< Everything is working. The breasts must have re-energized and reformed
during the 14 years of periods and a pregnancy. I got to follow this dyad
from
the hospital to the home. I will still call them and be available to her
as
needed; >

What good fortune for you to be there in both roles! What about a case
study?

Two anatomical facts that came to me:

1) 50% of the glandular tissue is in the upper outer quadrant, and
another fair share is in the upper inner quadrant. Surgical records if
possible, to add to your excellent description, might reveal the
reduction took place in tissue that might contain more connective tissue
and doesn't ordinarily contain as much glandular tissue as the other 2
areas.

2) Other fact is that each new pregnancy causes renewed budding at the
end of the ducts to form new alveoli. Breast surgery in 1990, whether or
not there was a previous lactation, would probably have been done in
either an incompletely developed breast (nulligravida) or an involuted
breast (between lactation and subsequent pregnancy), so even the parts of
the breast that were not affected by the surgery would have developed new
alveoli as a result of the pregnancy.

I find this article fascinating and very instructive. I recommend it as a
reference if you decide to write a case study:
Russo J, Russo IH, Development of the Human Mammary Gland in: The Mammary
Gland, Development, Regulation, and Function ed. by Neville MC, Daniels
CW 1987 Plenum Press, NY. pp. 67-93.
Jean
************
K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC
Dayton, Ohio USA

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