This is my labour of love. I want every woman to know the hazards of breast implants. The benefits are temporary. Even if you are not sick now, it’s only a matter of time. Please, all women who have or who are contemplating having breast implants should go to the Scott Medical Library at the U of A to educate themselves on the dangers of all kinds of breast implants. Look in the numerous medical journals and periodicals, for example, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, Toxicology and Industrial Health, JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) and the British Journal of Plastic Surgery, to name but a few. Each article that you find will have a wealth of references that will, in turn, lead you to more information. Please do this for yourselves and your children. Education is a powerful tool; use it, it’s free.

This is my story. If I can help one woman by writing this story it will have been worth it. In the early 1970s, I developed fibrocystic disease; it was painful and reoccurring. The doctors did needle biopsies; there was no sign of cancer. Then I found a large lump in my breast, and my gynecologist sent me to a surgeon. He said it was fibrocystic disease, but felt that if I had breast implants put in they would protect me from cancer. So I thought great, and my breasts would look better, as I had had children. I weighed only 105 lbs. He sent me to a local plastic surgeon in 1974. He augmented me with silicone implants with Dacron patches to adhere to my chest wall. They were the Dow Corning Cronin-type series 500s, thin-shelled, cheap and mundane. The results, however, were beautiful. My breasts were firm again and I did not have to wear a padded bra anymore.

The first month or so was very painful, and I could do very little. I thought that it was worth the suffering; if only I had known, my suffering had just begun. My breasts became very hard and my left nipple was painful from day one. I went back to the plastic surgeon. He did a closed capsulotomy. (A closed capsulotomy is where the plastic surgeon squeezes the breast with his hands to break the capsule that the body forms around the implant.) That worked for a while. My breasts became hard again, resulting in more open and closed capsulotomies. (An open capsulotomy is where the plastic surgeon opens the old incision and actually cuts the capsule.) I was having symptoms but never connected them with my breast implants. I had black lumps in my mouth and had to go to a dental surgeon. He removed the lumps and wired my bottom teeth to save them. I was having gastrointestinal problems, severe nausea, headaches, sleep problems, chronic fatigue and depression. At one point, they put me in hospital and gave me nine enemas, which nearly killed me. They thought I had cancer of the bowel, but I did not. I was having problems coping with all this. Finally, I went back to the plastic surgeon. He said that my first implants had failed and that he had to remove them and put new silicone breast implants in. He did this in 1976. These were Surgitek 1500 series, thin shelled and cheap like my first implants. Would you believe he removed the old silicone and left the old capsules and the Dacron patches in me and put the new silicone breast implants into this mess. (This procedure is called capsular stripping and is where the plastic surgeon leaves the old capsules in and puts new ones over the old ones.) I did not know he had done this. I knew nothing about breast implants, except what I had been told: they were safe and would last a lifetime.

My breasts seemed fine for a while, although my left nipple was still painful. I could never lie on my stomach while I had breast implants. After a month or so, realizing that my breasts had become hard again, I went back to the plastic surgeon. He did open and closed capsulotomies again. Finally, I gave up and left my breasts hard and tried to get on with my life. I was having more symptoms now: severe flu like symptoms, joint pain, chills in my head, bladder and kidney infections. I had lots of tests done. I was constantly on antibiotics. Then I developed external cysts on several areas of my body; which were surgically removed. In 1985 a CT-scan showed that I had cysts on my liver. My world really fell apart, but three months later the cysts were gone, although my liver remained swollen. My right leg is still numb, and I was having severe pain and swelling; my feet were painful and swollen as well. They did an ultrasound in 1990 and found large cysts on my ovaries. Soon after they removed my ovaries because it was felt that the cysts were causing my leg to go numb; however, my right leg remained numb after the surgery. During this surgery they found a mass of slimy yellow substance in the ovarian cavity silicone, I assume, as we now know that silicone migrates in the body. Somehow they broke my tailbone during this surgery. My tailbone was so painful that I could not sit for almost three years. It is still sore if I sit for too long. I had sores in my mouth and nose and on my bottom. I lost most of my pubic hair. Periodically, I would lose my vision, and would often experience flashing, jagged lines in front of my eyes. This happened every few months, but with no pain. My eyes would become bloodshot for what was seemingly no reason at all. Also, my headaches were now getting worse, and I had gained 50 lbs. I had developed hypothyroidism. I was having numbness and swelling in my hands and severe numbness and burning in my right leg, foot and hip sometimes in my left foot as well. I had this rotten smell in my nose all the time. My rib cage seemed to be bruised and was painful, and I found it difficult to sit for very long. My family doctor sent me to specialists.

