Mark Duncan-Smith, MBBS, FRACS

I have had my date confirmed with Dr Mark Duncan-Smith (Perth, WA, Australia). Initial consultation was very reassuring and I have pre-op consultation coming up in a couple of weeks. Am currently 38E/F and struggling daily with back, neck and shoulder pain. Don't even go out after work anymore, because all I can think of all day is getting home and getting my bra off. Discussed my hopes of reducing to a B but because of breast width and size will most likely be able to reduce only to a small C at best.

Updated on 13 Feb 2016:
Just researching bed wedges etc (vivid memories of trying to get comfortable after abdominal hysterectomy) and found this brilliant product! Doesn't ship to Australia but I'm going to find a way to get one made here. It looks as comfortable as those amazing long haul business class seats.

Updated on 13 Feb 2016:
How brilliant is this? I could drag it out onto the deck for endless comfort all summer (just drape a sarong over it?) once I don't need it for bed support anymore.

Updated on 13 Feb 2016:
1. Found the Contour Products Backmax Foam Bed Wedge System Plus on Amazon, it does ship to Australia, I have ordered it! Breast Sisters in Oz, you can also buy here in Oz but it's a lot more expensive here than for the sisters in the US. So I just did the Amazon order as there wasn't much difference in price overall (have to pay that mega-shipping cost one way or another) and I included a little grabber thingy in the same order so that when I drop things I'll be able to pick them up.
2. Went into my bedroom and pulled out every single bra I own. They are all huge and there are a LOT of them (always searching for "the one"). I have put aside THREE ONLY and the rest are now going into a garbage bag because I wouldn't wish them on anyone.

Updated on 15 Feb 2016:
I know! Still 4 weeks to go! But today in Target I found a great pair of PJ shorts and an awesome t-shirt (in the belle-curve, ie big-boob, section). The t-shirt has long deep armholes and I've practised getting it on without raising my arms - easy. And it matches the PJ shorts. Normally I wouldn't buy a t-shirt like that because my boobs would be hanging out of the armholes. But I felt the fear and did it anyway, because I love soft stretch knit fabrics and don't love scratchy ones.

Updated on 15 Feb 2016:
They are gone! This was the heap before the garbage bag swallowed them. Not one pair was ever a proper fit, much less a comfortable fit.

Updated on 16 Feb 2016:
Saw my GP today for mammogram referral, tight timeline, only four weeks until surgery. Should have booked it earlier.

Updated on 17 Feb 2016:
Received all my paperwork in today's emails. Now it's real. Online hospital admission done, consent form done. Let's rumble!

Updated on 18 Feb 2016:
In four weeks I will be one day post-op, free of these monsters at last. I can hardly believe they're really going! Looking forward to it so much. Just have to impress on the surgeon, at pre-op, that I'm not interested in any boobiness at all; don't want cleavage, just want to be as small as he can make me.

Updated on 20 Feb 2016:
Today is full of small nagging doubts, just little things like "should i really be spending all that money on this?", and "what if they're not made small enough?". Quite rational sounding, but crazy, because I've already resolved all those issues in my own mind. I suspect myself of sneakily trying to talk myself out of it! Good thing I'm alert to myself :)

Updated on 24 Feb 2016:
A week has flown and now I only have 3 weeks to wait, mammogram this Friday, before I know it I'll be posting "2 weeks today". Am so ready.

Updated on 26 Feb 2016:
The usual embarrassment, trying to get all the boob in the picture, switching plate sizes, scanning my boobs BY SECTION, technician fumbling with the giant bazoombas, trying to make me feel better by telling me she's scanned boobs "even bigger than these", etc. But beforehand, while sitting in the waiting room, I really started to notice and resent the pain in my shoulders and neck, and then I noticed how much my back was hurting - and I really started to believe that all that pain may soon be A THING OF THE PAST :)
And then after the scan, I went a bit mental and bought new pillows and sheets and towels, surgical wash, a button front suede skirt (????), a pair of SLIPPERS (??? - haven't owned a pair since I was 12), and a heap of other stuff now stacked on our dining room table. And then, completely unplanned, I got a pedicure and bought junk food for lunch. And the whole time I was seeing girls with A cup boobs, and doing this weird staring/hoping thing. Then I browsed bras for half an hour and dreamed. I got paid yesterday, and blew a stack of it in a couple of hours. My husband is looking at me strangely but pretending not to.
I had the whole day off, because it is a 90 minute drive to the nearest mammogram place from my home, and the appointment was 11:15, and it couldn't fit into a half day whether morning or afternoon, and so everything was a bit different to normal. Strange day, and it's only just occurred to me that the mammogram could show something WRONG and throw everything into the wind. And I've bought those slippers. And that skirt.

