That's not weird! Mine are still "under construction" but there's not much modesty left anymore in that department. I'm not sure whether or not to have nipples redone. Are they necessary to feel "normal"? Any thoughts?

Glad to know I am not the only one who is very open about the showing/touching by others haha. I am in the same boat @A MyBCTeam Member and am deciding whether I want my nipples redone. Any thoughts from anyone?

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A MyBCTea...

I had a bilateral mastectomy that was NOT nipple sparing. My implant exchange occurred last September as a 45th birthday gift. I elected to have nipple reconstruction in January. I simply didn't want the cancer to take anything else from me and I (emphasize I) wanted to be able to look at myself in the mirror and not see scars everyday. The nipple reconstruction is one step of two to making my breasts as normal as possible since the cancer.

My implant on the cancerous side has failed twice (I'm very thin with no fat and skin that simply couldn't maintain sutures.) I just had a pedicled latissimus flap procedure (they took skin and a muscle from my back, transferred it under my arm and created a breast pocket with the muscle. I have an expander until a new implant will be implanted. We need to wait until the muscle atrophies to determine the size of the implant so that the two breasts match in size.). At the present, my left side is a silicone implant with nipple awaiting tattooing and my right, as I mentioned above, is a muscle flap with expander and no nipple.

I have never felt comfortable going bra less and have lived in some sort of bra so much this past 15 months, that the "head lights" issue was no concern for me at all. They begin quite large at the start of the process and shrink considerably. My nipple is actually slightly smaller than my natural, original nipple was. (I have said the word nipple more often and more freely these past few months than in my entire life!)

I have, too, lost modesty with regards to showing my breasts. Not so much that I have had many touch them. I believe that I have more of an emotional connection to my breasts now than I did my natural ones...primarily because I was very small chested before and somewhat uncomfortable with their small size. I love my breast size and experienced a beautiful result. I'm looking forward to enjoying the final look of my now-B cup breasts. I guess what I am saying is this: I will happily show and allow those to feel my breasts that are doing so to learn about the honest aspects of breast cancer and reconstruction. Beyond that, I have reclaimed my breasts as my breasts. Not inanimate objects but my breasts. I'm proud that I each day I begin to have a bit more modesty again. A small victory against what cancer so often takes away.

If all you're doing is showing, you're better than me! During the whole process (particularly the expanders), I was all "NO YOU HAVE TO FEEL THEM! They're like ROCKS!"

And then I wanted everyone to touch them after the exchange because "they're so soft now!"

Good news is you slowly get past that. I no longer think much of it and I haven't flashed anyone in awhile :)

Oh yeah, I showed mine to all the younger teachers at school. Even let one feel the raised lymph node, her mom was dx a few months ago. Why not you have shown them to countless others you didn't know!