No specialist ever checked to see if my breast implants were the problem. This makes me very angry now that I know they are deadly. I was having severe flushing on my face, and terrible nightsweats, chronic fatigue, severe low back pain and brain fog. This brain fog was terrible. I would literally run into things. I was frightened. There was a greasy film on my urine and phlegm in my stool. This happened often. I believe that the film on my urine was silicone oil. I also believe that our bodies have the capability to cleanse themselves. I think it was obvious in my case, what with all these strange things happening. I hope I’m right. I also had ringing in my ears, and whenever I overdid it I would have loud vibrations in my head. These would go away when I rested. Also, at times, I felt like I had gone down to the floor, even though I was still sitting down! This was weird as well.

Finally, in December 1991, I went to my dentist for a checkup. When he had taken x-rays, he said that my teeth were fine but something was wrong with me. He said I had a strange gait and my neck was a mess. I think that he was one of only a few select people who I told that I had breast implants. He said that they were the problem. He ordered blood work, and put me on mycostatin for sores in my mouth and physiotherapy for my neck. I never went for the physiotherapy because I was too sick. When my dentist got the blood work results, he told me that he had a positive for lupus (SLE), that explained some of my symptoms. He then sent me to a neurologist. The neurologist agreed that my breast implants were the problem. He put me on vitamin therapy to cleanse my system. Then I was sent to an orthopedic surgeon. He did some x-rays and said that I was a mess. He ordered three months of physiotherapy, and told me that he would not see me again unless I did it. Unfortunately, I was too sick to go.

Now the healthcare system’s abuse of me began. In 1992 I made an appointment with another plastic surgeon mine had gone to the United States some years earlier. I had no records at this point. The plastic surgeon agreed to remove my breast implants. One week later, the day of the surgery, I gave the nurse a letter requesting that the plastic surgeon keep my breast implants after removal if they were not ruptured. That phrase, "if they were not ruptured", got him off the hook. They were ruptured, so he threw them out. Also, he left the capsules in me. These capsules were contaminated with silicone, and do not forget that my former plastic surgeon had already left the old capsules and the Dacron patches in me in 1976. I was home the same day, as this was day surgery. It should have been a 4 hour surgery to clean me out properly. He had done capsular stripping again. I now had two sets of capsules, the shell from the implants and the Dacron patches all meshed together left in me. My tongue started to burn after this surgery. It felt like it had been scalded with boiling water. Also, I had developed small lesions on the right side of my tongue. My tongue did not burn before this surgery, and it still burns now. My question is: Why did my tongue start to burn after this first surgery? Was it a release of poisons, or what? It’s been almost three years, and it still burns, some times more than others. We feel that it is a fungal infection. I feel that I have a systemic fungal infection because of silicone poison and all the antibiotics.

After a few days, and some research, I realized that I had been had. I phoned the lawyer at the hospital involved and complained. This lawyer talked to the plastic surgeon and the nurses. They agreed that my breast implants were ruptured and therefore destroyed. The plastic surgeon did keep some selective tissue for pathology purposes. We now know that the capsules are not absorbed by the body. They become part of us and continue to grow if they are not removed. I have not seen this printed in medical journals yet; so I will only believe this when I see it printed in a medical journal. We do know, however, that we will not get well unless all the capsules and any remaining silicone left in the chest wall area are removed, even then some of us with severely ruptured breast implants do not get well. We also now know that all silicone breast implants bleed a certain amount.

