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Belinda's Breast Augmentation Journal

Hi, I am 25 years old; I am 5 foot 7 ½ inches tall and weigh about 145 lbs. My rib cage measures 31 ½ inches and my waist 29 inches. Pre-op I was a deflated 36 B (AA). I have the best PS who is Dr. Marcus Melvin in Portland, Oregon.

I grew up in a family of large breasted women. I have never been petite and always expected that I would not be left out in the bust area. I am the middle of three sisters with a mother who has such a large bust she has to have her bras specially made. My older sister is about 1 ½ years ahead of me and she is very petite, about 5' 3" and weighed about 105 lbs. After she developed in high school she wore a 34 DD. Boy was she top heavy. But she did get a lot of attention. I always played it off as if I did not care. Then my best friend who is 1 year younger than me started her period and developed a bust, and here I was still looking like a boy. I began to wonder. I was a late bloomer, and heard stories of late bloomers who wake up one morning with giant boobies. I hoped and preyed for this to happen to me. By the time I was 13 I started my period and did start to grow in the chest. By the time I was 14 I was a 36 almost a B, but no longer growing. I hated taking showers in PE I hated girls who had breasts. I avoided the subject all together. I was afraid to have boyfriends, thinking that they would find the padding in my bra. When my little sister started wearing a bigger bra than me I couldn't believe the unfairness in life. One day I guess I must have been having a discussion with my father. I remember him saying that he would never have married my mom if she hadn't had huge breasts. I knew how important breasts were. When I was 14 years old I knew that I would get implants.

I married my 2nd boyfriend. I met him when I was 16 years old, he was 25 years old. He is a boob guy, but I guess he thought that I was still growing in that area. I got pregnant when I was 18 and had my daughter, Willow. After I breast-fed her for 4 months and lost my pregnancy weight I started researching BA. I was going to get this procedure in May of 1998 because I received a sizable sum of money from my grandfather. My husband talked me out of it. He said it was a very selfish thing to do and he wanted me to buy him a truck instead. The truck is now in a junkyard in California. I knew he could not deal with his jealousy. He said I was so pretty now; having boobs would just make every man want me.

I left him in 1999. Now I am devoted to the man of my dreams, my soul mate, and life partner. I had a second daughter in 2001 and breast-fed her for 1 year. I did gain a lot of weight with my second child. I worked at loosing my 45lbs and began a rigorous exercise routine. The first things to go were my breasts. I now have nothing but flaps of skin with nipples attached to them. They appear to be the breasts of an 80-year-old anorexic woman. I hate them so much. I have tried to love my body the way god made it, but I feel if we humans were perfect I would have perfect breasts. So that is why God gave us the ability to learn how to fix things medically.

I mentioned one day to my life-partner, Billy, that I wanted breast implants. He said OK. Wow, that was easy. I was so excited. I began to do research on the Internet. I looked up and read everything there is to read on every web site. That is when I found breastimplant4you.com. First I read all the info then I went to the journals. It took me a good 30 hours of reading but I read all of them. I began to get a clear idea of what this entails and of the possibilities for complications. I soul searched, thought and talked of nothing but boobies for the next 6 months. I understand now that I am very happy for the fact that I did not get this done when I was 20 years old. Thank you ex-husband! I knew nothing of the procedures, implants, or complications. I would have gone to the cheapest and fastest back then.

In September of 2003 I grew the balls to actually post on the YTF board. This was a giant step in Belindas Boobie World. I asked questions and got answers. I found Carol from Florida. She has been my mentor and motivator in my quest for breasts. When I first started this journey, I thought for sure I knew what I wanted. I was going to get saline, unders. But in my research and reading the journals I always found the same thing popping up. It was the women saying that the muscle distortion never goes away and that they are always aware of the implant when they are doing something physically taxing. I am active and enjoy lifting weights. I did not want my muscle disturbed by being separated from my body. Why get unders just because everybody else has them. I was concerned about Capsular Contracture, and I am aware that having the implant placed under the muscle is known to reduce the risk of this. But please read on.

I began to hear more and more about the different types of implants. After researching the Cohesive gel implant I knew that this is the one I wanted. It is silicone (lighter and softer than saline) and the risk of CC is less than with the regular silicone gels. But it is not available in the US except thru a medical study. I called and tried to find a PS in my area who participated in this. But found none that had an opening for me. They offer this implant in Canada BC. I even called a PS in Canada, and I was actually going to go there for the surgery.

