Surgery is not far away...

[moobsbegone]

I like many of you grew up with Gyne. (This is the first time I've really discussed it, other than a few smart allecky comments when drunk to best friends and girlfriends)

I'm 27 years old and am both overweight and have Gyne. I lost 40 lbs a few years ago and the Gyne was still very apparent. So - yes, it is fat, but there is also a good amount of gland that needs to be removed.

I called Dr. Delgado to schedule an appointment a little more than a week ago and strangely enough there was a cancelation that day. I went to see him, saw his picture book, discussed the procedure, was examined and knowing he was the best of the best found my possible surgery times.

I'm going in next week for gland excision and lipo. I am also having the sides of my chest done with Lipo at his recommendation.

The procedure is NOT cheap. Nearly 11k total. 4.5 hours of surgery. 11k. Wow, I've been trying not to think about that. I think in the long run it will be well worth it. But for now it just makes my brain hurt. 11k. Jesus.

Whoever the dude is that paid $800. Keep quiet and don't remind me.

Dr. Delgado is very professional and so far I've been very impressed by his demeanor. It's a strange thing to talk to someone about gyne after all of these years. The bedside manner starts a little distant and he starts by asking you about your goals and about your "chest". It's easy to see he deals with many of these a year and finding the right way to discuss this issue and procedure with a wide variety of men has been crafted over the years.

I was in his office and noticed several women in to talk about breast augmentation. All I could think is... Dr. Delgado wakes up and is either taking boobs off of guys or adding boobs onto girls.

Everytime I get nervous about the surgery in any way I think about the deflating experience every morning I take my shirt off and look at my Gyne. I perk up and realize life will be different soon.

In talks with Dr. Delgado he mentioned that after the surgery I will have a good idea how well the procedure has come out but that about 3 months is when the results will be very close to what the long term results will be.

I'm not writing this to share my story for others - wish I was that brave. I'm really writing it for myself. I feel like Gyne has kept me back my entire life and it nearly brings tears to my eyes when I think about it. I have a great job, amazing friends and have had a fantastic love life. BUT - too many times I've made choices based on Gyne - clothes to hide it, ways to walk in the wind, never swimming (even though I love it). It's the fact that I constantly think about it. Every shirt or jacket I buy must pass the Gyne test. It's silly.

If I was brave and open about this I'd post pics, talk to my family and friends openly, etc... But - It's the one thing I've always felt so much shame about. Literally shame for something I could never control. I dated a girl for 2 years without ever taking my shirt off. How silly is that.

The money is hard to think about. But it's funny... as soon as I heard the number I didn't think about the number. I thought about a flat chest. I thought about swimming. I thought about never having the awkward moment with a new girlfriend about how I don't take my shirt off and how no I don't want to talk about it and yes, the more they want to talk about it the more the mood is gone.

This is a wall of words and I'm fine with that. This is for me. There are too many years of being quiet. Only one person in my life knows this is happening and then only reason I told them was I needed someone to pick me up and watch me.

Side note: If you can't afford the surgery and need a way to fund it... here's an idea... buy a website - helpmecutoffmymanboobs.com. If I had the guts I would do it... But the shame is too much. I know I shouldn't feel this way. Openness and honesty would be healthier, but I can't do it.

Frankly - I don't know what happens when people notice in the coming months. I don't know how to handle it or discuss it. I don't want to. I thought about leaving a job and doing it in between.

Recovery is a little scary. Six weeks until I can work out again?!?! Six weeks of wearing a vest.

How do I handle this time? How do I handle having my coworkers look at me and saying... "something is different about you"... I think I'll just keep wearing the old chest - hiding clothing. So many down vests and double pocketed shirts. So much hiding in plain sight.

I can't wait to be done.

