My surgery with Sue T

[bdox]

Hey guys. Just thought I'd make a thread about my journey to get rid of my gyno as my surgery is coming up fairly soon (next week).

I'm a fit and healthy 23 year old living in Melbourne. I'm pretty sure I've gnyecomastia since I was 14. Mine has always been a fairly mild case, luckily, and I've managed to conceal it pretty well (I play footy for a local club, work out regularly, etc) and have never really had any comments from people/mates. However over the last couple of years it has become a lot more noticeable to me so earlier this year I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get rid of it.

Consultation

I booked a consultation with Sue in early June for the 9th of July. After plenty of reading on this site and others, she seemed the obvious choice due to all the positive feedback others have posted about her. She was really nice about it, had a quick look at my chest and said that I'll only need excision, no lypo, and basically explained the procedure, the minimal risks involved and recovery process. The whole consultation probably took around 25 mins and cost $175. From memory, I got back around $70 of that from Medicare.

I then booked the surgery in for next Wednesday (Oct 2nd) as it is my week off from uni and being in the final year of my degree the only real time that I could get it done before summer really kicks in. Sue's fees are $3500 and the Anaesthetist's fees are $1200; I won't need to pay for my stay at the clinic as I have private health insurance.
I'll also be able to claim back around $500 overall from Medicare and my health fund from Sue's fees once the op is done. The anaesthetists said I should be eligible to claim some of the $1200 from Medicare and my health fund apparently cannot give me an exact figure until after the procedure.

It's fair to say the nerves are building slightly but I'm also bloody excited to finally get rid of the gyno! I'll definitely update this thread post op and try and get some pics up as well!

Happy to answer any other questions.

Cheers, bdox.

[zikan]

hey mate,

I hope your surgery went well!  It looks like it was today!
I have my consultation with Sue on the 5th of December.
Can you please tell me how you go?    I am really interested to hear about your experience.
I am the same age as you, fit and healthy. Mine is a mild case too.
Can you tell me about how much you paid in the end?  and what health fund you are with? did you get a medicare rebate?

I have to fly from Sydney, because there really isn't anyone with her reputation over here.

Oh yeah, post some before and after pictures!

[bdox]

hey mate,

I hope your surgery went well!  It looks like it was today!
I have my consultation with Sue on the 5th of December.
Can you please tell me how you go?    I am really interested to hear about your experience.
I am the same age as you, fit and healthy. Mine is a mild case too.
Can you tell me about how much you paid in the end?  and what health fund you are with? did you get a medicare rebate?

I have to fly from Sydney, because there really isn't anyone with her reputation over here.

Oh yeah, post some before and after pictures!

Hey pal. Surgery was yesterday and it went well! I'll try and sum up the day for you.

I got into the Linley Clinic at around 7:30, filled in my paperwork and was taken to my room at about 8. I met the Anaesthetist who basically reassured me how low the risks of anything going wrong are as I was fairly nervous. Sue also came in and drew some pictures on my chest just outlining where she will remove the gland from. Then I was left in my room for another hour or so as Sue had one patient before me. Nurses came in and gave me some stockings, took my BP and just confirmed all my details, etc.

Then, at around 10 I was taken into the operating room. All I remember was laying down and the anaesthetist holding a mask down on my mouth/nose and telling me to take deep breaths. After a couple of these, everything went hazy and their voices all seemed to fade into the distance and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the recovery room, apparently I woke up around 12. The next couple of hours are fairly foggy but I remember waking up in a bit of pain and getting something injected into the IV which put my back to sleep for a bit. I also remember being bloody thirsty and am fairly sure they gave me something to drink! I was obviously saying some pretty stupid and kept repeating myself to the nurses because I remember one of them saying "that's the fifth time you've said that" (no idea what I had said though!)

I vaguely remember getting wheeled back into my room and spent the next couple of hours in some sort of sleepy semi - conscious state. Sue and the Anaesthetist came back in at around 2pm and just explained that everything went well, asked me how I was feeling. Sue said she removed the same amount of tissue from both sides. I asked if I could see what she'd taken out but apparently it had to be sent off to pathology. Then I just relaxed for the next couple of hours, listened to music until a nurse came in and removed the tubes - I've read about a lot of people saying this was uncomfortable but it wasn't really much of an issue for me, I barely felt them getting pulled out. I got picked up around 5pm, feeling a little dizzy but ok.

Right now I'm about 24 hours out and in hardly any pain unless I make sudden movements. There seems to be a bit of swelling but the bandages and compression garment are fairly tight and seem to be doing a great job - with a t shirt on my chest is basically flat which I'm loving. Sleeping is an issue as I never really sleep on my back so this is definitely going to be a bit of an adjustment for the next couple of weeks. I'm going back in to see Sue tomorrow morning and get my stitches taken out and the bandages removed so I'm looking forward to seeing what my chest actually looks like now!

I got my receipt for the $3500 surgeons fee last week and am waiting for the receipt from the anaesthetist before I claim anything back. My understanding is that of the $3500 I'll get around $550 back from both medicare and my health fund (I'm with DefenceHealth - top cover) and I'm still not sure how much I'll be getting back from the $1200 for the anaesthetist. As I mentioned, I didn't pay anything for my hospital stay. It looks like I'll be about 4k out of pocket for the whole thing which isn't too bad at all - I've seen people on here paying a lot more so I guess I have been lucky.

I definitely recommend going with Sue mate, as would many others on this forum. She clearly knows what she's doing when it comes to gyno and the whole experience yesterday was a lot less daunting than I thought it would be.

I'll get some pics up once I've got the bandages/etc off!

[zikan]

I really appreciate your reply dude. thanks a lot. You pretty much told me everything i wanted to know.  She didn't do lipo on you at all?  I went to another surgeon in sydney and he told me that he would do lipo and an excision. which is strange because i have quite a low body fat %. obviously i'll need to speak to sue about that but yeah just wondering if she did it on you?   

as for sleeping on your back - same boat. that's gonna suck. how are you coping a few days out now? has she removed bandages yet?      also how many post op consults will there be?   just curious since i'll be flying back and forth.

[bdox]

I really appreciate your reply dude. thanks a lot. You pretty much told me everything i wanted to know.  She didn't do lipo on you at all?  I went to another surgeon in sydney and he told me that he would do lipo and an excision. which is strange because i have quite a low body fat %. obviously i'll need to speak to sue about that but yeah just wondering if she did it on you?   

as for sleeping on your back - same boat. that's gonna suck. how are you coping a few days out now? has she removed bandages yet?      also how many post op consults will there be?   just curious since i'll be flying back and forth.

Nah no lipo at all mate. Sue didn't seem to think it was necessary as my body fat is pretty low and all my gyno was basically gland/tissue. If yours is similar, and you say your BF is fairly low, then I daresay you won't need lipo either.

I went in yesterday to get the bandages off which was bloody painful - definitely recommend shaving your chest before surgery. The nurse just put some tape on each side and told me to take it easy for the next week. My chest looked really flat and I was pretty stoked to see the difference, but it seems to have swollen up a little in the last 24 hours...nothing major though. I have another post op next week on Tuesday and at least one more post op consultation after that - so at least three post ops for me a this stage.

Hope this info helps.

[zikan]

hey mate! your info helped big time. thank you! i can't wait for my surgery.  do you have any before an after pics?  how's your recovery?

[jamescones]

How is it all going brother?