Pre-Surgery

The last couple of days have been a whirlwind. I went from enjoying every last moment to being worried about my son’s life, to worrying I’d have to cancel surgery and then back to normal. Whew.

Yesterday, Corvus had a febrile seizure, which was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced. He’s okay, I’m learning these things are common, and we’re back on track for surgery. Febrile seizures are caused by a sudden spike in temperature, so I spent most of the day worried I’d caught whatever bug Corvus has. So far so good (I’m knocking on wood right now).

Then there is the winter storm we’re under. All weekend I thought we were going to have to get up ridiculously early to brave rush hour and the snowstorm to get to the surgery center by 6:30am. Then my sister made the recommendation that we just get a hotel room nearby. Brilliant!

I’m literally writing this as John drives to Plymouth. The kids are with their grandparents and we’re going to enjoy a nice evening together and then walk across the street in the morning for surgery.

It also happens to be John’s birthday. I decided at the last minute that I wanted to commemorate the surgery by getting some boudoir shots done. My mother had asked me if I wanted some previously. We took them Sunday and despite the whole ordeal with Corvus, I still ended up with some really nice shots. I surprised John with some edited versions this evening. I highly recommend doing this if you are getting the surgery done. It’s a nice memento of the old girls. [Images removed at a later date].

Tonight I’m nervous. I’m excited. Basically, nothing has changed. Except I now have a free trial of HBO Now. Bring it on.

So you’d think that having J cup breasts would make it easy for insurance to approve a reduction, right? Well, apparently not.

We had our consult in the beginning of August. It took until November 13th to get the official pre-authorization. In my consult, the surgeon mentioned that most insurance companies only require that a specific number of grams be removed. Because of my size, we had nothing to worry about. I was going to be losing 7 sizes in what the surgeon called fibrous breasts. Piece of cake, right?!

Um, no. So, right before I had my consult I had sent a message to BCBS to find out what their requirements were for being approved for a breast reduction. A few weeks after the consult, I got my reply and sent the information over to the surgeons office along with a letter from my Chiropractor. The requirements asked for a whole lot of other things, including a 6 week history of “conservative treatment”. This meant that I had to show that I’d done other things like take advil, use heat/cold, therapy, etc.

I remember thinking, how the heck are you supposed to prove that? I asked the surgeon if they thought I needed to submit anything else, and they didn’t think so. So we moved forward. Everything was submitted in September. In October, we got the first denial. It said we didn’t show the use of conservative treatment, and that the surgeon wasn’t planning on taking enough off. NOT TAKING ENOUGH OFF?!?!?!

When we first met, the surgeon mentioned that most insurance requires 575 grams to be removed from each side. My insurance requires 600 grams. The forms were submitted with 575 grams. On October 8th, we appealed the decision and sent over everything we had, including a letter from Dr. Witzke covering all our bases. Then we waited. Again.

Two weeks later I got a letter in the mail saying that my appeal was received and that it could take up to 30 days to review. I was devastated. The idea of getting this scheduled in that sweet spot after the show and before Thanksgiving was dwindling. I really didn’t want to have surgery close to Christmas.

Two weeks later (it’s like clockwork with these guys), we received another denial. However, the denial had the EXACT same reasons as the last one. I was so confused. Did the surgeons office not submit the right information? What was going on? It was the last performance day of the musical I was in when I read this letter. I cried the whole way there and then tried not to cry the whole show. Everyone probably thought it was last show blues. As much as I’ll miss everyone, I don’t usually get emotional over shows ending. Either way, it worked to my advantage because no one asked me what was wrong.

Monday I left an emotional message for the surgeons office and also put in a message with my customer liaison that was assigned to the case. I asked the surgeons office to send me a copy of what was sent over. At this point I kept thinking that they didn’t know what they were doing, and that maybe I should find someone else.

When they sent it over, I couldn’t believe it. It was all there. It was as if BCBS completely ignored all of the new information sent over. My contact at the surgeon’s office was livid. She took care of contacting the insurance company and trying to figure out what was going on. She called me back to say we should hear by Friday.

Friday came and went. Nothing. I thought, maybe they’re sending a letter again, instead of calling. The next Friday, the I called BCBS to find out what was going on. I had been approved. I should have gotten the letter. My husband checked the mail that day and sure enough, there was the pre-authorization letter.

Finally. I called the surgeons office and we started talking scheduling. December 1st was thrown around as the first possible date. The insurance battle was over and I could start planning to be out of work and the recovery after.

I’ve been putting off writing this post because I’ve been trying to track down a photo of myself that was taken in High School of me standing next to a County Road DD sign in Wisconsin. I didn’t track it down though, so I’m moving on

As a kid who was a bit oversexualized, I always wanted large breasts. Oh the little we know when we’re young. Right? But, my wish came true and shortly into HighSchool I soared into the DD territory and loved it. When I was in college, and continuing to grow, sporting an F or G cup, my sister, just slightly larger than myself, had a breast reduction. I didn’t really understand back then, because I couldn’t imagine wanting them to be smaller. But I knew that she was having back issues and that it was a good decision for her. It did, however, make me wonder if I’d ever get to that same point. I didn’t have any pain, so I didn’t think I would.

After Magnus was born and my milk came in, I measured a J cup. That’s when my opinion started to change. My breasts were so large, I worried about smothering him when feeding. They were 2-3x the size of his head. They were growing close to the size of my own head. Additionally, I had started seeing a chiropractor on a regular basis for upper and lower back pain. At this point, because of my desire to have another child and to continue breastfeeding, a reduction wasn’t even on the table. But I did start thinking that maybe after both kids were done breastfeeding, it would be a good thing to consider.

Then Corvus came. Within a few weeks of delivery my breasts hit an L cup. I was embarrassed by them. When shopping, it took forever to find a shirt that minimized them. This was such an odd feeling for me because I used to like showing them off. I would wear low cut shirts proudly. Not so much anymore. At 18 months, Corvus surprised me by refusing to nurse. “No Boo”. I kept offering for a couple of weeks not sure if it were a strike or if he just decided to be done. We had already weaned down to a feed or two each day. But that was it. He stopped when he was ready.

This opened an opportunity much earlier than I had originally anticipated. It meant I could start looking into a reduction. It was almost surreal to think that the time was nigh.

I asked around for referrals and ended up calling Witzke Plastic Surgery in Edina for a consultation. John and I went out there in August, and although I could tell he was nervous, he kept reassuring me that if this was what I wanted he was on board. We sat and talked with the surgeon who assured us that I was an excellent candidate and wouldn’t have any problems with insurance covering the procedure. I set my sights on a November surgery (after the musical I was going to be auditioning for), and started the pre-approval process.

More on that in the next blog.

The cat is officially out of the bag. On December 1st I’ll be having a breast reduction to remove about 7 cup sizes. Thanks for visiting my blog. I’ll be using it as a means to record my journey. In the weeks leading up to now, I’ve been really grateful for those who have posted their own stories about recovery and so I thought it only made sense to pay it forward. Plus, I was feeling the need to create a new website.

I’m leaving you here for now, but between now and the surgery I’ll post more about my background and why I’m doing this. If you’re a coworker, family member, or friend who would be embarrassed seeing photos of my breasts, that may very well happen here. You’ve been warned.