Guys, I finally had my op yesterday. As I have benefited from all the past surgery journals/diaries, I feel somewhat obliged to share and catalogue my experience. I’ve got a lot of people to thank for all their support – Chopper, thetodd, zm, Dracksus, linkin, Swarley, pharmajoe, Bikkembergs, dexs, about2change, Rasputin, namsomi, badger…
….and some old timers (who are probably not even on here anymore) – Stonecold, Northerner1979, Blue2, Toby1971, Hypo is here, Time2fixit and last but not least – Merle. I have to thank Merle for establishing this great site and building awareness of gynecomastia.
I’m sincerely sorry if I have missed anyone off the list. Without this forum and the guys on here I would have never embarked upon fixing something that has dogged me for many years.
!Essay alert…. !BackgroundI remember when I was around 10- 12 years old that I realised that something was wrong with my chest. I remember crossing my arms when I went to swimming pools in summer. My older brother used to tease me and even said that he overheard my mum saying that I had the biggest set of breasts. Anyway, luckily for me, my chest kind of flattened out for the next couple of years (13- 18/19) and wasn’t a problem during secondary school.
Fast forward to around 18/19. Basically, I got my first car, started hitting the booze and then almost overnight the moobs had returned (along with some love handles an stretch marks). My mates started teasing me from time to time and I was very self-conscious of my chest. I wouldn’t say it affected my confidence as most of it was friendly banter anyway and I ‘d give it back as good as I got. I was still better at pulling birds than my mates (fitter ones too – no bragging
) and that helped with my confidence. Problem was, that was when I did get intimate with a bird, I usually ended up shagging her with my top on…..
At around 20/21 I started gym to try and get rid of the moobs and managed to pack on some reasonable muscle mass, but the moobs still stayed. It was a bit of a meathead gym, no one did cardio and it was all about getting jacked. Probably not the best place to try and shed fat etc. Trying to lose through exercise was a lost cause anyway.
From about 23-25, my weight ballooned and invariably so did the moobs. In the lead up to my wedding (26), I upped the exercise and dieted hard (lots of running a low calories) and managed to shed a lot of weight but lost a lot muscle and the moobs still stayed! Worst of both worlds -I ended up with being skinny-fat with moobs. I decided that I would do something about the moobs once and for all and after searching the Internet - I joined this forum in 2006. I was amazed by the support offered on the site and it felt good to know that I was not the only one who was suffering from this condition. I got my hormones checked out by an endocrinologist which indicated that everything was normal, had a consultation with Harley medical group and made a consultation booking to see Levick (which I ended up cancelling for reasons I don’t remember). I then dragged by heals for a good few years (if your bored enough to read about my procrastination, review my earlier posts).
I had a last-ditch attempt to lose through diet/exercise, I had a consultation with Karidis back in Jan and then finally booked my surgery in mid Feb for late April (the link to my consultation/pre –op situation is in my footer). My wife got behind me as has been very supportive (after years of advising me it could be lost through exercise).
Surgery dayI actually had a good night’s sleep beforehand. I had a lot of fears about the general anesthetic, but once I had paid up in full I figured it was out my hands now and what ever happens, happens…
I walked to the hospital (20mins) from my home and checked in at 9.55am. My admission time was 10am, and the nurse collected me at around 10.15am. I got a little stressed while I was waiting, but I saw Benoit Assou-Ekotto walking through the hospital (normally I would have yelled something out as I’m a Spurs supporter, but given Spurs recent woeful performances, my love/hate relationship with him as player and everything else that was going on that day I keep quiet….). The nurse was nice, escorted me to my room and we made small talk about seeing Assou-Ekotto (she says footballers are usually at the hospital for phsyio). When I got to the room another nurse came in after a few minutes - a nutty (but very friendly) Malaysian nurse named Judy. She checked all my details etc. and took my food order. She said I didn’t have to wear the paper pants as my boxers were cotton and you only have to wear paper pants if you have nylon boxers as it will interfere with the equipment. She took my blood pressure etc.
Karidis interrupted and came in and marked me up. He said he would get me flat and I asked him to make sure that he did (I felt I had to after reading about zm’s concerns) and he said advised he has a ‘take no prisoners’ approach when it comes these things. They guy was pretty smooth and obviously very busy. He said that it would be about an hour to an hour and half before I would be in surgery (by this stage it was already 11am). Apparently he was doing eight procedures yesterday and I was number 6. I really hope that such a busy schedule doesn’t affect his precision….although he is a professional at end of the day.
I wished there was not such a long wait, as I started to get nervous and I was pretty chilled up until then. I started getting sentimental and look at pictures of my wife and videos of my son on the phone and even said a few prayers (I don’t even go to church!).
