Patti Tucker, 50, was so desperate to have her painful implants removed she took things into her own hands.
Reaching to my daughters Nichole, then 26, Cara, 18, and Chloe,13, for a group hug, I suddenly doubled over and gasped. The stabbing pain slicing through my chest and down my right arm brought tears to my eyes. The agony continued for 10 minutes until subsiding.
It was 2015 and I’d been suffering with chest pains for three years. I knew what was causing them and yet, sadly, I couldn’t see an end to them either.
‘I wish I’d never got these implants,’ I sighed, glancing at my 34DD bosom – the biggest regret of my life. I’d had them put in three years earlier after breastfeeding my three daughters had left my 34A boobs flat and droopy. I had always been confident of my body, having been a dancer in my twenties, so it had left me feeling very insecure.
I knew friends who’d had breast enlargements and, with my husband’s support, I found a surgeon near my home in Phoenix, Arizona. I was wheeled into surgery in 2002. The surgeon fitted the DD implants under the muscle in both breasts, before inflating them with saline. Initially, I was brimming with confidence at my new shape. But, as years passed, my breasts became ‘encapsulated’, meaning scar tissue had grown, causing the implants to become hard and uncomfortable. By now, we’d left the US and had moved to the UK to live in Bristol, so I couldn’t return to my original surgeon. I went to see my GP but he said the NHS wouldn’t fund a removal. ‘It’s like having bowling balls under my chin,’ I said, devastated.
I was even more alarmed when our older daughters talked about wanting big boobs like mine. ‘You’re perfect as you are,’ I said, worried that my insecurities had affected them.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 17,2017 من WOMAN'S OWN.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 17,2017 من WOMAN'S OWN.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
MIND OF MY OWN
The Woman's Own columnist has her say on the gender gap, cats and timed hugs
Check out CHICAGO
With a spectacular skyline, sandy beaches and great food, the Windy City is calling, says Zoe West
LET'S EMBRACE OUR CHRISTMAS TAT!
Becky Dickinson explains why she'll still be rocking around her tinsel-strewn tree this year
BURIED SECRETS
We look at the shocking cases of celebrities posthumously accused of being sexual predators-and how they got away with it
FESTIVE NO-BAKES
Pop on the Christmas tunes and whip up a batch of these easy sweet treats
PROTECT YOUR SMILE
Are you doing enough to look after your teeth and gums?
'TIS THE SEASON TO SHINE!
At last, Hayley McCrossan, 39, feels fit and healthy
FOR THE LOVE OF TOM
When Deborah Mitchell, 57, lost her son, she vowed to help other families facing the same heartbreak
THE NURSE WHO LEFT MY GRANDAD FOR DEAD belict
Rachael Fealey, 31, had one question for the woman who killed her beloved Grampa - how could you?
Coleen's MONEY WORRIES
What are the reasons behind her financial and marriage fears?