I’m 40. My gyne started in my late 20’s. I hadn’t really noticed it myself until a friend I hadn’t seen in a while took one look at me and said “hey, you growing boobs or what?”. Some friend, ya I know.
I then spent the next dozen years trying every method known to cover up the problem. Working out, losing weight (only enhanced the problem), wearing large oversized thick shirts, multi-shirt systems, wraps, tight shirts and finally, withdrawing almost completely from social settings.
The biggest problem was always summer and how to cover up sufficiently yet not sweat buckets. I used a system of a loose underarmour shirt plus a technical adventure trekking shirt (more wicking) that I only buttoned up three buttons, to give enough looseness that it seemed to hide things pretty well. But what I couldn’t hide while walking was the jiggling. Ever seen a woman go braless in a t-shirt? Felt like that and coupled with the looks I got from everyone staring at my chest, must have looked like that too.
Finally, in 2010, I pulled the trigger and paid for a flight from Vancouver to Toronto to consult with 2 docs, Drs. Lista and Fielding.
Dr. Lista Consultation – I didn’t have the best experience here. Walking in to the reception room it is filled with females. I’m the only male and immediately get the distinct impression everyone’s staring at me and wondering what I’m doing there. It was summer, hot and thus I felt even more self conscious. My appointment time came and went. About 1.5 hours later I’m finally called in. The first question from Dr. Lista: “So, what do you want?”.
Seriously! I’m hoping I caught him on a bad day because the rest of the little time I was there (10 minutes) was not enjoyable. He seemed to be in a bad mood and provided only minimal responses to my questions and no proactive discussion of my condition and what to expect with surgery. He confirmed I had a moderate case of gyne and quoted me a price of $5,500 including taxes. I walked out much more dejected than when I walked in.
Dr. Fielding Consultation – Night and day! The reception room was mostly males and although my appointment time was late again, it was only about 30 minutes. Standard for most docs I suppose. Dr. Fielding was incredibly welcoming. Put me at ease right away and asked all sorts of questions about me and my gyne. Confirmed the diagnosis and then went into detail on the procedure, payment for out-of-province folks like myself, where/how to recover before flying home, etc. Quoted price was $2,800 including taxes. Note, the difference in price is directly related to the surgery location. Dr. Lista performs the surgery in his private clinic and has to pay the anesthesiologist, nurses, etc., out of his own pocket, whereas Fielding does the surgery in the hospital. The hospital room, surgery room, anesthesiologist, nurses, etc., are all paid for by the Ontario medical system and the $2,800 is Fielding’s fee for himself only. This is the case for gland and lipo though. Lipo only and you have to pay for everything including the hospital component. I walked out of that consultation with my faith restored that surgery was what I wanted to do. I booked it for February this year as I had other commitments and couldn’t do it sooner. Besides, I wanted a winter surgery so that I could cover up the compression vest with heavier shirts.
Surgery!
I flew into Toronto the day before to avoid the red eye flight. As it turned out that was a good thing as Toronto got hit by a major snow storm on the morning of my surgery. I didn’t check to see if the red eye was cancelled, but did hear that 25% of flights were cancelled that morning. I was told to show up for my surgery by 11:00. Not sure why so early as the surgery wasn’t scheduled until 2:00, but I guess there can be delays with the check-in procedure so perhaps that is why. Walked to the second floor surgery reception and spent the next 15 minutes checking in. It took longer I think because I was from out-of-province. Still, relatively painless as I just handed over my Care card and signed my consent forms. I was then sent to the surgery wait area where you change into the gowns, have your blood pressure, temperature checked, etc., and then waited for my name to be called. And waited and waited and waited. I was called at about 2:30 and taken to another holding area. Dr. Fielding came out to greet me and see if I had any questions and then I was whisked into the surgery room as they were behind schedule. I was hoping to ask the anesthesiologist some questions before we started and although that did happen, it felt rushed and I would have preferred meeting him outside the surgery room. Anyway, they told me I’d start to feel tired and next thing I knew I was waking up in the recovery room and told everything went well.
I didn’t think I had any pain…but then the anesthesia must have started to wear off. Others here have described it as a hard chest post-workout type of pain, however, I wouldn’t describe it like that at all. More like an all over chest pain that is dull when just resting, but stinging if you try to move around, sit up, etc. They gave me a couple of percocets which made things better but I could immediately tell when they wore off. We switched to T3’s immediately as the pain wasn’t too terrible, but I wish we had stayed with the percs for a little longer. I was taken to a semi-private room and stayed the night (Dr. Fielding arranged this to reduce my hotel costs. With Dr. Lista you have to stay at a hotel room and pay for a nurse to escort you there and stay with you). I was grateful as I’ve always had positive hospital experiences and preferred to be there in case of any complications.
