How vain are you?

exbrnxgrl

wyo,

I didn't realize you were in the Bay Area! I'm in San Jose. PM me and maybe we can meet sometime.

Caryn 

Ariom

Oh wyo, that takes me back. My very first visit to the US in the 70's, and I fell in love with San Francisco. I had to check out Haight Ashbury, oh how amazing it all was for a girl from Aus! I had about a week there and found I was loving all those apartments with windows to the streets. I loved the shopping, we didn't have the range of shops here in those days, and the exchange rate was in my favor! I didn't want to go home! I even remember the waitress at the diner where I had my first ever French Toast with Bacon and real Maple Syrup, her name was Sunny Kindheart!

exbrnxgrl

I have lived in the SF Bay Area for more than 25 years and still love SF! I lived in the city for the first year and then moved about an hour south but still close enough to visit whenever I want.

Caryn 

wyo

Sounds good Caryn!- I go to San Jose for work a lot too. Love a place down there called Original Joes- reminds me of the great east coast Italian place- the meatballs - spectacular!!

Ariom- you would not believe "The Haight" and the areas south of Mission- they are a hipster paradise now with rents to match!! People are starting to move from the city to Oakland which also has a lot of cool neighborhoods and is much cheaper to live

Momine

Wyo, "hilly Union Square" brought back memories. For a spell in my misspent youth, I lived in an SRO on O'Farrell Street. Funny thing is that a few years ago, DH went to SF for a conference and stayed in the same place, now rehabbed into some semblance of respectability.

Ariom

I can imagine those areas becoming hip again. It happened here too, some of the most run down areas are the most expensive now, as people are doing up old factories into lofts etc.

I have a photo of me sitting in Union Square surrounded with shopping bags from all the big stores. I was in my element!

Blessings2011

Wow... memories. I used to live in the Haight in the late 60's!

Ariom

Oooh Blessings, I am so impressed! I used to read everything about the Hippie movement, and loved the fashion, remember the tie dye, and Patchouli oil still brings back memories of Summer nights listening to music in the park. Later protesting in the main street of Melbourne over the Vietnam War.

How ironic that I ended up adopting a Vietnamese boy, who moved to San Franciso in 2003 to be reunited with family from Vietnam, and passed away there in 2010. I really left some of my heart in San Francisco. 

Andrea623

I lived in San Francisco when I was young too! Funny, after 50 years, I can still remember the address; 381 25th Avenue. And yet I can't remember the address of the house we lived in 5 years ago.

barbe1958

wyo, congrats on getting bare for a measure! I never understood being measured bare as when my breasts were then implanted in a bra it was a whole different measurement!! "They" do say, and I'm sure Larry would concur, that 80% of women (or some such stupid number) are walking around in the wrong bra size. Does that not say something for the bra manufacturers too??? Someone has to be culpable....

I moved from Vancouver to Toronto and experienced the 70's in a bit more civilized manner but it was still pretty hip on Yonge Street (the longest street in North America)! I got to experience San Fran as an adult, and with similar weather to Vancouver it was like going home. Love, love, love fog and drizzle and rain....people here think I'm crazy!!

Anonymous

Patchouli oil

Amazing how scent brings back memories.....WOW!    Patchouli oil, haven't thought of that in years....  

barbe1958

Patchouli oil WITH the scent of burning hash....OMG.....heaven!!!!! The music, the colours, the just sitting and BEING, of those years!!! No cell phones or internet so you really felt truly "connected" when you sat together and got stoned.....

wyo

LOL- we go from bra fittings to bra burnings (The 60s) in this great group.  San Francisco is a place of so many contrasts- unfortunately the area by Civic Center has been absolutely taken over by homeless people and they are very very bold with the panhandling.  I lived behind the Opera House when I first moved but I need a bit more sunshine than most of the "fog-heads" so had to come over to the east bay.

I have heard we are all wearing the wrong bra- I have to say she fitted me, I wore a "test" bra and tried on a fitted camisole over it to see how it looked, had some discomfort where my sentinel node bx was and we tried a different band size which made all the difference. 

MelissaDallas

Y'all had all the fun!

Blessings2011

Oh, Ariom - I'm so sorry to hear about your son's passing in 2010...

MelissaDallas

Kiss My Face makes lovely patchouli bath & body stuff. I really like it. I think I enjoyed patchouli so much as a teen partly because I knew my mom loathed it (and thought it smelled like weed...) surprisingly my grandmother liked it too.

Ariom

Hi girls, just back from having my "Dog Ear" revised, all went well!

