Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Progress with Breast

Actually I had my seventh expansion last Friday morning and the total amount of saline injected is 700 ml; at my last appointment I learned that the doctor had injected me with 200 ml as he finished the first surgery. So it’s not the 500 ml that I thought had been injected but it's 700 ml. 700 ml; that is like the amount of a small bottle of wine or 3 cups of something or 24 oz; and it’s sitting right there on my chest like half of a softball. Sometimes I feel like an ugly duck, because I have this huge thing sitting right there on my chest.

I know that this is just how it is suppose to happen with this breast expander, but I really don’t know what to do with this one oversize ‘boob’ when compared to my other side. My bras really don't fit for the extreme size differences of my two breast, but I stuff and pad the left side with one of my old silicone push up pad that I had. Sometimes it seems to be more noticeable now that a few weeks ago, I sleep on my left side mostly and it pushes my right arm out of the way; or it tries to as I try to find a comfortable position.

I have had more pain and discomfort with this expansion than the other weeks. It is holding its place and I am more aware of my breasts when I breathe, when I walk and swing my arms, when I lay down. I was told to do my stretching every day to help the skin stretch and I can feel the muscle around the expander.

The staff keeps telling me that I will lose some of the extra tissue when they remove the new scar; he opened the old scar that I had from my mastectomy, and I will lose some when the reconstruct a new nipple. But the size that I see now, I think I will be totally happy with the complete new matching breasts. My next appointment is next Monday and we’ll talk about where we go from there.

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