Breast Implants: Stories

I am 22 years old, 5'3 and approximately 110-5lbs (no children). When I was 17 I was about 130lbs and unhappy with myself physically (and I don't just mean weight, fitness level and overall health as well) so not long after I turned 18 I completely overhauled my life. I began eating better and doing yoga and hiking regularly and within a few months I had lost about 20lbs and gotten much healthier. However, this also resulted in going from a 34B to a small 32A. I went from having a modest bust to nearly nothing at all, something that is only emphasized by the fact that I am pear shaped and therefore have proportionally larger hips and thighs.

I had thought about possibly getting implants for years but had never seriously considered it for two main reasons. The first is that I was worried about potential breast feeding problems if I were to having children and the second was I was worried what people would think. However when I started looking into it and found out that the breast feeding wasn't really a big issue I started to consider it. I think though that the big turning point was when I mentioned it to my mom. I was so sure that she would be against it but instead she was very supportive and actually encouraged me to consider it. Over the following months I read everything I could find on the subject and about a year ago I finally made my decision to go for it.

The reason I chose to do it now is because I will be completing my bachelor's degree in December and will be starting work full-time in the January so I am doing it in between as a graduating present to myself :).

My goal size wise is to end up as a full B to small C (maybe a mid C). I really don't want to go too big because I have a small frame and I want them to look and feel as natural as possible. I am planning on going with silicone, under the muscle, inframmary incision. I am not sure how many cc's, I will talk with my doctor about that at my pre-op appointment on Nov. 29th.

I am currently a mixture of nervous and excited. I have waited for this for so long but I worry that I might end up with complications either from the implants or the even sugery itself. Despite my worries though, I can't wait to look and feel more like a women rather than a little girl.

I went for another appointment today. This appointment was mostly to talk about implant type and size, risks, and what will happen on the day of the surgery. My doctor and I decided that 300cc high profile silicone implants will suit my frame the best. I am excited for it. It was a little unsettling going through all the potential risks and complications though. However, my doctor assured me that because I am young and healthy, my risks of complications are pretty small. I am particularly nervous about the anesthesia, I have only ever been under a local anesthetic (once with sedation) but never under general anesthesia and the idea scares me a bit.

I still don't know what time my surgery will be at, they don't have the schedule for that day yet. I can't believe that it is less than three weeks away.

I am getting really excited, surgery day seems so close and yet so far away, it seems amazing that it is only two weeks away. My doctor said that I should get a sports bra to wear for the first month or so but I have no idea what size or style to get. I can't exactly try some on the see which ones are more comfortable or fit better so I am at a loss as to what to look for. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I officially paid for my sugery yesterday, that was a bit of a headache. Who knew that getting money out of ones bank account could be so difficult? But at least that is over and done with now. I also found out my arrival time for the date of surgery which is 10am. I am pretty happy with that because I won't have to get early if I don't feel like it but it isn't so late that I willl be sitting around thinking about how I am so hungry but not allowed to eat haha.

I went sports bra shopping today. It took me a few hours to finally decide on what to get because there are just so many options and sizes and when you don't know what size you will end up it is difficult to make a decision. After looking around at a couple different stores I finally chose a simple size small Nike compression bra. It is white so I think I should be able to wear it under a lot of my clothes. Also, because it is a compression bra and meant to be tight it actually fits me pretty well right now and it really comfortable so I think I made a good choice.

Waiting is sooo hard! It is all I can think about. 6 days seems way too long to wait and I want it to come sooner but I am trying to keep myself busy

Waiting has been very difficult over the last few weeks but today has been the worst by far, I can't stop thinking about tomorrow. It feels a bit surreal. Over the past few days I have been trying to prepare, mostly by just cleaning my entire apartment and remembering to take my vitamins. Today, I plan on mopping my floors and going to the library to get some books which I hope will help keep me busy while I am recovering. I am hoping that I will bounce back pretty quickly and have a smooth recovery. My doctor has told me that he has had patients go back to work the next day, that seems crazy to me. I am luckly that I don't have to start work until January 2 so I will get a full two weeks to recover. Still, I am worried about having to depend on other people for the next little while. I am the type of person that hates asking for anything, I often drive myself crazy trying to do way to many things and to top it off I am a perfectionist (there is a reason why I have a really high GPA). I am just hoping that I can let myself rely on other people a little bit.