Barbe, you make me laugh and take me back to the days of hash and Patchouli oil. Listening to Pink Floyd, dressed in a floaty kaftan with mirror inserts, or in leather pants with cashmere sweater and sky high boots. Oh, they were the days.

Blessings, thank you so much. There isn't a day I don't think about him. 

barbe1958

Toronto had a HUGE hippy culture going on and lots of "Indian" stores that sold all that beautiful and colourful clothing that I love to this day!!! Used to despair when one of the mirrors came off a purse or top....  Remember JC Waterwalkers?? Those flat soles of leather with only the toe grips??? LOVED those as you really felt connected with the ground!!! Pathchouli smelt more of hash than pot. Pot smells like you're burning damp socks that a dog wore all day.

OMG the music!! Pink Floyd, The Stones, The Who, (Beatles were for people who didn't do drugs....hehehehee). Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep, I could go on forever! My older brothers room was closest to mine and I heard his music and lived it before my own peers. In some ways I do miss those simpler days and in other ways I'm glad they're gone as they were such a time of stress with the Vietnam war. I couldn't imagine killing someone face-to-face! Bad enough with bombs, but to me it seemed a step back in technology. I was always worried it would all become WWIII....

Anonymous

Ariom,

How long did the "revision" take? Was in in PS office, or hospital out patient? I am so eager to have one side zapped off, I know it isn't covered by my insurance, deemed "cosmetic" - even tho I had bc.  Just the explanting was covered.  Big question, am I cheaper than vain?  Probably.

So sorry to learn of your son's early death in 2010, missed that on last page.  Saying goodbye to a child has to be one of life's hardest hardest hardest experiences.  A close friend living thru that now with the death of her adult child, don't have any words...

Hope all in the path of this latest snow are safe and warm...

SelenaWolf

Yes, losing a child is always so hard, no matter what their age.  I'm sorry.

Music?  Styx, Styx and STYX!!!  "Crystal Ball" had to be the best album EVER, followed closely by "Kilroy Was Here".  Best.  Band.  Ever.  Still have all my ticket stubs, signed photographs, record albums (including the special-edition "Equinox" gold release).

exbrnxgrl

Ariom,

So sorry to hear that you lost a child. As a mom, I can imagine what a difficult thing it is to deal with. I hope his memory brings you peace.

Music? The Grateful Dead, Van Morrison and a bit later, Bruce Springsteen and then U2. I also adore all Broadway show music from Oklahoma to Hair to Wicked (and everything in between!)

Caryn

pupmom

Axiom, I'm so, so sorry. That has got to be just so hard. (((hugs)))

Ariom

Thank you so much everyone, for the kind words, I really appreciate them!

Ladies, the music! OMG you're all bringing back great memories. I was really lucky because in my late teens I worked in a band booking agency and later became personal assistant to the manager of one of our biggest bands of the time. Then one of my ex's was, and is a Radio Announcer and interviewer, so I got to go to every concert that came to town, as well as all the receptions given to international acts that came through Australia. We traveled for him to do interviews in the US, and then I worked on a late night Rock and Roll show, when I was working at one of our television stations, as a video tape operator. I also did makeup on the low budget Rock and Roll show. So I would roll the tape, run like mad downstairs to the makeup room, make up the artist,and then back up stairs to record the interview.

It was an insane fun time!

exbrnxgrl

Ariom,

What a fun job! You must tell us who that famous band was, if you can.

Caryn

Ariom

Hi Sunflowers!

The revision took about 35 minutes and I had it done in the Surgeon's office. It was supposed to be done under a general, but I persuaded him to do it with a local because I don't do well with general anesthesia.

For me, it was just a small sting as he put in the local. The actual surgery part was much larger than I expected. I really just wanted rid of a small protrusion at the end of my Mx incision, but he explained that if he only removed that I would then have another small protrusion in a different spot, so it was actually a part of the original scar that was removed, plus it now curves around to my back, so several inches added to the original scar and he had to go really deep too. 

I have no problem with the added length to the scar and it was only very minimal vanity that made me do this. I was really irritated by the zinging that went on in this thing when it slipped over my bra side, it felt like a bunch of cut nerves. I had to keep replacing it after I had reached up for something. It looked atrocious in a sleeveless top, but the way it felt was worse.

Today I am really stiff and surprisingly sore. Not pain, but really sore if I lean against anything. Sleeping wasn't easy last night because the local had worn off and it was really tender. I haven't taken anything, it isn't that kind of pain. This also has all the same rules as the Mx, no reaching, no lifting, and arm down to the side for 2 weeks. Oh the joy of hair washing and blow drying!

