Liz's JournalDreams Can Come True! Hello, my name is Liz. I am 37 years old, 5ft 5 & 1/2inch tall and currently weigh 9st 13lb. I am married and have two young boys aged 8 and 5.If I am honest I have been thinking about having implants most of my adult life! I was the girl at school who developed early but then just stopped! I did develop a splendid British pear shaped figure, but the boobs just stayed put –playing Hide and Seek in an ‘A’ cup. About 13 years ago I lost 2 stone in weight, although my bust stayed more or less the same size, so I looked quite in proportion, but didn’t feel it. When I got pregnant with my oldest son I thought ‘GREAT, BOOBS!!!!’ and sat and waited, but they never arrived, my cup size didn’t alter all when I was pregnant and when I went shopping for Nursing Bras, I ended up with a 34B – and there was room to spare!
Second time round it was the same story – at least because I had never grown I still had a good shape – what there was, my boobs didn’t sag at all and where fairly tight, there just wasn’t anything there. I had no fullness whatsoever underneath the breast.
I would read every article in every magazine I saw about Breast Implants, but just never really considered going for them – they just weren’t the sort of thing I would do! Meanwhile I became very good at disguising what I did (or did not) have. I always wore padded bras and sometimes with Silicone enhancers in them.Friends would be amazed that they could see me in the evening witb quite an impressive bust and the next morning with my usual little pimples! If I had £1 for everybody who had ever said to me (jokingly) ‘You should have a Boob Job’, I could have paid for surgery twice over!
It was really the Silicone Enhancers that got things going, my husband remarked how much better I looked with them in and maybe I should do something about it.This time I did make a few half- hearted phone calls to clinic numbers that I found in Cosmopolitan, but didn’t take it any further.
Then just before Christmas 2000, I got turned down for promotion at work, I was so fed up, I took the decision there and then to ring up a plastic Surgeon and make proper enquiries. I rang the local private hospital (where I have had been treated before), the receptionist was very helpful and gave me the name of their ‘boob’ man, so I spoke to his secretary, made an appointment and that was it. have since found out that he has operated on the receptionist, so this was really a personal recommendation.
So that was it! Might not sound very exact, but it worked for me. We then went surfing and found out so much information that we didn’t know what to do with it! We formed some ideas to speak to the Surgeon about and waited for the appointment.
When I saw Mr Attwood in January 2001, he asked me what size I wanted to be. I didn’t know, I didn’t say big, I just said I wanted to look ‘Normal’, seems like I said the right thing, because he told me there and then that I wanted anything bigger than my body could take then he would not help me. He preferred silicone implants and gave me the reasons why, at that time I had no fixed ideas, and he said that with my shape and size over the muscle would be best. Measurements followed and he said that I would need 240cc to give me a B/C cup. That all sounded fine to me, but we went away to think about it before committing to surgery.
By the time I went back I had decided that I definitely wanted to be a ‘C’ cup, he said fine, and we booked surgery for April 20th.
Then the ‘Daily Telegraph’ printed a really helpful article entitled ‘69% of breast implants rupture within the 1st 10 years’. You can imagine the effect this had on me! Tried to get hold of Mr Attwood to find that he was out of the country and the first clinic that he was due to hold was the day before my surgery. I made an appointment for then and went into full scale panic! It got so bad that at one point my husband Jon told me that if I didn’t cancel the op, he would do it for me, because I obviously wasn’t ready for it. After that I started surfing big time – thanks to Debi and DJ for all their advice and also to Maxine from the Breast Implant Information Society for pointing me in the right direction. For anybody reading this and worrying those figures related to 2nd Generation implants. I am horrified though at the irresponsible reporting of the British press, I read that report in several newspapers and not one quoted any sources – is it any wonder that silicone is treated as the a big no-no?
So, that was one problem out of the way, then problem no 2 came up. Knowing very little about breast augmentation, I had been guided by what the Surgeon had told me – after all he has been doing the op for 20 years and felt confident that he was going to give me what I wanted. I had noticed on websites that all the implants appeared to be much larger than what he had suggested for me, but it wasn’t really until I got chatting to Debi that I had serious doubts as to whether I would end up big enough.
I told Jon of my concerns and we decided the best way forward was do the ‘rice’ test.
Well, it brightened up a Sunday evening. For anybody not familiar – this is what you do.
Make sure your children are well out of the way.
Empty all your kitchen cupboards looking that jug that you know has American measurements on.
Have brief discussion with partner as to whether the type of rice used affects results.
