Breast Reconstruction Testimonial: Staria

Video Transcription

I'm 76 years old and 40 years ago, I got cancer in one of my breasts. I had a mastectomy and they told me if I went five years without receiving; without having any problems in the other one, I would probably be all right. Well, four years and 11 months they found it in the second breast. I had that one off, and because I was afraid that a mammogram or something couldn't look through an implant, I never had implants. So, I lived for 30 years just flat-chested, like a little boy. And then I had a granddaughter who had very small breasts who was entering college and had a real inferiority complex and wanted to do something about her breasts. She came to visit me and I told her when she graduated from college, I would get implants for her.So then we met Dr. Khouri, and this was something that was just exactly what she needed.

She was a very beautiful girl, very thin, with no breasts, but she had double hips.So, he said, "You are a perfect candidate for me because I can take the fat out of the double hips, put it on your breasts, and you're gonna have the most perfect figure there is.While we were in the process, the doctor said to me, "You know, you're the one that should have this done. And I said, "What do you mean? I have two mastectomies." He said, "I know. And, actually, I used to wear falsies in my brassiere. But when you bend over, that falsie goes with the brassiere.So, people can still see down your neckline, and if you have a bathing suit on especially, they know.And I had this operation 35 years ago, so they weren't that beautiful about doing it. They just did it. And I was very scarred.

So, we decided; I decided, well, if it's that way, even though I'm as old as I am; I'm in my 70s already, I'm gonna have it done. I had it done and it completely changed my life. It changed my wardrobe. It changed my attitude. I had scar tissue and the skin was very, very tight on my chest; more like the skin on your hand would be. There was no flesh underneath. So, the doctor had to take care of all those scars and release that, which I really couldn't understand how he was gonna be able to do it. At one time, there was a scar going right down the center of the breast that he was in the process of releasing, and it really looked like I had a little butt on my chest with the two lumps.

But he got all the scars released very well, and now I really have pretty breasts. They have a slope to them, which looks natural, instead of that look where you have just skin and then like an apple sticking out and the other; silicone or would do. I see those ladies that have no fat on them and those things just stick out round, which I'm not a real thin person. But mine, the fat just goes down very naturally so that they're really natural-looking breasts, which I'm really happy with. I think I enjoyed wearing the Brava. I wore it places because I had never had a chest like that, so I could really show off. That was fun when it was going on. And I slept with it, which I had no problem doing.

It was very comfortable sleeping with it. And I didn't wear it that long. It seemed like the time just flew there. A couple of weeks. And I think I had about four releases of the skin and the scars where he released it and put some fat in and then released it again. And I was as excited about getting my waistline and then my better figure as I was about getting the breasts. That was really exciting to come home and say, "Wow! I've got a waistline. The granddaughter who had such a complex, she had a boyfriend that treated her like garbage, cussed at her in school, pulled her hair, did everything to her. Went home and got a beautiful, wonderful boyfriend, told the other one to hit the road. And my daughter, seeing all this done, even went and had herself done, which she always wanted to do but never would because of me.

Can I show a picture of my granddaughter? So, this is really a happy before and after story, from being bullied to being the queen of her neighborhood. So, we are now three generations that have all been taken care of by Dr. Khouri, and on Thanksgiving we all get together and we write on the tablecloth what we were thankful for. And Dr. Khouri's name is there more than anybody else's, because the husbands and everybody are thanking Dr. Khouri. And I had this procedure, I think it's about six and a half years ago. So, they aren't going anyplace. At first I thought, "How does that work? They must; I'm sure they're gonna run out of toes one day."But they've been here for six and a half years, so I guess they're staying. I'm really thrilled to death.