In the mean time I thought I would start going on consults. I called and scheduled a consultation with Dr Michael Workman in Vancouver, Washington. I guess I was sticking with the free ones. I had my consult with Dr Workman in early October. I went into his office with the list of questions printed from this site and a lot of info. I basically knew what size I wanted and how much it would take to get me there.

First off. The waiting room was beautifully decorated. I was impressed. But the interaction I had with the secretary told me that she was a little snobby. No big deal I thought, maybe she's having a bad day. The nurse girl led me to a little dark room and told me to change my shirt into a medical gown open in front. After I did that, she led me to a room and took a Before Picture, she said they take pics of all there clients. She led me back to the little dark room and told me to wait for the doctor. I did. A couple of minutes went by and Dr Workman came in. (You can believe I was analyzing everything to death, taking mental notes). He came in and smiled, but seemed to be distracted. He seemed very busy, and he wanted me to watch a short info video. No big deal, but he couldn't get the crappy TV/VCR to play the darn thing. He got up on a chair and fiddled with it for close to 7 minutes. Finally after cursing under his breath and making stupid small talk he got it to work. (Mental note: Broken TV/VCR, loose ceiling, bad electrical, bad sign/not good). Remember to smile. He played the video for about 5 minutes, how stupid. Bad acting and I already knew everything any ways. He came in to the room, shut off the TV and introduced a post-op patient. He asked if I would like to talk to her. I though this is good, sure. So we talked, she was of a small build, probably 5' 3" 110 lbs. She had 290cc's unders. She said she wished she had listened to Dr Workman because he had recommended the 330cc's. She left.

Dr Workman came back and sat down. He asked me how big I was and how big I wanted to be after having BA. I said I wanted a 36 full C, but decided to get a 36 D so I wouldn't want a re-due 3 months post-op. He jotted the info down and asked me to come here stand before him and open my shirt. I felt a little uncomfortable, and inferior. We were alone in a dark office and he wanted me to stand in front of him as he sat there and poked and stared at my ugly chest. He said he would give me the 330cc's over filled to 360cc., and that I would still have rippling on the side and underneath because I have such little breast tissue. He said that if I went any bigger than that I would bottom out and have ugly breasts in 10 years. Period. I explained that this would give me a B cup, that I needed a larger implant because I have a larger build. This was the same implant he would have used on the petite 110lb girl who just left the office. I was crying. I cried all the
way home.

I came home and immediately logged on to the YTF site for support. The girls said to calm down and get a second opinion. I felt that I cheated myself out of the breasts of my dreams because I breast fed and lost all of my breast tissue. I grew up thinking that someday I will have big beautiful breasts, and this Dr just shattered those dreams by telling me that I will never be able to be a 36 D.

The next day I called around and explained my experience to a couple of different PS offices. I did not want to waist my time or go thru that experience again on another consult. I knew that I would need silicone because of my lack of breast tissue. Carol on YTF told me to call and make an appointment with Dr Melvin. He is an active member in the silicone gel study. I called and spoke to Marilyn. She asked if I could be there in 45
min. Wow, I said sure. I took some personal time from work and I was on my way. Then I looked down and saw I was wearing my "Holy Jeans" you know the ones with the holes in the knees, with a little red T-shirt. Oh well, off I went.

When I arrived, I looked around. The place was clean not gaudy. While I was waiting the power flashed, and some electrical guys were there, (Mental Note). Marilyn asked me back and opened a giant portfolio of before and after pictures. Beautiful work! She was friendly and said that the size I wanted would look wonderful on me. We looked at pictures of women with implants and builds similar to mine. She led me to a bright white room with a reclining operative chair, scale and mirror. Dr. Melvin came in, introduced himself and asked me to lie down and open my shirt. He felt my breast tissue and looked at my nipple placement. He had pleasantly cool hands. He said that he will give me a crescent lift, since the right nipple is lower than the left. I asked how much extra this will cost; he said he doesn't charge for this. He then said that he can do the over the muscle placement, with the gel implant. I expressed my concern with CC and overs. He eased my mind when he said that in the past 6 years and over 600 sets of implants he has only had 2 cases of CC. Only 1 required an operation to correct it. Wow! He said that I should worry more about bleeding during the operation since I'm a red head, red heads bleed more. You learn something new every day. He said, "Now all we have to do is decide on the size you want." Marilyn said, "She already knows, the 450cc's." They pulled them out and gave me a surgical bra to put on, then stuffed them in. I was beautiful, and proportional, perfect. I was in love.

Now all I had to do was come up with the money. I wont go into depth on this subject due to the creativeness of the circumstances. Lets just say I got impatient and scheduled my surgery date for November 26th before I had the money. I stressed and scrambled but I had the money when I needed it.

