Man on a mission !

[Angel_of_Death]

Random thoughts on working out and getting surgery - 17 days before surgery

I've been working out since April 2007, so for one year...I'm really glad I joined a gym. Training on a regular basis has put my body in a great shape. Well, great minus the boobs. In one year, I managed to lose 7 pounds, which is not much, but considering all the fat I replaced with muscle, it's actually very good.

The key for me was motivation. My mind was already made about having surgery, and I personally didn't see the logic of paying so much money to get surgery and still look fat. Motivation in me was high enough to maintain for one year a constant average of going to the gym about between 3 to 4 times a week. Recently however, like in the last couple of weeks, my motivation (for gym) has been at it's highest. I've been pushing myself to go to the gym everyday, the only days I don't end up going is when I play soccer. And the reason is probably because surgery date is in less than 18 days.

I think being in good shape for surgery could be an advantage, I think it makes it easier for the surgeon to operate, which should technically lead to better results. Another advantage might be quicker healing...I'm not too sure about all that tough, maybe someone could clarify ?

[George Pope, M.D.]

Angel,

I agree with Donnieosmond that you should really consider telling your parents about your upcoming surgery.  I'm a plastic surgeon AND a dad - I would hate to think that one of my children wouldn't want to confide in me about upcoming surgery.  And you're having surgery in another city, traveling by plane.  Even if your parents didn't go with you, it would be safe to provide them as a contact in case of an emergency. 

My son suffered with bad acne in high school, (now in college), to the point where it was all over his back.  He always swam in a T shirt, and I thought that was because he was heavy and embarrassed about his weight.  When his dermatologist finally put him on Accutane, he got motivated to lose a lot of weight (75 pounds).  His acne cleared on Accutane as his weight dropped, and it was only THEN that I learned he'd had severe back & shoulder acne.  I felt really bad as a dad, as my child didn't feel he could come to me for support.

So, think about it.  And good luck.

Dr. Pope, M.D.

[MRS. MOM]

Angel,  Very excited for you!  If your parents only knew what you have endured they would be very proud of you.  I just wanted to let you know that not all surgeries end with bruising and scare tissue, I was quite amazed at how well my sons turned out, and he had severe #10 case.

I just got this email from him: 
I don't have any more bruising or anything, and the baggy skin seems to
be tightening up a bit. I have been using the lotion that you bought
and it seems to be helping somewhat. I just got back from working out
and I didn't have any complications or pain, so that is a good thing.
There doesn't seem to be any damage to the muscle or tissues around it.

You will be fine, keep up that positive thinking, and I will say a prayer that all goes well.  Keep us informed, and continue to share your excitement!  Congrats to you!

[Angel_of_Death]

Angel,

I agree with Donnieosmond that you should really consider telling your parents about your upcoming surgery.  I'm a plastic surgeon AND a dad - I would hate to think that one of my children wouldn't want to confide in me about upcoming surgery.  And you're having surgery in another city, traveling by plane.  Even if your parents didn't go with you, it would be safe to provide them as a contact in case of an emergency. 

I agree with you 100%. It would be "better" if I told my parents, not telling them is a bit un-ethical on my part. They as parents deserve to know. But knowing all that, my decsion is still the same of not telling anyone. And I did give it alot of thought.

My son suffered with bad acne in high school, (now in college), to the point where it was all over his back.  He always swam in a T shirt, and I thought that was because he was heavy and embarrassed about his weight.  When his dermatologist finally put him on Accutane, he got motivated to lose a lot of weight (75 pounds).  His acne cleared on Accutane as his weight dropped, and it was only THEN that I learned he'd had severe back & shoulder acne.  I felt really bad as a dad, as my child didn't feel he could come to me for support.
So, think about it.  And good luck.

Dr. Pope, M.D.

