Yes, you read that right. I’m having a boob job. No, I’m not getting implants. My boobs are big enough, thank you. I’m having a breast reduction.
I’m going to be quite honest and vulnerable here sharing quite personal information (maybe too much information, but I’ll let you be the judge of that). For most of my adult life, I’ve had massive breasts.
At the moment, I wear a 16E bra and size 10-12 clothes. I have to have the size 16 bra to get the cup size right.
When I got pregnant with my first child, my boobs didn’t change at all in size, though they did get heavier when I was breastfeeding. Then with my second child, five years later, my boobs went up four cups sizes in a month. Hard to imagine I know. I went from an 18E to an 18I. For most of my son’s infancy, my breast was bigger than his head.
When my son was two years old, I lost a whopping 25 kilos (that’s about 50 pounds). I have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (an autoimmune thyroid disease). Both of which conspire to make me gain weight regardless of whether I’m eating like a sparrow or not. To lose weight, I did an extreme diet called HcG. You may have heard of it (and probably not good things). But it was the only thing that has worked for me. It’s difficult for me to maintain my weight and I can gain 4 kilos in 10 days by just eating a paleo style diet.
Despite losing 25 kilos, my boobs are still huge. And bloody heavy. I’ve had constant neck and back pain from carrying around more than a kilo of boobage for the last 20 years. I have permanent indents in my shoulders from where my bra straps dig in. And I’m limited in what I can wear because clothes have to cater for my ample bosom. (Though, I must say that I do manage to have my own style and flair that other people think is pretty good.)
I’ve always dreamed of having a breast reduction. But I knew I would never have one until I had finished having children. I wanted to breastfeed and that’s not guaranteed if you have a breast reduction. I am now officially finished having children. I did expect to finish a little earlier in life, but as circumstances turned out, I didn’t finish having children until my late thirties.
I went to see one surgeon locally and the photos she showed me of her handiwork were horrific and I preferred my saggy old boobs to the new and improved ones she showed me. My husband was equally horrified. So when I told him I was going to see another surgeon, he was more than supportive.
I travelled interstate recently to meet the new surgeon and his team. A good friend recommended the surgeon as he had done breast reduction and lift there and she had been kind enough to show me the results. And let me say, her boobs were awesome! (Nothing like the butcherous surgeon we’d seen locally.)
At my appointment, I had my boobs investigated and man-handled (literally). It turns out that my boobs are all breast tissue, not fat, and excess skin. So even if I lost more weight, my boobs would not get any smaller or lighter.
I’m booked in for surgery at the beginning of March. To get rid of the excess tissue and skin is quite complicated because I don’t have any volume in the upper part of my breasts. The surgery will take about 4.5 hours to complete. And it’s costing a fortune with minimal rebate from Medicare despite me having a referral from my doctor and there’s no rebate at all from my health insurance (despite my loyalty of 15 years and barely ever claiming anything).
I think the pain and the expense will be worth it. I’ve recently encountered heaps of women who have had breast reductions and not one of them has ever regretted it. In fact, most have said it was the best thing they could have done. They have less back and neck pain, they feel more confident, and they can buy clothes more easily.
I am a little scared though. I’m worried about whether I will like them smaller and if I will still feel like myself. I trust the surgeon and I have made him promise not to make my boobs too small. I definitely would feel odd if I went from an E cup to an A cup. I still want to have medium sized breasts and a nice cleavage.
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