At this point I was worried, so I called Cross Cancer Institute to have a C-can. The plastic surgeon who did my surgery agreed to this. Well, the C-scan showed a mess in me: calcification, a large seroma, and the capsules. Now I was angry. I got all my mammograms, C-scans and medical records I had found my medical records even though I had been told that they were destroyed and sent them to a medical devices expert. The mammograms that I had had never showed that the implants were ruptured so mammograms cannot always be trusted. Also, the shells of my breast implants had disintegrated or grown into the capsule, according to the specialist in medical devices. He also saw black material that he suspected was fungus. Fungus is common in women with breast implants. He said that my case was one of the worst that he had ever seen, and he maintained that my breast implants had been ruptured since about 1979. (Incidentally, this researcher had worked on medical devices for 18 years or so. He is one of the most dedicated men you could meet, so I would not dispute his opinion. He should not have been fired from the federal government for saying that breast implants were unsafe he is right.) Back in 1979, we found a lump in my left breast and I became a patient at Cross Cancer Institute. This lump was removed, but nobody ever told me what it actually was. I’m sure that it was a siliconoma. Someone should have known then that the breast implants were a problem; however, and in all fairness, no one had done any research on breast implants that I know of in Edmonton in 1979, so I will overlook this. Also, I never read any so-called media hype until after my first explantation, so the media did not precipitate my symptoms!

Now I started looking for someone to clean me out so I could get well. No one would touch me. They all said that everything was fine. Finally, my infectious diseases specialist referred me to a plastic surgeon whom he knew. He made an appointment for me, and I met with this plastic surgeon in 1993. He agreed to clean me out. I gave him a letter that I had written asking that all material removed during surgery be kept for research purposes. He said that this was not a problem. On the day of my surgery, I asked to see the capsules, seromas, etc, that he removed from me. He said that I would be too sleepy; consequently, I saw nothing. Would you believe it, he "forgot" and threw everything out except for some select tissue. Also on the day of my surgery, I was flushing badly. They put me on oxygen, and a young intern said that she thought that I had lupus. They kept me overnight in hospital after my surgery, but the next day I was sent home with drains attached to my breasts. I lost most of my left breast in this surgery. This was the worst pain I had ever experienced. I could not roll over. It was hell! I was so disoriented that I thought that I had died. I kept asking my husband if I was really alive. He would pinch me to assure me that I was. We put a breakfast bed table over my chest wall because we did not want our precious cats walking on my chest. Someone should have been with me because I was so sick, but my husband had to go to work. Really, the hospital involved should have had the good sense to keep me there. For days, it felt as though my bed was floating through space. This experience was weird. What caused this too much anaesthetic or not enough oxygen? I guess I will never know.

After this surgery, I got worse in some ways. I thought I would get better. My infectious diseases specialist thought I might have AIDS! Actually, I had been tested for that already just to rule it out. He tested me again: no AIDS. He put me on steroids before this surgery. Now I have been on them for more than a year or so; they seem to help, but most of my symptoms continue. The four doctors who are treating me now are wonderful. But despite their efforts, I can no longer mow lawns, shovel snow or vacuum. If I do, I pay a price. The inflammation and fatigue puts me in bed. I cannot stay in the sun either. And these are all things that I used to love to do. Now I seem to spend most of my time in bed. I seem to be on antibiotics most of the time because of bladder or kidney infections. I continue to have throat infections, flushing, neck pain, aching teeth and chronic fatigue, and sometimes the right side of my face goes numb. Recently, it was numb for seven days. It seems to have gone for now, at least at time of writing. Incidentally, it hurts to write too. If I walk too much, my feet hurt, burn and swell, and I still have insomnia. The nausea is gone though; it returns only when I have a flare. I also have hard pea-sized cysts on my labia, although sometimes they go away when I’m on antibiotics. My chest wall is still painful, and I get a pulling down in the rib cage, but the sores in my mouth and nose have gone, so have the headaches and rotten smell. I do not have any film on my urine now or phlegm in my stool. I do, however, have a fungal infection that they cannot seem to eradicate, or is it periprosthetic bacteria? I also have two cysts on my bottom that should probably be lanced, and I have positives for osteoarthritis, rheumatoidarthritis and fibromyalgia.

