Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast.

Monique Ramsey (00:14):
Welcome, everyone, to the La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast. I'm your hostess, Monique Ramsey, and today we're doing a little post-op follow-up interview with our guest star, Laura Cain, who just had her breast augmentation surgery with Dr. Swistun.

Monique Ramsey (00:33):
Today is your third day, I guess. The surgery was Tuesday.

Laura Cain (00:37):
Correct.

Monique Ramsey (00:37):
And today's Friday. So welcome back, first of all.

Laura Cain (00:41):
Thank you.

Monique Ramsey (00:43):
And, so we won't keep you for long because you're post-op, but-

Laura Cain (00:46):
Don't worry about it. I feel like I could do anything. I know I'm not supposed to, but I feel like... I'm like organizing drawers and I'm getting all this stuff done. I feel 100%, like I never even had the surgery. It's weird.

Monique Ramsey (01:01):
I mean you look gorgeous.

Monique Ramsey (01:02):
She looks perfectly like ready to go to a party.

Monique Ramsey (01:06):
Tell us about that day. How did your day start? How were you feeling? Give us a little rundown.

Laura Cain (01:12):
Okay. Well, because my surgery was in the afternoon, I couldn't eat from midnight on, so I was really hungry. That's the only thing that bummed me out is I was super hungry and thirsty. I was like dying. But other than that, I was really excited. I wasn't nervous because Dr. Swistun gave me every single detail. I mean he's so detailed, and he sits with you for so long. Like, he's so good. So I wasn't nervous at all. I was a little anxious because I was excited, and I didn't know what they'd feel like in my body. That was kind of making me a little anxious. But I get to La Jolla Cosmetic, and immediately, they took me back in. And then he marked me up, and he said, "Well, on this side, we're going to do a mini-lift. So we don't have to do the lollipop lift. We're just going to move the nipple around. And then the other one, we're going to put in a fuller size because so they'll match."

Laura Cain (02:13):
He was telling me all these things. I'm like, "Just do what you... Look, just do whatever to make it look good to you."

Monique Ramsey (02:18):
Just make it look good.

Laura Cain (02:19):
"I trust you a hundred percent."

Laura Cain (02:23):
And so, they marked me up and then walked me into the OR. I'm kind of a freak because I love surgery stuff. Like I think it's all so incredibly interesting. Most people would probably pass out. I was digging it. I'm looking at those big, giant lights that they use and all the tools that they were going to use. And I'm like, "Oh." And the anesthesiologist was great.

Monique Ramsey (02:47):
Oh, good. Do you remember his name?

Laura Cain (02:49):
Gosh, darn it. If you gave me a couple of names, I would know.

Monique Ramsey (02:53):
So we have Dr. Young, Dr. Heinle, and Dr. Saltz. Dr. Saltz's husband is our one of our anesthesiologists.

Laura Cain (03:01):
Oh my gosh, I think it was Dr. Saltz.

Monique Ramsey (03:03):
He's such a great guy.

Laura Cain (03:05):
I mean...and he was so nice. I said, "You know, I might need more anesthetic to put me to sleep because I woke up during my colonoscopy, and I'm just afraid. I don't want to wake up during surgery."

Laura Cain (03:17):
He's like, "We've got you covered. Don't you even worry."

Laura Cain (03:20):
So then I just went in, and they put the little thing on my mouth. And next thing I know, I'm waking up, and I want to go back to sleep. So I went back to sleep. And I vaguely remember Dr. Swistun, like an angel, appeared above me, and he's like, "Are you okay?" His sweet little face, you know? And he's like, "What we did was this and this and that."

Laura Cain (03:44):
Of course, I don't remember anything, but he told me during my follow-up.

Laura Cain (03:48):
But he's like, "It looks great. You're going to do great. Don't worry." And then the anesthesiologist followed up with me, and I only took ibuprofen and acetaminophen. It was very... I want to say there's pressure, but it doesn't hurt.

Monique Ramsey (04:05):
Oh, interesting.

Laura Cain (04:06):
It doesn't really hurt, even though they cut the nipple and cut underneath. It's taped so well that I don't feel shooting pains or anything like that. I thought I would probably be hurting because they cut me, you know? But I'm fine on those meds, and then I'm on the antibiotic.

Laura Cain (04:26):
And then I went in for my follow-up yesterday, and he took it off. I'm like, "Oh my God, I'm scared. I'm scared" because it didn't really look like there was anything there because it's so bandaged up, you know. And then he took it off. I'm like, "Oh my God, I have boobs. I have boobs. It's so awesome."

Laura Cain (04:46):
It was so fun. And it didn't look gory to me at all. It just looked like... And then, and then, so he showed me another patient's progress photos. And he showed me the before, and then he showed me two days after. And they...she had gotten quite large implants, but that's not to say that the same thing's going to happen to me. But they were a little bit high. He says, "The muscle's kind of angry because it has this foreign object in it. And so, it calms down as the weeks go by." And he goes, "By six weeks, they're going to look like this."

