk again. They discharged me after 2 weeks and I was confined to a wheelchair. I could not function outside my home. My husband was working, and my daughter was on a church mission. There was no one home to help me. I did not have the strength to make food. I was starving and weak. I cried every day.
My suffering became unbearable.
One of my angel sisters came to stay with me for a little while and she nursed me back to health. I thanked God every day for my family and my life. I promised to help others. Each month, I continued to receive 8-hour IV treatments to prevent my body from shutting down. They were painful. They were lonely. I struggled for answers. The doctors were stunned and dumbfounded.
They did not know what was causing my illness.
I fought every day for my life. Easy things were now hard. Breathing became difficult. Walking was impossible. The pain from IVs was excruciating. My social and family relationships were almost non-existent. I didn’t know how to keep going.
I told God I was done.
I learned that when you are done, He performs miracles. And one uneventful day, not thinking about much, I heard a firm voice say, “YOUR IMPLANTS ARE MAKING YOU SICK”. The voice was so convincing I looked up to see if someone was there. But I was alone and became awestruck at this curious experience.
Life just went on.
I didn’t think much about the voice after that. I continued my struggle to live. I distracted myself with online school to become a Certified Health Coach Practitioner. I wanted to keep my promise to help people. It gave me purpose and kept me going. One day, I was attending a health webinar, and a topic came up that shook me to the core.
Breast Implant Illness.
As I went down the check list of symptoms, I remembered what the voice had said. I knew nothing about this illness and yet, in this surreal moment, I knew what was making me sick. The overwhelming feeling of discovery and dread came at the same time. At that moment, I knew a divine power had spoken to me and I had to do something about it.
I went to my doctor.
I told her that I suspected there were problems with my breast implants. She asked me why. I explained my symptoms matched those of Breast Implant Illness. She knew I was a health coach practitioner. I asked for testing to be done. Thankfully, I have a supportive doctor and she ordered a 3D mammogram, CT-scan, and blood work.
I took all the tests.
The doctor’s office called and informed me that my test results were available online. As I was logging in, I felt a sense of anxious relief. I read the results. To my astonishment, nothing was found. Every test was normal. My mammogram was unremarkable, my CT scan was clear, and my lab results were all within the acceptable range. I was speechless and found myself losing faith and hope.
I decided right then to pray.
Few times in my life have I felt so strongly about an idea, and then in one moment, doubt destroys my precious hope. I sat there bewildered. How could this be? This was not a coincidence. Things just don’t happen like this. There must be something I can’t see. I was melancholy, but I felt a strength to continue moving forward.
The next step was to research a good surgeon.
I made several phone calls and appointments. Each of those appointments I felt uneasy and decided to keep searching. I felt frustrated and wanted to give up. Finally, I found a female surgeon who was willing to listen to my concerns and who had the experience to deal with things that could go wrong.
And they most certainly did.
The day of my surgery I had butterflies. I didn’t know what to expect. My health was seriously declining, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold on. I knew I had to take action. I was brought into the surgery room and fell asleep quickly. When I woke up, I felt weak and disoriented. The doctor and my husband were talking. I heard the concern in my husband’s voice. Finally, my surgeon came into the room. She explained that I had a 6-hour emergency procedure. My right implant was severely ruptured, and the left implant was black with infection. She had to meticulously clean out the breast pocket so that I would not become toxic from silicone and infection. I was in shock.
God is extremely great and good.
My recovery was difficult. I was in bed for weeks. After a couple of months, I noticed things were different and my body was lighter. I continued to eat healthy and waited patiently. Things should be getting better right? But I was not progressing like I had expected. I read other explant stories that promised healing and peace. What was I doing wrong?
The depression sank in.
After explanting, I had a completely different focus in my life. I could think better, and I had more energy, but my emotions were occupying all my time. It was difficult to be around other women who had breasts. Watching shows, movies, or social media became a painful experience. I fell into a depression and withdrew from my family.
I tried to remember…why had I explanted?
This question brought me to tears. I did some soul searching. I remembered my deteriorating body and how truly sick I had been. After explanting, physical tasks became easy and manageable, but now my mental state was suffering. How can I heal my emotions? I was determined to get ALL the way better. I decided to utilize my knowledge as a practitioner, and created a program to COMPLETELY heal physically, mentally, and spiritually.
The program worked.