I have learned to live with all this. My main fear is that I might not get well. That is my number one wish to be me again, to have lots of energy, and to regain my lust for life. In short, my quality of life is gone. But I have no intention of giving in to all this. I’m going to fight to get well. Also, I’m just too angry to give up.

Unfortunately, I feel that I was not cleaned out completely during my second surgery. So I’m seeing a chest wall specialist, and if I need to have my chest wall cleaned, he will do it. My breasts are both dead. I have no feeling in them. The specialist has had a CT-scan done, and will soon decide if I should have more surgery. Even if he does clean me out, there are no guarantees that I will get well. All tissue from both explants was sent from both hospitals to a wonderful, dedicated researcher at Laval University. He has been doing breast implant analysis for 15 years. He found polyester, Dacron and silicone in my tissue.

I want you all to know that this is a health issue. Don’t ever forget this. No amount of money could bring back my health. There are some things that you just cannot buy: health,happiness and love. And breast implants have now affected a second generation our children. Not mine, however, as I was implanted after my children were born. But let’s get this mess out into the open again; this is a serious health issue. If we don’t hit these manufacturers and the government health departments that aid and abet them the plastic surgeons will continue to implant women and this disastrous problem will never end. That is why the women who are sick from their breast implants have silicone poisoning; they call it "chemical AIDS". See the list of chemicals in breast implants, and you will see why.

That is why it is so very important that all explanted breast implants and capsules be kept and sent to one of the researchers listed below. Also, you will need a letter from your lawyer to your plastic surgeon, telling him that he must keep all material. if you don’t do this, you risk having it all destroyed, as in my case.

Also, please write letters to your politicians provincial health ministers and their opposition critics and let them know what has happened to you because of your faulty breast implants. I can’t emphasize enough that this is a health issue. Federally, there is Dr. Grant Hill, MP (Reform Party). His number is 1-800-667-0478 or 938-5005. These politicians can help us! Call them now! The researchers are Dr. Pierre Blais in Ottawa (Tel: 613-728-8688; Fax: 613-728-0687) and Dr. Robert Guidoin, Laval University (Tel: 418-656-2621; Fax: 418-656-7512). These two researchers should be commended for their dedication. They have helped us so much. They should both be given the Order of Canada for their contributions to medical research. This is the continuation of my labour of love. I’m still taking calls from very sick women with ruptured breast implants and implants that have moved up into their neck or just aren’t where they should be. These women are sick; I wish that someone with great power would intervene and have all breast implants banned forever.

As for me, we lost our wonderful mother; we loved her so much. She was my mother-in-law, but my best friend too. We had to sell our lovely home because I could not mow lawns or do the housecleaning anymore. My husband works at a full-time job, teaches history part-time at a university here, and takes care of me. It broke our hearts to lose the home: my flowers and trees and birds, and our pet squirrel, Sammy. Time will heal. We bought a more manageable townhouse that had belonged to my husband’s best friend. He was a professor of French history at the University of Alberta, but he died in 1993. The townhouse is very close to where we used to live before. The first day there, I went into a downstairs bedroom and lifted some old carpet that I wanted to roll up and throw away. I ran into a drug-user’s needle, syringe and all. So my David took me to the local medical centre where I had to have a tetanus shot and an HIV test. Just 48 hours later, I was sent to the University of Alberta Hospital for Hepatitis B serum shots in each hip. I reacted to the tetanus shot: my arm was hot and swollen, and I broke out in a rash—it looked like hives. I hope that this will all be negative. This was the fourth time that I had been tested for AIDS! It has always been negative. The symptoms from those deadly breast implants = "chemical aids".

