Surgery with Dr. Benito

[gbs80]

Hello all,

Last friday I had my surgery done, I'm from Europe so I had the Surgery done by Dr. Benito in Barcelona (after lots of successtories on this forum).

I was very busy the weeks before surgery, so I really hadn't much time to think about it in those days. Shortly before leaving for Barcelona I got a bit nervous, and it was my expectation that I would be shaking when I would arrive in Barcelona.
On thursday I left for Barcelona with my girlfriend. We were picked up by a driver and the next day, Aida (dr. Benito's Assisitent) was waiting for us in the hospital, and she took very good care of us, and made us comforable. She's very, very, friendly.

I had the bloodtests done and then we went up to our room in the hospital. Benito came in and took some pictures of my chest, and made some drawings on me. Then the nurses came to shave my armpits and chest. Shorlty after that they came to bring me to the Operation room. I actually wasn't nervous at all, not even when they wheeled me in the operation room. They stuck a needle in to my arm (pre-anastesia), and not much later I went into the room where they would perform the surgery. Not much later (in my memory) I suddenly woke up in another room where it was very cold, so cold that my chestmuscles started flexing, which was a bit uncomfortable. I remember having a bit of pain, I mentioned this to the nurses and they gave me a painkiller through the tube that went into my arm, which made the pain go away very fast.

Then Benito came in again with some other doctors and nurses and they started pressing on my left side, which was very painful, to the point that I almost trew up. But, fortunateley I had nothing in my stomach.
One of the first things they told me was that the left side will take longer to heal, because.....I developed a hematoma..... Man, that sucked to hear!! To be honest, this was something I feared from the point that I decided to do the surgery... Sadly, that fear had become true....
Everything else went fine, but I started worriyng a bit.
Dr. Benito told me that I had to drain a little longer than usual. In the end, everything will be normal.

The next day in the evening Dr. Benito came to take out my drains and take of the bandages of my chest. This was a bit painful, but nothing to bad. I actually turned my head when he took the drains out, because the sight of two tubes coming out of two holes in my body wasn't that appealing to me!
Then I saw the results:
The right side is flat as a pancake, very unreal! It is actually so flat that it looks a bit unnatural, but in time I think it will look great. The left side is another story.....
It is uneven with the other side, because there is a weird looking shape on it, because of the hematoma. It is far from a pretty sight: there are big bruises and lots of purple spots and stripes from al the internal bleeding. For now it looks like a mess. The bruises and purple, spots and stripes are not what scares me , though. I know that will just go away (kinda like a black eye). Some of the bruising has made it down to the side of my tummy, where there is a weird looking, bruised, eggshape now.

What I'm truly scared about is that the sides will stay uneven. Dr. Benito assured me that this will not be the case. Because of the hematoma, it will only take the left side longer to heal, but eventually, the left side will almost completly be even with the right side.  And even now, it looks a lot better then before (expect for the bruising and the hemeatoma shape), but it's uneven. I always hear people talk about the great results right after the op, well that was not completly the case with me.

Obviously I trust the expert opinion of Dr. Benito, otherwise I woulden have chosen for him in the first place. He is a friendly guy and very professional and knowledgable on the subject. I would surely recommend him. Also, the whole team (aida, nurses, etc)  takes very good care of you, and makes you as comfortable as possible. It is just, very unsettling to see the shape on my left chest and to see the fact that my chest is uneven (now).
Maybe some other people with similar experiences can shed some light on this? Are there other people that developed a hematoma during surgery?

I think I will just have to wait. The days after the surgery were though, I experienced some discomfort, but I did get to see Barcelona. Luckily, my gilrfriend came with me to help with everything, and she was truly a great help. Where would we be without the misses? ;-) Man, to be honest, I was wondering how I could have done everything alone there in Barcelona. I read a lot of stories about guys going there alone for the surgery...kudos to them!

Also, sleeping on the back and the compression garment are a pain in the **s, but they are a small price, offcourse. The good thing is that I'm not experiencing any pain, just soreness.
The operation itself is truly nothing to be scared about. Obviously, this sounds very brave from someone who just had the operation, but I'm being totally honest. You have to prepare yourself for the first couple of days after the surgery, though. Lets, hope everthing works out fine, and if anyone has some questions, don't hesitate to ask.

I will keep you posted, and your advise and opinions are very welcome!

regards

S.

[outertrial]

A haematoma is basically swelling caused by bleeding, and reportedly occurs in around 10% of gyne ops. Its painful and takes a longish time to clear up because your body isnt very good at absorbing loose blood.

I can imagine its very painful and and unpleasant and I'm not surprised you feel down about it. But its basically unrelated to the eventual results of your operation. If one side looks nice and flat then thats most likely what the haematoma side will look like too, once the swellings gone down.

Glad you spent some time in Barcelona, I did too - also with the aid of the missus carrying my stuff for me, and we had a very nice little holiday I must say. I didnt mind the soreness at all because it just reminded me the gybe had gone and my new life had started, as is yours - best of luck with it!

[outertrial]

btw if you just type hematoma into the search field above, you'll find a lot of guys whove had the same problem.

[gbs80]

Hi,

Thanks for ther reply. The good thing is that I have virtually no pain, just a little soreness, even on the hematoma side. I think I'm getting a bit paranoid, though.

When I look down at the left side, I see the same contour of the chest as before the operation. And (but maybe it's just me getting paranoid) I have the feeling that has little to do with the hematoma. I seems like there is fat there....
At first the left side had a weird looking shape on it (from the hematoma) , now thats almost all gone and the contour of the chest is showing, which looks freakinly similar to what it was (albeit a little flatter and harder). I don't wanna be overly pessimistic, but I'm preparing for the worst. To be honest, I can't imagine that this side will shrink. I think a more realistic perspective is that it will swell up a bit, which is normal in the months of after the operation. If the right side swells up a bit, that wil be a good thing, but the left side is again another story. I would like to hear experiences from other (Benito) patients about this.

Well, I just have to wait. Before the operation I must say I was prepared for everything. But, I had imagined that (if only) right after the op the results would have looked great, which was sadly, not the case. The next months are probably gonna be very exciting and stressfull. Within a month I will have to send Benito some pictures, and in four months I have to visit him. Lets hope things look better by then.
I will, however, be absolutley honest to him about me being satisfied with the results or not.

Then another question: what kind of compression garment did you guys get? I thought a would get a vest that would be made for this kind of thing. Instead I  got a Waist Trimmer band, which I suppose to wear on my chest. It's kinda like a big elastic band which you have to put around your waist normally (now around the chest, obviously).

Regards

S.

(Ps. I actually read quite a few stories on this board about hematomas. My girlfriend told me to quit doing that because it makes me paranoid ;-)).

[chubs]

glad you went through with the surgery.  I just had mine done in Tijuana Mexico, by Dr. Salas.  It was a nice experience, good luck with the healing.