McGilli's Story. Ongoing. PICTURE HEAVY

[McGilli]

Hey all. I'm totally new here. This will be my first post.

Ok. So, in my teens I started getting extra fat on my pecs. I remember in grade 8 one day after school I was walking by a baseball diamond with a girls team, playing. One of them yelled over to me to lift up my shirt. I didn't get it at the time.

Over time, They developed into loose skin, that sagged. Definitely filled with something fatty.

I have been lifting weights since 1986, which is when I ran into that girls softball team. Nothing hard core. I had these starting around the time I started lifting weights. I found then if I really worked on my chest, the issue would minimize. The loose skin would stretch. But you could always tell.

1999 I did a very low dose of D-Bol orally for one year. When I stopped, the fat under the skin started turning to lumps. I saw my doctor who sent me to a specialist who said it's just fat lumps and will go away soon. Then it went away.

Basically, I am very image conscious. I'm also a kind of perfectionist. I'm 40 now. For over 20 years I have been wearing baggy shirts. I pay attention to which way the wind is blowing outside. If it's blowing towards me I would always hold my shirt out more in front of me to hide it. I would never take off my shirt in public.

I have a daughter who's very young. And she doesn't know any better, and sometimes she will talk about my breasts. She does it in a harmless, playful way - but it gets to me. I never tell her to stop, because I don't want to bring attention to it or have her think there is anything wrong with it.


I decided to get this taking care of this past summer. I'm 40 now, and in the best shape of my life physically on the inside, but - it was just too much to have the loose fatty pecs on the outside. You know, being pretty lean, and having sex with a girl, and you look down and you have these little breasts hanging off u. Ugh. Makes me have bad dreams.

ok.

So these pictures are from beginning December 2012. As you can see - I don't carry much fat on me at all. I flexed in one of the pictures which makes the fatty parts more pronounced and hanging off.

3 DAYS PRE OP

 




Then here is a series of photos of me healing after the first surgery. You can see I had basically ZERO swelling at all... This is radically different from my second surgery...

1 WEEK POST OP



2 WEEKS POST OP



3 WEEKS POST OP



Now for a bit things looked pretty good

30 DAYS POST OP



But....

After a while - it became apparent that I wasn't happy with the results. After not wearing the compression vest things looked ok for a while - and then started to sag again. So here I am just a few days ago - getting prepped for the 2nd surgery to remove the stuff that was still in there. Also my left nipple attached itself onto my pec and did not look good when flexing.

5 MINUTES PRE OP REVISION




So I had the second procedure just 2 days ago.. I loved that I was awake and could watch the whole things and take pictures!

DURING REVISION





So now I am healing. have this tape done, and compression vest on again now.

But here I am right after the second procedure.

10 MINUTES POST OP REVISION



Now a few days later, I just had a look and this is where I am at. I have massive swelling. So this worries me because I never had swelling the first time...

3 DAYS POST OP REVISION





SO I'm not happy right now. The swelling has me down from reading online about blood accumulation etc...

I'll update over time as I can.... Any questions just ask, I'll reply.

[McGilli]

FEB 25 - 2013

I have an appointment this afternoon with the surgeon. When I had the 2nd surgery last week and he taped me up - he said the taping would be crucial to helping my chest take it's proper form while healing. Well, my chest has become so swollen, mostly on the right side - so i am going in to see him and see if he has any recommendations since the taping doesn't really work while I am ballooned out.

I'll take a my camera and update this post with pictures later tonight.

[LATER]

Ok did some aspiration on both sides. Got two syringes of blood from the right side and one from the left.

[McGilli]

It's been a few days - and my sleep is really brutal.

The last two nights, I wake up in the middle of the night, and both of my shoulder are in a lot of hurt. It's like, the joints.

I have a 'weak' right elbow from too many years of lifting weights that were too heavy for me. And if I ever do lift too much weight, my elbow gets really sore in the joint for a few days.

Well I am getting that in both shoulders now at night. No matter what position I sleep in - they just hurt a lot. When I wake up - both shoulders stop hurting immediately.

Never had this after my first surgery. I'll try an extra dose of advil and tylenol before bed tonight to see if it makes a difference.

-

After my first surgery - I would take off my vest for 5 minutes every night to have a shower, and take a picture of my chest. I did that every day for 6 weeks. Of course doing that - you never see any change in the chest because it is so minute every day.

I am not looking as much this time. I'll probably take pictures every 4 or 5 days this time around.

Itchy as hell though! I had that last time too. I know it's the stitches. Gives me the same feeling as having a tatoo - a few days later as the skin heals it gets so itchy. Can't scratch it though... just have to rub it

[McGilli]

MARCH 04 2013

Ouch.

