hey 9Wolf, could you please share your pre-op/post-op pics.
Thanks,
Karnik.
9wolf, can you share ur experience? who was the doc, did u get lipo/excision/bot done?
@Karnik:
I will post them as soon as I take some. I'll ask my PS to send me the pre-op ones.
@desi:
I've had GC since childhood and the doctors here in the US never knew what the heck it was. They just always said "it'll go away"... but obviously never did. I am 33 now and finally got it done. I was amazed at how prevalent the problem and surgery is in India and with how many Indians are affected. So I did my research amongst the Indian surgeons and after a few months decided on Dr. V.D. Singh in Chandigarh. I also needed my tonsils removed so I asked him if he knew any ENT surgeons in the area and he happened to have one at his clinic, so I was very excited...
When I finally got to CHD in the evening (via driver from the Amballa train station) I met with both surgeons and they agreed to do my mastectomy and tonsillectomy at the same time (first the mastectomy and then the tonsils.) Dr. Singh set me at ease and told me not to worry. My main concern was getting 'all' of the gyne out... in other words I didn't want any glands left and I told him that. After he looked at my chest he agreed that I had a lot of gland, more than fat. That was because I had been dieting for this operation for about 7 months and I had lost almost 60 pounds. I didn't want extra fat in the way during diagnosis and consultation. My severity on a scale of 1-10 was probably an 8. So that night I went and got my blood labs done right downstairs at the blood clinic. Then the next morning came in for the surgeries. As with others, the IV sedation was fast and I was out. Next thing I know, I am being awoken by the doctor and told everything went well. He said I have a completely flat chest just as I requested.
No more titties, no more tonsils. Unreal!!!
I had drainage tubes and very tight dressings, as well as regular stitches. After 3 days he removed the drains and checked for lumps, hardening. After 5 days, he removed the dressings and stitches and gave me the compression 'belt'. I had larger craters/depressions than most people since my glands were so large. It is an amazing feeling to see yourself 'normal'. It was also a little scary since after so long with the problem I felt disconnected to my chest, as if it wasn't mine. For a second I almost had 'separation anxiety' haha! There wasn't much pain at all in the beginning. After 2-3 weeks there was occassionally some sharp pain that lasted only a few seconds, probably from the chest healing internally. The first 3 weeks anyways all I could feel was the tonsil pain and didn't even worry about my chest. It's been a little over 6 weeks now and everything is going fantastic.
The one thing that differs from my experience than with 99% of the posters in this forum is that my surgeon didn't give me a 'vest', he gave me a generic 'belt' to wear for the first 6 weeks. It saves money, it works just as well if not better at compression since it is super-adjustable and is fairly comfortable, although obviously not as comfortable as a vest. These are the blue/rubber belts you can get from any drugstore for your abdominals/exercise. It's easy to put on and take off. The only thing is that it rides down although only a little since their is no shoulder support. You put on a tshirt first and then the belt over the tshirt. And then your normal clothing. I just received the UnderWorks muscle vest today so I'm going to switch over to that for another 6 weeks even though I don't need it since my 6 weeks are over. Well actually I do need it since I still have a very small amount of loose skin left because they were fairly large. So until everything is nice and tight I'll stick with it. I know to keep it on because I made that mistake of not wearing 'retainers' after I got my dental braces off when I was a kid. I regretted that. Haha...