48 Yrs Old, Ultimate Breast Lift by Dr. Gary Horndeski - Sugar Land, TX

My breasts have always been large and pendulous my whole life. I don't ever remember a time that they weren't hanging, not even during my teenage years. I never seriously thought about having surgery to lift them until probably five years ago. I wasn't really thrilled with my breasts, I just didn't ever expect to have the money to do anything about them so tried to accept them and myself as best I could. Sort of a "grin and bear it" approach.

Finances now allow for such expenditures, and my husband has been very supportive and encouraging of me to do whatever I want to make myself happy with my body. I am normally fairly active, being a runner and a cyclist. Because of this activity I got in the best shape of my life summer of 2012. Although I was slimmer, healthier, and more muscular than I had ever been in my life, with the lower body fat percentage that I reached, my breasts just simply deflated. It was at that point that I seriously began thinking about surgery.

I began researching. I have looked at many many before and after photos and look at many doctors. I am located in the Kansas City area, and have looked at doctors everywhere from Miami to Chicago, St. Louis, Las Vegas… And then I found Dr. Horndeski here on realself.com. I read his news releases. I read about his engineering background, and the new technique that he had developed. I was astounded when I saw before and after pictures of his work. I had my Skype consultation with him back in June of last year, 2013. My husband sat in on that conversation with me. Dr. Horndeski was very explanatory and extremely willing to answer any and all questions we had.

Skip ahead another six months, and it is approaching husband's bonus check time, which actually hit our bank account today. About a week and a half ago, I called Dr. Horndeski's office and set up my appointment date for April 1, which also happens to be my husband's birthday LOL.

Yesterday, I had my mammogram and did all my pre-op lab work. Those results will be sent directly to the doctors office from the lab. Today I am completing the new patient form and medical history form that Jana sent me from Dr. Horndeski's office.

I ran across some photos yesterday here on real self.com that concerned me. I am not going to say who's they were, because it doesn't really matter who it is. She was a patient of Dr. Horndeski's. I will just say that I was concerned that these photos showed some puckering, or what they called dog ears and the scar beneath the breast was actually out on the underside of the breast instead of being at the chest wall. It was too visible for my liking. Also, although most of the nipples that I have seen done by Dr. Horndeski are very nice and perfectly circular, I have seen a few that have jagged edges. I had emailed Jana about these concerns and sent her the photos that I had seen. She arranged for Dr. Horndeski to call me right away and we spoke by phone yesterday morning.

Dr. Horndeski said very matter-of-factly that in about 5% of cases a "revise" is appropriate. Appropriate I don't think is the word he used, but I also know that he did not say "needed." He said sometimes a patient will come back wanting a revision and he can't see anything that needs to be fixed, but he will do the revision to fix anything that I am not happy with, say six months down the road. Although the person who's review I was referencing was not unhappy with her results, but I would have been.

He explained to me that my larger size and droopiness was actually to my advantage, because I would have plenty of skin to pull together to meet after the elliptical incision and have less chance of having dog ears at the ends of the seams. And it's true, the woman in the photographs that I was concerned about had much smaller breasts than I do to begin with. He also said you can have less chance of having dog ears if you make longer incisions, but then your scar is more visible because it extends out on the sides of the breasts. He said to wait 3 to 6 months after the initial surgery, and then if I want to have anything revised, that it would be free of charge. Of course I would have travel expenses since I am in Kansas City and he is in Houston, but any revision surgery would be done with local anesthesia, right there in his office. And free.

Another question I had was how do I know what size bra's to buy for after surgery? After talking to Jana and the doctor, we have decided to wait to purchase those bras for post surgery until after meeting with the doctor the day before surgery. Possibly even waiting until after surgery, as the doctor said we would not know exactly what size I am until after surgery. Then my husband could go out and purchase some bras in the right size while I am resting in the hotel room.

The doctor told me that he only does ONE surgery per day and that surgery time, actual surgery time will be about 3 to 4 hours. This actually made me feel really good about the time and care that he takes to make sure his work is perfect, and that he doesn't just crank them out to make more money.