At around 12.30pm, another nurse (Andrea) came in to collect me to take me down to the theatre. She was very supportive and advised that I had nothing to worry about with the general anaesthetic. I had to walk past about 15 nurses dressed in scrubs on my way, which was a little embarrassing (apparently it was hand-over time). Andrea stayed with me until the anaesthetist and another nurse arrived. The anaesthetist checked my details (allergies etc) and asked if I had ever been under general anaesthetic. I told him only local anaesthetic for wisdom teeth to which he laughed ‘that’s not real anaesthetic’. He then injected me with something to numb the area and stuck a little needle that could be connected to a tube in my arm. Then they put a face mask over me head and asked me to take deep breathes and then the next thing you know I was out….
I woke up in the recovery room (I think it was around 1.30pm) and greeted by some friendly nurses. I felt that I had woken from a deep sleep. I was pretty groggy and was complaining to the nurses that I felt slow (e.g. it took a long time to say what I was thinking). My throat was sore and very dry. They gave me water which helped. The asked me to rate my pain from 1 -10 and I said 5 and it just feels like a heavy chest workout at the gym. The asked me if I wanted painkillers and I said I was OK, but the anesthetist came over and injected me with something anyway. After 30 mins they rolled me back to my room. Nurse Judy gave me some water and then my lunch came a little later. I still felt pretty groggy, but was able to call my wife and even put a post up on the forum. When the lunch arrived this was a relief - I had a mushroom soup, a club sandwich and vanilla ice-cream – I nearly choked on first bite of the sandwich due the dry/sore throat.
After lunch I lay about for a while and tried to get some sleep. At around 5pm a lady named Theresa came in who was doing a spot check surveys on the service/care at the hospital. I gave the hospital and staff all good scores – my only (minor) complaints was that I would have liked cooked chips with club sandwich (Theresa advised this is possible) and that I thought that I would have met the Anaesthetist to discuss any concerns before I went down to the theatre (this was an expectation that was set in the letter from Karidi’s office).
My wife arrived to pick me up and Karidis’s nurse Amy came in to give me a compression vest and answer any questions. This is where it gets interesting, as while Amy was nice enough girl, I think she is a bit of a numb nuts….
So, Amy advises that I shouldn’t leave all the dressings/bandages on and not shower for two weeks. Only then I can change the plasters. She then said that I couldn’t exercise my chest for two to three months. I wasn’t buying any of this as this conflicts with Karidis’s notes, what the other nurses had told me, and what everyone else had posted on here. She then gave me a medium size compression vest as she didn’t know how to check the size of the one that I was currently wearing. I knew in mind it was a small as it is very snug.
She leaves and Andrea (the very helpful South African hospital nurse) comes back and we quiz her on Amy’s advice. Andrea sets the record straight, points to Karidis’s notes and advised to take off the dressings/bandages after 24 hours, shower then replace the plasters with the water proof ones they had provided. She then checked my compression vest and it was a small. As they did have another small in that ward of the hospital, we had to wait 20 mins for someone to get a small from Karidis’s consulting area. After waiting for this, it was 6pm before I was discharged.
Event though it was only a 15-20min walk home, the nurses insisted that get a cab, so we got a cab home. I had dinner, helped my wife put my son to bed (not that I did much) and then watched the Barcelona/Chelsea game (what a game by the way…). I went to bed around 11pm and got to sleep after about 15 mins. I slept fine in the compression vest and woke up at about 5.30 am. They told me to sleep an up-right position – does anyone know this is correct?
I’m constipated and it was pretty difficult to pass urine, but this is getting better. If I haven’t taken a dump by the evening I’ll probably take some laxatives. Pain wise, I think it is not too bad – I’ve probably felt worse from a heavy chest workout. I’m just taking it easy. I can lit my arms in the air it is just uncomfortable. I’m thinking that once I remove the dressing and bandages this should free up my movement. I’m taking the Co-dydramol, although I will probably switch to Paracetamol later today if the pain doesn’t get any worse. I’ve started taking the Antibiotics (I only have 3 tablets – for today only….I’m sure other guys got a 5 day supply), and Arnica. I have also bought some Bromelain (pineapple stem extract), that is supposed to help with swelling that I’ll start taking later today (along with some real pineapple).
So…. that’s my story so far. I hope this helps manage other guy’s expectations and is useful. I’ve attached some pics that I took on the day and a few extra pre-op pics that I took in the morning. I can’t wait to take off all the dressing tonight so I can see what my chest looks like…fingers crossed that I’m happy with the results.
Topic: My Surgery with Karidis - 24.04.2012 - updated with 2 week post op pics (Read 10117 times)
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