Shopping for a New Boob

My friends and I giggled for weeks about going "boob shopping" before I made the trip to Nordstrom for a prosthesis. I can't honestly say that our jokes were all that funny, but we laughed a lot. My 8-year-old had a couple of pretty funny jokes of his own about my fake boob.

I bought my new breast, at Nordstrom, about a month or six weeks after my mastectomy. It was a size 5-right, made of squishy pink silicone, and weighed about a pound, the same as the breast I lost.

The new breast didn't come cheap: I paid $354 for the prosthesis, plus $60 for two new bras, plus tax, for a grand total of $414. My insurance company paid 80 percent of the cost.

I bought my first prosthesis in the lingerie department at Nordstrom's flagship store in downtown Seattle. It's a beautiful store, but not a place I usually shop. I'd heard good things about Nordstrom's ability to fit a prosthesis, however, so off I went.

I called earlier in the week, thinking I'd probably need an appointment. This was a hard phone call to make; what do you say? I wrote out a script before I dialed:

"Hi. I understand you sell breast prostheses?" ("Yes.")

"Could I speak to that department please?" ("That would be lingerie, on Three.")

"Hi, I've had a mastectomy and I'd like to be fitted for a breast prosthesis. Can I make an appointment?" ("No appointment is necessary, come in any time.")

"Oh. OK. Thank you."

I was sweating by the time I hung up.

It was almost as bad at the lingerie counter when I arrived, 8-year-old Robin in tow, on a Saturday afternoon. By the time I could make it clear that I was there to be fitted for a breast prosthesis, I was hyperventilating.

Once Mary arrived to take me in charge, however, things got better. Mary had been fitting prostheses at Nordstrom since 1991, and she was both a pro and a warm friend, right from the start.

The first step was a well-fitting bra to completely cover the prosthesis. Mary explained that there are "mastectomy bras," but that she usually doesn't recommend them for younger women, she just works to get a good fit in a regular bra. I end up with a cream, stretch-lace, underwire bra similar to what I've worn for years.

Then Mary brought on the boobs, in a stack of boxes like shoes. She explained that prostheses don't come in cup sizes, they come in sizes 1 through 13, and are different shapes and colors as well as different sizes. After a couple of tries, we decided a size 5-right was right for me.

We ended the one-hour fitting with a hug.

Back home, I admired my new breast and bra in the bathroom mirror. It looked good. It felt right. I didn't think I cared, but it was good to have two breasts again, even if one is just silicone.

The next day, my enthusiasm had cooled. Out of the bra, the silicone boob looks like Jabba the Hutt, slug-like, wrinkly, and jiggly. I nicknamed him Jabba.

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.

Comments

[Leonore Dvorkin]

I read this account with great interest and empathy. I too had breast cancer and then a mastectomy with no breast reconstruction, and now wear an Amoena brand left side silicone prosthesis (size 4, equal to an A cup). I did not get my own prosthesis and mastectomy bras until about two years after my mastectomy. I gave a full account of my own first such shopping experience in Ch. 13 of my autobiographical book, WHY I'M GLAD I HAD BREAST CANCER (Wildside Press, 2005). Yes, the silicone prosthesis is rather floppy and vaguely slug-like when out of the box; thanks for that great, apt description and the funny photo! But once in a bra and on the body, it is amazingly like a real breast in weight and texture. It even warms up with body heat. For women who don't want breast reconstruction, a silicone prosthesis is surely the best choice. Also, it does come in its own special "house," a box that has an plastic insert with a concave space in it to hold the prosthesis in shape overnight. It's a fabulous system.
Good health to all --
Leonore Dvorkin
www.dvorkin.com
Denver, Colo.