45 Year Old, Mother of Two, 44DD/DDD to Full C - Houston, TX

Well the time has finally come! This Wednesday I am scheduled to have my breast reduction surgery and I'm nervous and anxious but also excited. I've always had large breasts and I've suffered from serious back, neck, and shoulder pain for years, as well as terrible headaches, which after reading some of the other reviews I'm thinking could also be attributed to the pain and discomfort caused by my large breasts. I lost 27lbs this year, currently at 247 and I'm hoping that this surgery will help make it possible for me to be able to exercise more and get more active without the pain and weight of my heavy chest. I also developed a very irritating and painful cyst on my left shoulder from my bra straps digging in there. The doctor has also graciously agreed to remove that during surgery as well! I'm excited and looking forward to meeting the new girls! I'm praying for a successful surgery, a quick healing and recovery process with no complications and minimal scarring, no more cyst, neck or back pain, and a solid "C" cup :). Say a little prayer for me! I'll keep you posted.

Just a few short hours and I'm off to the hospital for my BR surgery...5:45am arrival time. Of course I havent slept at all, too anxious..I guess I'll do enough sleeping under anesthesia later lol. A little nervous but more than ready. My doctor, and reading about your experiences here has helped me to feel completely confident in my decision to have the surgery. Thank you guys for all of the well wishes, and I'll post post-surgery pics and an update as soon as I'm able to.
See you ladies on the other side :)

Let's back up a bit...its surgery day. Things were going according to expectation, however, once surgery was complete and I had been brought to recovery, the surgeon decided that my right breast appeared too swollen and thought there could be internal bleeding (mind you, I really don't comprehend exactly what's happening at this point). She decided to return me to the operating room and reopen the breast, where fortunately there was no bleeding, however she says she did see some extra tissue that was removed that could've been problematic later (*yeah, that made me really optimistic). They kept me overnight just to keep an eye on things. I was sent home on Thursday, no drains necessary, just some gauze tucked into a zip front bra the hospital put on me. By Saturday I had woken up enough, and worked up the nerve to take a real peak at them. They were pretty much as expected at this point, swollen and sore, with the exception of the right one which was a bit more swollen up top and the nipple darker and not as smooth as the other. However, knowing they had to go back into that one a second time I hoped it would even out. On Sunday I took my first shower which was nice, removed the gauze as instructed, and took advantage of the well-deserved rest. Suddenly things got a little weird on yesterday when I noticed the skin starting to come away from my right nipple area, along with some drainage at the nipple and bottom incision underneath. The drainage doesn't concern me so much as the peeling skin / raw exposed nipple flesh. I'm just trying to stay optimistic regarding the process and results for now, but I see the doctor in two days on Thursday. I'm really eager for her to look at things and reassure me that it will turn out okay, and also to talk to her about why the tip of my tongue is still numb (mostly the tip toward the right side). I told her at the hospital and her only explanation was that it could have been from the tube placement during the procedure.
Also, the doctor did remove the cyst from my left shoulder which was a bonus.
(*Warning: Some of these are pretty gross looking)