Patient Stories: Tanya

I found him through friends. I have several friends that have had breast augmentation so I asked around, and a few of them have showed me some of their work, so I just decided to call Dr. Engel and see what he had to say and I went from there. Then interviewing him and interviewing me was very interesting. We had a great conversation.

Basically, he walked in, he was very personable, which is fantastic especially when somebody is going to see everything! We talked about what my expectations were and what his were. My favorite part, I’ll never forget he came out and said, “If you want to look like Pamela Anderson, I’m not your doctor,” and I was like, “Ahh. Fantastic.” And I have 2 kids, so I wanted back what was taken from me and I wanted it filled it, I wanted to look natural. I didn’t want Pamela Anderson or anything crazy. From then on, it was just … I was like, “You’re my guy.” That’s it.

You put on this lovely granny bra and fill it with silicone, different sizes, and basically they said, “To know your size, you go up to where you’re like, ‘Whoa, that’s too big,’ and then back down one.” So that’s what we did. I had a tight shirt on over it so I knew what it looked like with clothes on, and that’s how we chose. I chose saline. Me and my husband went back and forth with it, because saline to me… it’s safer especially if anything breaks or ruptures, but other than that, it has the same feel to me, so it’s what I went with.

My day of surgery was very nerve-wracking for me. The night before, I was nervous wreck. The morning of, I was a nervous wreck. And I went in there – everybody was very nice, they got me upstairs, they gave you a wonderful cocktail, and I’m not talking about a drink, even though I could have used it all night long (laughing). They gave you something to calm you down, which is great. The nurse was very nice who started my IV. My husband was there. Dr. Engel walked in, called me down, did some drawings to see what he wanted to do, where he wanted everything to be at.

We had a little conversation to make sure I was calm and I was good and we were still doing this, and I said, “Yes we are.” They took me in. Like after the cocktail, I think I was pretty much out. They wheeled me in the other room. I saw pretty lights and I was like, “Wow,” and that was it. And I woke up. It felt a little heavy. I was, of course, groggy. The nurses came right up to me and made sure I was OK, got me up, got me moving around, got my clothes, wheeled me down in a little wheelchair to my husband on the side of the building and got me into the car. The whole experience was nice. Everybody made me feel calm. The anticipation is much worse than the surgery itself.

My recovery was very simple for me. From talking to friends and how their recovery was, I noticed that because I already had children, I’ve already stretched out. Three days later, I was actually back to work. As far as lifting goes, I couldn’t do that for a few weeks. I had, of course, follow-up appointments with Dr. Engel, and he told me what I could do at that time, what I couldn’t do. But the first 24 hours, I had to have somebody with me. I actually had an episode where I stood up too fast and I started seeing stars and almost hit the ground, so it’s very important to have someone with you for the first 24 hours, I’d say.

Three days later, I was back to work, of course, pushing papers, which is fine, but with my kids I wasn’t lifting anybody for a few weeks at least, just to be on the safe side. I didn’t really have much bruising. Of course, when you first get them done, they’re high and tight, but they drop down after about 6 months it looks where they’ll be forever. I used a Kelo-cote® on the scarring, so I have very minimal scarring, and it gets hidden underneath your bra or your bathing suit tops and nobody sees that at all.

I chose Dr. Engel because he’s very personable. He hit home with me talking about his family and compared me with his wife because I’ve had children and how my body type is after children. He was very personable with my husband so I felt very comfortable with him, and I’m going to talk to him again about another mommy procedure. So I wouldn’t go to anyone else. He’s just a great doctor, he’s a great person. I’ve seen him out since my procedure and he knows you right off the bat and he welcomes you back anytime and it’s fantastic. I won’t go to anybody else.