In the morning Dr. Fielding came to check on me and tell me how the procedure went. Everything went well and he was really pleased with the shape and final result. Checked for hematoma’s, provided some info sheets and then said I was okay to discharge and we would discuss more during my followup visit the next day. I checked out, took the street car to the hotel (asking others to lift my suitcase on and off the streetcar), checked in and then had a nap. I didn’t sleep well at the hospital with the pain and on my back sleeping. I then got up and decided to walk around Eaton Centre mall for a while as I was bored already. Walking was very slow, but manageable and I felt better moving around than staying in bed. Not sure if that was the smartest thing to do, but later Dr. Fielding told me I could walk around as much as I wanted as long as the pain wasn’t too bad. So I spent the next 4 days of my recovery walking around downtown Toronto quite a bit. I bought a day pass for the transit system and used the subway and streetcars whenever I became too tired. I highly recommend that approach as the subways and streetcars are much smoother than buses and taxis on pothole filled roads. Saw a Raptors game, went to a pub to watch UFC, went to the Royal Ontario Museum and walked many many kilometres over those 4 days. The pain stayed fairly constant over the first few days and I chalk that up to probably doing too much. Once I was back home and confined more to the house, the pain problems seemed to have rapidly disappeared.
At the followup on day 2 post op Dr. Fielding explained how the procedure went and what he did. First through the side and then through the nipple to get gland and remaining fat/breast tissue. He made a comment about some “nodules” near the nipple that caused some problems, but that he was able to get them out and no further issues resulted. 500cc of fat/tissue/gland removed (I forgot to ask if that was total or each side). Interestingly, and perhaps different than some other surgeons (?), but he used these round foam sticky pads that go over each breast and that can’t be removed for 6 to 7 days post op. So I didn’t see the results until day 7 post op (photos below). I’m now day 9. The compression vest goes over the foam pads. I didn’t realize this was a different approach until reading and viewing pics on this site and it seems others get to see the results much sooner (don’t use the pads). If anyone knows the purpose of these let me know. Compression vest to stay on for 3 weeks. I asked if I should be massaging afterwards and he said only if I notice the nipple or breast starting to adhere to the muscle. Seems like everyone else here is recommended to massage regardless so not sure why that wasn’t a standard recommendation? Again this was a good visit and Dr. Fielding was very friendly. Asking questions about my plans, suggesting things to do, yet still providing care and answers for the procedure. I brought in a list of 11 questions I had and we went through each one. His approach certainly puts the patient at ease. I’m still a little shocked at the grumpy reception I received at Dr. Lista’s and wonder still if that was just a bad day or if typical.
Expectations and Results – First of all, I think my expectations might be lower than others. Or maybe realistic for my case of gyne. The surgery provides an improvement, sometimes an incredible improvement, but I never expected to walk out of this looking 100% chiseled and buff. I’ve had gyne for at least a dozen years and over time have almost completely withdrawn from social settings and the gym. It has caused extreme anxiety and depression which I won’t go into, but needless to say my dream result would be one where I could just wear a t-shirt again. That’s it. 100% success would be wearing a t-shirt on a summer day. I wasn’t worried about scarring, perfect looking contours, sensitivity, etc. Just wanted to have my life back again and be able to walk proudly in a t-shirt. Mission accomplished. And then some (at least so far)! My chest is flat! My wife was worried about it being too flat which I laughed about and said “no such thing”! I can always build up with muscle now that I can actually go into a gym again!! I have 100% feeling across my entire chest area and both nipples work (erect when cold). One nipple looked a little folded over but I’m sure that will work itself out over time. The recover and final configuration is not really evident for 3 months to a year so there is plenty of time to see how it all shapes out.
Okay, time for some pics and I hope to provide updates as the healing continues.
Stats:
Age – 40
Height – 5’11
Weight – 185lbs
Surgery Date - February 2, 2011
In the pre-op photos notice how the right breast is (no, was!) bigger and lower than the left. Also note that my gyne doesn’t look quite as bad as it normally does. I was 196lbs about a month pre-op before deciding I should try and be slimmer for the surgery. Much running later and it seems to have helped tighten things up a little with less of the droopy effect. In 2008 I was 165lbs after an extreme blitz of running in prep for a half marathon and to see if I could lose the gyne at all. I ran at night or in empty forest trails behind my house. The gyne didn't go away at all from the running and probably looked worse as my skinny body (then) only highlighted the problem. Being ‘fatter’ actually seemed to hide the problem better! Okay, I’m rambling, pic time:
That's it. On the other side now. Finally.
Topic: My journey to surgery – Vancouver guy goes to Toronto (Thanks Dr. Fielding!) (Read 16343 times)
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