Thrilled with Breast Reduction!

I'm 40 yrs old 5'3", 130lbs, size 32F. I have been trolling this website for a year. Reading story after story crying and laughing and nodding my head in agreement, acknowledgment, sympathy, and praise for all of you who have taken the road trip to a BR! Well I'm FINALLY taking the trip as well. I have had large breasts probably since 11 years old. It was hell. Nothing fit right, my friends would stare and joke, and I just laughed along. But I'd look at my body and wish the big boobies to deflate somehow. But NOOO...they just grew as I got older. I went to a PS with my mom when I was 17 yrs old. My mom saw how I was so sad ALL the time, shopping was dreadful, especially lookin for cute summer clothes. Everything I wore made me look like I was begging for attention (side note: as women I believe we do this to ourselves we criticize each other and judge each other harshly) but I hated wearing tank tops or anything fitted. I felt women would think I was slutty and men would think I was easy (again judging). Anyway at the time my parents insurance denied coverage saying I was too young and blah blah. My PS had agreed and told me to wait. Well that was about 22 years ago! In between that time many friends and people thought I was crazy for wanting a reduction. They all said it was in my head, I wasn't that big, I should be thankful, I was lucky, blah blah. Well I guess it worked me and I started to question my reasoning behind wanting a BR. I learned to live with them and hide them very well! Nobody EVER believed my size. As much as I was able to hide my large breasts visually, my body felt their weight! I have horrible posture from the years of rounding my shoulders forward to hide them. The weight of them have strained my shoulders and neck. I get terrible pains in my shoulder, shoulder blades, neck, collarbone area, and headaches. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of money I spend on buying bras that fit and support them!! Traveling an hour and a half to Manhattan to spend $125 on a European bra is outrageous!!! By the way, THANK GOD for those European bras cuz at least they fit and made my boobs semi decent! Since dumb Victoria Secret or department store bras wanna shove us big boobied girls into double Ds! And I hate that They don't sell large cups with small band sizes. Not everyone with large breasts is overweight or big all over. It made bra shopping insanely difficult. Anyway, after obsessing over your ladies stories and before/after pictures you shared I finally decided to go to a PS one more time on July 13 2014. He saw me and agreed I was a good candidate. He sent my info To insurance. Two days later PS office called and said the ins needed a letter from my general doctor. The next day I went to see her and she wrote me a letter of recommendation for a BR as well as my latest mammo. I faxed it over to the PS office. They said I may have to wait anywhere from 2 weeks to 5 months depending on insurance. I was prepared for this since once again I read many of your reviews in which you stated the process took months. Well much to my surprise the PS office called me exactly 2 weeks later saying my insurance approved procedure! I screamed and jumped up and down (while holding down my painfully pendulous boobs) and asked the PS office whats the next step. She said "pick a date!" Now I'm a 1st grade teacher and school starts sept 2 for us while students come in on the 4th. But if your a teacher you know we usually have to go in couple weeks before to set up classroom. So I asked PS office how soon and they told me Aug 12! I said ABSOLUTELY! I don't care about my classroom at this point! I just want my BR done! Besides I can get my family to help me set up my classroom and do all the heavy lifting. So... This is my big summer vacation road trip! And I couldn't be happier!!!!! I am so excited and I can't wait to be on the "other side." Aggg!!! I'm so frikkin beside myself with all this! I can't even IMAGINE what it will be like with smaller average boobs!!! I'm hoping for a size B/C. My preop is Aug 4 so we will discuss all that!! YAY!!! Again thank you to all you lovely ladies for your inspiring stories! And please please please if you have any advice for preop and postop things I will need or should have PLEASE SHARE (: I will keep reading through past BR stories to find out more about the necessities and what you ladies got before and after surgery ! Thank you! I will be sure to post pics. I do have some under my profile. But I will be sure to take more and post them! I will share again soon! (:

Just to note... I have no idea what the cost of the procedure is since my insurance is covering. When posting, I had to write a cost, it wouldn't allow me to leave it blank. I did not ask about cost during my consultation because honestly my mind was set...I was going to hv surgery at any cost! I just wrote that it would be $7,000 just because I averaged out what most people paid. Sorry about that! I will ask the estimated cost during my preop tomorrow! (: Also, I will post pics very soon.