Now the wait. I did the rice test and did a lot more research. I started worrying that 450cc's wouldn't be enough to get me to a full 36 D cup. My boyfriend wanted me to be more conservative. But I knew that I did not want to spend almost $6 grand and not be happy with my results. The 450cc's equaled to be almost 2 cups of rice. Now with this size I could still stuff this nylon rice baggie inside my 36 A cup bra. I knew this would not be big enough. So I decided to go for the 540cc's at my pre-op.

As my date drew nearer, sure I was nervous, but I was also very excited. I worried about my family and about money. No matter how much we have it's never enough. But I work hard and I deserve to be happy. So I did not allow myself to talk myself out of having BA. You only live once. I was not very secretive about this in my workplace. Basically everyone knew and was supportive.

I went on my pre-op appointment 10 days prior to surgery. I was supposed to pay my PS at that time. I also wanted to take Billy with me so he can meet Dr. Melvin and agree with me that the 540cc's would be good. Billy wasn't feeling well that day but came with me anyways. We were early to the appointment and when I went to get the checkbook out of the glove box of the car (I placed it there purposefully yesterday, preparing for the appointment) it was gone. Billy said he took it out this morning. I was devastated. I explained this to Marilyn, she said not to worry I could mail a check. During the appointment my children were going crazy and Billy was grumpy. But I did not let this bring me down. Dr. Melvin decided to change his mind and not give me the crescent lift but to enter thru an infra-mammary incision. But he said the 540cc's would be fine. He gave me the RX and said no ibuprofen or aspirin, also to come to the hospital clean having washed with anti-bacterial soap with no lotions, creams or makeup on. I was to wear a button down shirt and loose comfortable cloths to the hospital. I am also to have someone to help me for at least 24 hours post-op. Just to add on he also said no eating or drinking after midnight Tuesday.

During the next 10 days I tried not to think about BA so much. I knew that the time would pass quicker if I kept my mind off of it. Well it worked because before I knew it I had 3 days to fill my prescriptions. I went to my insurance provider and they laughed at me. Well the lady behind the counter did anyways. I think she had something against plastic surgery. They were not going to fill the prescriptions. I went to a local grocery store pharmacy and finally after having to call Dr Melvin after hours the day before surgery and then Dr Melvin calling them they said they would fill it and that Billy could pick them up tomorrow morning while I was in surgery. My advice is "Don't wait until the last minute to fill your meds". I gave the Thanksgiving Dinner Party on Sunday because I knew I wouldn't be able to have it on Thursday. It went well we had family and friends over. No one who knew I was having BA. I have been preparing for surgery by drinking dieters tea every night for the past 3 nights. This is cleaning me out so I won't be blocked up and may help to prevent constipation. I also bought some prune juice to drink after. Tuesday night, the night before surgery, I was laying in bed trying to sleep when all I could think about was gross horror movies about people digging into other people trying to perform surgery. Using bare hands and blood everywhere. I was freaking out! I am not easily queasy or scared but I was defiantly feeling like I needed support. I went to sleep eventually.

OK I went to sleep about 2:30 am and here it is 6:30 am and we are all getting up and getting ready to take mommy to the hospital. We have to be there by 8:00 am so I want to leave about 7:15 am. Billy is taking 2 days off of work, well 3 days I guess. Wednesday, Thursday (Thanksgiving), and Friday. He drove me to the hospital and dropped me off. I ran in and verified that this is where he will need to come to pick me up. I signed in and waited in the huge waiting room, I was getting very thirsty and hungry. Those are 2 things I usually do first thing in the morning. A volunteer came and got me, didn't take them too long. The volunteer person laughed when I asked him if the gown should open in the front or back. When the nurse came in and noticed I had the gown open in front he was baffled. I said that I asked but the guy didn't tell me which way. Maybe he thought I was joking. He left so I could change it around. When he came back he said that now after looking at my chart he understands why I wouldn't know which way to wear it. One of the nurses came in to ask some questions and mentioned that Dr Melvin is retiring. She was disappointed because she wanted him to do her reduction. She also wanted to know what I knew about BA. She wanted to make sure that I was expecting to be in some pain so I won't freak out when I wake up. She said that I would be feeling some tightness and pressure. I knew this. They did the usual, you know questions, IV and stuff, and the nurse gave me some antacids and something else to take then left me to watch some TV. It was comforting because everyone I spoke to at the hospital just loved Dr Melvin. He has been doing his surgeries there for 35 years.

