Excited and Intrigued: 5 1/2 years post op

So it’s over 5 years and time for some photo updates I think.
I’m still really happy with my results and think it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. I don’t have to worry about my back, or t-shirts, or bra shopping. I’m just comfy with them. My boobs and I are friends. I don’t think you can put a price on making friends with your body, but if I could’ve achieved that without surgery I would’ve. I know that surgery was the right choice for me, though I still get comments from people suggesting I must be vain. They have no idea what it’s like, so I don’t pay any attention.

So, I thought I might come back and update.
Occasionally I get notifications of comments on my review and it reminds me a) what an awesome forum this is, that people still come across my (now very old) review and actually read it despite its hideous length and b) that people take the time to still comment, thank me and give me compliments on my breasts (I never get tired of any of these things!, so thank you to the real self community). When I first signed onto this forum in October 2012 I was bowled over by the incredible, honest and moving stories women told, the photographs they posted (bruised, scarred, bloody and/or bloody gorgeous) but didn't find many that were a long time after the op. So, here I am, a little over four years later (4 years, 1 month, 1 week to be precise).
I'm a teacher, so my instinct is to structure this entry i.e. my current mental and physical relationship with my breasts, into bite-size chunks. On the other hand, I'm a waffler, so each chunk won't actually be all that bite-sized.
1. The physical stuff: sizing, scarring etc.
Sizing: 32D after op, 34 E after putting on weight, now 34 DD (OR 32E). Sorry, I have no idea what this in US/Aus sizing. I've said this before, but I'm not the tiny size I always dreamed of before the op. But, actually, I'm really happy with the size they are now. They're big enough that I don't feel like I'm a completely different person, but small enough that I feel like a completely different person (yep, I recognise the paradox...but I suspect it makes sense to some people who've had the op, also). The scarring hasn't disappeared (I have keloid scarring, as I have talked about many times before) but it's not noticeable, is very pale and doesn't seem to ever get irritated. I don't feel any strain on my back anymore, at all, but they do swell up when I get my period, and get very sore.
2. I feel like they're still looking good
It's not like I'm constantly checking them out (um, I do go through phases of doing that, though) but despite putting on and then losing a lot of weight, they actually haven't changed shape too much. I think they naturally fell over time but that's just gravity I suppose. Having said that, it wasn't long after the op that I noticed they are slightly different shape. One is rounder and one is flatter. That's ok by me, though. Occasionally when I was twenty pounds heavier I would worry that they were sitting low again and try the pencil test, but the pencil still wouldn't sit under and they remain reasonably pert. I think you can tell by the pictures which breast is which.
3. I don't think about my breasts anymore
In some ways, I find this update kind of tricky, because - well - because actually my breasts don't dominate my life anymore. That's weird to say and even more of an awesome thing to be able to feel. Every day that I get dressed and undressed, no matter what I wear, what I'm dressing for, what I'm doing, where I'm going, or who I'm talking to, whether it's a leery male, or a judgemental anybody, my breasts are not an issue. In all these moments I'm still plagued by whatever other insecurities live in my mind and under my skin (it's not a MAGICAL operation) but, yeah, of all my worries, my breasts are not one of them.
4. So, did you hear the news that "big boobs are back in"?? This one's a bit political...
I read online a week ago that the fashion world have decided that big breasts are fashionable again. Fashionable! I didn't pay thousands of pounds to go under the knife for fashion BUT...if there's one thing I know it's that the big-breasted catwalk models of the future are not going to be wandering down the runway, or appearing in lingerie ads, with their humongous, pendulous breasts lolloping about all over the place. There aren't going to be close ups of straps digging red raw grooves into the shoulders. The models are not going to be wearing chiffon dresses over their 3-clip powerbras, you know the ones, where the wire goes right up into your bloody armpit, trying to impale you.
In the UK we have newspapers (tabloids) that publish scantily clad ladies with perfect breasts in the first few pages (they used to be called 'Page 3' models). A few years ago there was a fairly public campaign to get the boobs out of the papers. There was a lot of talk of angry feminists etc. The paper most in the spotlight responded that they were just showcasing naturally beautiful breasts and why were women trying to stop that? The thing is....yeah, they were mostly big boobs, and ALWAYS beautiful boobs. But they weren't anything like MY boobs...they weren't breasts that went down to the women's waists, had the nipples down the bottom facing south, with huge areolas (areoli?), fringed by the odd wiry hair. So, yes, maybe big boobs are going to come back in fashion. But, like an echo that bounces off me, I still hate that it won't be normal big breasts. What's the saying-? You can take the big breasts off the girl, but you can't take the big breasts out of the girl. Something like that.
This op was the best thing I could ever have done for my back, and for my self-esteem, and I was right to be excited, and right to be intrigued. But I asked in my very first post- who will I be after this? and now, 4 years later, I know the answer to this: I'm really just the same girl and I've just got smaller breasts now.
Thank you to anyone who made it through this update. I'm sorry if it's a bit crap and doesn't answer any of the questions you want it to, but please leave a comment or a question if you're interested in the whole 4 years later scenario.