Moment of Truth: What Made It Into My Suitcase?

So I went off on another medical adventure. This time a pretty cool, hi tech one:  after multiple injuries to my knee over the years, resulting in lots of cartilage damage, and an unacceptable level of gimpyness - especially when living in a rugged landscape - and the utter failure of a laparascopic surgery, I opted to try something different. Really different. 

Regenerative medicine. I.e., try to grow some new cartilage. Something impossible to do until recently. How is this done? By 'harvesting' some bone marrow (for the stem cells), some fat tissue, and some plasma - all from your own body - and then reinjecting this yummy cocktail into your knee joint. Then, 3 weeks of crutches while you wait for your knee to act like a petri dish and grow new stuff. So I flew to my hometown of Salt Lake City, home of amazing sports medicine and orthopedic wizardry, for this pretty incredible, relatively non-invasive, low risk 3 hour procedure. 

Why is this relevant to bras? Because when you know that you need to be comfortable, period, it really clarifies your packing. So what did I take with me, in addition to a whole wardrobe of leggings and yoga pants? 

Preview of the chewed Bali, & a portion of the adorable Sheltie puppy, I refer to below (because, annoyingly, you cannot edit too far back in Blogger when using an IPad, without it locking up the post). But first, a pic of The Reillster chewing on something that is actually appropriate, his Xmas toy from Grammy, just to show that he can:

The Bali Comfort bras proved themselves indispensible yet again. I wore them 80% of the time. And the holiday photos reflect my softer, natural shape, but as it is sweater weather, it really wasn't as noticeable as I thought it would be. 

I did wear my Curvy Kate Gia once, pre-procedure, with a form-fitting long sleeve knit shirt and skirt. And my Anita Twin twice, once before, once after. But   most of the time, I automatically reached for the Bali Comforts. I tried to buy a few more, but the single department store in the island, Fred Meyer, had only a single XXL in stock. Guess what 'color'? That's right: the dreaded beige, a non-color, IMHO. So I made do with the two I have. Upon unpacking, I made the hysterically funny discovery that Reilly, my 7 month old Shetland Sheepdog puppy, had apparently made the aquaintence of the gray one at some unknown secret assignation in the laundry room, with these results:

Naturally, I did what any dog lover would: I shrugged, and wore it anyway. 

I did bring my Tutti Rouge Liliana as well, but never wore it. For the trip down, I wore my JMS Stretch Satin wireless, but went with the Bali on way home. I made another discovery re: underwires and crutches: they're a Don't. The crutches - even with added microfleece pads - still create a lot of movement against your sides, right below the armpit. Which coincidentally is right where the tip of the outer wires rest. Only a couple hours of this resulted in severe chafing and the retiring of any wired bras, no matter how soft, for the remainder of the next 2 weeks I will be on crutches letting the fluffy new cartilage grow. 

So I am all about wire-free, and chafe-free, until then. I'm wishing I'd stopped waffling over that Breast Nest that's been sitting in my amazon cart for 6 months. Sure, it's hideous and makes your boobs look like bizarrely seamed footballs, but no one would see it now, besides Reilly the Sheltie. And it isn't like he can judge me after shredding one strap of my Bali.