I’ve always been “blessed” with my Great-great Aunt Mary’s frame. The trait has been passed to a daughter of each generation, my aunt in hers and me in mine. By the time I entered high school, I was sporting a bra size that widened eyes and produced unwelcome stares.
My twenties were a marvelous time of weight loss and a few short weeks after a nasty break up when I was 22 during which I filled out, but didn’t overflow, a C cup due in large part to my diet of crackers, vodka, and jelly beans.
I settled into a “comfortable” DD cup during the early years of my marriage. Then I got pregnant.
“Don’t worry, after breast feeding, they’ll go to the size they were,” I was assured.
“Or smaller,” a friend added with a laugh, igniting hope as I stared into the mirror at the overabundance.
I lost weight after my son weaned, but did not lose an inch of the girls. Another pregnancy and 10 years later, I’m still sporting a size that is less grapefruit and more dolce watermelon. I know because I once put a personal sized melon in my bra. Low and behold, it fit.
Dieting and weight loss have not helped. While my waistband size shrinks, the girls stay stubbornly the same. My headaches have increased, the nerves in my left arm tingle, and running is, well, a pain. Literally. Taking a deep breath, I called the number given to me by a fellow member of the Sisterhood of the Buxom and made an appointment.
I’ve never been one for whom plastic surgery seemed like an option. As much as I’d love a post C-section tummy tuck, the pain and cost of the procedure keeps it firmly in the “would you ever” category. I hope to age gracefully without nips and tucks around my face and chin. And, as much as I already rub at the lines on my forehead, Botox doesn’t seem like my cup of tea.
Which is why, sitting in an impeccably decorated exam room, with informational pamphlets clutched in my hand and promises of life without the near constant back and neck pain, I had to finally realize that sometimes plastic surgery isn’t really optional.
Have you ever had a procedure done? Do you have any advice for a newbie?
Photo: Getty
