All things bras & prosthesis
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I feel the most comfortable going flat when working out;the gym, running or at the pool swimming laps. I work at a hospital & wear scrubs, so being flat works well there. I have tops I can wear with jeans that I like & I feel good in flat chested. It took me awhile to find them. I've wondered if maybe I should quit being stubborn & just accept the prescription for prostheses from my BS & get a pair to have on hand. It sounds like there is a lot of trial & error. If I ever need to look "nice" or dress-up, I might not be able to pull it off with short notice(or without a lot of notice)
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Love this discussion and find it very affirming. I just "deconstructed my 2nd TE, after losing first in August. I am happy now to forego further reconstruction but struggling with finding my comfort zone. Friends and family tell me no one notices, but when I go totally flat, it's not flat, I am literally concave, and my belly fat from being on hormone blocker for a year sticks out beyond my chest. I am not that overweight, pretty average. Just a redistribution of the body over the past year and a half of breast cancer stuf.
Barbara (Erica) I totally relate to what you said above, I mostly just don't want to draw attention to myself. I am still healing so mostly wear some soft fluffy stuff when I go out, but I haven't found anything too comfortable yet. I have been trying Genie bras and they roll up and are terribly uncomfortable. I have the microbead foobs but haven't found anything to wear them in that they don't ride up and sit too high on the chest. Prior to 2nd TE removal, I used a size 7 silicone on the flat side and now I am looking forward to "downsizing" to 4 or 5...maybe those microbead foobs are just too big at size 7. Hopefully I'll get fitted in the next few weeks for new set of prosthetics.
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Thanks for conversing about this. It helps alot. My therapist says that dressing is more like costuming, why ot have support by having some breast forms on hand (as the case may be). I don't know, I feel conflicted. I am who I am. I do not buy silicone items to cook with, I don't have enough body fat to move from one place or another. I am an artist, I don't have a traditional job, I don't need to present myself in any way other than by whim.
I did go and try a bunch of breast forms on recently. I think I would like to try again. I didn't know I would need a perscription to get a pair, is this true? I will read through these pages again and go to Barbara (erica's) site again.
A funny story: when I went to try on some forms (I am now 115 pounds and am 5'2"), the fitter looked at me and said, 'I bet you were an A cup before surgery'. I was befuddled, I didn't even know how to respond. I have lost about 20 pounds since being diagnosed, but an A cup? I was at least a D cup and just before being diagnosed, I got fitted for a DD bra. For being as small as I am, a D cup is large.
I still think of myself as a D cup sort of body. I would never wear that size now. I never wanted to be that large back when I was! Perhaps this fact plays into my reticence to be what I am not.
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m telly: i didn't need a rx for "foobs" but , when i found out my ins would pay at 100% i took advantage of it.. also, the american cancer society gave me a set, bf my ins would..
i also non rx a pair of "been a boobs'" from canada, long before anyone was doing the micro beads, i find them the most realistic, and comfortable. can't wear a bra, cause of poor placement of my port, but they work great with a cami and pocket.. hope you'll find an acceptable compromise for yourself.. who CARES what others feel? its what YOU feel thats' important!!!!....3jays
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MellyT: If you are planning to buy forms with insurance then plan you will need a prescription though the fitter may be able to call and get it for you. You could probably just call the BS or MO office and have them mail you one. If you are buying forms outright, then you shouldn't need one.
Funny you mention costuming. One of the enticing things I have found about this is that I can decide which size (or flat) I want to be on any given day. Those blouses that might tend to gap a little? No problem, on those days, I can just throw on the smaller foob. Other days, I want them to look like they truly fit on my frame and want to go up a little bigger.
One of the things I have yet to wrap my head around is how people see me now. I have been 5'6" since I was 12, and being a DD by 14, even in good weight, I have never been a "little" girl. I lost 50 lbs over this journey, nearly 10 they cut off, the rest by just plain weight loss. I still wear 12 to 14 tops due to shoulders, 8 to 9 rings, large bracelets, and yet people, even the BS, say to me how little I am. Really?? I came to realize that flat made me seem thinner than the reality. One of the things I play with now is how the size of the foobs affect the overall perception of the size of the girl in order to find a nice shape and balance that the foobs give without looking as if I put on 10 lbs. Something I really like about the forms is that any "mistakes", are not nearly as expensive, painful or permanent as the alternatives.