Laura Cain (05:19):
And they looked great. They're down. They look great now. I'd be happy if they stayed this way. But he said that the muscle gradually relaxes, and they fall into place. That's what he said. And so I'm like, "I trust you, whatever you say. I believe you. But I am so happy. I am just thrilled."

Laura Cain (05:40):
I love him. And he's a good dresser too.

Monique Ramsey (05:44):
He's snappy, isn't he?

Laura Cain (05:47):
Snappy is the perfect word. It's snappy.

Monique Ramsey (05:50):
The last time he came on my podcast, which was last week, you know, I'm seeing him on Zoom, and I'm like loving the shirt. It was just...it was this cool print with two different prints and a jacket. I'm like, "Wow. He looks great."

Laura Cain (06:02):
Same, same.

Monique Ramsey (06:03):
I love that. It's fun. It's fun.

Monique Ramsey (06:07):
So that night, after surgery,...Was it Linda who took you home?

Laura Cain (06:12):
Yes, my friend Linda. God bless her. She had a blanket in the car for me. She went and got me a Jamba Juice. I guess I was mumbling all the way home about something. I don't know. I go, "Why didn't you videotape me? That's funny stuff."

Laura Cain (06:26):
And she's like, "I didn't want to embarrass you."

Laura Cain (06:29):
I was like, "Since when?"

Monique Ramsey (06:32):
Why stop now?

Laura Cain (06:33):
Why stop there?

Laura Cain (06:36):
But we got into bed, which wasn't a problem. I slept for like a whole day pretty much. And it was a little sore to hoist myself up, but I had one of those wedges. I ordered a wedge and one of those little pillows that you can sit up against. So I had both of those. So I slept kind of in an incline, and it was very comfortable. It was very fine.

Monique Ramsey (07:01):
You just slept on your back. Are you a back sleeper or a side sleeper or a tummy sleeper?

Laura Cain (07:05):
I'm a side sleeper, but I didn't have any trouble sleeping. I think now I could probably sleep on my side very gingerly.

Monique Ramsey (07:14):
Yeah, I don't know.

Laura Cain (07:15):
I was very careful. But he didn't give me any restrictions as far as sleeping and sleeping upright. I just did that because it felt more comfortable.

Laura Cain (07:24):
He said I can start bending my arm back against a door.

Monique Ramsey (07:29):
To sort of stretch those pectoralis muscles?

Laura Cain (07:31):
Exactly. I washed my hair today. I had no problem lifting my arms up, not one.

Monique Ramsey (07:38):
Oh, good. Oh, good, good.

Monique Ramsey (07:40):
Now do you want to share like what kind of implants he put in and how big?

Laura Cain (07:46):
You know, they give you a little card to keep in your purse, just so you know. But they're the Natrelle. They're the Soft Touch. And I think he put in 320.

Monique Ramsey (07:56):
320? Okay.

Laura Cain (07:58):
Yes.

Monique Ramsey (07:59):
That's like a nice, perfect C...Like average size, not crazy big, not crazy small, just sort of like, give you a good proportion.

Laura Cain (08:09):
That is precisely what I wanted. That is exactly what I wanted. And that's what he gave me. He's not like some of these doctors I've heard numerous times, doctors sticking in bigger ones because they thought it looked better and then the patient being like horrified. That happened to a couple of my friends, actually.

Monique Ramsey (08:28):
I've heard stories, and one Dr... I remember at a plastic surgery meeting, and he said, and he was joking, but then maybe not really. He was like, "Go big or go home."

Monique Ramsey (08:38):
I was like, "Well, that's not really what all of us want." Some people, sure. That's great.

Laura Cain (08:43):
And that's fine.

Monique Ramsey (08:44):
But, you know a lot of us just want to be curvy in a natural way.

Laura Cain (08:49):
Exactly.

Monique Ramsey (08:51):
And so, that's really nice. Now, did he give you any instructions of things to do specifically or not to do?

Laura Cain (08:59):
I see him in a week, and that's when he said he's going to give me the instructions on how to massage the muscle. So he's going to give me another week of healing, until I can start pressing down and doing these massages, I guess, five times a day for five minutes or something like that. But that's next week when I see him.

Monique Ramsey (09:19):
Okay. So one more week. And then, what does he have you wearing? Like, do you have a special bra?

Laura Cain (09:24):
Well, I have the very sexy nude-colored bra that it hooks in the front so it's really easy to put on. So there's no back issues.

Monique Ramsey (09:35):
Oh, right, you're not stretching back there. That makes sense.

Laura Cain (09:37):
Right. And I have a little bit of gauze. But today I put on a dress with no pads, just my boobs and this little garment that I have on. And I have a figure, and I'm like, "Oh my God, this is awesome. I'm never going to have to deal with the pads again." My whole life pads, pads, pads, pads, everything padded. And I'm just so thrilled.

Monique Ramsey (10:03):
That's so cool.

