18I Cup (Australian) to a Possible D Cup. Late 40's but Always Been Big - Australia, AU

Well, I'm finally off the codeine and on to normal paracetamol when needed. I chose to use the higher Osteo dosage, as the effects last longer.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to rest as much as I planned, as my husband ended up in hospital yesterday morning for a suspected heart attack. He's got history, but this time it was as bad as the first one. He's still in hospital now and is not due out for at least another 3 - 5 days. It depends on what they find and what they decide to do about it.

He's in good hands, but this means that I will have to drive a lot sooner than I wanted. My daughter took us there yesterday morning, but her car is a little thing and very uncomfortable. My bigger ford is off the road, but is getting fixed tomorrow by a family member. I'll drive myself tomorrow...

Anyway - back to me. :)

Today I decided to push the boundaries. I am a crafty person by nature and have found the doing "nothing" all day annoying and irritating. So I decided to do something creative. :D I spent 4 hours on my knitting machine, and knitted a new born's hooded cardigan.. Stupid me. Sitting bent over for 4 hours in front of a knitting machine was back breaking and extremely uncomfortable. My stitches under the breast have started weeping and when I finally succumbed to the discomfort, the weeping had caused the tape to detach from my skin. Ewwww..

I had a shower and "stuck myself back together". LOL I'll ring the hospital tomorrow and ask if weeping is normal or if I should come in and get it checked. It's been weeping slightly for the last few days, but this was worse than normal.

Otherwise, the swelling is reducing and the breasts are starting to gravitate down a bit. I'm also getting my natural cleavage back, instead of the tight expanse of skin that I started with.

If anyone has any experience with the weeping, please let me know. :)

From the age of 18, I have always been big. I spent most of my younger years as a 12 F, then pregnancy blew them up even bigger. Suddenly at early 40's everything headed south and body got bigger. I ended up as a size 55" bust when measured around, which translated into a 20 I bra. I have no idea what that is in any other country sizing, but I had to buy tops to fit 22 - 24 to get around them.

4 years ago, I decided to do something about it, but even with private health, it was going to cost me $2,500 gap. I couldn't afford that! I didn't know that I could go public for another 2 years..

I went to 2 doctors years ago - then when I went back 2 years ago, I asked to go private. He seemed distant and angry with me. Nothing was discussed and I went away upset and unsure of what would happen next.

The the hospital paperwork came. No instructions. I lost it... I found it and filled it out. I wrote a letter to go with it and posted it off. That was a year ago in May.

2 months later I got a letter back from the hospital telling me I had been placed on the waiting list for a bilaterial breast lift and reduction. I wasn't sure whether to be excited or scared. LOL

6 months into the waiting time (November 2013), I received a letter asking if I was still interested in the surgery and to confirm my place in line. I fired that letter of pretty damn quick - I think I left scorch marks on the paper!

3 months later (March 2014) I rang to make sure that they had indeed received my letter and to find out if there was any idea on when things could happen.. They told me early June. I nearly died.. then I told my workplace (who were already aware of it when I originally sent off the form) that the date was a definite maybe for early June. Much rejoicing was had. :)

May came around and I rang them again to see if there was a more definite date. Pre-op was 6th June!! OMG.. that's only 3 weeks. Much hyperventilating was had. My employer arranged for a temp to come in to help the other girls in the office for 3 weeks while I recovered. (My job is specialised and no one else was trained to do it)

Now it was closer, I was determined to try and lose that weight that I had been trying to lose for the last 4 years. LOL I already had gym membership, but putting on a bra so that I could do stuff was painful and quite demoralising. I hated it and had to force myself to get that bra on.

Anyway - now it gets interesting....

2 weeks to Boob day
- I get a nasty viral infection. Phelm, coughing, sore throat! Oh gods, no!! No gym because I can't breathe.
- Get told that I should have had a mammogram. Can't get into the free ones. Don't know what to do.
- Make plans to

1 week to Boob day
- Go to pre-op appointment on Friday morning with cough and phlem and a voice disappearing. Anaesthetist is not too worried. (4 hours to do all of pre-op)
- find a place that will do a mammogram, but it's gonna cost me. Book it.
- find out that seeing it's been forever since I saw the surgeon, I have to go and have a quick checkup.
- Mammogram is the day before surgery and the surgeon's appointment is 2 days before. Talk about cut it close.
- Try to find time to train the girls that are going to do my job. Suddenly the office gets busy.
- cold is getting no better - if anything worse. I seem to be losing my voice.

Final week prior to boob day
- Weekend - totally lose my voice. I mean, totally.
- Monday a public holiday... No training the girls.
- Tuesday - go to Plastic surgeon with no voice. He's worried, but says we'll play it day by day. It's ultimately up to the anaesthetist. Go to work sick and try to train girls.
- Wednesday - go for mammogram and find that they have ticked the wrong box and it's going to cost me $200 with no rebate. -_- Not happy, but get it done. First one ever - not as bad as I thought. Got to work and try (again) to train girls.