While growing up, I tried to "hide" my problem. Living in the same house, of course everyone was aware of my gyne. But that didn't push any of my parents to approach me about it and try to understand how miserable it made me. Of course I tried to hide my emotions about it, mainly because of my embarassment, but still, over the years the gyne led me to be very depressive, I got social phobia as well. I showed alot of signs of concern, but my father specially never approached me on a personal level and try to understand what I was going trough. He was at times very critical about the way I looked and has already made some harsh comments, but he only did this on a couple of occasions in the past 10-11 years. I don't blame my dad for this, that's the way he is and his qualities of being a good father overmatch his in-ability to connect with me personally. Had he been open with me from an early age, and had we developed a better personal relationship my decision might've been different today.

But in the end, my ego and pride is too strong. I'm not telling.

I do wanna thank you for your support. It's very much appreciated. 

[Angel_of_Death]

Angel,  Very excited for you!  If your parents only knew what you have endured they would be very proud of you.  I just wanted to let you know that not all surgeries end with bruising and scare tissue, I was quite amazed at how well my sons turned out, and he had severe #10 case.

I just got this email from him: 
I don't have any more bruising or anything, and the baggy skin seems to
be tightening up a bit. I have been using the lotion that you bought
and it seems to be helping somewhat. I just got back from working out
and I didn't have any complications or pain, so that is a good thing.
There doesn't seem to be any damage to the muscle or tissues around it.

You will be fine, keep up that positive thinking, and I will say a prayer that all goes well.  Keep us informed, and continue to share your excitement!  Congrats to you!

Thank you for the kind words MRS MOM. I'm really happy for your son and hope my results turn out as good as your son's.

[to-be-or-not-to-be]

wow...what a coincidence.... i have a surgery on the 23rd with Dr. Fielding at St. Joseph Health Centre at 11 am.
What time is yours?

[Angel_of_Death]

wow...what a coincidence.... i have a surgery on the 23rd with Dr. Fielding at St. Joseph Health Centre at 11 am.
What time is yours?

Mine will be @ 8:00 AM. I was told to be there @ 6:30 AM.

[Angel_of_Death]

1 day pre-op : random thoughts

Surgery is tomorrow !

I am currently in my hotel room at Sheraton in Toronto, alone and chilling...Surgery is tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM, I have to be at the hospital around 6:30 AM.

I took the flight today with Westjet and the cab from the airport. I took the hotel for 2 nights and I will be leaving on thursday as my flight back to Montreal is already booked. Tomorrow however, I will be spending the night at St-Joe's hospital as I am alone.

My friends and family all believe I left town for a training related to work. So far my "lies" are going as planned.

Surgery being in a little more than 12 hours, my feelings are very stable. I don't feel excited, I don't feel nervous. I feel confident.

I will post back with an update on thursday as tomorrow I won't have access to a computer while at the hospital.

I wanna take this moment for thanking all of you for your support. Without this site, and without you guys I would've never been able to get to where I am today.

I'm ready to make the jump on the other side.

Wish me luck !

[Noseguard]

Good Luck!

Reading your story weeks ago I could not believe you could do it alone.  However, one week removed from my own surgery I am happy to report you should be fine.

The only hard part is the first 24hours, and even that is manageable. Still would prefer you had someone, but you will manage.

Have a great day tomorrow, keep us posted.

See you on the other side.

[Angel_of_Death]

Here is the full detail about my surgery experience. I have to say, after reading all the surgery experiences for many years now on this site, it's a special feeling to post my own.

I was glad to be able to get a good night sleep under the circumstances, as normally I assume most people would find it difficult to get to sleep as the mind must be racing with so many thoughts and feelings on the the night before the surgery. In my case, I was well relaxed and full of confidence. For me, the not being able to sleep and the mind going at 100 miles an hour was actually post-op.

Day of surgery (23'rd april)
My alarm went off at 6:00 am. I got up, took a shower, put my clothes on and grabbed a cab right outside the hotel. Got to the hospital and went on the 2nd floor as instructed and registered myself for surgery. Signed some papers and I was asked to provide " Someone we could contact in case something goes wrong ".... this brought me some chills (for reasons you know if u followed my story), and after hesitating a little I gave my mom as a contact. Thankfully there were no complications.

Then I proceeded as instructed to change to the hospital clothes. I met with 2 nurses, one of them was really hot. Anyways, they took my blood pressure, temperature, weight, height ect...They were actually impressed how calm and relaxed I was. For some reason, I wasn't nervous at all and was full of confidence.