Find the sellotape first before doing it so that you don’t end up with a bra full of rice.
Allow partner to mould rice to desired breast shape and both try to keep a straight face. We thought that 250cc was OK but as 300 didn’t look too different I would ask for 300. Once again, we thought that was that and decided that we would see Mr Attwood the day before surgery anyway to talk to him about this, rather than spring it on him on the day of surgery. A couple of days later, Mr Attwood rang me at home in the evening, apparently he had seen my name on his clinic list and was concerned about why I wanted to see him again so close to surgery. I told him about the problems – firstly the silicone and secondly the size. He said very emphatically that there was no way he would put 300cc silicone implants in. His reasons were that I did not have sufficient breast tissue to take that size of implant and I would end up with a ridge under my armpits as the implant would extend beyond the edge of my breast. Once again he worked through his figures with me and again said that 240cc would give me a ‘C’ cup and a natural look. There it was! If I wanted a bigger implant I would have to find an alternative surgeon.
This point was 10 days before surgery, I had the money sorted out and I was getting ‘hyped’ up for it. The minute that I had met Mr Attwood I had felt at ease with him and that I could trust him, I really didn’t want to start looking elsewhere and the fact that he had taken the trouble to call me at home to talk through it with me again seemed to confirm my feelings. I told him that I would go with what he said. To be honest, I felt very relieved that the size matter was settled once and for all.So that was it, downhill then to the Op, the day before we dropped the boys off at a friends and when out to the cinema and for a meal.
On the day of surgery, we got to the hospital at 7.40am to find out that I was scheduled for surgery at 8.30am – brilliant, no waiting around. Mr Attwood yet again explained his maths to Jon and me and that was it.
When I woke up in recovery, you can imagine the first place my hands went, it had all gone very smoothly and I was back in my room at 10.45am. I was on oxygen and a drip for 2 hours, but by the time Jon came back to see me at 1.30pm I was sitting up asking for lunch. Yes I am one of those annoying people who have no problems with anaesthetics! Mr. Attwood stopped by in the afternoon to tell me that there had been no problems and told me that he could not have got larger than a 240cc implant in – he said that even that was a tight fit!
I was actually in very little pain afterwards. I had had morphine in the operating theatre and local anaesthetic had been injected into each boob, I had painkillers about lunchtime as my left hand boob was uncomfortable but that was all. I got very worried on Friday evening when I found a numb patch on my ribs, I thought that a nerve had been cut, but by Saturday morning it had gone. I started taking Arnica as well on Friday and have taken more of that than I have regular painkillers.
When I got up to the loo on Friday I had the shock of my life! My new boobs looked quite ‘petit’ when I was looking down at them, but looking at them straight in the mirror was a completely different matter, they were HUGE!!!!
The one downside to all of this was the drips – I had two and they were horrid. It made going to the bathroom extremely difficult and I couldn’t wait to get rid of them. In total I had only lost about 50ml of blood and that was straight after surgery, but the dreaded drains had to stay until Saturday lunchtime!
Having them removed was probably the most unpleasant part of it all. I had realized that they went right round into my boobs, and although removal only takes seconds, believe me you know about it! But that was it, once they were out I was free to go! Fortunately, I had no problems with the clothes I had worn in – they still fitted! Once I got home I ‘vegged’ – 2 little boys noticed nothing and weren’t bothered that their mum had been out overnight (told them a had a girls’ night out). I was really pleased as well that I had no problems sleeping and got comfortable in bed really easily.
I was really heavily taped up and had been told to keep this on until Monday when I could start wearing a sports bra. I wasn’t looking forward to taking the tapes off, but they came off reasonably OK - TIP – don’t ring your husband at work on his mobile and tell him that you are stark naked and looking at your new boobs – it stops him working for some reason!
My first impression of them was ‘WOW’!!!! They are wonderful. Obviously abit shiny and tight at the moment, but its early days yet, they feel a good size and I am already used to having them there. Its funny but to me I don’t look that big, but Jon says that it’s a huge difference! I am currently a 34D, but I don’t expect to stay that way. It’s a big jump from 34AA to 34D!
I have still got tapes on over the incisions which will be removed Thursday 26th April – this is first time I will drive as well.I can’t tell you how pleased I am that I have had them done. I have been expecting all sorts of emotions to surface but to date all I have is just amazement – that I’ve had it done, that it went so well, that I have so little pain, and that they look so good so soon.
So to anybody reading this and thinking about having it done – I would say ‘GO FOR IT !!’ its well worth it.
Here are a few pics
Taped Scars
After Photos
