Breast Practice
I just deleted a very long post I wrote about this, but decided that nobody wants to or needs to have an entire run down of the life long struggle I’ve had with my J/H/I cups. I have no way to know what they were at the end because I could not find a cup to fit me. My boobs had always been big, and after breastfeeding for two years it became so bad that I was buying size 40 bras to get the bigger cup, with my mom stitching the straps to make them smaller to fit my back. I had to wear two at a time because one bra could not hold the weight of them.
I am now four weeks post op and a weight has been lifted from my chest, lolz. No really, after the op I weighed 4kgs lighter. After not being able to afford the breast reduction for most of my life as the medical aid, Discovery in my case, refuses to acknowledge that it is not a cosmetic operation, I finally managed to save for it during lock down when I was spending less money. Why are they calling it a cosmetic procedure? I am still swollen so they look great at the moment but they are going to drop, I do not have implants so I’m not going to have high perky boobs but what I will have now is the opportunity to wear a decent bra that will help make them look better. The mental and physical anguish that I have suffered because of this honestly makes me so angry that they insist on calling it a cosmetic procedure and thus refusing to pay for it. Let me use this opportunity to say F U patriarchy.
I always tried to not let this hold me back in spite of the pain in my back. I am a runner and cyclist, having done a few half marathons and a couple of Cycle Tours, two bras in tow always. But it was difficult. During lock down I started doing home HIIT workouts and my breasts were literally hitting me in my face when I was doing mountain climbers. As someone who has pays for good healthcare, why do I not have access to good healthcare? Riddle me that.
Only read further if you would like to know more about the actual operation and recovery, I am happy to discuss further with anyone who would like to know more:
- The operation took 3 hours and 25 minutes, he said it would take 3 hours as his partner was away
- It could have been an outpatient op but I got a blood clot and had to go back into theatre so I stayed over at the clinic to be monitored
- The worst part of the op was having to sleep on my back and not doing any vigorous exercise for 6 weeks
- I did not have limited arm movement and I did not have any pain (except when it got cold), and the occasional shooting pain in the breast
- He said he could get me to a big C (cup sizes are not standard) but I feel like I am a big C now with the swelling not completely gone down yet
- You can’t go as small as you want, they can only go as small as what will still allow blood to flow to the nipple — don’t quote me on this, this is my understanding of his explanation
- I was very tired the first 7 to 9 days, possibly because I had a second stint under the anesthesia, perhaps this period is shorter for others
- I feel completely ok now after four weeks, I still am putting micro-pore on the cuts and will do this until 6 weeks
- I saw the doctor last week and everything looked good so I don’t need to see him until January again, it is now the 9th October
