You need to know this.

i choose shirts, etc. like you, for most part.. i do, however, have a lighweight pros. to wear when i need a boost a special occasion, etc.  however, ive been warned to wear a lighweight, but weighted one, part of the time, or we face back problems, and balance problems later. im waiting for a weighted one (tongue twister) from the Amer.Cancer Society.. they have them really cheap, and on one of the sites here, linda has  taught us to make our own !! didnt know if you had heard warnings of going flat full time.     light and love     3jaysmom

What I notice about going flat is that my back problems are gone. From DD's to flat and I feel great. My balance is another issue. Because I don't have a chest, I either fall flat on my behind or go ass over tea kettle. Yoga has strengthened my core and makes me concentrate on my posture and balance.

Hi, Turtle:

Love your beautiful smile and your sunflowers (I think?)!

I have been going totally flat myself since late March...a bra is just painful.  I have LE on one side, and it's just not worth it.  I find most people don't notice either.  I'm sure some note that I'm flat as a flitter, but that's okay.  I'm much happier going braless/foobless!

I know it's not for everyone, but it works for me. 

My take on this is a different from most of you guys 

I don't wear forms most of the time and am comfortable going flat.  However, I do think people notice my lack of boobs.  I notice a lot of puzzled looks that I don't get when I do wear forms.    Especially when I walk past a bunch of construction workers on their lunch break, as I do everyday when I go for a walk during my lunch hour.  I just smile and say hi, not a big deal, but they do notice my flatness.  Not surprising considering my chest is flatter than their chests.

Another thing, I notice other women who have also had mastectomies and  don't wear forms when I am out and about, doing errands.  I don't have the nerve to start a conversation with them, but I sure would like to.

Barbe, another possibility is that I am looking at other women's chests too much.  :-)

you look great and wow! so do your sunflowers!!

All I know is that after 10 years of an external prosthesis (D cup to match the real one) and having to remove the stupid expander with no room to expand to match - having a small implant and breast reduction and now having two perky little A-B cups has been a marvelous change.  With the mets in my spine, it relieved a lot of pain and my shoulders love me again.  My shirts button and I no longer have to wear a bra but all those cutesy camisoles are heavenly!  One would think people would notice going from a D cup to these tiny things - they don't unless I point it out.  I feel so free!  And I no longer need to worry about having them end up around my waist!  Well, the one that was left anyway. 

"I believe that a unilateral mastectomy should be reconstructed due to the balance and weight issues. There's got to be a lot of issues with all that weight on one side only even if you do wear a weighted foob!"

<sigh>  Barbe, that's what the sales clerk at the mastectomy store said.  Actually, it isn't.  What she told me was that I must wear a silicone foob on my flat side because otherwise the weight discrepancy will hurt my back and my spine will develop a curvature; and I guess I might tip over sideways?  The clerks at that store even gave me a fancy handout that explained the physics of being boobless on one side.

Well, I did the math.  I vaguely recall that my missing breast was approximately the same size as the one I still have on the right side.  The volume of that remaining breast is about 2/3 of a measuring cup -- about 5-1/2 ounces, by volume. (Don't ask how I know that.  It made quite a mess in the kitchen.)

So, considering that human flesh is mostly water, my remaining breast weighs quite a bit less than 1/2 pound.  ("A pint's a pound" and all that.)  Metric measures would be handy here.  What would 2/3 cup be? ... let's say about 170 ml, which is 170 grams.  My remaining breast probably weighs even less than that, since fat is lighter than water (v/v).

In other words, some sales clerk says I need to spend $250 - $300 to buy a silicone foob because of a discrepancy of less than 170 grams between the right side of my chest and the left side?  I'm not going to address whether I should spend tens of thousands of dollars of my insurance money simply to deal with that weight difference.

[Time out...]  I just tried to weigh my silicone foob, but it won't even register on dh's pan balance.  Keep in mind that my foob is only a size 2.  The sales clerk tried a size 3 on me, but decided it was too big and I really needed a "2".  When I look at the size 2 foob side-by-side with my remaining breast, or slip it into the empty side of a leisure bra, that size 2 is clearly much too small.

So much for needing to balance out the weight of my remaining breast.  I know things would be different for someone who was better-endowed; but I think it's important not to generalize.  Each one of us is different, and faces a different set of challenges.

I know you know that, though.

otter

I used to have freak of nature large breasts before my bilateral mastectomies.  As my mastectomies were 7 months apart, I have experienced it all: uni-breast, flat, flat with prostheses, and now, reconstructed to B cup size with silicone implants.

My experience is as follows:

When I had the big breasts, i was experiencing the back, neck and shoulder problems of well endowed women.  Being uni-breasted exacerbated the problem because of gross body asymmetry.  Wearing a prostheses didn't help because the weights were not the same on both sides of the chest and I didn't wear the prostheses 24/7.

I embraced going flat when I had the second mastectomy, only  wearing prostheses for the rare occasion when I wanted some shape.  I did notice that 99% of the people didn't seem to notice I was flat and it was a refreshing change to have people look me in the eye when they talked to me.

