9 Month Check Up

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I haven’t posted in a while so it’s time for an update.  August 9, 2018 will be 9 months since my surgery.  Do I regret the surgery?  HELL NO.  LOL – I would do it again in a heartbeat.  There have been ups and there have been downs.

But everything looks amazing now.  A breast reduction/lift takes a lot of time to heal.  The doctor told me straight up it could range from 9 months to a year.  He wasn’t lying.  Finally I’m feeling like everything is settled.

Clothes that once looked weird on me due to my uneven sized E/DDD breasts now look amazing.  My new cup size of C has stayed with me since the day after surgery.  I’ve maintained my surgery weight and have lost a bit more – still trying to lose.

I have more confidence now than I ever had before.  It’s amazing what one surgery can do for you.  If you are looking into this procedure, I highly recommend it.  It’s a hard surgery but so worth it in so many different ways ❤

AND if you are looking for this type of surgery and have any questions/comments, I always welcomed them and will answer.

Six Month Check In

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Can you believe it’s been six months since my surgery?  Shocker huh?  In some ways, it feels like the time has flown by.   In other ways, it feels like a slow process because it takes so darn long to heal from surgery.  So how do I feel now?

In a word – fantastic!  I feel amazing and I love my new breasts.

All of the swelling is gone from my breasts.  They have dropped into a natural tear drop shape.  The nipples and areola look amazing – they are pink and full of life.  The scars have faded.  You can barely see the scarring under the breasts or the scar that comes up to the nipples.

I still wear some type of bra/bralette around the clock every day.  At this point, I really don’t have to; however, it feels comfortable to do so.  Which before surgery, I *hated* wearing a bra for any length of time and it was the first thing to go when I got home from work.  These days, they feel so comfortable.  A lot of this can be the fact that my bras are next to nothing – giggles.  I don’t need ‘support’ per say so I can buy the daintest of bras.  And I love that fact!

So before surgery I was a DDD on one breast and an E on the other breast.  Coming right out of surgery, I was a C cup.  The doctors office said that could go up/down after the swelling and settling.  I’m happy to say that I am still a C cup.  🙂

It is so weird to see myself in before pictures vs now.  It’s like how did I do that all of those years carrying around those breasts?  My sister made it hit home in a way that amazed me.  She sent me a picture of a container of flour – they weigh five pounds.  I had 5.5 pounds of breast tissue removed.  In respect to that picture, that’s a lot of sagging weight that I had.

So, what would my advice be to anyone looking at a breast reduction and lift?  1st – Do your homework and be educated in the procedure.  2nd – Find a board certified plastic surgeon that you trust.  3rd – Don’t put it off.  DO IT!  My only regret is that I did not do this years ago.  That is how much I love my new girls.

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Let’s Talk Nipples

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There I said it – Nipples.  Everyone has them.  A lot of people cringe when you say the word nipples.  Isn’t that weird?  I’m a little over four months post op now.  Time has flown by!  No matter how much research you do, there are things that people don’t talk about – nipples being one.

Nipples are one of the last things to heal…. and it takes a LONG time to heal.  Just think about all of the work they do in a breast reduction.  They remove tissue, re-arrange tissue and move your nipple up.  That’s a lot of trauma – no wonder you come out of surgery all black and blue.

After surgery, your nipples can be inverted.  Oh and let’s not forget about those newer smaller areolas where your nipples are not settled.   EVERYTHING.HAS.TO.HEAL.

At this time four months out, my breasts have settled and look amazing.  My nipples however are still frankennipples – LOL.  Shaking my head.  It definitely is challenging.  How challenging you ask?  Okay picture when you go into the cold.  Normal reaction – hey it happens ladies – your nipples go up.  My don’t at this point.  Oh no, my nipples have a mind of their own these days.  When do they want to come out?  Picture yourself in accounting class deep into general ledgers and budgets… oh yes *now* the nipples come up.  What the heck?  That’s what excites them now?  LOL

And let’s go deeper.  When they do come out at this time – IT HURTS!  They are healing.  All of their pulses are lighting back up.  It doesn’t matter where you are or what you are doing.  To me, nipple healing is worse than the zingers in your breasts after surgery.

So there you go, all you wanted to know about my nipples.  LOL

Life is Amazing … but

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There will be haters.  It’s so weird to say that but it’s true.  I had my three month check up with my surgeon yesterday and we spoke about this situation.  He confirmed and said the same thing.  Haters.  They are out there.  I’ll tell you the short version.

