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An update..that doesn't say much :D
I've been away from you for a while but hey! No news is also good news, I hear. And I really have NO news. Nothing new to report, no tragic nor miraculous turn of events - my nipples haven't fallen off but my scars haven't vanished either.
Some of yall know I started work a few weeks ago so I guess I'd like to confess that I have proudly told my colleagues about my surgery. The reactions ranged from mournful "Whyyyy?!"-s from the men to surprised "Reeeally??"-s from the ladies but after that it was all flattery and good vibes. Nobody mentioned the scars if they even noticed them - I work in a cabaret so sometimes the scars on the sides are out depending on the uniform that day - and the people to whom I actually pointed my scars out to were like "Yeah...and?". Bless them all :3
I guess what I'm trying to say is that although the scarring was never a deterrent for me getting the surgery (I know it's close to a dealbreaker for some ) I was suprised that it actually mattered to me how people close to me (and especially any guys I date from now on) would feel about my scars. It took me a while to admit to myself that it mattered.. like I felt ashamed of myself for caring about what others think. My scars don't bother ME..but what if I met a great guy who didn't mind the surgery (he didn't know me when I had sandbags, right?) but DID feel weird about my raised scars? And I don't mean how the scars LOOK, cos you can ignore how they look..I mean how they feel.
My friends don't comment anymore because it's now just a normal part of me, like a leg or an ear. My boobs, scars and surgery aren't a hot topic - and that's nice. Because everyone else has just moved on I now constantly forget that I actually.had.surgery :D That I've only had these breasts for 4 months and 3 days! They just feel right, you know?
I guess I just wanted to share some of the minor emotional discoveries but in terms of swelling, scars etc? It's pretty much the same as my last update :) Soon I will share some pics with some new triangle bras I ordered so look forward to that!
Happy healing!
There's tape and then there's Tape.
One of you ladies mentioned the Mepitac tape - it seems to be the best of both worlds - Silicone and Tape :D so I'm thinking of trying that instead but I'd be lying if I said I was in a hurry.... Back to the oils and butters for now.
Tape aside, I think my scars are entering another itchy phase - I haven't taped them for a week but they are starting to itch something fierce, like I-want-to-put-my-breasts-through-a-grinder-for-relief kind of fierce... The struggle is real!
Taping :) and a Rant :(
I've decided to combine taping with my moisturising routine. To explain myself - due to the cut of my uniform, I can't actually wear my compression bras to work so I was either wearing no bra or a normal wireless with no support whatsoever.. which defeats the purpose and resulted in more swelling. But that was kind of expected anyway. What worried me into making this decision was that I noticed more numbness along with the swelling - I only discovered the numbness after a couple of colleagues elbowed me in the boob during a busy night last week and, as I braced myself for the pain, felt... nothing. Absolutely nothing! My boobs had been completely numb for a while which explained why they hadn't been giving me any grief about how active I'd been. I also noticed that they've digressed into being more agitated, like they were around weeks 4-6, so I've had to come to terms with the dawning possibility of oils and cocoa butter alone just not being able to cut it when I'm working.
I've been snooping through a lot of the comments on here and some of you ladies have been prescribed the best of both worlds - tape for a couple of days, moisturise for a couple days, repeat. I've mentioned before that oils really work best for me. At one point someone here made me look like a bit of an idiot, replying that moisturising will eventually fade anyone's scars anyway, no matter what you use; basically belittled what I had to say and that hurt me. My comment was based on what I know about my body. I sincerely doubt that moisturising your acne scars with Loreal Perfection will regenerate the skin until they disappear or, likewise, do away with stretch marks. And I also doubt that coconut or olive oil works for everyone under the sun - some people's skin just don't do oils and that's normal - we're all different! I hope that I haven't given the impression that I am speaking for everybody - I always explicitly say "I, me, my" - just the same way I really wish people wouldn't patronise my comments - with all due respect, they are based on very personal, critically reflective observations of *MY* body and how *I KNOW* my skin reacts to this and that. I express my observations here in the hopes that maybe what works for me might help somebody else, too, and I don't appreciate that intention of mine being distorted and the information I'm sharing being branded silly and inconsequential :(. Rant over...
Back to the topic - ya'll know I love my oils! They are the only thing that blend my scars, to the point of non-existence, as you can obviously see with my vertical one :). I don't usually get hypertrophic scars (apart from 1 or 2 from the playground, and what 8 year old tomboy cares about scar treatment...) but I did develop them in mirrored spots on each breast after the incisions healed. If I was able to continue wearing my compression bras 24/7 for the next 6 months then I would've continued with just moisturising them as my PS recommended. But a girl's gotta eat, so as of today I'll be taping for most of the week when I have work, to stop the scars from stretching and help them flatten , and then I'll moisturise when I know I have a full 48 hrs to wear my compression bras.
Have any of you ladies started taping a few weeks in? Did it help flatten any raised scars? My PS never taped my incisions, does anyone else have the same experience? Or is it weird that I didn't get taped..?
Provider Review
First of all, Dr Nogueira's unique sense of humour really reassured me and put me at ease. He will give you a very straightforward explanation of what he intends to do and the results you will see. He takes his career very seriously and has an established work ethic and sense of aesthetics so if you are hoping to get a softy who you can order what to do, you will be in for a surprise. I came in armed with wish pics and was a bit disappointed when he assessed them all too small but looking at my breasts now, they are a very good size and will be even better once they settle and the swelling goes. Even if you are unsure of what you want in terms of volume but believe in the experience of your surgeon, then trust me, Dr Nogueira will get you the results even you yourself didn't know you wanted. Second, the anaesthetist, Dr. Salmones, was brilliant - extremely kind and reassuring, very gentle with the needles and also with a great sense of humour. I'd also like to say that Yolanda Munoz, with whom I had a lot of back-and-forths via email during this experience, was also very informative and accommodating to even my silliest enquiries. The staff at the Nisa Hospital were all kind and engaging - from the receptionists at the front desk to the nurse who wheeled me out of my hospital room, and ofcourse ,Dr Nogueira and his team in the theatre itself. Last, but not least, the hospital was spotless., and I mean impeccably clean. It didn't feel or smell sickly like hospitals do. The facilities were excellent, the hospital suite was on point and, despite being a relatively secluded residential area a few kilometres from Madrid, there are no less than eight restaurants, two pharmacies and two hotels all within a three minute walking radius of the hospital! The Lowcostmetic website, through which I made initial contact, is also brilliantly practical - it has all the links to hotels, cabs, medical travel insurance etc. in one place. People tend to neglect the importance of ease of access when looking into surgery outside your back yard. Overall, this has been such a smooth experience from start to finish, I could not have hoped for better. I consider myself extremely lucky that I managed to have this surgery under such excellent conditions, with a well-experienced and established in his ways surgeon and at less than half of what I would have paid in London (even with the fllights, hotel for 6 nights and transport!). Should I ever wish to do another procedure, this will be my first choice. Five stars all around from me!