Ok. I contracted massive swelling. So much that aspiration was not doing the job - and I had a third surgery - right there and then today.

I was in just for a checkup but - said he wanted to cut me open right there and then.

Essentially opened up both pecs, and then had to massage and squeeze out all of the blood that was clotting.

Then rinsed the insides out with water.

Put drains in and sewed me up.

I'm hoping third time is the charm.

[McGilli]

MARCH 08

5th day with the drains and all is looking good now. Has been draining well, and has slowed down. I'm going to keep them in for a few more days. For the most part the swelling is all gone. Looks like after I had my first surgery. I'm confident it's going to look really great once the healing has progressed.

[hammer]

I wish you a great recovery! I also hope that this will be the last time you need to have any surgery for this!


Bob

[McGilli]

MARCH 11

Drains are out!!!!



YOu can see the healing that has taken place in just the last 3 days.

There are some hard lumps here and there - but really - I don't care right now. I am just going to heal for now and enjoy the summer. Of course, the surgeon said Kenalog could be a possibility at some point down the road, and that's fine. But for now. I'm happy.

I'll keep updating weekly with a photo.

[tankkb]

looking better man good luck

[McGilli]

MARCH 14

So. I bought some new tops and wanted to try one on. So took off the vest. Not bad in my opinion. The picture is mirrored. So my right nipple you can see is still swollen. But it's early in the healing process. I can feel lots of hard material on both pecs - under the right nipple too.

So it might be scar tissue - probably after that seroma issue I had. But I'm ok with it. Will give it three months and if need be get some kenalog shots.

[McGilli]

MARCH 21

Things are coming along ok. You can't really tell, but the bottom of  both pecs seem to be scar tissue. Like an inch and a half long along the bottom. The left side is fine. The right side, the tissue is a little lower than the pec, so that's why the nipple is sticking out - because it can't hug the pec yet.

I went for an hour without the vest today. Surgeon said to start weening off of it slowly. And man - I got so much swelling. So I'm gonna keep it on again for a while.

Made the mistake of putting a tight compression shirt on today. While it looked good, I couldn't get it off after. It took so long and really hurt my chest. That pulling, tearing feeling...

[McGilli]

APRIL 03

I'm done with the vest now. And I'm back to the gym as of the last two days. Things are well. No problem getting any clothes on or off anymore. Practically all bruising is gone.

Saw surgeon yesterday and there wasn't much to talk about - really we just have to wait. Made an appointment for 3 months from now.

So. How is my chest?

Well - there is still much scarring under the skin. The left side isn't too bad. The right side though still has a lot - but it has been subsiding.

My right nipple is kind of folding in a bit on the top. That's because the scar tissue is propping up the bottom of the nipple - and then the upper scar tissue has been dissolving, so the nipple dips down a bit - and then the pec muscle.

Just have to wait for the all the scar tissue to dissolve and the nipple should start hugging the pec like the left side did. Also scar tissue right under the right nipple - like it makes it protrude a bit. Again - I'm fine with it. No rush.

Been wearing tight compression sports shirts every day now. I'm not embarrassed anymore of my chest.

I just need to start bulking up. Over the last 16 weeks - I was only able to work out 4 of those. So I'm pretty thin now. But that will come in time now that I'm back to the gym.

Overall - I feel confident and happy - and I feel like wearing tight shirts to show off my chest when I am out.

It's almost hard to remember what my chest was like before now... Seems weird...

[McGilli]

OMG.

I just went to the top of this post and looked at my before photos. Holy crap!!!! That's horrible! I can't believe I looked like that.

I mean - I had my first surgery 4 months ago. So - I guess I've just gotten so used to my new chest and not looking like that.

This is maybe the first time I've looked at those photos since posting them....

SO HAPPY I had the surgery... I can't imagine going through this summer looking like I used to...

[gynecomastiauk]

Hey McGilli, just found your post. Great to see you looking so confident in those tight tops! Looks like you have been through a tough time with your 3 procedures but things are looking great and I wish you continued success in your recovery. Really good post, so informative!

All the best
Stuart.

[McGilli]

That's a trip McGilli. Do you know what the substance was? Was it broken down tissue?

Well - if you look at the pictures up at the top of this thread - you can see my nipples were just hanging down on basically loose skin.

It was basically all just fatty tissue. My surgeon said it was different than anything he'd worked on before. Mine didn't have the breast characteristics, but were just hanging - and since they were filled with the 'stuff' the skin wouldn't contract.

They were completely squishy - no bumps in it at all. just glad it's all gone!

[jay adams]

What a trip. Looks real good now. Congrats!