It was about 9:30 am by the time Dr Melvin came in. He wanted to verify that he has everything right. He said infra-mammary incision with the 450cc's right. I took a deep breath, and calmly said that I thought we had agreed on the 540cc's. He asked if I had made this clear to his office personnel. I said I had. He opened his brief case and thank the Gods he had the right ones. He just wrote 2 little lines under my breasts where he was going to make the incisions and off he went.

The anesthesiologist came in next to talk with me and explain what he will be doing and that he wont leave during the surgery. I was thinking for $600.00 he better be there the whole time (lol) just kidding he was really nice. I asked a lot of questions because I had learned a lot reading about the different ways of administering anesthesia. He accepted this and answered them in turn. Right away someone, a nurse I guess, came in and put something in my iv as they started rolling me down the hall. I don't remember much after that. The last thing I remember is seeing my Dr in scrubs and them tying my right arm down.

I woke up rather suddenly. First thing I did was look down and sure enough I had boobies, I smiled. The male nurse said that everything went fine, and that I didn't bleed very much at all. He asked me about my pain. I knew if I didn't say a number above 5 that they wouldn't give me anything. So I said 7 (hehehe). I really wasn't hurting as badly as I thought I would be. Then I went back to sleep. I did this for about ½ hour. I was very thirsty. The nurse gave me a spoonful of ice chips, but he took the cup. I kept asking for more ice. I said my stomach felt fine I was just so thirsty. They rolled me back into my room and offered me some pop (yes we call it pop in Oregon) I said I would have a diet 7 up. They brought me this tiny cup of it and some saltines. Then I kept ringing the bell to ask for more water. They asked if I had gone pee yet, I didn't know where the bathroom was. They showed me, it was right in front of my face and I went pee. I really was ready to go home now. So I got up and got dressed and then called Billy. Yes I even put my own shoes on. I think that having overs really makes a big difference in how much pain you have. I'm not saying it didn't hurt, because it did. I also have a very high pain threshold.

Billy is so sweet!!! He came to pick me up holding a dozen red roses. I was so not expecting that. He was also so supportive, I did this all for me and he was treating me wonderfully. I went home and went to bed. And slept and slept and slept. I woke up early evening and threw up. This happened the last time I had general so I was expecting it. The funny thing is that I made myself and ate a peanut butter and margarine sandwich. It sounds gross but it sure did taste good to me right then. Then went back to bed. I think I slept thru most of the first 2 days. My PS doesn't believe in being generous with the pain meds. He gave me low dosage Vicodin and I ran out by Saturday. Sunday I was on to the extra strength Tylenol.

Thursday morning I drank some prune juice because I had not had a BM on Wednesday. Shortly after I did have one. But it was very firm. Don't let this get away from you. Make sure you stay regular or you will regret it horribly.

I drove my car of Friday. It hurt to put it in 1st and 3rd. So I guess I was having a harder time pushing than pulling. We went to the store and got some movies to watch. I was tired and went right back to bed. I get tired really easily I noticed and tried really hard not to over do it. Saturday was hard as I started to get the post-op blues. I felt cooped up but I didn't feel like I wanted to go anywhere because my breasts were very high and odd-shaped. We took the kids to the mall on Sunday. This did not go well. My little one was a holy terror and I was tired and sore in no time, so we went home. But it was good to get out.

Work for the first couple of days back was hard because I work at night and by the time I get to work I have already had a long day. My breasts were swollen Monday and Tuesday night. Tuesday night I did not sleep a wink. I was in bed by 1:00 am and lay there for 4 ½ hours until Billy woke up. I thought that it was due to not working out and vowed to take sleeping pills for the next month until I can work out again. But by 8:00 am I was feeling horrible with a fever. My whole body ached especially my breasts. You do not want to get the flew so soon after BA. I slept all day and all night. I bought some Tylenol PM and take this at night now to help me sleep.

Now I am 13 days post op. I think I have developed Mondor's Cord. If you don't know what this is look it up on Brestimplants4you. This can be painful but fortunately it is not dangerous and will hopefully go away on it's own.

At about 3 weeks post-op I started to notice traction rippling, this I found is caused from having low natural breast tissue with a textured implant. There is no resolution for this except to possibly have a redo and going under the muscle. I have come to terms and have accepted this small imperfection. I am still very happy with my results.

My breasts are dropping nicely and they are softening up. I love my new body and my breasts. My advise to you is to do your research, and make sure you choose a PS who you can trust. My PS will fix any complication for a very little cost to me. Breast Implants need to be maintained. I knew when I chose a larger implant that this increased my need for future BA and Revisions. Good luck on your BA journey and choose wisely. I would do this again in a heartbeat.

Luv, Belinda.