Airline tickets are bought. Thank you, Southwest Airlines for a nonstop flight. We will fly into Houston Hobby Airport on March 31, and meet with the doctor at 3 o'clock that afternoon. Surgery is set for the next day. We have a reservation at the Staybridge hotel that is recommended by the doctor's office, but I am a frugal nut and intend to compare prices on other closeby hotels via Priceline or Kayak or some other travel site. The Dr. discounted price for the King Studio room at the Staybridge hotel is now $119.99 plus tax per night.

I know it may sound silly to be concerned with an extra $20 a night hotel room when you're paying $10,000 for surgery, but it is still very difficult to accept spending that much money on myself. I usually purchase my clothes at a thrift store or secondhand recycled clothing store such as Plato's closet. Rarely do I buy retail clothing for myself. I enjoy finding nice clothes at deeply discounted prices. It's like a treasure hunt. About the only thing I pay retail cost for are my running shoes and my undergarments. It's just how I am. Spending my husband's entire bonus check on myself seems extremely selfish to me, and I am honestly having a hard time with it. Last year, our family took a nice cruise in the Caribbean on his bonus check. We all had the time of our lives, and visited Islands and did things like zip lining down the mountains of St. Lucia that I had never done before. I can't help but think we could be doing the same thing again this year or have some other kind of kick ass vacation, as a family. Instead, this year it's all about me. :-/

I have lots of things rolling around in my head. My husband keeps asking me "are you excited?" And I try to explain to him that I WILL be… Eventually. Six months down the road after I know if I have healed properly and what my scars are going to look like for the rest of my life. How noticeable they're going to be. If my nipples are perfectly round. We enjoy going to topless and/or clothing optional beaches, so I want them to look as perfect as possible. If I didn't care what I look like naked and just wanted to look better in bikinis or clothing, I would've opted for the much less expensive vertical scar approach in a lift.

I shattered my elbow last August and was unable to exercise (run) for a few months. Then the holidays came and it was snowy outside and I still didn't run even though I could have. I finally started exercising and running again about two and half weeks ago… And when I have surgery I'm fully aware that I will have to stop again. This concerns me as well, because I gained about 10 to 15 pounds between last August and now.

I want the surgery, I am ready for the surgery. I just wish I could look into that crystal ball and skip ahead to my birthday in September to see how it all turns out.

I've read a lot that since I won't be able to lift my arms after surgery, I will need several button-up or zip front tops to wear. So yesterday, I went out shopping for some. These types of shirts are not my usual style; I prefer soft, casual pullovers. Most of what I found were either really dressy, or plaid camp shirts, or cardigan sweaters. I ended up buying a really soft and casual zip-front (jacket, really) that I would normally wear a tshirt or turtleneck under, layered. I got this at Kohl's on clearance for $13.20. That was the most I paid for any of the tops I bought yesterday, and I bought a total of 9! Picked up a couple pair of yoga pants at Macy's for $9-something apiece. I got an additional 15% off my purchase because while I was waiting to checkout, I saw a newspaper ad stating, "Text CPN to 62297 for 15% off coupon" so I did it right there while waiting in line. I just can't stand shipping without a coupon or discount of any kind!

I hardly ever shop at the mall or retail stores for myself, so after Kohls and Macys, it was back to my more familiar, comfortable thrift stores. I bought two tops at the first one, a brand new, cream-colored super soft fleece zip front top by Eddie Bauer ($9.98), and a light, gauzy, black and cream satin-trimmed top that's a bit dressy ($7.98) in case we want to go out to eat at a nicer place while I'm still healing. Both were STILL more than I'm used to paying! Lol so you get an idea of how frugal I am.

Last thrift store we went to had a sign, "All winter clothing 75% off!" Now those are my kind of prices! Tops were $4 and $5 to begin with, so I ended up with 5 or 6 button-down blouses for $5.75 total.

BTW, besides the yoga pants from Macy's, I bought another couple pair of casual, elastic waist knit pants because I know I shouldn't be doing any pulling or lifting after surgery, either. And right now, unfortunately, I am having to do a LOT of pulling and tugging to get my jeans on! :O Can't wait to get this weight off. Hubby and I did a 5K run yesterday; so you know I'm working on it. :-)