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The Consultations I had no clue where to begin, so I asked my close friend Kelly, who's a nurse at the local hospital, if she could recommend any surgeons. As it turned out, her sister had a BR two years earlier and she gave us the name of her surgeon, Dr. Edwin Austin, as well as her sister's phone number if I wanted to talk to her. She also told me she really thought I was too young and should wait. I would get used to hearing this over the next couple of months.
Before I called Dr. Austin, I talked to my boss (I worked at horse stable at that time) to make sure it was okay for me to take time off. We are close, so when she asked what I was having done I told her, afterall she confided in me all about her tummy tuck. BIG mistake! She carried on and on; "You're too young", "People pay for boobs like yours", "They aren't that big". Whatever. I still made the appointment. My first consultation was March 24, 2001 and I was so nervous! I thought he would say I was nuts, too young, and didn't need the surgery just like everyone else, but he didn't say any of those things and I wasn't even that embarassed having to take off my shirt.
I was immediately comfortable with Dr. Austin, as well as his office staff, Debbie and Karen. They were all very friendly and helped me feel at ease. He was very thorough drawing pictures, giving details about the surgery, and discussing all the pros and cons, including my age (breast feeding, possible future growth because of pregnancy/ weight gain, etc.). He also talked about insurance and knew that our plan usually requires a minimum of 350 grams to be removed from each breast. His plan was to remove 500 grams to make me the size I requested, which was a largeB/smallC. I left happy and excited about the surgery, but also nervous about the insurance and *gulp* telling my dad.
I got a notice of my approval 2 and half weeks later. Yippee!!! Now I just had to tell my dad. He did not understand why I wanted this and my stepmom didn't think it was "medically necessary". They set up an appointment with Dr. Bruce Carter for a second opinion (without my knowldge, but I went anyway). I was really worried that I had come THIS close and he was going to tell them that I didn't really need the surgery, but he totally agreed with Dr. Austin. As we were walking back to the car my dad said he had planned on "putting his foot down" and wasn't going to let me have my surgery, but after talking at length with Dr. Carter, he decided it was okay and I could go ahead and schedule a date.
The Pre-op Appointment After stressing and changing my mind several times, I picked July 30th to have my surgery, as I did not want it to conflict with school or a major horse show I had planned (and already paid for). Right around this time I started having the strangest dreams about my surgery; which is probably a result of thinking about it 24/7. My pre-op appt. was July 12th. Dr. Austin was happy that I had gone to see a second PS and said it was something all patients are encouraged to do, and that they had ageed on pretty much everything. (I think gram removal was the only thing they didn't agree on 100%, but I wasn't too worried about it) He re-did all his measurements, reviewed what would happen the day of surgery, meds I could and couldn't take, and sent me off to the hospital for a blood test and pre-admission.
Since I was only 17 at the time I was not required to have a mammogram. It took the nurse who drew my blood several attempts on both arms before she finally found my vein. Ouch! I took me three days just recover from that! I was all set, now I just had to make it throught the next 2 weeks!
I had the worst anxiety the week before. I couldn't eat or sleep, and I was real panicky. My PCP gave me Xanax to help, which thank God it did. I was in charge of a summer horse camp that week and needed to be collected and with it, which I wouldn't have been without that Rx!
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