The same day that I had the Hepatitis B serum shots, I came home and went to bed for a few hours. When I got up, I looked out on our little backyard and saw the small trees and plants that we had brought from our large home and decided to go out to plant them so they would not die. Well, wouldn’t you know it, I stood on a cedar beam around the tiny flowerbed and went to dig a hole with the little strength that I had. The cedar beam was rotten and gave way under my foot. I slipped off the shovel and broke my big toe and the one next to it on my left foot. I also fractured my right ankle and tore ligaments. There’s a crack in the bone, and there may be more damage too. My doctor wants to do an MRI on that foot. So, the next six weeks were filled with wrapping my toes and putting my right foot in a brace daily. This took the enjoyment out of moving, if there is an enjoyment in moving.

I have had a ganglion on my finger for some time, and I had an appointment with a plastic surgeon to get it examined. Incidentally, this plastic surgeon does NOT put in breast implants; however, he will remove them for sick women. He is a chest-wall specialist. I went to see him on the scheduled day, never thinking that, because of my mitral valve prolapse condition, he would operate the same day. Well he did, and he put me on antibiotics, so now I have only my left hand to work with—what a mess! This little black cloud that follows me around better take off soon. I also have a mass in my left lymph node, but it’s pretty invasive surgery, so the plastic surgeon said that we will monitor it over the next six months and hope that it goes away. I have had it for some time, so we will have to wait and see. It’s probably silicone! I have been very despondent after all this. I did not want to talk to anyone or go out. I had my phone off the hook, and David collected messages when he came home each day; however, the depression is gone now, and everything is healing except my right foot.

All the symptoms continue. I’m on Decadron, Diflucan and antibiotics constantly for life support. I know that my story is not unique, there are thousands of women out there in the same position.I know this because I talk to them in my role as a support group leader. I’m very lucky to have my wonderful husband by my side still, even though I’m disfigured and sick all the time. He always encourages me by saying that he made a commitment a long time ago, and will honour it. We work together in this breast implant war, and I assure that we will all win! When I say "all", I mean all women whose lives have been destroyed by greedy powerful companies. They can only buy out the corrupt; there are lots of good people fighting for us, and we thank them all!

Doctors in teaching hospitals are afraid to help us because they risk the loss of significant monetary awards from the manufacturers. The companies that make breast implants also have the power to turn off the flow of research dollars to the hospitals and universities. I personally know doctors who have been warned that it would be better for the institution and their own career tracks to back away from any involvement in breast implant research that puts the manufacturers in a bad light. Also, our personal physicians won’t get involved because they are too busy treating sick women and have no time for litigation. I have three wonderful doctors treating me, but they will not get involved in the breast implant issue, yet they have all the evidence on us documented in their files. My doctors cannot get involved other than to release my files. They will stop treating me if I demand that they testify, and I cannot afford to lose their care.

When I started trying to get help, I went to the health ministers, top health advisers, hospitals and government officials, and they did nothing, except treat me like I was a neurotic and depressed woman. Well, they will be sorry for ignoring me, because I will never give up! We have so much research information and conference material that we will bury them in evidence. My husband is a history teacher with a postgraduate degree; he knows how to find the information, bless his heart. When we go to the University of Alberta medical sciences and law libraries, the reference librarians smile when they see the huge number of books that we bring from the stacks. We have found enormous amounts of material written by research scientists—sometimes their own employees—to alert both Dow Corning and Bristol-Myers to the problems with silicone and breast implants! They knew in the 1950s and 1960s, we have the published articles to prove it, that silicone was neither inert nor safe! In their pursuit of profit, however, and at the expense of an unsuspecting and vulnerable female population, these two uncaring companies, and they were not alone in this, went ahead and experimented on women anyway! Remember this damning and unassailable fact: "THE MANUFACTURERS EXPERIMENTED ON WOMEN", and repeat it often and emphatically to anybody and everybody with whom you discuss the breast implant issue. Additionally, it is quite pathetic that many of these companies have published codes of ethics—often highlighted on their web pages—that are a complete fraud when seen in the light of their actions here. What the manufacturers would be doing if they were honourable is funding research to find a way to get the migrated silicone out of our bodies so we could get well, rather than spending it to shore up their lies to both the media and an unsuspecting public and to buy bogus studies that "prove" that silicone is safe from so-called medical professionals who obviously have their price.