Barbara
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Barbara - that is interesting about size. I weigh pretty much the same I have for the past 20 years, 5'4 and around 150, pretty average, slightly overweight, but since going flat people keep asking me if I have lost weight. I was a D or larger before BMX. Hmmmmmm. It's an illusion but very interesting, I always like to try to find the positive in every situation so maybe this is one of them.
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Melly - When I lost first TE and went to fitter for form, she did all the insurance paperwork, even called the doctor and got the prescription for me. I didn't have to do a thing but sign the pw. I am going to a new fitter this time and she took my info over the phone, and did the same. I have an appointment Thursday and don't have a prescription or anything - she took care of all of that for me. In fact this particular fitter does house calls and would have come to my house! I wanted to check out her boutique called Ribbons of Hope because I want to look at everything and try on different options. I googled "mastectomy supplies" and looked for customer feedback to find this woman.
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GreenFrog - I am in UK too....as you can see....
Amoena do cami tops with built in pockets. I also find their lightly padded Lara bra really comfortable as it has very few seams.(They are a mail order firm and let you try things and return them if not suitable).
Sorry, can't do the link.
Best wishes,
Sam
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I started looking at my computer wrist support today and thought it would make a nice breast form with just a couple stitches here and there. I wear a Anita size 6 and my IMAK ergo bead wrist support (online available for less than $15) looks like it is about a size 7. It is dark grey but I think it would be very easy to sew and you could even make a nipple by sewing a knot of the fabric. I may order one or try to replicate the shape on my own, then modify it. Funny how right now almost everything I look at is a potential foob!! LOL
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Barbie, I was a 36B/34C before my BMX. I have one set of size 5 foobs, which are supposed to be a 36B (there is a size chart on the TLC site), but I find them a bit too large, although they do fit perfectly in a 36B bra) and will probably get a 4 next time and some smaller bras. Since your ribcage is a bit bigger than mine, I imagine a 6 might be about the right size for the size you want, but you ought to go somewhere to try stuff on.
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Mel, I see the foobs as a clothing item, like a hat or other accessory. I sew and like wearing fitted clothes, and some of my clothes just don't look right without a bit of a bump in front. But right now, due to rads and LE, I can't wear anything and so make the flat look work as well as I can. I think I am trying to say that you should get yourselves some foobs and play with them.
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Hi Sam (lovely cat BTW) - thank you for that. I always thought that Amoena tops were t-shirts which had built in bras rather than just simple pockets. Unfortunately I can't tolerate any kind of bra these days because of the lymphoedema problem. I have had a look at the Amoena website and can only find a kind of slinky cami top for nightwear. Am I being a moron? :-) Think I'd better drop them an email.
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Okay All: For the totally cami challenged, please explain camis to me. I never wore camis, certainly nothing with a shelf in my prior life at least in part because they don't make things like that for size 40N. The bottom of the shelf would have likely been running right across the nipples. Since the BMX, during the flat period, I have worn supersoft cotton camis as summer pajama tops but they didn't have a shelf so were more like tanks with spaghetti straps. So I am trying to envision this. If they are not bra like, wouldn't the forms move all over the place, not only up but side to side, under your arms, or drift totally together in the very center with no separation? As so many of us suffer with hot flashes, I would think it would just be an extra layer that would make you just that much hotter. I know you all are probably dying laughing out there but what can I say, I told you I was cami challenged. LOL Educate me.
Barbara
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I second this change in discussion.
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I agree with you! The silicone hurts, esp if it is too small and moves around over my scar! I have gone over to the pads they give us at the hospital when we leave. It has a sort of 'pillowstuffing' in it. The prices on line are much cheaper than what we have to pay over the counter. The stick on silicone prothestic melted on me! Glad it was not inside me! All the best, Hope
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Starak - given that I am struggling not only to identify what a cami is but also what a cami is in both British and US English I am not sure I am much use - but I have made a bit of a study of this lately (tragic creature that I am.)
I saw this US post-surgical cami - http://www.tlcdirect.org/products/sku-7824__dept-15.htmla Not a sexy item but it looks comfy. The other mastectomy camis I have seen are basically pocketed mastectomy bras inside strappy t-shirts (tank tops? - US). Some other strappy t-shirts have a shelf bra contraption - large hunk of elastic which encircles the chest and which makes me feel woozy just to think about the misery that would inflict on my LE.