The surgery went really well according to my doctor. I am feeling a bit of pain (it shifts from a 0.5 to maybe a 3 out of 10 on the pain scale) but mostly it just feels a lot of tightness. The arm that had the IV in it feels a tinty bit asleep. Overall, I think I am doing well. I will provide more details and pictures tomorrow.

Day 1 (Day of Surgery)

My check in time at the surgical center was 10:00 am. It is a good thing that I brought a book. In the first hour and a half that I was there one of the receptions asked me a couple run of the mill questions (Is your address still the same? Are you a smoker? Etc) which took around 3 minutes.

At around 11:30am two nurses took me back and weighed me, checked my pulse, blood pressure, and temperature (which was just a little on the high side). They gave me the gown to change into and then left the room. A few minutes later, my doctor came in and drew the marking on my chest and asked if I had any last minute questions of concerns. Afterwards, my anesthesiologist came in and introduced himself and asked if I had any questions. Soon after, a nurse came in to take me to the operating room, which was FREEZING by the way. Luckily, I got to lie under a blanket which had warm air coming from a hose under it so I was nice and toasty warm. The nurse, put the blood pressure cuff on and attached the EKG pads to the back of each shoulder and the left side of my ribs. Then the anesthesiologist set up the IV which took 3-4 attempts because I apparently have really small veins. It was a weird feeling, getting put to sleep. I really felt it going through my body, much more so than I did when I was sedated when I had my wisdom teeth removed. It felt very tingly and warm and then the sleepiness took over and I drifted off.

I woke up just before they took the breathing tube out and I felt really groggy for the first fifteen minutes or so. Of course, the first thing I did when I came to was peek down to see the girls. I couldn't see too much because of the tensor bandage but they were definitely there and looked huge to me lol.

After the grogginess passed I wanted to get up right away but my nurse didn't think that was a good idea, however, she did raise the back of the bed so I could sit up more. In hindsight, it was good that I didn't get up because a few moments later I started shaking uncontrollably. This, in turn, made my blood pressure jump all over the place. It eventually passed and my blood pressure returned to normal.

I did feel a bit of pain at my incision sites after I really started waking up, I told the nurse that it was probably at about a 1 or 2 on the pain scale, she immediately offered me a t3 which I decline. I really didn't think that that level of pain required codeine and was surprised she even offered it.

I was in the recovery room for about an hour and then they took out the IV and let me get dressed, which I was able to do all on my own with minimal discomfort. Then another hour was spent in a room with recliners and a TV with my mom until my doctor came by and asked how I was doing and gave me final instructions for taking care of my new additions.

On the way home, my mom and I stopped at Wal-Mart to fill my prescription. By this time it was after 3pm and I was starving and exhausted which made me a bit irritable especially when my mom insisted on parking as far away from the doors as she could. So when I finally got home, I took some regular Tylenol, had a piece of toast and then took a nap. And I got up a couple hours later I felt great, there was still some tightness but no pain. A close friend took me out for dinner at a nearby restaurant (best seafood fettuccine you will ever have) and I took one of my pain killers with dinner more just to stay ahead of the pain than because I needed it. The rest of the evening I was fine (although shivering for the cold outside felt really interesting). I had an early night but found it difficult to sleep because frankly I cannot sleep on my back, particularly when propped up, but other than that it was a good night with no more discomfort than a good workout gives you.

Day 2 (So far)

I had a quick follow up appointment at 6:55am this morning. My doctor took off the tensor bandage and had a look. He said everything looks good and he can tell by how I am moving that I am doing pretty well. He also gave the okay to shower and encouraged me to be up and moving around throughout the day.

This was the first time that I really got to see the girls and I think they look huge! I know that is partially because of the swelling and how high they are at the moment but they were still bigger than I was expecting. I guess that just goes to show similar cc implant can look so different on different people. However, for day 2 I think they are looking pretty good.

Pain wise, I am definitely feeling it more today, but it isn't that bad and I have had much worse. I hope everyone else who recently got there new additions are healing up well as well.

