What size boob do you want?

My hair, 16 weeks post final chemo

Thankfully, I'm doing pretty well now. I'm not as fatigued and am back to driving myself to treatments, although yesterday Michael went with me because I had my appointment at Hanger Clinic to get fitted for a mastectomy bra and prosthetic. I was kind of excited about it, but left feeling annoyed and pessimistic. The story gets a little personal because of the subject matter, so if you're uncomfortable reading about bras, stop reading. 

The woman who worked with me measured me for band size and had me try on a couple of bras to make sure the size was comfortable, but they didn't have any with my cup and band size to get an exact fit. I understood that since I have an unusual size, so that was fine. 

She asked what kind of bras I like, and I said I usually wear something like a demi cup. She didn't know what that was. Maybe not everyone does, but if your job involves helping women pick out bras, shouldn't you have some basic knowledge of the different types? Plus, since there's some flexibility in the sizing, I had to decide whether to go with my exact band size or the next one up and she didn't have any advice in that regard which would have been nice. 

Anyway, she gave me a catalog to look through, and I picked out a couple I liked that came in my size. My insurance will cover two bras per year and a prosthetic every other year, but they're pretty affordable on Amazon so it's not a big deal.

So then she looked up my size on a chart to determine the right prosthetic, and when she pulled it out it was humongous. Like a D at least, and I'm a B. She recognized that it was ridiculously big and said, "Well, we'll order a couple of sizes and see what works." I knew she had some smaller ones in stock because she showed me one at the beginning. I guess I should have suggested we look at them, but I was getting tired at that point and didn't really feel like telling her how to do her job. So we made an appointment for a month from now (they need three weeks to get in the order, but at that point I'll probably be blistered and sore and hating life) to try on what they ordered for me. I bet Michael $10 that the prosthetics she ordered will be the wrong size. 

I don't know. Telling this story after the fact, it doesn't sound as bad as it felt at the time. Her manner during the whole appointment just seemed uncertain, like she didn't really know what she was doing. Yet, there were certificates on the shelf indicating she'd been doing this work for like 15 years. I wish she had been more confident and knowledgeable so she could advise me and I could feel comfortable about what I'm going to get. I'm just glad I don't have to pay for this, because if I did I'd probably be even more annoyed.

It's a good thing I'm not that hung up on appearances and am willing to walk around with one boob since it will take a while to get the prosthetic. I just walked away feeling less than confident I'll get something I'm happy with from them. We'll see, I guess. 

Radiation #21 today, so only 9 left! Single digits!