Thursday - boob day!

Finally, it's here...

My husband drops me off at 7.30am to check in. I've got the bare minimum with me and have no idea what to expect. I'm checked in and then sit and wait in the waiting area until it's my turn. After about 2 hours, I'm taken to the pre-surgery area and given an armchair to sit in. About half an hour later, I see the anaesthetist.

He's friendly and caring. He checks me out and is happy with me, except for the laryngitis. He checks my breathing, throat and explains why he's concerned. Seems that with an swollen larynx, I could end up with damage with my vocal chords. I'm a singer - this was a concern - but I didn't want to postpone this any more. I told him that I understood the risk and agreed to go with it. He says that he would like me on ventalin for a while prior to surgery to help with the swelling. The nurse told me that it would be a while longer, as the doc was in surgery and hadn't finished yet.

At about 10.30 am, the plastic surgeon assistant takes me to a room and draws pretty purple lines all over me. She takes me back.

At about 11am, the surgeon finally shows up and draws more lines on me. He leaves me in the room and goes off. At 11.30, the nurse shows up and says it's time. Off we walk to the surgery.

I get to the surgery and after being "plugged in", I fall asleep.

I wake up at 4.30pm feeling tight and woozy. They told me that 1.5kg had been removed from each side... 3kg in total!! OMG The also told me that during surgery, my temperature went up. The anaesthetist was really worried. As my temp was still elevated, I was kept in recovery until it went back down, as I might have had to be whisked off to ICU... scary moment there. An hour later, I was finally wheeled to my ward.

That evening was horrible. I could barely walk and had to be helped to the toilet. I discovered how much you push on your boobs when you try to wipe your butt and had to develop a brand new way. LOL I felt so sick, but managed to not throw up. My husband wanted to visit, so I finally got permission for him to come at around at 8.30pm, but then couldn't concentrate. I was so doped up and suffering for the 4 hour surgery. My drains were causing intense pain and I was so uncomfortable. At least my cough was gone...

I was woken every hour until 2am, to check on my blood pressure and temp. My blood pressure was quite low during rest, but when I woke up, it was better. :)

Finally at 6am, I felt better. Still woozy and still needing support for the loo, but at least I felt a bit more human.

I spent the day at hospital and was given some elastic tubing to wear for the next week. I was told not to get a bra until after I went home. The drip had come out the night before, but the drains remained. I was going nowhere until the drains came out.

I passed the day in discomfort and shock at my new girls. Perky as an 16 year old who had just flowered, but not started to soften. I could poke an eye out with these! LOL That magnificent cleavage was gone but in it's place was skin I hadn't seen in years.

I managed to find a more comfy position by backing up against the rail on one side and slighly tipping myself to one side. Ahhh... much better.

finally, at around 10am, they told me that I can get the drains out and go home that day. :) Man, I coudln't wait. the night before was horrid. They had brought in a lady from another ward, and she had had a complications after laryngotomy (?) surgery and it was not pleasant. (Remember, public hospital)

I had to wait 4 hours after the drains came out before going home, but I finally had my first shower. The most awkward and weird shower I've ever had! LOL I had to be careful not to get the tape too wet and drying myself - well! That was interesting.

Going home was a breeze. I had the tubing on, so there was no real bounce. I had taken pain killers prior to leaving and other than feeling like I needed to keep my shoulders hunched, it wasn't too bad. Which was probably a good thing, as the drive was 45 minutes long.

I must have been feeling well, because we stopped at the shops on the way home and bought some crop tops and food. LOL

I got home Saturday afternoon. I went back for my checkup on Wednesday morning. All the stitches are disposable, so all they did was check on my progress and change the tape. The were extremely pleased with my progress and it seemed that only 1 stitch had slipped it's knot. It seems to be weeping a bit at the moment - so I'm going to keep an eye on it. It's only just started.

So, in summary, I lost 3kg of breast tissue, seem to be a D to DD cup that poke straight out, am healing well, have 3 weeks off work and other than tightness and aching, no bad pain. I'm keeping up with the pain killers, as constipation is preferable to pain, but it's only half strength. I've got itchyness on the tops of my new girls, but I'm putting that down to the skin being more tight than usual. Pain killers help that as well as the aching throbbing pain.

I'm pretty happy with the girls. Today, I tried on a bunch of tops that used to be tight - very happy with how they look now. :) I can do up my jacket!

The puckering underneath looks a bit scary, but I know that will soften over time. I'm also extremely happy that he saved my nipples. :D As my boobs were very low and heavy, I was sure I would lose one.. both still there and letting me know about it. LOL

I will try to update as time goes on. :) I have every intention to go back to the gym as soon as I can, but am not going to rush it. I waiting way too long to get this done - I don't want to ruin it.

I don't really have any pre surgery shots as I hated photos. If I can find some, I will post them, but lets just say I had a huge balcony. ;)