A few other points to note:

1)Currently my right nipple has near full sensation but my left one is completely numb.

2) you may notice that my left best is larger than my right, this was the case before but I think the left is also a bit more swollen.

3) If I poke a finger in the area in between my breast I feel some movement under the skin and hear a barely audible gurgling noise. Is this normal?

So the girls have been pretty good over the last couple days. I still have a bit of muscle soreness and my incisions sometimes hurt and itch a bit but it hasn't been too bad at all. The side effects from my pain medication, however, have been a whole other story. I was prescribe Ketorolac which is a non-narcotic, non-steroidal pain killer/anti-inflammatory, pretty much a really strong version of ibuprofen. I only took it for 2 and half days (the night after my surgery and the next two days) and it made me feel really sick. Symptoms included dizziness, heartburn, bloating, nausea, intense upper abdominal pain (which was so awful I couldn't sleep), shortness of breath, headache, and it made my heart feel like it was beating out of my chest. I has been close to 40 hours since I took the last one and I am still feeling the effects. The most frustrating part of it is that I only took the medication because my doctor told me to take it regularly for those two days, I didn't need it for the pain which was easily managed by just regular over the counter extra strength Tylenol. The medication that I was given to alleviate pain ended up causing more pain and discomfort than I would have had if I hadn't taken anything.

Anyway, it is post-op day 5 and the girls are finally starting to feel a little less tight, they are still pretty high but are looking good. I still have some numbness around my left nipple, I can't really feel temperature there but the nipple does react to it which I have been told is a good sign that the feeling will come back. I am happy with the size that I choose, 300cc's may not be that big but I think it is the most proportionate size for my frame. I can't wait to be completely healed, it is a pain having to be careful and not being able to do certain things, and of course I can't wait until the girls are dropped and fluffed and I can start wearing regular bras. I need to learn to be patient I guess.

So it has been a little over a week post and I am doing great. I have been off any sort of medication for 4-5 days now and the only time I feel any soreness is when I am trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in or when I forget I am not suppose to run. I am actually amazed at how easy the recovery has been and how good the girls look already. I had prepared myself for the implant to be rock hard and super high for a while after surgery and although they higher and firmer than they will be in a couple months, they really aren't that high and they are squishy enough that when I let my boyfriend give them a little squeeze the other night he said that if he didn't already know he wouldn't have known that they weren't real. Also, I have been told by many of my friends that they look natural and they hadn't known me before they wouldn't have even guessed that I had gotten implants which is exactly what I was hoping. I know that their opinions are probably biased but it still feels good, especially since when they drop and fluff more they will look and feel even more natural.

In other news, I am starting to get feeling back in and around my left nipple, it is still numb but I can now feel pressure and a tiny bit of temperature. also, the tape covering my incisions is starting to come off which gave me the ability to take a peak at the corner of the incisions and from what I could see they appear to be healing well.

If anyone has any specific questions for me, feel free to ask.

Tomorrow will be my six week mark whch means I can finally start wearing normal underwire bras and stop being careful. Yay! I went bra shopping yesterday for the second time since my surgery. The first time was a couple days after Christmas to take advantage of the boxing day sales, I wasn't sure at that point what size I was going to be so I took a 30C, 30D, 32B, and 32C to the change room and I ended up deciding I was on the cusp of a 30D and 32C and so I bought a cute 30D purple bra. However when I went yesterday I tried on some 32Cs and 30Ds and the cup size was too small! I guess the implants have dropped in the past four weeks because I now wear a 32D. That seems crazy to me that 300cc implants could bring me from barely an A to a D. It just goes to show that you really can't know what size you are going to be because every body is different.

I am still really enjoying the girls. I love how I fill out clothes so much better. Two small negative are that the feeling still hasn't come back in my left nipple and the underside of both breasts, also now that they are bigger the size difference and placement difference is more noticeable (my left breast is bigger and lower than the right). I still think it was worth it though.

The incisions are healing really well, they are red but thin and barely elevated at all. Also, my doctor placed them really well so they don't stand out very much. I did have to pull out a stich a couple days ago though. My stitches were self desolving but I guess since that tiny piece wasn't actually in the skin, it didn't disolve. However, it came out super easily.

Overall the experience has been good.