I liked the fact that the whole process was really fast, from registration to meeting with the nurses, to Dr Fielding to come and get me in the waiting room. I probably had about 30 minutes of waiting time in total, and from what I had read in other surgery experiences on this site, I was expecting much worse.

Once we got in the operation room, Dr. Fielding drew with his markers on my chest. I asked him a couple of questions which he answered. His assistants were there as well, including the IV doctor. So I lied down and DR. IV put the IV in, and then put the mask on me...last thing I remember was saying to the whole staff " you guys have fun! "...to which Dr. IV answered "you too", and then boom! I was out...

Woke up in another room, there was a nurse there she asked me if I was feeling alright...I was still under the effect so I went back to sleep until they brought me to my room where I would be spending the night. When I woke up, the vest was already one me, and I had no pain...just discomfort from the tightness of the vest.

I was sharing the room with an old man, he was Italian. His condition was much worse than mine, from what I understood was that he got the same surgery 3 times, I still don't know what the problem was as he had a heavy Italian accent...The funny part was when he started to inquire about my surgery. After seeing me with the vest. It went like this :

- You got a surgery for the heart ?
- Nope, it's my chest.
- Lungs problem ?
- No. I had a lump removed.
- What you mean ?
- I had a growth on the chest
- What's that ?
- My chest was like a women, now it's fixed !

The expression on his face when I said that was priceless!

He was a good man. Actually, the whole day he had family over visiting him. At one point they were probably 5-6 visiting at the same time. It was funny listening to their conversations and made the day less boring. Another funny part was when the night nurse came in to introduce herself while the whole Italian family was there. She was 75 and a bit of a freak...she even showed us her tattoo. LOL...everyone was cracking up. She was talking about how she is living it up at age 75, doing things on her own terms...enjoying life...going to the bahamas ect...

She was great and took good care of me and the old man. As she said, she's 75 and doing twice the job of some nurses who are 30. But to tell you the truth, the whole time there all nurses were great.

After laying in bed for the whole day, just getting up to pee...my back started to get really uncomfortable. So I got up and went for a walk in the hospital (this was around 6:00pm), I was feeling quite adventurous...so I was exploring a little bit of St-Joseph's hospital. Then came back to the room. Rested a bit and later around 8:30 went to Starbucks to get a coffee downstairs. Then I went to the main desk and asked for a TV. The girl called the person responsible, and I was told someone would come in a bit.

1 day post op
The TV guy forgot about me and never came. The whole night I couldn't sleep. My mind was racing like crazy, having so many thoughts. I was tired as hell. But my brain was on speed lol. Next thing I know it's 7:00 am and I got no sleep at all. The whole night my back was in alot of pain, which was also one of the cause preventing me to sleep. Specially that I normally sleep on my stomach.

Anyways, the nurse told me I could go home after breakfast and she would give me a piece of paper with all the post-op instructions. But I really insisted on talking to Dr.Fielding before I would leave for Montreal. What I was told by the nurse, and what was written on the paper was that I had to keep the vest on intact for 6-7 days. After that I could remove the sponges and take showers. I would still have to wear the vest for about 3 weeks. There was no way I could hide this vest from my family when I got home.

Later I was told to go to the front desk...Fielding was on the phone. I explained to him my concerns. He started by saying how the surgery went really well. That he removed much more gland than he initially anticipated. He talked about 400ml, not sure if that was fat or gland he was talking about. But the way he explained things, it went really good. I was happy to hear that. As for my concerns about the vest, he told me it's useful to wear to prevent accumulation of blood. He then suggested I could remove the sponges today. I made a suggestions of not wearing the vest at home, and wearing under armor instead and sleeping with the vest on. He said that could work. I was a bit surprised he said it would be OK, as so many people on this site including the surgeons put so much emphasis on the vest and not removing it. I'm not exactly sure why he allowed me to do it, most certainly because he understand my situation...but maybe with how the surgery went, he can anticipate the odds of having complications, maybe in my case it went really well so he thinks it could be fine.