Updated on 27 Feb 2016:
I have looked through all the before-and-after pics (breast reduction) and I can't see many 'afters' that are as small as I want to be. The best place to look for before-and-afters seems to be in breast augmentation. All those girls have the perfect size 'before'. So I think I'm going to print some 'befores' from the breast augmentation page rather than 'afters' from the breast reduction page, to take in to my surgeon. Later. For now, I'm really sick of looking at boobs.

Updated on 29 Feb 2016:
So I am no longer counting in weeks. I have only sixteen DAYS to wait :)!

Updated on 2 Mar 2016:
only fourteen days! that's going to FLY!

Updated on 5 Mar 2016:
Have shopped this morning and have sorted everything into its room: antiseptic sprays/wipes for the bathroom, ditto for the kitchen, ditto for the loo, ditto for the bedroom. Won't be microwaving while home alone as m/wave is mounted too high; so have bought protein bars, cup-a-soups and cup-a-pastas (add hot water) and for emergency finicky moments. All this junk food is now occupying the coffee bench in the kitchen, which is where the kettle also lives. Dreadful nutrition! But sometimes after surgery I have a sooky-sad day when all I want is rubbish to eat, and it's a long drive from the farm to town for a fix, and on top of that I can't drive the first week. And anyway my husband will bring up eggs and salad veges from the garden each morning for me, which is very good because I can make serious inroads into the tomatoes and cucumbers which are threatening to bury us; and as well I'm just now roasting beef, lamb and chicken to be sliced and frozen. Scottish oatcakes, crumbly cheese, almonds, macadamias, dried cranberries, olives, cornichons for picking at (bland, sweet, salty, sour - who knows what I'll feel like?). Also bought 6 new pairs of knickers, no idea why, maybe to stuff down my bra and relive the awful old days. And for my bedside table I bought a tray with sides high enough that I can't knock stuff (meds, facial wipes, tissues, books, hair elastics etc) onto the floor, because knocking things onto the floor (especially the very thing I am trying to grab) is a habit of mine. My reading light has annoyingly got its power switch inline on the power lead, so I've taped that to an easy-reach position on the side of my bed for the duration to prevent scrabbling around for it. Also a little buckety thing to go beside my bed, that will be my catch-all for empty wrappers, packaging, etc, because I don't want all that spoiling my serenity! Also my adjustable mobile laptop desk, that conveniently slides under my bed and holds my laptop in perfect position for me. And will make a handy dinner table for a couple of days and nights.
So having all that organised, I have unfolded that foam wedge system and tried it out - perfect! It sits nicely on top of mattress on my side of the bed, and I bought three single bed sheets to use (one at a time, of course) over it, so that I can come back to a clean sheet each morning after my shower.
But still ten days to tick away. Someone lock me up before I begin to organise the whole world.

Updated on 13 Mar 2016:
The house has been scoured, various meals have been cooked and frozen, my bag has been packed. Tomorrow is the drive to the city, three hours or so, and check in to hotel next to hospital. Tuesday, pre-op. So Monday and Tuesday in hotel......and WEDNESDAY IS THE DAY!!!!!! Wednesday and Thursday night in hospital, and drive home again on Friday, bring it on!

Updated on 13 Mar 2016:
well, have just tried on the bra i'm supposed to wear after surgery, it's gonna take a miracle. even the industrial bras i currently wear can't cope. check the sag factor in the po bra, gals. i dunno....can't see it working, can you?

