30 Years Old, No Children, but my Breast Could Probably Feed a Village - Boston, MA

Where do I begin.... I've longed for a breast reduction since the age of 18 but I've always had breast issues as a kid. I started wearing training bras in the 3rd grade and the tender age of 9. As the years passed, I grew taller, wider and so did the "girls". By the time I reached middle school, boys in my class would refer to them as "watermelons" which was super embarrassing. Once I got into college, I struggled with my weight going up and down but mostly up. At the age of 21, I finally decided to consult my PCP about the troubles with my back and shoulders. She referred me to a PS and upon meeting her, she broke it down to me that I may regret it, that I may want to have children since I'm so young, I may not be able to breastfeed and of course, the ultimate factor, needing to lose more weight to help the healing process. A year later, I was diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and I really struggled with hormone regulation and weight gain as I had a job that didn't require much movement. When I went to my follow up, I found that I gained even more weight and was devastated. Years passed and I tried again to consult a different surgeon in January 2015. I met Dr. Lin with Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, MA. To my surprise, my weight had lowered but not enough that he felt comfortable with proceeding just yet. So I spent the year working on myself, inside and out. I reached out to him 3/29/16 to check my progress and see if he felt comfortable moving forward through my insurance. Although, I was eating better, stopped smoking and even drinking, my weight hadn't changed much. I took up cardio kickboxing which was great for toning the body but I couldn't do most of the exercises because of the weight of my chest....jumping jacks and burgers were the worst for me. Dr. Lin was impressed with the amount of change I did for myself and submitted my file to my insurance company. After about 2 months of being under medical review, I was finally approved. All I could do was cry tears of joy and thank the Lord. So I scheduled my surgery for 7/22/16 and began to prep myself at work and home. Luckily, my mom had some vacation time saved up and she took a week off to help me which I'm truly grateful for. I bought myself two Cotton front closure sports bras and lots of gauze pads (pantyliners work great as well), raw virgin coconut oil loaded with vitamin for the scars when it's time for the steri-strips to finally fall off and made sure the cable bill was paid and the A/C was properly mounted in my bedroom window. The day of my surgery, I was super nervous and anxious. Last thing I remember was them putting a mask on my face and asking me to breathe in and out. When I woke up, I was groggy and very sweet according to my nurse, Trish who was indeed awesome at her job. I did cry because I had no feeling in my thumbs, pointers and middle fingers in both hands. They said it was due to my arm position on the operating table. I arrived at 6am, my surgery was scheduled for 7:30am. I left the hospital about 3pm. The ride home was a bumpy one as my mom thought taking side streets would be less bumpy....WRONG. I was able to shower after 48 hours and boy was that a tough experience. My nipples are super sensitive. As soon as you loosen the bra and take off the gauze pads, they slowly rise like you're baking bread. They definitely hurt when that happens. I'm now 4 days post-op and have finally been able to move my bowels and showering is getting a little easier. But they are super swollen right now. I'll try to post some before and after pics with this review. I have my post-op appt 8/9...so I guess I'll just relax and take these meds until then.

So I had my post op appt on August 9th and got the okay to go back to work. Let me rewind back a bit since I haven't posted anything since the surgery. So I spent a lot of time in my house recooperating. I drank lots of fluids and binge watched the HECK out of everything. My mom was a great helpful with my healing process. She's a CNA and swears she's the KnowItAll Healer. It took about a week and a half before the steri-strips began to fall off under my breast. They finally all came off just two days before my post op appt. The swelling went down some but the "zingers" are annoying and hurt like hell at times. The stereo-strips are still on my nipples and my PS suggested to leave them alone until they come off on their own. But he said I could trim at the tape as it loosens up so I don't snag on the material of my bras. I'm not sure what size I am exactly but I am "guesstimating" it to be about a 42D. It feels so weird and I definitely have to get used to my new little friends lol. My coworkers and family members say they definitely see a change. I can feel the difference especially on my shoulders now that I'm no longer lugging around those hefty fun bags anymore. I'll see my PS in about a month. Hopefully he will clear me to start working out again. I'm definitely more confident and very determined to get this body together. I stopped taking the pain meds after about a week or so and my only struggle now is still with sleep. I loathe sleeping on my back and now I have Bronchitis so coughing up my lungs and having a tight exterior is a really pain especially at night. The struggle is real but my boobs look awesome and are healing great.