I am currently making my own contraption - a cotton/lycra mix vest with spaghetti straps (a tank top? - US) into which I am sewing pockets to accomodate soft light prostheses.
I am also considering this one a go - http://www.carefix.eu/en/breast-care/-post-mastectomy-garments/mindy The Mindy Mastectomy Camisole. Although it looks a bit too much like shapewear for my liking.
The bottom line is that I at my most comfortable and painfree going flat. No problem in the winter where I can layer up - but I just haven't got the guts to go totally flat in thin summer clothes. I feel very vulnerable with only a layer of cotton resting on my ribs and scars.
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Greenfrog, this is my approach too. I just finished rads and have some truncal LE on both sides. For the time being, bras are out for sure. Some of the time I just go flat, but when I want boobs, I baste the post-surgical fluff forms into a snugly fitting tank top/vest. This weekend, I plan to sew proper pockets in a few tanks, because it works well and is comfortable.
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Momine - good to know I am not alone with the LE/bra thing. Do you think putting velcro on the fluffy boob and the t-shirt might work? My sewing skills are pitiful and trying to sew pockets onto lycra material will probably end in tears!
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Hmm, that is an interesting idea. You could try it. To sew lycra, set your sewing machine to zig-zag, but not full width.
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I have been in horrible pain this afternoon in my back...and then it dawned on me that I haven't done much since getting this big foob ( Anita size 12) and it has been almost two years since my MX. My back muscles ached so bad that I was beginning to think that I had done something. lol I stood at a school dance yesterday for two hours and today in the cold shivering for three hours at Girl Scout Cookie Booth. I am very much use to my back being supported on the couch with my feet up...thanks LE.
AS far as bras and LE. My new bra seems to help my back LE and under the arm part. I think because it comes up and over the dog ear. However the old bra always made it worse if I was flaring. I haven't found a plus size cami to work but I did find a control cami that they are altering that I can at least wear around the house during the summer and at night to help the LE in the Trunk. Catherines sells them.
Any more suggestion on big bras? 42 DD
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just wanted to jump in, and let you ladies know.. i like the ahh bras by rhonda sheer on hsn, as i've said before.. they go by your shirt size, and NOW she has one that has pockets.. they say they.re for "nip" covers, but a foob fits perfect in them!!!
also, on the camis, you can buy a pocket, already made, from the TLC catalogue, if that helps. my hand made ones didnt come out so good, so i bought them, and theyre good..but not for large foobs. i think 5 is the biggest, but im not sure if they make sizes.. haven't been there in a long time.........3jays
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I am going to buy this amonea cami with pockets and hope it does not have a shelf bra. Any other ideas for wearing memory foam foobs *not* in a bra? I can't take the pain of wearing a bra, even the coobie is too much.
I also can't figure out how to sew a pocket into a tank, would the tank top have to be double layer so the stitches don't show through to the front? Or do the stitches show through?
Thanks....
I really appreciate all of the posts here. Still trying to find my new normal, but at least I got the memory foam foobs and love them!
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Ok, so i can't find the amoena cami without a shelf bra....help please?
Do any of the tlc cami's not have a shelf bra?
Thanks :-)
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The softee Two is a great camisole that you can put your foobs into.
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Has anyone tried the new Ahh bra, the one with pockets? I'm wondering how it fits? I'm very tall and extremely sensitive to tight clothing. In the Genie bra, even the 2X was too short and too tight, even though I'm pretty skinny. If anyone has had experience, please let me know? Ever grateful.
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I wear the Ahh bra in XL but I am only 5' 4 .I think the Genie bra looks pretty much the same design as the Ahh bra.But you could try them on in the store before buying one.
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I just ordered a Nike dri-fit sports bra, because it was on sale. It looks like it would be easy to sew pockets into and would be really comfy. Will report back when I get it.
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Mumayan, Is there a store that sells the Ahh?
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Not that I know of....I think you can only get Ahh bras online...but it is the Genie Bra that has the pockets in them....I have the Ahh bras...love them...and now I purchased the Genie Bras with the pockets online. I got a size bigger...I think they run a little small but not positive.
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I have never seen an Ahh bra with pockets. That said, I have seen Genie and Ahh bras in the stores. Try Walgreens, Target, Walmart, and Bed Bath & Beyond. You will usually find them in the "As Seen On TV" sections, though that is not 100%. Ask customer service if you don't immediately find them.
Barbara
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