Encouraging Words If You're Considering Surgery

[shimano]

I would like to encourage anyone who is seriously thinking of surgery to go for it!  Find the right surgeon and go for it.  This week I will be four weeks post surgery, and I have been thinking about some of the reasons why I was second guessing myself before surgery and how I feel now.  My journey isn't over, but four week into it I am a changed man and I am excited about the continued recovery.

• 1.
  • Q: Is this just a physical bandaid for a “psychological” problem?
  • A: I worried that plastic surgery would be superficial and that it may not allow me to gain an increase in self-esteem from the improvement.  I thought that it would be an artificial sense of self-esteem and not be the real thing.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  My confidence is raised from the moment I get dressed in the morning and no longer stress about what to wear, to when I walk down the hall at work standing up straight like I've never done in my life, to when I look in the mirror and just can’t help but smile.  It feels so good to have had the courage to go through with this.  Gynecomastia can make you feel very helpless because there are no quick fixes or miracle drugs to treat it.  So finally making the decision to do something constructive has been such a rewarding experience.  I just can’t describe the sense of accomplishment, and I didn’t even do the work; my surgeon did!
    
• 2.
  • Q: Will the time off from working out and being active be too long?
  • A: The first couple days after surgery I got a little cabin fever, but then I realized that this was a much needed break.   If you are like me, you have been working out like a maniac forever, trying to shed that excess “fat” on your chest.  As much as l like being active, having had this surgery and being ordered not to be active for a while has given me permission to just relax and take a deep breath and enjoy rest for a while.  After a couple days of watching TV, hanging out with my brother, and just taking it easy I realized that by having “permission” to not work out for a while that I really enjoyed the down time.  In fact I am really enjoying the down time.  It’s been great.
• 3.   
  • Q: Will you gain a lot of weight after surgery?
  • A: For me, I have actually maintained or even lost a little weight.  I think I tend to overeat when I am working out every day (bulking if you will), but by not being active for a month I have eaten a little less and maintained my weight.  My grandpa is a retired phys ed teacher and he told me that I looked great this weekend.  He’s a health nut so I take that as a great complement.  I can’t help but wonder if he noticed the change in my chest.
• 4.   
  • Q: Is the surgery “ordeal” just too much to deal with?
  • A: I didn’t think so at all.  Once you are there and in the hands of the surgery staff you don’t do a thing.  And I like that because I am a very independent person and like to be in control of my life, but a break from that is sometimes “what the doctor ordered”.  The nurses, anesthesiologist, and doctor(s) will take good care of you.  And you will fall asleep within seconds of getting your anesthesia drugs and it will be all over when you wake up.  The pain, compared to many other surgeries, is minimal.  One other thing before I forget…I did read on another post that one guy had a lot of chills, but not necessarily a fever.  I experienced that too.  For about the first week, and especially the first night after surgery, every time I would get up from laying down I would start shaking.  As soon as I sat or laid back down I was fine.  I didn't take my temperature but I know what a fever feels like and I’m sure I didn’t have one.  I honestly attribute the chills to the compression shirt (my doctor ordered a shirt instead of a vest).  I think that there was something going on between the warmth of wearing the shirt and the moisture wicking properties of the material, that my body was “confused” about maintaining its core temperature.  It was the weirdest thing to go from being warm to freezing, just by standing up.
• 5.   
  • Q: Will the anxiety over healing and surgery success be too much to deal with?
  • A: The hard part for me was just looking in the mirror the first couple times.  “No one looks good right after surgery,” I've read on some posts and it is true.  I consider my surgery a huge success, but the first time taking off my compression shirt to take a shower my chest and torso looked like an utter mess.  I didn't even have any dark colored bruising and my swelling was very minimal, but everything just looked odd.  Between the incisions, the missing hair (albeit just a little bit at the location of my incisions), the swelling, the change in appearance of the areolas, the bruising, and the fact that everything was flatter, it just looked different and a little messy.  I have dark black scabs on my incisions and I think I’m going to ask about putting something on them to soften up the incision/scabs.  That’s probably been my biggest concern, but slowly they are getting better.  One scar looks worse than other.  But every day everything looks better.  That has been my experience.
• 6.   
  • Q: What will I be able to do, and not be able to do?
  • A: I have a desk job, and I was still concerned about returning to work, driving, and all the normal day to day activities.  It really wasn’t anything to be worried about.  I was able to drive to work one week after surgery (I returned five days after surgery and my brother drove me the first two days).  Wearing a seat belt was probably the worst part for the first couple weeks.  It might be a good idea to tuck the should strap behind your back and just wear the lap belt (check your local seat belt laws .  Sleeping for me has been the other potential challenge because I normally end up flipping back and forth and sleeping on my side.  I've slept in a recliner ever since surgery.  From past experience with back pain and trying to sleep flat on my back I knew going into it that the recliner would be the way to go and it has worked out really well.  I’m really looking forward to getting back to my bed though.  If anyone knows how soon you normally feel like you can sleep on your side, let me know.  Throughout the past month I have realized that I generally have very little discomfort in the morning and then sometimes by the end of the work day I have a little soreness either in the chest or under the arms.  It is very minimal and it comes and goes and usually goes away just by changing the position of my arms.  Right after surgery it was difficult to lift my arms very high without feeling as if I was going to put strain on my chest, but now I am moving them pretty much every which way.  The hardest part for me hasn't been the day to day stuff, but just a couple of opportunities I've had to turn down.  You don’t realize how often you use your body physically until somebody asks you to help them move something or someone needs help with something at their house, etc.  You feel better every day though and do more and more every day without even realizing it.
• 7.   
  • Q: Will it be too hard to keep it a secret?
  • A: I try to live my life like an open book, so I thought it would be hard.  But my brother has been a big encouragement to me about keeping it secret.  I kind of wanted to tell my parents and he reminded me that they are very conservative and wouldn't necessarily understand.  I tend to confide in people I work with, but I really haven’t had the need to tell anyone there.  My coworker just had unexpected arm surgery (just two weeks after my gyno surgery), and so I've been able to empathize with him, without him even knowing that I just went through surgery myself!  Our society today is very respectful of privacy.  What was helpful for me was of course my brother.  He has been so good about the whole ordeal and helpful and we have grown closer actually.  And also the day of surgery I felt a little vulnerable and did share with two people on the phone that I was out of town having surgery, but again, in today’s world of privacy I was very vague and they respected that and didn't even press me on what kind of surgery I was having.

These have been a few of the things that I've been thinking about since surgery and wanted to share!

[Ak49]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience!  I'm having surgery in a month and have asked myself similar questions regarding is it a mental thing or will it be an instant self esteem boost.

[shimano]

Glad it helped.  I think "self esteem boost" is a good choice of words.  If there are deep-rooted self esteem issues in many areas of your life surgery isn't going to cure all of them.  But if there is an insecurity in this one area of your life, it will most likely address it, in my opinion.  Good luck with your surgery!

[terre]

Congrats to you and thanks for sharing!

[EY2012]

Hey mate how much did you end up paying?
thanks for sharing! very inspirational

[greg0rr4]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience!  I'm having surgery in a month and have asked myself similar questions regarding is it a mental thing or will it be an instant self esteem boost.

Good luck on your operation. Just focus and think that it is for your own good. Family and friends are your primary self esteem booster. So stick with them and think of them.

[TwinBridges]

Thanks for sharing your experience, I am just learning all about it at the moment.