37yr old Mum of 3, tuberous breasts & abdominal separation, 5'9", 170 lbs / 77kg

Dr Simone Matousek has perfect reviews and specialises in difficult procedures like fat grafting and reconstructions, proving her quality as a surgeon. Dr Matousek is honest and has integrity. She is an exceptional woman and surgeon and I trust her implicitly.

It's time to do something for me. It's time I let myself be selfish and focus on myself, to make myself heal and be strong again.
Prior to having children I was gloriously slender, strong and taut all over from my rigorous exercise regime and wholesome diet. Now I have constant throbbing back pain, I am flabby all over and my breasts are tuberous, asymmetrical and unsightly.
I love my three beautiful children more than anything. They are my life's greatest joy. But they have had a huge toll on my body.
My pregnancies were hard and I had hormone imbalances that caused extra weight gain and horrendous anti-natal depression & anxiety. Breastfeeding didn't work properly, I was never able to make more than 40mls of milk despite breastfeeding each child (with supplementation, obviously) for 10 months, using milk-enhancing drugs and doing extensive pumping regimes. After the countless lactation specialist consultations I was diagnosed with tuberous breasts. They hadn't been noticeable when I was thin because they were so small - 'just a nipple on a chest' small - that the deformity wasn't that noticable. After the swelling that breastfeeding caused they became drooped and asymmetrical and their odd shape became apparent.
By the end of my third pregnancy my abdominal muscles had seperated and never came back together. Now my lower back does a lot of the work and I'm left with throbbing back pain every day.
I really have no time for extensive exercise regimes or the like but I have been dieting and exercising whenever possible for a long time. I've lost 30kgs so far and have 15kgs left to lose before I'm back to my weight before I had the kids. It's been very difficult with my abs being basically useless, but I'm proud of what I've achieved.
I'm very much looking forward to feeling whole again.
I am booked for abdominoplasty and tuberous breast correction with augmentation on Feb 16, 3 weeks from today. I am a little dissapointed that I have to have implants at all, as I liked having small breasts when I was thin. Ideally I wanted a B cup. But I've been told that the nature of the tuberous deformity means that I wouldn't be left with a good shape from using my own breast tissue. And, unfortunately, because I am tall and broad and have a very broad chest, I will need approximately D-cup sized implants to look proportional, which is something I never wanted. But, it has been explained why this is necessary and I understand it, and I'm willing to go with my surgeons recommendations. Ultimately, I'd settle for having 'breast-shaped breasts'.
So we're three weeks out. I am looking forward to being in hospital for a couple of days where I can sleep. You don't understand the true value of sleep until you've gone without quality sleep for years. It will be like a mini holiday for me. I'm leaving my husband and mother to handle the kids then and for three weeks following the surgery while I heal at home. The thing I am looking forward to the most is being able to get through a day without the throbbing back pain, because I can get my core strength back.

My surgery is today. Tuberous breast correction with mastopexy and augmentation on both breasts, and abdominoplasty. Polytech polyurethane implants in the anatomical shape will be used.
I am prepared.
Family care arranged, house spotless, a tonne of home made meals for myself and the family made and frozen, necessary people notified and hospital bags packed.
I've continued eating well and exercising each day right up to the surgery, to give my body the best chance to heal. Keeping my blood flowing in these last days was especially important, because I will be lying quite still from the surgery for about 30 hours.
It's an evening surgery which takes 7 hours, and will be completed in the middle of the night. Then I will be shipped to recovery to be roused, to ensure I am well and to be advised of how it went; then back to my room to sleep. I will be kept in the bed all of tomorrow (Friday) and then on Saturday morning, I will be helped up for my first walk.
A night surgery is ideal because I am able to spend a whole day with my husband and kids before I go to the hospital. I will miss them terribly. I will be staying in hospital for 3 - 5 days until the drains are removed. That is a long time to be away from a 6, 4 and 2 year old. They are such beautiful little human beings. But my husband assures me I'll get a visit somewhere in the middle of my stay.
I am not nervous. Perhaps my methods are unusual, but my way of feeling prepared for a surgery is to watch hundreds of videos of the same surgeries being performed. By the time I arrive for my surgery, I know absolutely everything that is involved and I understand precisely what will be done to my body. It also helps with recovery, because I understand precisely what has been cut, moved, stitched, etc. For me, knowledge is comfort.
For all 3 of my C-sections, I even watched the surgery being performed on me, by asking them to shift the overhead light in a way that allowed me to see the reflection. I watched all 3 of my beautiful children being born.
Today's surgery is a much longer and more intense surgery. But I'm told that my experience with C sections will help me to recover, both from experience with the pain and from experience with the recovery.