My quality of life is not good. I cannot drive a car anymore or go shopping alone. I’ve lost my confidence. I used to love to cook, bake, entertain and go grocery shopping. Now when I shop for groceries I don’t desire anything, and I’m worn out in minutes. Flowers were my passion. Now, I still love them, but I just don’t get the pleasure from them that I used to. I want all this back! I’m no longer independent. I’m dependent on my husband for most things. I’m like a prisoner in my home. I hate this!

October 14 this year, my birthday, I had loss of vision, and started going downhill. I was on antibiotics at the time because of the lump that I had removed from my finger and my mitral valve prolapse (MVP) condition. I just kept getting weaker and shakier, and had sores and blood in my nose, sores or cysts on my bottom, burning feet, gastrointestinal attacks, shortness of breath, mild headache, and chest wall inflammation. Then I had lots of pain under my left rib. I made an appointment with my doctor on October 27. That day I was on my last legs. The doctor said that I was shaking because my body was fighting back. He said that I had a bacterial and viral infection, and put me on antibiotics again. I’m to stay in bed; I hate this!, but I know that the antibiotics will have me back on my feet in a day or two. I have hope. This has gone on for so many years, and I know in myself that it is silicone poisoning!

On October 28, I was so very sick. I was unable to get my breath, my breathing was laboured and rapid, and I had lots of pain in the MVP valve area. Obviously, bacteria (vegetation) had started to grow. I know the symptoms. My doctor sent me to Emergency at the University of Alberta Hospital, where I was put on oxygen for six hours. This did help. They did a chest x-ray, monitored my heart rate (they should have done an ECG), and finally did a blood gas test.

My veins were so bad and the tremors in my hand so uncontrollable that they had to do the test twice. This is a pulmonary test of the lungs. Would you believe it, they lost the results! They called a respiratory therapy expert in to do another blood gas test. We got the report, and the doctor on duty came and said that I had a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung). His assessment was that I could drop dead or I could be treated with blood thinners if it was at a treatable stage. He ordered a pulmonary test for the next morning. Finally, they got the results. After giving me what could have been a death sentence, they could not find a blood clot in my lungs! I was so happy. They said that the pain could have been caused by MS/lupus. They just didn’t know.

Today is November 2, 1997, and I’m still sick. I’m a bit better, but my shortness of breath is still bad. This is the worst I’ve ever been. They put me on a stronger dose of steroids (Decadron) for the flu-like symptoms, and I’m on antibiotics for two weeks. I want to get better so badly, and I’m determined that I will.

My potpourri of diagnoses and symptoms. How could I have all of these: systemic lupus erythematosus (POSITIVE); atypical multiple sclerosis; mitral valve prolapse P.A.T. (POSITIVE); vascular disease (POSITIVE); rheumatoid arthritis (POSITIVE); steoarthritis (POSITIVE); osteopenia (POSITIVE); scarring of the esophagus (POSITIVE); atherosclerosis (POSITIVE); scleroderma (revealed by colonoscopy); body not absorbing food (causing weakness); hypothyroidism (POSITIVE); chronic fatigue; fibromyalgia; incontinence; chronic reoccurring hepatitis; loss of vision at times; numbness in hands and arms; painful chest wall; severe low back pain; burning feet and tongue; severe flushing; tremors; memory loss; nightsweats; sores and blood in my nose; cysts on my bottom; severe gastrointestinal attacks; loss of all pubic hair, also from legs and underarms; loss of libido; mass in lymph node in left side of neck; and now they want to check for diabetes? They are guessing and searching; however, I do have the symptoms of all the above, and that is what the doctors are treating. Thank whomsoever I’m stable and have both feet on the ground, or I would give up. I used to love to dance, and haven’t been able to for years. My dream is to dance again! Perhaps we will have the last dance with the manufacturers!