Expandable Ta Ta's

During my skin saving mastectomy, I had "expanders" put under my chest wall.  These silicone bags mimic breasts.  When they were inserted they put 200 cc's of Saline in them.  So when I came home from the hospital, I was swollen and I wasn't flat.  That's about all I'm going to say about that.

So, Friday I had Saline added to my Ta Ta's.  In case you hadn't heard, I'm not calling them breasts anymore, I'm calling them Ta Ta's.  These aren't really breasts just a close facsimile.  I can feel the areas where there are seams and edges.  The final implants won't have those and are more comfortable.  These feel awkward most of the time.  Although some of that can just be the nerves recovering from the damage of the surgery.

It has been almost 6 weeks since my surgery and the muscles in my chest were finally comfortable.  The 200 lb man that has been standing my chest since the surgery was gone. The wounds are completely healed and I was ready for the next steps.

Who knew that I got to pick what size I will be?  The expanders that are in place now do exactly that: expand.  They just keep adding saline.  There are magnets in the expanders.  I went into the Plastic Surgeon's office and the nurse, also named Michelle, put a little tiny magnet against the top of my chest and it wiggled as she moved it.   Then she inserted a needle and pumped liquid in at the spot where the magnet is.  There is a special sealed area where they can insert and it stays in. At some point you have to just laugh at the ludicrousness of all of this.  And then you marvel at the medical technology that makes this all possible.

It didn't hurt much.  On one side, my nerves are still so damaged from the surgery that I didn't even feel the needle.  The other hurt a bit.  But I now have 250 cc's of Saline and am on my way to about 400 cc's (that is about what I was before, they say).

It would be entertaining and Ken and I have joked to think that they could be adjustable week by week.  Have a black tie, insert saline.  Going bike riding for the week, remove some.  The world could be an even stranger place.  But I do have to say, as I have obsessed about the new Ta Ta's for a day, it does feel better to be more normal sized. I mean, I didn't think I was even feeling bad about them before.  I thought I had more important things to worry about.  But I just feel better to not have them be quite so misshapen with the scars being so prominent.  With the addition of Saline, they are starting to look like, well, like Ta Ta's.