Laura Cain (10:05):
I can throw all those things away.

Monique Ramsey (10:05):
I'm so excited for you.

Monique Ramsey (10:06):
Yeah, right. That's incredible.

Monique Ramsey (10:10):
You say you got to see them yesterday. Tell me your first reaction when he takes all the dressings off.

Laura Cain (10:18):
My first reaction was, "Wow, that's what I'm supposed to look like. That's what my breasts are supposed to look like. Not these small kind of saggy breasts that I had before."

Laura Cain (10:32):
When he first opened it up and said, "Do you want to see?"

Laura Cain (10:34):
I'm like, "Yes, I do. I am totally okay with seeing any kind of stitches." And I looked, and I was like, "These are the absolute perfect size for me. How did you know?" And I guess he had Dr. Saltz in there with him, and they were bouncing ideas off of each other about should he put a bigger one on this side and on this side. And it turns out that they'd put exactly the same size in both breasts.

Monique Ramsey (11:01):
Oh, interesting. Yeah, because some women do have to have... Most of us have some asymmetry, so one side's bigger than the other. So a lot of times somebody might say, "Oh, I had 350 here and 325 there." And that's something that I think people don't realize. You know, we've got a group practice. We've got five amazing surgeons, and they do collaborate, and they do talk about things with each other to make sure it's like, you know, "What would you do? And what technique would you use?" And so obviously, they're experts in their own right.

Laura Cain (11:29):
But having that extra eye.

Monique Ramsey (11:32):
Opinion, yeah, is a really nice thing.

Laura Cain (11:35):
I was so honored because, I mean, Dr. Swistun, first of all, having him, I'm honored. But Dr. Saltz, I know that she is like the boob queen. I know several people who have gotten breast implants from Dr. Saltz. So I felt so honored she was in there as well helping me.

Monique Ramsey (11:50):
Yeah. Oh, that's neat.

Monique Ramsey (11:52):
Okay. So we're going to talk to you again in, let's say, in about three weeks, so maybe a month after surgery. So if you were going to make a prediction about how you're going to feel at that point, what would it be?

Laura Cain (12:05):
I'm going to feel so confident and so happy that I'm going to be able to accomplish anything really. There's going to be no part of my body that I'm ashamed of. How about that?

Monique Ramsey (12:18):
Ooh. I love that. I love that. That's awesome.

Monique Ramsey (12:22):
Okay. So now, Laura, tell everybody where they can follow you.

Laura Cain (12:26):
You guys can follow me at LauraCainAfterDark on Instagram and Laura Cain After Dark on Facebook and just plain old Laura Cain on YouTube. And I can't wait. This whole thing has been videotaped. She even came into that OR, and I'm really excited to see how all that turns out.

Monique Ramsey (12:47):
Yeah, yeah.

Laura Cain (12:48):
Maybe I can share some of that on my YouTube page. That would be awesome.

Monique Ramsey (12:51):
Oh, absolutely, yeah. What we're going to do is we're kind of filming the whole journey so that, at the end of it, we'll put together a little itty-bitty movie of your journey.

Laura Cain (13:02):
That's so great.

Monique Ramsey (13:03):
Yeah, that's in process right now.

Laura Cain (13:05):
Oh, yay.

Monique Ramsey (13:06):
Well, wonderful. If you're listening today, and you have questions, need information about scheduling or financing, reviews or before and after photos, check our show notes for links. And thank you again, Laura. Don't go crazy because you feel so good. Right?

Laura Cain (13:21):
I know. Please tell me that again. Please.

Monique Ramsey (13:24):
Don't go crazy because you feel so good.

Laura Cain (13:26):
Okay.

Monique Ramsey (13:27):
Because you don't want to set yourself backwards.

Laura Cain (13:29):
Right. I know.

Monique Ramsey (13:29):
There's nothing worse than feeling really good and overdoing it, and then all of a sudden, feeling like you did on day two. I think that's the biggest caution. It really is. Patients, I think, feel better than they thought they would. And then they're like, "Okay, let me go do this or that."

Laura Cain (13:46):
I feel like running errands and doing this and picking up that, but I can't pick up my dog. I know I can't do any of this stuff. So I'm trying to be good. So, I will. Thank you for telling me that again.

Monique Ramsey (13:59):
I may be your mom. Make sure. I'll just keep texting you, Laura. Take it easy. Take it easy.

Monique Ramsey (14:06):
Okay. Thanks everybody for listening. And we'll see you again next time.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
Take a screenshot of this podcast episode with your phone, and show it at your consultation or appointment, or mention the promo code PODCAST to receive $25 off any service or product of $50 or more at LA Jolla Cosmetic.
La Jolla Cosmetic is located just off the I-5 San Diego Freeway in the Ximed Building on the Scripps Memorial Hospital campus.
To learn more, go to LJCSC.com or follow the team on Instagram at LJCSC.
The La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast is a production of The Axis. T-H-E-A-X-I-S.I-O.