Surgery with Levick COMPLETE (29-08-12) <pre and post op pics posted>

[sjwsjw]

In terms of changes in my life, I'm living the sort of life I always wanted to. Heading out on AU (athletic union) nights out in fancy dress, which I always avoided due to the inevitable topless costumes. I've joined the rowing club, concentrating on training to lean out a bit. I have no issue grabbing a shower at the gym, whereas before I would have gone home dripping in sweat due to the gyno. Oh, and the confidence in bars and clubs brings it's advantages, you can hold a strong body position, instead of hunching the shoulder, which is an immediate turn off.

Sounds like a dream, something people that have flat chests take for granted but to us is a massive boost. Always nice to hear that this does have that BIG impact on your life a bit further down the road of recovery Good to hear. Not long for me now til my op (29th Nov)

[darkstar]

In terms of changes in my life, I'm living the sort of life I always wanted to. Heading out on AU (athletic union) nights out in fancy dress, which I always avoided due to the inevitable topless costumes. I've joined the rowing club, concentrating on training to lean out a bit. I have no issue grabbing a shower at the gym, whereas before I would have gone home dripping in sweat due to the gyno. Oh, and the confidence in bars and clubs brings it's advantages, you can hold a strong body position, instead of hunching the shoulder, which is an immediate turn off.

Sounds like a dream, something people that have flat chests take for granted but to us is a massive boost. Always nice to hear that this does have that BIG impact on your life a bit further down the road of recovery Good to hear. Not long for me now til my op (29th Nov)

Hi man, you're absolutely correct. They are things people take for granted, and if I'm honest, I don't think I'll ever forget what an influence gyno had on my life. Keep the long-term goal in your head when you're in hospital and during the first week of recovery, when times are at their hardest.

Have to say though, people mention the "long road of recovery", but I've not really had a tough time yet (touch wood). I've not had many occasions where I've stressed or worried about the look (only the first few days after the bandages were taken off. I've not worried about swelling, or scar tissue, because I read the forums and fully expected the worse. When the actual process was much easier than my worse case scenario, my mindset was great.

Best of luck mate, you've made a very good decision.

Oh, I need to sort out a check up with Levick at sometime, he said to see him after 4 weeks, but I never felt like I needed to, Should probably go out of curtsy and to say thanks.

[darkstar]

Over the last few days I've began to notice some tingling and weird sensations in the nipples. Guessing it's the nerves beginning to reestablish. First time I noticed it I was up in front of 20 people doing a presentation, was a bit distracting...

[darkstar]

Thought I'd add a picture update. It's been 15 weeks since I had the surgery (times gone very quickly) and about 7 since I started heavy exercise. It's a comparison from a year prior to surgery summer of 2011) to now. So it combines the ongoing attempt to get into shape, with the gland removal.

As you can see, my LHS (right on the picture) looks slightly abnormal when I tense the muscle (as I was in the picture). A small amount of creasing + some scar tissue, but nothing that I or anyone notices when I'm topless.

Need to burn off another 5% of fat from the hips and I'll be happy to start to start to attempt to put on some muscle mass! Just have the long term of next summer in mind at the moment.

This will be my last post here for a while, I'll leave it and update when I am 6 months+.

Good luck to everyone

[about2change]

levick does it again.

also, good job getting into shape

[Damn7547]

Looking good man congrats need to push myself more now lol

[darkstar]

Hi all, randomly thought about the forum yesterday so thought I'd post a quick update.

things have been going really well. It's about 8 months since I had the surgery and I can honestly say that I often forget I even had it done. I've fully adjusted to live without gyne and the many benefits that come with it. It's not to say to expect miraculous lifestyle changes automatically, but it gives you the confidence to seek them.

I can't feel any scar tissue. I can count the number of times I massaged on one hand, now I'm not saying that massaging isn't worthwhile, I just think I was lucky.

I dropped a lot of weight over the winter, and reached a all time low of 11 stone. I was doing a lot of running and eating really clean. Now I'm in the process of trying to bulk up, by lifting weights (squats, dead lifts, bench press etc) and eating a lot. Not too worried about putting on fat as I'm trying to bulk up to play Rugby next season.

I've tried to post some pictures, but it says "Upload file is full", so not sure what to do. I'll try again in separate messages.

If anyone has any questions, I'll stop by a few times over the next week to answer them.

Looks like the Uk forum is still quite busy which is good to see, good luck for anyone having surgery/recovering.

Cheers

[wingman]

Glad to hear all is going well with you fella. Seems the only difference between me and you is that you manage to not think about it as regularly as I do! Hopefully I can catch up with that in time.

Well done for losing the weight, keep us posted with pictures of your bulking, I can't say I've known any major muscle gains after surgery so that would be interesting. That's if you can upload them!

Keep in touch.

[Ricardo7]

Darkstar keep us up to date with your bulk!

I had my surgery with Levick mid-January and have been bulking since mid-February. Put on around a stone in weight so far. It isn't overly noticeable as I was really skinny to begin with.

[LAL4Life]

 I wanted to get this surgery done so bad. But I am lacking funds (currently 1 grand short). Your progress is truly inspirational.