Hi everyone,,I am a 55 year old ,5'4"", 150 lb grandma to 3! I have had large breast all of my life,,I think I went from the 5th grade with nothing to speak of, to the sixth grade with huge boobs,,,my classmates thought I was padding my tops,,but over that summer my hair changes colors and my boobs grew out of proportion,,so very evident when most of my summers were spent at the lake in a bathing suit!! My mother was also chesty so she knew where I got those genes!! My other sister(3) were and are still almost flat chested!! By the end of highschool,,they were what every guy wanted to look at,,huge and on a tiny figure,,( I weighed 118 when I got married, and had D sized boobs! After teo children in 3 years,,my figure took a hit, and my boobs only got bigger! Skip forward to 2006 and I was up to 250 lbs,,had had a car wreck that left me in a very sedentary position for quite a while, and I was a pile of blubber,,and after seeing my youngest sons wedding pictures knew I had to do something,,so got a lap band put in,,and lost 100 lbs in less than a year,,and kept it off till last year. Had had a tummy tuck to cover all of the loose tummy skin,,and planned to have the lift later when healed up anyway! On halloween 2012 I almost died from a massive pulmonary embolism to both lungs,,and had to have my band drained,,and quickly began to put on weight,,did the warfarin,blood test things for 9 months,,and during all of the scans etc, found out I had 3 bad bulging disks in m y neck,,which my medical team said could be aided by a reduction,,and since by then my boobs were to my belly button,,I was thrilled!! Scared of dieing from a clot again,,but still thrilled at not having to hold them up if I went to the toilet in the night for fear they would hang down to the water level,,or push them under the table edge when we wnt out to eat so they didnt catch all of my food crumbs!! So On Oct 20th I had the reduction,,told her I wwanted them TINY,,and that is what I got,,and I also got a massive hematoma and fat necrosis on one side,,due to having to give myself lovenox shos daily after discharge to prevent clotting! They started that within minutes after the surgery,,,but even with that big uglu problem(doc says she will fix all of the ugly scarring after it all heals,and not to fret over it),,so we are just rolling with it!! Got maybe a b on the right, and large A on the bad one,,but the neck feels so much better,,hope this explains my journet so far! Updated on 27 Jan 2014: Well,,it had been almost exactly 3 months since my reduction,,so thought I would put down some random thoughts about the past 12 weeks,,wow it seems like a long time since that day!! It has been a real roller coaster ride so far,,,but at least the wounds have closed, mo more dressing that every morning and night,,yyaaahhh,,,and am able to wear a bra for the whole day without much discomfort at all!!! Eery once in a while I can still feel some swelling and actually feel it getting tighter as my work day goes on,,and will come home and put on my comfy sports bra,,which I still sleep in. It really feels better to have it on,,funny cause as a heavy chested girl,,I actually resented the fact that I had to sleep in a bra just to keep from pinching them up under me,,,now there is nothing moving really,,just feel better with that bit of pressure feeling on my breasts. I still have days that I get really deep achy pains in the deep tissues ,,more so on the bad lefty than the right,,but it usuall follows a day where I have down excessive upper body activities,,like wights and mini pushups against the wall,etc. I am so looking forward to the scar revision, as I still can barely stand the appearance of my lefty,,it looks fins from the top, but if I raise my arm it gets all puckered and contorted ,,the scar on the bottom is really awful,,but at least it is closed! I kept feeling something stiff on the bottom scar scar yesterday,,got a mirrir and checked it out, and it was a piece of clear plastic thread just making its way out of my skin,,I got the tweezers and pulled it,,just came right out without any disruption of the skin,,about 1/2 inch long,,and have one on the end of my botom sar under my arm coming out,,,,, feeling just about nack to my normal self,,am really getting used to not having to always consider if a shirt will button or gape before getting dressed,,but can't really say I am used to sseeing myself with a small chest,,,,it is really a mental journey as well as physical,,,and the mental takes as long if not longer to return to normal,,,proof being that at 3 months I still check this board daily to see how others are doing,,and at times even checking out other doctors skills compared to mine,lol,,but overall I have been thrilled with my results, scars and all,,and also with my docotr and her staff!!!! Just another note,,maybe it is just my husband,,but if I am getting dressed he always walks out of the room,,it has definitely had an