Sunflowers, I did hear from another member here who had it done and it was covered as revision work after an Mx by her insurance company. It may be worth your while to investigate with the insurance company direct, there may be a loophole there for you.

I am glad I did it, because, for me it was the last irritating thing after an fairly uneventful Mx surgery. 

Cost wise, is different here. I just have to pay whatever the out of pocket is after I have claimed through our Medicare. 

I hope this helps! 

 

Ariom

Hi Caryn, the Aussie booking agency covered all types of Australian bands, the Aus music scene was in its infancy and one of the biggest record label owners of the future was involved in the agency. He started Mushroom Records, which became huge. Actually everyone who was involved in creating that agency went on to become Aussie icons in the music business. The other girl in the Agency with me at that time is still one of my besties after over 40 years and she is still married to one of our best known radio announcers. How time flies!

One of the major Aus bands we looked after at the Agency, were from Sydney, they were Sherbet, they tried, but never cracked the US. Their manager was Roger Davies, I worked for him, arranging the Melbourne end of the Bands business. He went on to become probably Australia's most successful Managers ever, But he had to go overseas to do it, he resurrected Tina Turner's career and Managed her right till her retirement, there was Joe Cocker, Olivia Newton John, Sade, Janet Jackson, Cher, just a few that come to mind. He is now, and has been for years the  manager to Pink. He deserves everything he has achieved, he never wanted the limelight, and always did what was best for his acts. I learned so much from him.  

barbe1958

Incredible Ariom!!! How cool to be on the leading edge and then watch the ripples of what someone you know started...

As for the revision surgery, I must have missed that. Was it to smooth down "dog ears"? My surgeon explained that the incision had to stop "somewhere" and they chose just passed under my arms. I can't imagine wearing a bra and irritating that area! I have mild truncal LE and knew it as I kept asking my DH to pull out the "knife" that was sticking out of my back every time I leaned back and felt it!! I'd had revision surgery as well and at my post-op appointment the surgeon's jaw hit the floor because it didn't look like he'd taken any tissue away and he swore he'd taken the huge chunk that validated my surgery to be paid for as an "excision revision" (I asked if Dr. Seus would be doing the surgery!) Apparently the LE filled in the area with fluid but I have it all under control. If the bloody surgeons would learn to sew clothing and make "darts" we wouldn't be getting so much grief from these "dog ears" and "angel wings"!!!!!

Ariom

Hi Barbe! Absolutely, I consider myself to be so lucky that I had 3 different careers, Beauty Industry, Entertainment, and finally an Airline, with a bit of teen modeling thrown in. I have loved every bit of my working life and also the amazing people I have met along the way. 

Yes, the surgery was to remove a "protrusion" that was annoying me. I too, was told that the incision had to stop somewhere and the leftover "junk" was actually just flesh that had always been there but had been pulled forward by the weight of the breast. When the breast was removed it was a bit of a "boiiing" effect where it snapped back and carrying the extra pounds didn't help, so it was in the way.

I love your humor, you make me laugh, Dr Seus! LOL. If Surgeons could learn to do darts we'd be so much better off...that's brilliant, and exactly what I needed!   A simple dart would have fixed my issue.                   

I don't have a problem with wearing bras, in fact I am wearing one now, just to put pressure on the "area", but I have just realized that this new incision extends past the numb area of the previous surgery and it is really tender today. I hope it doesn't prove to be a problem after it's healed. 

barbe1958

Good point about the "numb area" as I STILL have numb areas in my armpit from the SLN biopsy!! Was told I would probably never get it back now. I have to be SO careful when I shave as I can't feel that area. I'm over 5 years out. Are you "allowed" to wear a bra already????

Ariom

Barbe, I am numb across my chest, my whole underarm from SNB, and around to the back, but this incision goes even further around and I can really feel it. I doubt I will ever get feeling back either. I think that the way it is now, is pretty much how it will stay. I am super careful when I shave, I use heaps of soap and make sure the area is pulled tight with no room for nicks.

I left the surgery yesterday, with a cami that had a built in bra and a lightly weighted foam foob in it. I have had a front closure soft bra on all day today. I don't want any chance of the "gap" filling with fluid, it is a very deep gouge,  so I am using the wide, side elastic for pressure against the thick dressing. It isn't uncomfortable at all. I just jump, if I lean back against anything, but that will calm down soon, I am sure.