My entire adult life, I’ve always worn V-necked shirts.  I like them because they don’t feel like they are choking you.  Now let’s remember that for most of my adult life, I had huge breasts.  So wearing a V-necked shirt with huge breasts, I’m sure I’ve shown some cleavage from time to time.  It was bound to happen but no one ever said anything about it negatively.  It was always positive.  I mean in this day and time where most people are focused on bigger is better, I never had a single negative comment made to me.  And if you know me, you would know that I would never show more to get attention.

Now let’s fast forward to my new girls.  I still wear V-necked shirts and trust me there’s a lot less to see but I still want to maintain my comfort levels.  Well, last week I got my hand slapped at work for wearing a low cut shirt.  WTH!?  Nothing has changed in my V-necked shirts along the ways of how low they are – they aren’t any lower than what I used to wear.  And trust me, I went from a DDD/E cup size down to a mere C cup size.  So really what are you going to see, right?

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I was shocked.  I was surprised.  At first, I thought it was a joke but it wasn’t.  It was the weirdest thing for sure.  So now I second question every shirt I put on – is it too low, is it ‘appropriate’?  Shaking my head.  I still don’t get it.  But life goes on, right?  And hey really am I going to change what I feel good in because of one negative comment, hell no!

Three Month Check In

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Can you believe that it’s been three months since my surgery November 8, 2017?  On one hand time seems to have flown by and on the other hand it has went slow.  Funny how that works huh?  So what’s new with three months?

My breasts are still healing amazingly!  In fact, I go for my three month check up with my surgeon on 2/19/2018.  I can’t wait for his check up.  All of the outside stitches are gone and healed great.  I’ve had no more spitting stitches from the inside since December and all is healed well there.  The actual surgery scars are getting lighter.  Don’t get me wrong, you can still see them but they are not as noticeably screaming, “I’ve had surgery”.  In fact, I’ll take the scars.  I call them my tiger stripes from this surgery.

The breasts themselves are softening up.  The right one almost totally soft while the left one (the worse side) is still hard in places.  And my nipples are still healing.  I have some feelings in them but not a lot.  But these are issues not to worry about I’m told – it takes TIME for healing.

I’m also still wearing some sort of bra 24 hours a day.  During the day, it’s my choice but at night, I’m still wearing my compression bra.  It makes me feel better still at this time – more held together if that makes sense.  I did go braless around the house over the weekend while washing clothes.  It felt totally odd – LOL!

I still have to remind myself at times that my breasts are different.  Sometimes your mind still tries to fool you into thinking you are what you are not.  Make sense?    I really don’t have any shirts that fit anymore for obvious reasons 🙂  I went shopping and I’m still grabbing for the bigger sizes without thinking that I don’t need those anymore.  It’s a work in progress.  I haven’t bought a lot of new clothes.  I’m holding out for a bit.  It’s still hard for me to wear anything ‘tight’ per say to show off my new breasts.  I’ll get there I’m sure but not yet.

And another weird thing.  All of my life, I’ve lived with the size of my breasts.  They defined me and every time I looked at them or saw myself in pictures, I was a big boned girl with big breasts and I would always be a big boned girl with big breasts.  For the first time in my life now, I look down and see smaller breasts and think to myself for the first time, I’m not that huge.  I can actually be normal for once in my entire life.  It’s definitely a huge life change for me.

So that’s what is up with me and my three month status.  Life is still going strong and by this summer, I’m hoping to be showing a bit more.  LOL

11 Weeks

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Yep.  This is me – 11 weeks post op today.  Squeals!

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Let’s start by saying that in the past, I would have *never* even attempted to wearing anything frivolous like this.  First off, my previous breasts would not even fit and would hang low to my belly button.  Second off, there was no support for my previous breasts.  But with the new and improved diminishing diva’s, this cute little bra is perfect.  It does have straps close to the sides, you can’t really see them from this picture.  And it does have support for my ‘new’ breasts.  I am beyond ecstatic to wear something cute like this.  My husband said I’ve been like a teenager collecting lingerie these days – LOL.  That’s a good thing I promise.