affect on him,,not sure for the better though,,he just can't look at me without clothes it seems,,,making my mental reovery a bit tough at times!! Hope your spouses are a tad bit happier than mine seems to be!!! But the scar isreally not attractive, so what do you do????? Updated on 28 Jan 2014: here are a couple of before shots taken the morning of surgery before I left the house I think,,too scared to really post afters due to the scar revisions needed,,don't want to scare any of the newbies out there!! Updated on 28 Jan 2014: Updated on 28 Jan 2014: Updated on 2 Feb 2014: Just a note to tell you a funny thing I noticed last night,,,finally got brave enough to run that big deep tub full of water and soak instead of a shower,,and when I sat down,,it seemed to strange to lok down and NOT see my boobs floating out in the water in front of me,,and actually seeing my stomach underneath,,,that same thing happens in the pool ,,boobs always want to float out in front,,can't wait to see if I sink in the deep end without my built in flotation devices to hold me up,,!!! Yep,,it really is the little things that make this such an amazing change in how you see your body!!! Updated on 24 Feb 2014: Well,,it will be 4 months for me on the 29th of Feb,,and all is well on the boob front,,I am done with all of the follow up visits,,,we are just checking in four weeks to see what the revisions will be in detail,,but assuredly there will be revision on the left breast. All of,well almost all of, the hard lumps from the hematoma and necrosis are gone,,it actually feels like a breast now,,,but in all of that process there was also a swelling that has now resided and has left a small breast with a huge cleft in the bottom,,hopefully will pull some fat from under arm area to fill the void, and pretty up the scar,,,and we will be done!! Do not let my setbacks deterr you if you are reading this and considering a reduction,,I still consider this to be the best thing I have done to improve my day to day life,,even better than a tummy tuck I had years ago,,,as funny as it seems, it has given me sort of a recharge to update my closet, and my look,,no more seperates with two different sizes,,I can actually wear cute dresses and suits in a single size!!! I can'tell you haow many times I have been asked ""just how much weight have you lost""" , and I just smile and say a little bit!! As I sit here this morning without my bra on, in my pj's,,it is so good to not have to move my boobs off my lap top to type, hope you all are enjoying this journey,,I certainly have found the recovery longer than anticipated, but worth every minute of it! Updated on 11 Mar 2014: Just a quick update to report,well,,really, not much!! I am so ready for warmer weather,,even after all of this time,coldness has a strong effect on the zinger twinges in the ta-tas! Ready to get on with my revision,,tired of the puckered scars, and get ready to try on swimsuits!! Still having the questions asked about how much weight have I lost,,so funny !! Those boobs must have really made me look huge!!!!! Updated on 6 May 2014: Going today for my visit with the surgeon to discuss the revisions needed to the side scars that are still bulging out a bit, and a dogear at the inside curve of right breast. I still am sooo glad that I did this,,I love being able to put on any clothes and my boobs not being the determining factor to whether it works or not!!! No more pain,,have full feeling,,and still wearing a B cup,,just like I wanted,,may be able to go down in band size after the revisions,,hopefully,,cause that is a lot of excess stuff under the armpit area that she plans to remove!!! No more hard spots left from the hematoma and necrosis,,just soft round(slightly ski slooped) boobies,,,my surgeon rocks!!!! Still hate that my tummy looks larger than it used to,,really to me only,,but lovin how much smaller I look overall without the melons on top!!!! Have a great Mothers day ladies!!! The weather is pretty right now,,get out those summer tops!!!! Updated on 7 May 2014: Here are some pre revision photos Updated on 14 Jun 2014: My sweet doctor took her day off to do my scar revision that has been on hold since after the hematoma,,she told me then she would fix it and not to worry,,and by golly,,she fixed it, free of charge,,,,,,I have two long scars that run from the middle bottom of my breasts and extends out fairly far under my arms on both sides,,,it got rid of the ugly scars, and excised the excess fat that I referred to as my other set of boobs!! It took about 3 hours,,give or take a bit,,and then the hubby drove me home. I only had a bit of pain till around midnight after the numbing stuff wore off,,but pain pills in hand took care of that!!!! Can't wait to see how it looks after the bandages come off!!! Will update with pictures when I can,,not supposed to raise arms or lift anything at this point!!!! Again,,I am just so pleased with my doctor and her sweet staff!
