On the right side of Eleanor's chest, taut skin bulges like flexed pectoral muscle. She laughs and says she feels like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In reality, she is just one more breastless woman, a victim of cancer - but one who is preparing her body to regain its natural form. Underneath the spot where Eleanor's right breast once was, tissue expanders are lifting and stretching skin in preparation for a silicone breast implant.Eleanor, who asked that her real name not be used in this story, had a modified radical mastectomy on Oct. 22. The promise of having natural tissue replaced with a silicone implant eased the feeling of disfigurement and loss of balance Eleanor, 38, felt when she lost her breast to cancer.
Now she wonders if the process is all for naught.
The Food and Drug Administration will decide by Jan. 6 whether to allow silicone-gel filled breast implants to remain on the market and if so, under what conditions. The decision may come much too soon for Eleanor.
Before Eleanor can receive her implant, she faces six months of chemotherapy, six to eight weeks of radiation and then a waiting period of 12 to 18 months while her skin recovers from the treatments.
"I feel kind of caught," Eleanor said. "I know for my health what would be best - waiting 12 to 18 months. But if they take silicone implants off the market, then where am I? More people should see pictures of women who've had mastectomies. Then they'd understand why implants are important."
Provo plastic surgeon Blayne Hirsche is treating four other women like Eleanor. The women range in age from 27 to 70.
"They are concerned about being feminine, regardless of their age," said Gaye Teuscher, who works in Hirsche's office. "They are very concerned that the FDA may take implants off the market in January and there will be nothing for them to use."
Teuscher and two other women who work in Hirsche's office - VaNita Law and Sharon Kay - traveled to Washington, D.C., in October to encourage Utah's congressional delegation to support continued access to implants. They joined about 600 plastic surgeons, implant patients and advocates who converged on Congress to tout the benefits of the devices.
Hirsche's wife, Sandy, has also been a vocal advocate of allowing women access to implants.
"You can't believe what it (implants) does to one's self esteem," Sandy Hirsche said. "It's no more vain than having your teeth straightened.
"We really see this as a farce. Breast implants' 30-year track record and women's right to make their own health-care decisions dictate that use of the device should remain unrestricted while further research is conducted."
If research does reveal a problem, her husband will be the first to stop doing implant surgery, she said.
"People don't realize what a long-range impact it would have if they took silicone prostheses off the market," Teuscher said. "I don't know how they can legitimately take breast implants off the market and not other devices."
Other medical devices that use silicone include finger joints and tissue expanders, used to repair a variety of birth defects and burn injuries. Men who want bigger calves and pectoral muscles can get silicone implants. Hypodermic needles are coated with the substance.
The women acknowledge there are risks associated with breast implants, but those risks are not unacceptable and should not prevent all women from having access to implants.
"We all know the history of penicillin and what it's done for millions of people, but there are people who are allergic to it," Law said. There is no guarantee about how any body is going to work on medication or in surgery."
They believe the consequences of a ban on implants could be creation of a black market for the devices, fewer options for women diagnosed with breast cancer and reluctance on the part of some to undergo mastectomies and refusal on the part of insurance companies to cover breast conditions in women with implants.