A few pics. Tank top is semi shapewear. I wear it around house to get some support (ha! NOT)

Well I had surgery bright and early yesterday and was home by 12:30pm. Was feeling groggy when I got home but actually felt very good. I took my meds as ordered by Dr. That part wasn't as fun since I set an alarm to go off every 4 hours to take my meds. But I definitely feel no pain so it's worth the alarm going off every 4 hrs. I'm trying to rest up but I guess I'm still excited and just want to walk around because I can't believe how much LIGHTER I already feel! The surgical bra I bought from amazon (marena 2 inch) is very supportive. It's a bit tight but I know it's from the swelling. I'm looking forward to showering tomorrow! I wanna take a good look at the new girls! All the nurses at hospital said "they look great!" And "Dr. Fugo did a beautiful job." So that makes me happy! I will def post after pics by tomorrow! Thanks again to all the well wishers! To all you ladies who have not had surgery yet or are contemplating it...it's worth it! (:

I took a shower today and finally got a good look at the new "girls." First of all I can't believe I actually looked that huge!! Ugh! It's so different seeing yourself in photos. I am SO HAPPY with the after! I'm 2 days post op and slightly swollen, but Dr. Fugo did magic! I'm so happy! I literally feel so much lighter! I'll post more pics soon (:

Took my second shower today. Still feel queasy "washing" my breasts..keep imaging they're gonna fall open or something...sorry for that visual. But so far they r fine! I put A&D ointment 3 times day as suggested by my PS. The marena surgical bra finally fits. I couldn't wear it yesterday cuz I think I was too swollen. I'm less swollen now and it feels good putting on the compression bra. I freaked out a bit when I asked my sister to take pictures of what it looked like under my breasts. As you can see there is some bruising and the stitches look creepy. So far this morning I only took one percocet for pain and 3 ibuprofen for swelling. My pain has been very minimal. Overall feeling well. (:

Well ladies I'm 4 days post op and hope I didn't overdo it! Today I was officially off all pain meds too. Since I've been inside home for 3 days i decided to venture out and go bra shopping. My hubby drove to kohls and I bought some great great bras...thanks to amcvoy80 who recommended them and she's right...very comfortable. So I walked around kohls and did everything in my power NOT to look at clothes cuz god only knows how long I've waited to just grab a cute top or dress and not have to think about the "girls"...but I avoided the clothes (for now) and just tried on a few bras. The Bali comfort revolution, one is a 2 pk seamless crop top bra and I got 2 comfort revolution flexible bra. Well after walking around kohls hubby and I went to TGIF (shame on me) but I was craving their spinach artichoke dip and chips and I got some grilled chicken skewers..yummy...anyway that's when I realized I wasn't ready to go out in public...NOT because I felt woozy...but because I could not stop STARING at other women's chest!! Every woman that passed by I would stare and wonder "once my swelling is down...will I be her size?...I wonder what size she is?....do mine look like hers?...she's about my weight, are my boobs like hers?...that's a cute top, could I wear it?...she's kinda chesty, I hope mine don't look like that.." And the staring and the thoughts went on and on until my hubby dragged me back home! So I'm tired now! Lying propped up and feeling kinda pooped! Hope I didn't overdo it. Tomorrow's my birthday! Whoop whoop! And I finally FINALLY got to cross off my list the ONE thing I've wanted for my birthday!......little (•) (•)...those are supposed to be boobies! Well happy healing ladies! I'll continue to read and learn from ur posts! (:

I have a couple of questions that hv been on my mind and wasn't sure to ask but hope u can help
1. A lot of u share how u got reduction with lipo..what does that mean and why?
I didn't get lipo just the reduction..should I have also gotten the lipo?! What does it do?

I'm a little nervous cuz so many of u said u had it done should I worry? Based on my after pic should I hv gotten it done too?

2. When u shower how are you "washing" your breasts? I'm so scared to really touch them with pressure! Are u using a washcloth or just with ur hands? I'm 6 days post op and I still have some of that orangey lookin iodine they use during surgery still on my breast! I'm kinda embarrassed saying that! Don't want u to think I'm not really bathing!

3. How much "compression" should the bra give u?
Sometimes it feels like mine is too tight especially from wearing it all day. I can breathe freely and move around but it just feels kinda tight sometimes.

4. Is it bad to constantly look at urself?! I look at my new body all the time! Mirrors, reflection from TVs, windows, any appliance... Lol some of u hv shared ur feeling quite vain as well and I think we've ALL earned it, but I don't wanna be that annoying person who is always looking down at herself and checking herself out. My 17yr old nieces tease me all the time saying "they've created a conceited monster!" And I tease them by asking if I could borrow their clothes lol...obviously I'm 40 and not about to dress like a 17yr old...or will I ??!?! That's where it must stop! But I hope u all find urselves gliding ur hands over ur clothing and checking out ur chest and waistline in mirrors too!

Hope u can answer/clarify questions! Especially first one and second one!! Thanks (: