Breast Reduction

My Large breast or breast Hypertrophy is causing me functional problems such as; chronic back, neck and shoulder pain with shoulder grooving. I am 33yrs old, my height is 5ft4in, my weight is 130lbs, my BMI is 22.3 normal, my body surface area is 1.6431m2, and my current bra size is 34DDD/F, which is top heavy for my small body frame. Living with breast Hypertrophy makes it difficult for me to engage in normal activities such as running, jugging, and playing physical games with my friends and family. Some day's and night's I can be in so much pain in my back, neck, and shoulder area's that I am completely immobilized, unable to take care of house hold chores, or to take care of my family. To deal with the pain, I have been taking over the counter NSAID's such as Ibuprofen a few times a day, mostly in the evenings, for over a year. I have been using a heat pad on my back every night for the past 10 months. I've been wearing a wide strap bra since January to alleviate shoulder grooving, and have found little to no relief from the painful indentations. I went to physical therapy, from March 2013 to May 2013 to relieve my chronic pain. During physical therapy, I was doing strength training and specific exercises to improve the muscular strength in my back and shoulder area's. During physical therapy I also received back, neck, and shoulder massage. I have found the massages only relieve the pain temporary, and the strength training to have done nothing close to alleviate my chronic pain. My physical therapist told me she was astonished to find a women of my age 33 showing signs of mild Kyphosis, which is normally seen in women ages 65 and older. She believes that my back could greatly improve by eliminating excessive tissue extending beyond my trunk, for which such excessive breast tissue is causing injury and increased stress on my thoracic spine. My primary doctor prescribed muscle relaxers for me in May 2013, to help alleviate or temporarily relieve my chronic pain. Even though the muscle relaxers do help me deal with the pain some what, they have had harmful side effects, including extreme constipation. Even with a healthy diet filled with high fiber fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, I haven't been able to make a bowl movement within a weeks time on a regular basis, and have had to revert to using over the counter laxatives once a week. I am a mother of two young children and another side effect from taking muscle relaxers is that I am left feeling very lethargic, dazed, and often foggy. Because I am a stay home mom, to best take care of my small children, I wind up having to wait until bed time to take the muscle relaxers, leaving me with hours of pain before bed time. I believe I have tried every conservative therapy to relieve my chronic pain, leaving the only other option being breast reduction mammoplasty. On August 14th I had my first consultation with a board certified plastic surgeon. First he asked me questions about what procedure I was interested in, then he asked me about why I was interested in breast reduction surgery. I told him about my chronic back, neck, and shoulder pain and shoulder grooving. He then examined my breast with out my bra or top, with a nurse in the room. He took measurements of my breast. From my sternal notch to my nipple, I measured 27cm each. From my sternal notch to my inframammary fold I measured 22cm. And from my nipple to my inframammary fold under my breast, I measured 14cm. He then took pictures of my breast from different angles, for insurance purposes. I then got dressed and we talked more about the surgery, my expectations, and my post op size. He said having large breast with a small thin frame, usually means my breast are mostly made up of glandular tissue with less fat. I asked him how many grams he believes was in each breast and he said less then 900grams each. I told him I wanted to be as small as possible, preferably 34B/32C cup post op. He said he believes that's possible and that he thinks we can achieve that size by reducing each breast around 500grams. He believes I'm a great candidate for breast reduction surgery and should have no trouble getting my health insurance company BCBS of Kansas to cover it. I hope they believe its medically necessary, because with out coverage I wont be able to afford a breast reduction at this time. He told me that he does the Anchor technique, and keeps the nipple attached. He does this at a hospital in Denver. He has his patients spend the night and he removes the drains in the morning, then you can go home. He then checks up on you in a week. He uses absorbable sutures and surgical glue over the incisions. And he said I can shower the next day. We went over all the risks, like nipple death necrosis and expected scars. Also when you have absorbable sutures it can take up to 9months for them to fully be absorbed. Sometimes absorbable sutures work there way through the wound before they can be absorbed, causing infection around the stich, requiring drainage of the abscess pimple, removal of the suture remnant and antibiotics. He told me the hospital will provide me with a surgical bra after surgery and they will show me proper wound care. He said the first week I'll need the most help, but by the second week I should be back to doing normal stuff. He said each person's recovery is different. He said no strenuous activity for 6weeks, since it usually takes 6weeks for wounds to fully heal and become strong again. He said I should have my final shape 6months to a year out. I asked him about my size post op, he said my nipple will be 35mm, my nipple now is around 38mm. He said my nipple to my inframammary fold will be 4.5cm and he didn't say what my projected nipple to sternal notch distance will be post op. I'm thinking probably 16.5cm, but I'm not totally sure on that. Those dimensions should make me a B cup, I hope. I feel positive but a little nervous, I'll feel better when I find out weather or not my health insurance company is going to cover my surgery. My plastic surgeon is an in network doctor, and so is the hospital in Denver. So hopefully that helps. My primary care doctor's nurse had a breast reduction a few years ago by the same surgeon, and she showed me her breast (I did not ask to see them :P), but I'm greatful she did, cause her breast look great! You can barely see her scars and her breast are small, symmetrical and perky. I hope mine come out looking that nice. I've been a D cup size since middle school, that's 2/3'rds of my life having big breast. Its been a long struggling journey with all this weight on my chest, and I look forward to a happy ending with a new beginning and a new chance for a happy life. A new life of happier bathing suit shopping, Bra shopping, and all clothes shopping. A new life of running play sports and being over all way more active. I want a new life where people look at my face my and not my huge breast. And most importantly a new life with out my chronic pain. Wish me luck, I'm hoping to hear back about my insurance they said it usually takes 4-6weeks, so hopefully sooner then later. I'm hoping for surgery by September 20th 2013. I pray ever day that they will cover the procedure. My husband will miss my big breast, but he's being very supportive. I love him very much, plus he say's he's more of a butt guy, then a boob guy anyway. He say's he loves my small butt and just wants me to be happy. Happy wife happy life :)

I'm just going to clean and organize my whole house until I find out if I've been approved. When I was younger I was a scrawny skinny little girl. The boys were always so mean to me. My mother was very pretty, she was a trade show model for Tequila Patron. My mom was 5'8'' 115lbs and 34D cup with long blonde hair. No matter where we went she was always getting crazy attention from men. Men would do anything for her. My grandmother always loved to tell the story of when my mother was a teenager walking down the street with her mom, a men was driving by her and he couldn't keep his eye's off her, she was so pretty, that he crashed his car. The man was ok. I remember praying one day when I was a kid, that when I grew up, I want to have big boobs like my mom, so all the boys will like me. Well just a few years later I wound up with the biggest boobs out of all my friends. I got what I wanted, the boys stopped being mean to me, and all started being very nice to me. I didn't realize how unwanted that attention would become, it got old quick! Sometimes I would think it was my fault for asking for big breast. All the women on my mom's side have big breast, and all the women on my dad's side have smaller breast. So my sister who was two years younger then me wound up with small breast. She has an A/B cup, and I have a DDD cup. We both had problems with men, I'd get too much sexual attention from men, and she couldn't get enough. I was always the prude and she was always the promiscuous one. Now I'm married with two kids, and she's still dating at 31yrs old looking for Mr. Right. As hard as it has been having big breast, it does have it's up side's sometimes. Before I was married, I used my figure to get what I wanted sometimes, and it worked most of the time. I didn't even have to put out. I told my husband when I was in my 20's and I went to the bar's and club's with my girlfriends, I never had to buy my drinks, ever. Men would do anything just for my attention. But once I feel in love and got married, I didn't want anyone but my husbands attention. Now that my son is getting older, and no longer a baby, I've had to watch the way I dress, so that I don't come off looking too sexy. When you have a small waist and a big chest it's hard not to look sexy in just about anything. I wear T-shirts and jeans most of the time. If I wear a crew neck, I feel like a football player. So I mostly wear V-neck t-[RS bleep], but when I bend down every one can see my cleavage. I hate having big breast now, not only do they hurt my back all the time, but you get so much unwanted attention. When I go to my son's games or when I'm at his school or around other parents I just want to look normal, not like a [RS bleep] star. I cant wait to have a normal smaller chest. I want to take my kids to the pool, without all eyes being on my chest. When I'm at the pool with my kids, I always have to wear a t-shirt in the water, and I still get people staring at me like I'm in a wet t-shirt contest. I just smile, and act like I don't notice when I'm being ogled, but it bothers the heck out of me. I'm sure most of it's in my head, and I'm being overly self conscious but, I cant wait to have smaller normal breast. Sometimes I wonder how I'm going to get treated after I get my reduction, how men will treat me then. Will they completely ignore me, will they see me as a regular women? I hope they will treat me with respect. And I'm going to take good care of my self, so I'm hoping to be seen at least somewhat attractive to the opposite sex. I hope my husband will still find me attractive. My husband asked me a strange question the other day. He said " Has anyone ever gotten divorced after their wife had a reduction?" I was taken back a little by his question, not that I he's thinking about divorcing me, I know he adores me ;) I said "I don't know, I wonder if anyone's ever gotten a divorce because their husband plays to much video games." He thought that was funny, but sometimes he play's so much, it does drive me a little crazy, and the thought of divorce does pop in my head when I get mad enough about it. He's obsessed with his games. You can't talk to him when he's playing, you can't get him to do anything when he's playing, he always comes to dinner late, and it drives me nut's when were all in the car waiting to go someplace and we all have to wait for him to be done playing his game. I'm hoping he's just going through a faze right now :P So have any of you ever wondered if you were going to be treated differently, after you had your breast reduction, good attention or bad attention? I know I say I don't care about what men think, but I'm still a young women and want to be seen as attractive. I hope after I get a reduction, I get all good attention. I'm staying positive. It's driving me crazy waiting to find out if I've been approved by my health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield. My plastic surgeon was very optimistic about it, and that helps me feel more positive. So I guess I'm going to go clean something to take my mind off it :)

I had my consultation on 8-14-13. On 8-23-13 I called my plastic surgeon's office to see if they have had a chance to fax my courtesy review along with my medical records, doctor and physical therapist recommendation's, and my patient testimony. And his assistant said they haven't sent any of my info yet, cause they are waiting on my surgery dictation, and that can take over a week to get. I asked her to e-mail me when they get it and she fax's my info, so I'm not going crazy waiting. She still hasn't e-mailed me and it's 8-27-13. So, I'm not sure if they've sent my info to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas yet. She said even after they fax my info it take 3-4weeks to find out whether or not I've been approved for surgery. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get my surgery on Sept.20th anymore. It maybe in Oct or November now, since it's taking forever to get my surgeon dictation. Did any of you have to wait for a dictation before they could send your info to your insurance company? Sept.20th is a day that would be perfect with our schedule, but I may need to find a different day, if all of this is going to take so long to get preapproved, if I'm even lucky enough to get preapproved. It will take even longer if I have to appeal. I have to get this done before the end of the year since we've all ready used up most of our deductible. The surgery will be much cheaper for us if we can get it done before the end of the year. And September's just around the corner, so I'm kinda stressing thinking about how much time this is all taking, and I feel like a hour glass is running out of time to get all this done. Aghhhhhh! Stress! Alright I guess I'm gonna go clean something to get my mind off of all this stress :P