What I did was removed the sponges, by doing that the vest becomes less noticeable, and wore my underarmor on top of the vest, and on top I wore a t-shirt.

I checked out at the hotel and took a cab to the airport. I started to having some pain and major discomfort as I had to carry my luggages. Thankfully a fellow passenger helped me putting my luggages in and out of the upper deck.

I got to the airport in Montreal where I left my car. 48$ I had to pay for 3 days worth of parking. Just getting inside the car was painful as hell. Driving caused some pain too, as roads in Montreal can be very bumpy. When I got to my area, I realized there was no way I could go home in the state I was in. Just the way I walked gave away that something was wrong with me, as I walked very slowly to avoid pain.
I stopped at the pharmacy and got myself the prescribed tylenol 3. The pharmacist told me usually the effect kicks in within 30 minutes.

I parked at a Macdonald's parking, took the Tylenol 3 and just rested for a bit. It works like magic. Within 20 minutes the pain was gone, I could walk without any problem and inside my car I felt more comfortable. I went straight home. Before going home I put a sweater on top of what I was wearing, didn't have any problem bringing my luggage in. My parents were happy to see me. Asked how my trip was (they believed I was in another town in the province of Quebec)...I made up some stuff about the trip and mentioned how tired I was because of lack of sleep and headed straight to the bedroom.

So that's my story. Sorry for the extremely long post.

Tomorrow we have a family dinner. Not sure what I will do about the vest. I hope at least the pain will go down so I can stop taking the Tylenol 3. I don't wanna give away anything with my mobility (or lack of), neither I wanna give away anything with my vest showing trough clothing. I'll keep you guys posted.

[Angel_of_Death]

2 days post op -

It's early in the morning and my back is killing me. It's been 2 days now iv'e been sleeping on my back. I haven't taken a dump since the operation and took my 2nd laxative pill since yesterday. I could really use a Tylenol 3 to relieve my back pain, but I'm afraid it's gonna make the constipation worse. I think I'll hold back for now. What sucks is that I still feel sleepy but my back is hurting so much that I can't lie down anymore. I'm sitting on a chair right now.

Tonight there is a family dinner and then tomorrow i'm scheduled to work. I hope I can start feeling better really soon. I might remove the vest later and try just wearing the under armor.

I'll keep you guys posted...

[Angel_of_Death]

Just saw my results for the 1st time. I am 100% satisfied !

I posted my pics here:

http://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/index.php?topic=13860.0

[Noseguard]

Nice!!!!!

[Angel_of_Death]

Day 3 post op


I had removed the vest yesterday and put on an under armor for the whole evening as we had a family dinner. I wore a t-shirt on top. I put back the vest on for the night to sleep. This morning I removed the vest again and put back the under armor on. My chest still looks great and no swelling so far.

I also went for a " #2 " for the first time since the surgery. The constipation got me worried a bit, but what a relief...the laxatives did their job lol.

It's still early in the morning, I'm going to get ready for work...but overall I feel good. It sucks not being able to take a shower, well I probably could but I'm gonna take it easy for now, I've been going against the regular post-op procedures as it is, I'll wait a couple of days for a shower and in the meantime will settle for sponge bath.

[Angel_of_Death]

5 Days Post-Op

Things are moving really fast. Am I being impatient ? Probably.

I've stopped wearing the vest completely. I'm sticking to under armor. I've started taking showers, obviously I make sure the water pressure doesn't hit my chest. The more days go by, the better I feel. My chest looks exactly the same as it did on day 1 post op, it looks great. I've not experienced swelling and the bruising is very very minimal.

Since surgery I've had 1 family dinner, 1 outing with friends and 2 days at work. In all of those occasions I wore a simple t-shirt, walked tall, showed more confidence and was generally more smiling/happy. My mood took a huge hit, and it could be felt by others. I just can't stop myself from smiling ALL THE TIME! I don't feel overly excited or overly happy, I just feel good and have been worrying less about other issues. I'm thinking this is probably a normal feeling people experience after gyne surgery at the beginning, and then things would slowly go back to normal. But I hope, just hope that I could always be like this. Keep this good feeling. Build from this and just take off towards a better life. A happy life.