Updated on 14 Mar 2016:
well, gee, thanks australia, 104 at 4:30 and still 100 at 6:30, hotel aircon is struggling. arrived 4:30, fell in pool, have just come back to room for dinner (6:30 now).
found an annoying message on my phone as we drove up - my surgeon rang my mobile phone on friday and left a message about my mammogram "just wondering whether you followed that up with your doctor, with an ultrasound". followed WHAT up? my doctor hasn't been in touch with me about the mammogram, but he would have been if something needed following up. i have no phone coverage at home so the message sat there until i got into range today.
freaking now that the surgeon will tell me at post-op tomorrow that i need to "follow up" something by getting an ultrasound and that the surgery can't happen as scheduled.
just getting my war face on in preparation for that possibility, because the surgery IS HAPPENING as scheduled, ladies!

Updated on 14 Mar 2016:
Gals I am so relieved! Everything went well at pre-op and my surgeon has promised to go as small as is safe. He'll even do a free nipple graft if necessary. This time (1pm) tomorrow I'll be an hour into surgery! But this time TODAY I'm sitting with my husband joyfully drinking cold beer and eating squid.

Updated on 15 Mar 2016:
Gals it's just after 6, i am sitting here having my light breakfast of toast and marmalade, thinking of depechemodegirl who will also be up and ready for her br today in the same city. Wish we were at the same hospital too, would be kinda fun i think!
I'm not used to eating breakfast on the morning of surgery. Feels wrong but i won't argue because it's also delicious.

Updated on 16 Mar 2016:
I am so happy with my new boobs, my surgeon really listened and took me way down to almost flat (as close to it as was possible, anyway). Last night I wasn't aware of much but this morning, when I saw them, was amazing! So now I am up and in my own PJs, carting drains around but otherwise free to roam. Hospital overnight again tonight, and then home!! 3kgs lighter!

Updated on 21 Mar 2016:
Every time I have surgery I am amazed again at how fast our bodies pick themselves up and put themselves back together again. Each day is better than the one before. I am still: 1) bed-resting 24 hours a day, apart from quick forays to toilet, shower, kitchen; 2) taking pain meds and antibiotics on schedule; 3) sleeping and dozing a lot. And that's it. Just letting the time pass.
I have been sleeping on my side the past two nights and finding it very comfortable. That bed-wedge system for back-sleeping? Very comfortable too, but back-sleeping is meh and side-sleeping is surprisingly doable; so the bed-wedge system has gone out to the shed for a long holiday. Each morning after I shower and wash my hair, I replace my pillow-cases, PJs and bath towel, throw the used ones in the wash, and get back into bed! It's a lazy life, though up until today I was really very zonked and needing to sleep after the exertion of showering.
I have tried on the bras I wore for my 'before' pics and will attach the 'after' pics for your astonishment. For me, any soft cotton seamless sports crop top is good, and so are those cheap genie-bras from target, but to be honest with you i'll only be putting on a bra if there's a social requirement (like going to work).

My hope is that I get a C cup, it has been so long. The dr tho is wanting to go more a D so that I am in proportion but to be honest I don't care about that. I just want to have small, even breasts that won't hurt my back and shoulders. He did mention not to get caught up on the cup size as all bra manufacturers seem to be different. I
I am scared thought, very scared. I hate the thought of a general so I will opt for the premed to calm my nerves. Thank you for sharing all your experiences as it has helped alot!

Updated on 20 Jan 2015:
Well I did it! The build up to the op wasn't as bad as I anticpated as the dr and nurse's made me feel at ease. I stayed in hospital for 4 days - I take my hat off to the ladies that go home straight after their op. How do you manage? I am now seven days post and they are little beauties!!! I am very very uncomfortable and am just hanging on to the fact that every day gets better and that it won't last too long! I had a tension burn in the hospital where the tape was pulled too tight and my skin blistered. ALOT So i have a few open wounds which are giving me a bit of grief.
I am due to go to surgeon tomorrow for my first post op appt. Hoping that the tape will be ready to come off. So far so good. I put my old bra over the top of my new boobs! Gosh what a difference - I a not sure what size I am yet but I am definitely half the size I was which makes me a very very happy woman!
I will post pics as soon as I work out how.