Surprisingly, being totally flat worsen my neck, shoulder and back problems over following 8 months as my poor muscles didn't know what to do at that point.  I did physical therapy and kept up the exercises for the neck, shoulder and back.  I still do them 2 years post PT.  While I did slowly regain flexibility and a lessening of the pain with the neck, shoulders and back, I was never entirely pain free.

Two years post second mastectomy, I had tissue expanders placed for reconstruction.  The first thing I noticed as the TEs were filled was that my upper torso problems and pain was decreasing.  By the time I was completely filled (about 4 lbs of saline between the two sides) and delayed the exchange for 3 months because of vacation plans and the holidays, I noticed that my upper body worked better and the muscle and joint pains were gone. It seemed that my body was designed to support some weight out front and having the TEs let my muscles work the way they were designed to work without being abused by the weight of the huge breasts or being flat.

The exchange to the implants did cause some brief problems as they only weighted a total of 3.18 lbs as opposed to the 4 lbs of TEs.  However, the body adapted quickly.

I am now 7 months post exchange and I find that my back, neck and shoulders are very happy .  I am pain free and find that I can move  easily. This is due to the fact that I have kept up my exercises, including working on overall physical fitness, but I think a woman's body is designed to have something, even AAs if that is your body type, up top.

Just my opinion, YMMV.

Otter, I got so tickled reading your description of your formulas/calculations for your missing boob...it reminded me of the Monty Python movie, "The Holy Grail" where they're discussing the African swallow's velocity vs. the European swallow.  I snorted. 

Sounds like your boobs were like mine...not very big, so I seriously doubt that not having any now is going to make me tip over.  I was nearly an A cup!  I actually was an A, I just like to pretend otherwise.

Leah, I forgot all about the possibility that there might be a boob weight listed in my path report.  How 'bout if I don't go to my desk and dig out that report?  I really don't much like reading it anymore.

Besides, according to the fellows, residents, med students, ... heck, the custodial staff, I suspect -- who participated in or observed my mastectomy, the procedure involved "undermining" the skin all the way from my collarbone down to my bottom rib, and scooping out or scraping off all the fatty & glandular tissue.  They used "Bovie cautery", which I looked up on-line later and wished I hadn't.

But I know they whacked off that boob and inked the sides and stuck it in a jar, so I imagine there is a weight recorded somewhere.  BTW, according to all the bra sizing charts I've found on-line, I should be wearing a 38AA.  There's a lot of chest there, apparently, but not much boob.

Hugs to you,

otter

I had a bilaterat mast five months ago.  I had a problem with a seroma (whole 'nother story) and couldn't wear prostheses until three weeks ago.  So I went to the mastectomy boutique, and the fitter told me the story about how my posture would be off, and my back would hurt, if I didn't get the $300 silicone foobs. When I asked her why I didn't already have problems, since I hadn't used silicone foobs for four months, she had no answer. Well, I bought two pairs of silicone foobs, since I had paid my maximum out-of-pocket for my insurance, and they were now paying 100% of costs.  Total of $1200.00 (holy crap!).  I also bought some lightweight foobs (also covered by insurance).

I wore the lightweight foobs for a week.  Pretty comfortable, and I got to wear some tops that I couldn't wear flat.  Then I tried a pair of silicone foobs for a day. Well, by the end of the day, my lower back hurt, my shoulders hurt, and I couldn't wait to get home to get them off. 

I'm back on the lightweight foobs.  And I'm having no problems.  Now, I had to get a size 7 to balance out the rest of my (unfortunately) large body, especially my hips.  I am 5"10" tall, and, while not obese, I am far from svelte.  So maybe that made a difference.

But in my humble opinion, the BS about balance and back problems, and all that, are to sell the most expensive foobs they can - the silicone foobs. 

Sassa - I hear you, but I was large before (a large C cup) and I can't wear those silicone foobs.  Just hoisting a size 7 silicone foob out of the box is a job.  Put two of them together, and it's a heck of a workout.

I'm sticking to my lightweight foobs, and I'm going to try some of those microbead foobs from TLC that everyone is raving about.

.....and one day I will be "brave" enough to go flat.......you ladies are my heroes.......

Yeah, it is definitely a spin.  I am going without foobs to the fireworks tonight in honor of you ladies who only go flat.  Yep, it's gonna be dark, but it's still a big step for me.  Wish me luck.....

OK - I'm back.  I actually forgot that I didn't have my foobs on.  No one looked.  No one noticed.

I still can't go to work without them though. Maybe someday???.

I'm 2 years post bilateral and have tried for those entire 2 years to be comfortable in foobs.  I never wear them at home - first thing in the door, off go the shoes and then the foobs - but don't feel comfortable without them outside the privacy of my home.  But the thing is, I often feel people are looking at my chest because absolutely nothing that I wear in the way of foobs, camis or leisure bras looks natural on me.  I suspect it has to do with my body size and trying to wear small forms.....that plus trying to keep the dratted things evenly spaced and at the same height.  I feel that I stand out like a car with out-of-line headlights! 

Turtletots, you look great and I'm so envious of your courage and decision to go free!