Help Erica get Breast Reduction Surgery
TL;DR: My back is effed, it's time to chop the boobs. It's expensive as shit because USA. If you have the means we could use some help!
Hi peoples! As requested here is a GoFundMe for my upcoming surgery.
The last few years have been really rough pain-wise. I’ve always had a big chest, but after breastfeeding two kids my body is pretty well spent. There was no cute cradling my baby and breastfeeding, the first six weeks of Quinn's life I cried every. Single. Day. I could only nurse laying down without major pain. It's not as intense now that we're done with that part of kiddos, but I still HURT. The middle of my back feels like it's on fire starting around 11 am, and then the stabbing left shoulder pain joins in a little time afterwards. The muscle guarding and spasms add a fun touch. When Isaac gets home I pretty much collapse on a heating pad until bedtime. I hate being the crabby mom and wife I am these days.
I use a cane now when it’s really bad, I’ve been to chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, physical therapy, and countless doctor and urgent room visits in addition to buying a tens unit, foam roller, posture correctors, etc etc etc. Not to mention a bra in my size is at least $80... So the time has come, I am so miserable. I currently wear a 36L and am hoping to go down to a C. It’s pretty major surgery and I’ll need 3 weeks down to heal minimum- which means childcare, meals... It’s pretty overwhelming.
Additionally, I’m about 95% sure I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome- a connective tissue disorder that makes me have extra stretchy ligaments and tissues. So not only is my chest pulling me down, but my body is not great at keeping my skeleton together. There’s no genetic test for hEDS so my doctor and I can only assume it’s a factor in my pain at this point. I only discovered this after a previous doctor told me that my insurance at the time DOES NOT, period, cover breast reductions so to basically stop asking unless I had the money to pay for it myself. She sent me to PT, chiro, and acupuncture. I still hurt. Sooooooo I started looking around the internet, as you do, and I have all the symptoms of this weird thing called EDS- even down to congenital double hernias as a baby. Woah. So that's another layer.
The surgeon I saw recommended a BSRT reduction. It's super crazy. Look it up if you're interested in gross crazy surgery stuff, but for the rest of y'all I'll spare the details. Surgeries are being scheduled for June right now, so I imagine once insurance (hopefully) approves, I'll be looking at the end of the summer. If it all works out to plan I we should be around 5K out of pocket(which sounds like a lot, but I was expecting double. So YAY!). Thanks to y'all's GENEROUS donations and purchases from my Etsy shop, I already have almost $1,400! That's just crazy. So I'll set the fund goal for $3K. Thank you ALL SO MUCH for what you've given to us already, we are -and I hate to use this word because eww but- BLESSED. Like for realsies. Thank you.
This last year has been AWFUL for everyone, so please don’t put yourself out to donate! We ate through our entire savings before Isaac finally got unemployment last year (thank GAWD we had it) so we SO get it. We're ok now- he got to go back to work this month and stimmys/etc has us safe enough to get booted from SNAP again woot! Living the dream! We have some savings put aside again for surgery, and my insurance will cover a portion. I’m waiting to hear back and will keep y’all updated. Thank you thank you thank you thank you!