28yo, 5'1", 150 Lbs, No Kids, 34G - Traverse City, MI

Finally taking the plunge and getting a breast reduction. Surgery will be July 5th, Co firmed this morning!

I remember playing outside when I was a kid, maybe 8 or so, and overhearing my aunt say to my mom "looks like she might need to start wearing a bra soon". I also remember sitting in the car around the same age and getting mad because the seat belt would lay across my chest and I could see the shape of my just-starting-to-develop boobs. I've hated them ever since. In high school, I was active in sports, and wrestling was by far my favorite. I wasn't any good, but it was fun, and that's all that mattered. Then junior year rolled around. None of the uniforms fit me. I couldn't wrestle without the uniform, and I knew trying to stuff myself into one would be a bad idea. They handed out uniforms on team picture day, and that was my last day of wrestling. When I got the pictures back, I felt humiliated. I threw away as many as I could, but my mom had handed out a few of them to family. Two years ago, I found a couple more of them in a box as I was cleaning out my mom's house after she passed away. I shook my head at the photos and quickly threw them in the trash before anyone else could find them, feeling almost sick that my body could do this to me.

Last year (2015), my boyfriend and I were browsing at Goodwill, and I was looking for a dress to wear to his friends wedding. I can usually fit into XL tops, so I started looking for that size. I found a few that looked absolutely huge (not that XL is huge, it's not, I just felt that in comparison to my short and generally small frame, they would be very large on me) and even thought "these might actually be too BIG for my boobs!" I was excited. Then I tried them on. The first one wouldn't even stretch over my boobs. The second one buttoned up the front, and the buttons wouldn't close. I tried on the last one, and it fit perfectly everywhere - except for the boobs that wouldn't even partially fit into the dress. Staring at myself in that mirror and trying to not start bawling in the middle of the store, I made the decision. I didn't care how much it would cost, but this surgery was going to happen. I haven't exercised since high school because my mind made the leap of "well, you can't wrestle, so you can't do anything athletic". As an adult, I've weighed anywhere from 108-160lbs, and the smallest my breasts have measured the entire time is 34DD.

My back and shoulders have hurt since I was around 16. I get a lot of rashes underneath my breasts, especially in the summer. If I wear a sports bra (in an attempt to keep them off my ribcage when the rashes start to hurt), they get smashed together and I get rashes between them in addition to the ones underneath. My gynecologist prescribed an anti-fungal cortisone cream to help with the rashes. When used as directed, the rash will clear up, them return a few days later. After a few cycles of that, I gave up.

My surgeon says he expects to take out around 1-1.25lbs total, but I'm a bit worried that it won't be enough. I go for a pre-surgery appointment in late June, so I will make sure we are on the same page before the surgery. Ideally, I will be in the B cup range when all is said and done, but I do try to be realistic about it. I can deal with the physical pain if I have to, I'm doing this more for the emotional abuse my body has put me through. I really hope I'm not disappointed afterwards.

Surgery is in 49 hours! Doc is saying 4-6 weeks of work. He used a photo of my breasts to show me roughly what they will look like after, and it looks like he will be removing around 2/3 of each breast. The nipple will be around 3-4 inches higher than it is now. If I wasn't doing this now, they'd be at my knees by age 35! Getting nervous, pharmacy didn't get my script filled yet, so I'm going to have to stop in on the way home from surgery. Not happy about that. Maybe I can fill the script at the hospital while I'm there since my pharmacy dropped the ball. I keep looking down and smiling, knowing they will be much smaller. Dreading not being able to drive for a week. I also have a job interview scheduled for two days after the planned removal of my drains, so that might be a bit rough too. Going to try to get a few before photos in the clothes I plan on wearing home so that there is a good comparison (not comfortable sharing the topless ones, but may see if the nurse can do an after shot).

Less than 48 hours to go