[ajax6]

Wow - this sounds almost exactly like MY story.  I'm 26, was overweight my whole life then lost 40 lbs on Atkins a couple years ago.  Of course I could only use the treadmill upstairs because I wouldn't be caught dead in a t-shirt.  When this routine proved a non-effective means of reducing my "condition," I gave up.  Since then I've kept the weight down, but I go through periods where I starve myself because for some reason I think being skinny reduces the effect of the gyne.  I'm 6'4 and around 205 lbs, so most people's eye level is precisely at my chest; I must have done something wrong in a past life!

For the past few years I've been wearing size medium Fruit of the Loom "A shirts" which are just snug enough to flatten the moobs a little bit (however they're still visible, in my opinion).  I only wear button-down, cotton shirts with some sort of pattern (squares, etc) and I starch the hell out of them, which requires ironing EVERY SINGLE FREAKIN DAY, EVEN IF I JUST NEED TO RUN TO THE STORE, which makes me want to scream but I've been doing it for so long it's just a fact of life.  One of my biggest fears has always been that I'd be part of some team and we would all be required to wear the same t-shirt.  I know that sounds weird, but it's true... 

I am scheduled for surgery on December 14th.  No one knows about it, and I am flying out of town for the procedure.  Sometimes I get sad when I think about flying 3.5 hours, taking a taxi to the surgery center and being all by myself in a hotel room for 5 days...  Fortunately I've always been very independant, so I'm not worried about the logistics of it so much as the loneliness I'm sure to feel in the days immediately following surgery.  Oh well, as long as I've got my laptop and the remote, I'll be fine, right?!

That being said, the operation itself is costing $7,100.  The hotel came in at just under a grand and the flight was around $420 (including parking at the airport).  Taking into account incidentals, etc. the total pricetag for this fun little week is approximately $9,000.  ...but ya know what?  Who cares?  ...and here's why:

Have you ever had both hands full with heavy items and the wind shifts so you're walking INTO it; you can't adjust your shirt or turn around like you forgot something and a feeling of total panic comes over you?  Have you ever felt that pang of despair at the department store when you can't find a shirt that meets all the gyne-concealment qualifications?  Have you ever been walking past a group of people and felt like they were all staring at you?  When you're walking past a storefront or a large window, do you check out your side view and want to hide?  Do you come up with bull**** excuses when all your friends hop in the pool and you can't join them?

... and these are just SOME of the reasons why you can't put a pricetag on this surgery.  Anyway, I'm glad you decided to post; this is my first post as well.  I'm anxious to hear how everything goes with you; I hope it all works out.

[moobsbegone]

Ajax - It's funny... who we are chatting through a computer probably thousands of miles away... But I actually feel very close to you... Because I know your pain and you know mine. My comments post op are at the link below.

I'm 6 days post op now.

http://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/index.php/topic,12364.0.html

[GynO_DuDe]

11k ... I paid 4k in GBP. So thats about 8k then?? Well either way, fact of the matter is choosing the right surgeon for you. I was happy I went to mine as he also had Gyne surgery performed on himself and seemed to put me at ease.

Trust me mate, all us post op peeps suffered big time before the operation ... the only thing in my mind was my gyne, I can still feel it now, and if im being honest with you, I STILL DONT WEAR T-SHIRTS NOR CERTAIN JUMPERS, my brain is locked in a position where I think my chest is still their but in reality its not, its going to take me time to adjust to the new me. Im 20 going to be 21 in February and i'll be 6 months post op on my birthday will probably visit my surgeon for a 6 month checkup just so I can put my mind at ease knowing that he's seen the results of healing etc and that I truly am now gyne-less.

Any way, good luck with your op, and im sure everything will be fine!! Btw, regarding friends commenting ... TRUST ME, THEIR WILL BE MANY COMMENTS SO GET READY FOR THEM ... My best mate was telling me how a few of them were discussing my sudden weight loss etc and how I did it ... my best friend knows that I had the gyne op, and he also knows I been working my arse off at the gym BUT everyone else has their suspicions