More Advice from "C"

Here is some more advice from another friend of a friend. It was fantastic how helpful people were. They were more than willing to help - so thankful!

"I did get OHIP coverage because I was 14! If you talk to your Dr they can tell you if you will qualify for some, or all of your surgery.
I was a "E" cup and I went down to a C cup. I thought at first this was too small, but it is just about adjusting to your new body...just like you did as a teen! I am actually now a D cup. But you have to remember I was 14 when I got my breast reduction. I had and have a lot of muscle underneath my breast. I have very good pectoral muscles and a strong upper body (I was a swimmer at the time and I continue to swim and until recently was a competitive cheerleader). I would suggest starting a fitness regime that includes lots of upper body work, free weights, bench press, pushups etc.

My surgeon was Dr. Mohamed Elmaraghy...he is amazing, a great surgeon and I absolutely recommend him.
I didn't see anyone except Dr. Elmaraghy because he is one of the BEST in all of Ontario. Your Dr has to recommend you to a surgeon but I don't know if you have a choice. If you don't like a specialist, I guess you could wait even longer.

My surgery was actually done within months of me booking an appointment; this is really quickly. It can take almost a year sometimes. I got my surgery within 2.5 months. This may have because of how young I was.

Something you should know about surgery specific questions; I heal abnormally fast and I have high pain tolerance. I was also very young so that might have helped my recovery time. I also take really bad reactions to the drugs they use to put you under.

The surgery is supposed to be day surgery, you are supposed to leave the next morning. I was so sick from going under I couldn't keep down water, I was very illl, but not from the actual surgery. I stayed an extra day, or it could have been two (it's been a long time).

They give you painkillers, I was on morphine. It knocked me out really hard so I tried not to take it as much as possible; same goes for the T3's they gave me afterwards (I didn't actually finish the whole prescription).

I mostly had a dull throbbing pain, and not a sharp stabbing pain. The part that actually hurt the most was the part where they removed the drains. It was only supposed to feel like a tube being removed from your body, it wasn't supposed to hurt again. I heal really quickly so I had actually already started healing to the tubes, which means it REALLY hurt when they took them out. This is unusual.

I had no complications, but I did have 2 (of hundreds) infected stitches, which were cut out of my body (a little uncomfortable, not a big deal).
What they do is they cut all the way around the base of your breasts and they actually remove your nipples. This means you have a lot stitches to look after and one possible problem is that your nipples actually die, they don't graft back. My nipples are fine, I still have feeling. The one thing that did bother me is that my nipples stretched a bit, this is something that I notice. However, my fiance says they look "normal" (not that you need to know that but I just mention that as a second opinion, I am not trying to over share).
One thing that helped my recovery time is that my mom took great care of me. I actually was out of school Monday-Thursday and returned to school on Friday, but took the next Monday off (someone walked into me in a hall....that hurt). You go for two check ups after the surgery but I don't feel like that is enough. I heal really well and do not scar...I have nearly NO scars. But I also think that is because my mom changed my dressings everyday, made sure everything was sterile and we used polysporin. We used q-tips to get the medication where it actually needed to be. I was fully healed within a month.
I have no idea what costs were involved, my parents paid for me to have a private room, I missed some school and there were some medical supplies, polysporin, sterile pads, the prescription for T3's.

I am not sure how people reacted after they saw me, plus I was in highschool and kids in highschool are jerks. I know that people said stuff about me and I know that people with no life still mention it. However, I am not the type of person who cares in the least what randoms think about me.
Besides the rude people who said things or were crude were the same people who were mean and crude before the surgery. I wouldn't worry about what other people think. It is about your body and your health!

One thing to think about, you might not be able to breast feed after the surgery, if you don't bind your chest, they will stretch out again. This isn't a problem for me as I am NOT going to breast feed and probably couldn't do to the amount of tissue that was removed. "