The new breasts are still healing and still have a long ways to go but each and every day I love them more.  And I’m so glad I went through with this surgery!

d00dc59c-6a75-4677-b175-78b768361ddd-w960Some have asked how much I had removed.  I was a DDD/E cup size.  I requested to go down to a D cup size.  However, with the lumps they had to remove (thank goodness everything came back cancer free!), I’m more of a C cup at this time.  Am I disappointed?  HELL NO!  I’m loving them.  The doctor removed a total of 5.5 POUNDS!  That is a little bit more than a sack of flour.  Do you need another picture to show you a sample?

Here we go.  A personal mini watermelon.  Let’s just say that my breasts were huge.  Somewhere along the lines of DDD/E and this represents them before.

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Now, afterwards I’m a nice C cup.  I don’t overflow the top or the sides or the back. Now let’s look at the new breasts in comparison to a grapefruit.

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You tell me.  Do you see a difference?  Giggles

Ten Weeks

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For as long as I can remember, I was always known for my breasts – always.  People would say, “Oh June, the one with the big boobs”.  I was so tired of being known by my breasts… or for my breasts to be the first one to enter the room – LOL

I have to say that lately I am LOVING my new girls!  Someone that doesn’t know me actually called me a member of the itty bitty titty club this week.  I laughed and said thank you!

In this picture below, I am holding up a previous bra that I actually wore to my new breasts.  When I wore this old bra, I would actually overflow on the top.  Can you see the difference?  Squeals!!

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2 Months

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This week marks two entire months since my surgery.  Can I get a YAY!!  Things are progressing and healing very nicely.  It’s hard for me to top buying bralettes and cute little sport bras – LOL.  Everything that once upon a time I just shook my head and said there would be no way in hell they would support my girls.  But now, I’m having a fantastic time shopping.  In fact, these days you hear me say, “WOW, that’s too big”.  Those words were *never* part of my vocabulary before – EVER.

I’m still wearing some type of bra 24 hours a day.  I still find that I need the comfort at night when I sleep.  I’m not in any type of pain now.  My breasts are starting to ‘soften’ up a bit and getting used to their new environment.  Eventually they will get that natural tear drop look to them.

There has been quite of few people that have noticed the difference in my chest that had no idea I was getting a reduction/lift.  Their thoughts have been hilarious in many ways.  Most say, “You’ve lost weight” or “You weren’t that big.”  LOL – you didn’t carry them around my friend.

Some peeps have seen my before/after pictures.  Some even swear it’s not the same person – no way.  Trust me.  It is.

Eight Weeks

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It’s amazing how time is flying by every week.  My friend Sharon told me that changes continuously happen and as much as I love my new breasts now, I will love them more once they are settled between six months and a year.  I can’t imagine loving them anymore than now – LOL

What has changed?  The itching has subsided a lot.  I think it helps with using the essential oils – thanks Monika for the suggestion ❤

Yesterday I was released to start back my exercise routine.  I started my walking again – very slowly at first – and I will build up to it.  By this time in my recovery, the “bounce” that once drove me crazy is something I don’t think about anymore.

I am still wearing some type of bra twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.  This is very important during recovery in the helping of your breasts heal.  At night, I *always* wear my suppression bra.  It’s kind of become a security blanket to me.  Sometimes I wear it during the day.  I’m trying not to go too bra crazy buying cute little bras I never thought I would wear but it’s hard to refrain – LOL.  I’ll have to show you pictures of some in a future posting.  They are so cute and little.

By this time, all of the incision lines are healed over.  There are no more scabs, spitting stitches or any open places.  Everything has healed beautifully so far.

Seven Weeks Post-Op

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This picture above is me before surgery November 8, 2017.  Trust me, there was a lot to the girls.  Yesterday was seven weeks since surgery.  What does it look like now?  Well, I took a picture this morning using the same shirt.  You tell me.

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This is me now.  See there is a lot of boobage missing – good riddance!  And this is what you get – with or without a bra.  In fact, in this picture I’m wearing the most dainty of all bras – nothing but a wisp of lace.  Something I thought previously I would *never* wear.  My chest feels better.  In fact, I think I look ‘thinner’ without all of that extra going on with my chest.  I feel a heck of a lot better.  In fact, I’ve been released to start exercising again in January.  I plan on hitting it January 2 – slow at start – and getting back into my walking routine.  I’ve missed it.  So what do you think my friends.  See a difference? 🙂