What’s a girl to wear?
Poor Fiona had surgery last Tuesday to remove two rather large fatty tumors that were protruding from her chest and dangling like two sweater puppies, if you catch my meaning. At her age, 14, I wouldn’t have considered the surgery but for the fact that they drooped off her chest so far that one was getting perilously close to the ground. I feared if I did nothing, those low hanging fruit would eventually begin dragging along the ground, becoming infected, unless I found a bra to fit her Rubenesque physique.
Fiona, age 7 (2008)
When I picked her up after the surgery, she was wrapped in a sleeveless sweatshirt that was tied up in two places in topknots held together with stretch bandaging. The location of the staples, about 50 in total, was such that the cone of shame could be avoided, but, she still needed to keep her wounds covered.
I had reached out earlier to the online basset hound community asking for advice. I got several good answers, the best seemed to be children’s undershirts. I’d picked up some cute little girl’s camis thinking they would be perfect.Colossal failure. Even though I tried them frontwards and backwards, they fit not cover the staples. I tried cutting the straps and tying them better cover the incisions, but this, too, failed. So I fashioned a covering out of one of my t-shirts.
This required a large knot at the back, and pinned sleeves, but it worked. The next shirt was a much better color for Fiona.It, too required a knot and sleeve pinning, but it brought out the color in her fur that is much grayer than it used to be.
I finally found the perfect solution: boys small undershirts. The sleeves need no pinning. The middle is still a little big, but that problem can be easily resolved with a few more pins.
Fortunately, Fiona has been a good sport about wearing the shirts. Even so, I;m not planning on getting her a Hallowe’en costume.
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