Which boob wrote this:

Learning how the other half lives

 
Found on flickr


In my last post I talked about a lot of the downsides of going into this, but there are some...perks?

You know that girl in elementary school who was the first to get boobs? I was that little girl. I was the one the boys chased on the playground to snap her bra. To coin a phrase, that little girl was me.

I tried ballet when I was eight and realized pretty fast that in addition to a complete and utter lack of coordination, I decidedly did not have the right body type. Which is to say, I was already showing signs of having breasts.

My adult life, if I gained weight, it went on there first, and pretty much never, ever came off there. A friend recently asked how much they weighed and while I don't know, I can say, it's a LOT.

I know the grass is always greener and my flat-chested friends have looked at me with envy at times. And while I have enjoyed having breasts...I have a list of things I am extremely excited about post op, things that most women take for granted, because I have never been able to do them.  I don't mean to paint a picture of suffering (it's been a nice life with my girls!)...but herewith:
  • Not spending over $150 on a bra. In fact, I won't need bras at all! But because I'm very small around the ribcage, and then very not small otherwise, I can't just walk into any store. I have had to go to specialty stores or online and the bras tend to be extremely pricey.
  • Decreasing pain. I don't talk about this a lot but I have had severe chronic neck and upper back pain for as long as I can remember. I've been in and out of treatment / physical therapy for it. Aerial arts has helped -- the strengthening has been important -- but decreasing the weight hanging off of me will almost certainly help this and I am so excited about it.
  • Spaghetti straps. I have never been able to wear them because all my bras are behemoth. I just gloss right past these sections of catalogs/websites/stores, even though I love them. To that end...racerbacks, shelf bras, and just...really...all the normal tank tops that people buy (tanks because I don't wear sleeves). I tend to shop at REI and that sort of shop. I can't tell you how often I have been ready to purchase a tank top and had to put it back because it was just not compatible with my bras and/or breasts.
  • Seeing how a new body balance affects all of the things I do in the air (and on the ground...). Anna and I are convinced that inversions will be easier, and my physical therapist already said my first meathook after recovery will be the easiest I ever do: breasts get in the way a LOT.
  • Packing light. Currently for a week's vacation, bras will take up about half the suitcase. I am not making that up. Not anymore! Laundry will also be similarly smaller loads! 
  • Stairs. Without a bra. Enough said. FREEDOM.
  • Sleeping in any position I want, comfortably. 
  • No longer being activity-limited because of the bra I am wearing, lest my back pain the next day take me completely out of commission.
I'm sure I'll have days where my body doesn't seem like my own, but from where I stand right now, there will be days when that is negative...and days where it is positive! I may not  be dressing fancy for a while while I figure this all out, but then...when's the last time I dressed up fancy anyway (edit: a long time because it turns out nothing I own fits over my aerial lats. That was a fun discovery.)? I'm abundantly curious how new (and old) clothes will fit the new me. 

I'll end with the fact that this remains just plain weird. Not awful so far...but weird.