1 YEAR Post-Surgery by Mr Levick on 16-01-2014 : (98 photos)

[Donut]

Thanks DM!

Yeh, honestly within half an hour being back in my room after a jug of water I felt like I could have easily walked back to the train station and come back home!

Tiredness suddenly hit me about 8.30 last night, and I've just woke up 12 hours later.

Not had any painkillers since breakfast time at hospital - don't feel I need them. No pain! - very slight amount of what I'd just call "hurt" rather than "pain" - plus I'm a great believer in hurt/pain is your body's way of reminding you to take things easy! - if you're up to your eyeballs on painkillers and cant feel a thing then more likely to over stretch or do something you shouldn't whilst things are healing. If it gets uncomfortable I might have the odd paracetamol, but otherwise will just stick to the antibiotics of course, and the arnica, vitamin C, and bromelain.

Might go for a nice walk this morning to the DVD player shop - got a stack to watch and if course my player has died!

[improving]

Good write up dude, i'm sure you'll get top results, you're already in decent shape.

I'd be interested to see what the Priory looks like now because when i had mine done it was being refurbished. (end of 2012).

Welcome to the other side!

[Donut]

Damn! - this forum is a bloody nightmare for tyring to upload photos to. This time it rejected them because the photo files ended in .jpeg instead of jpg - which is the SAME type of image! - and of course it then loses all the text you spent ages typing out. Why aren't these simple issues ever sorted out?

Half a mind to start my own forum up, that WORKS PROPERLY!!!

Anyway...

Try again...

Here is a couple of pics this morning of the incision sites. Tiny bit of leakage on the left hand side, so will change dressing. Right hand side fine, so will leave that alone as advised by the nurse.

The bit of bruising under each arm is all I've got at the moment - and that looks a lot less severe now than it did about 5 hours after surgery, when it was deep purple, almost black in places.  Had a look down the binder, and no bruising to be seen on either side at the moment.

Top edge of the binder is a little bit uncomfortable under the armpits, so might try the "socks trick" that others have suggested in the past later on. It really isn't that bad though, only really feel it when arms are right down by sides of chest. At the moment with elbows resting on my desk typing, can't feel it.

Not taken any painkillers - don't need them - no pain!

I decided not to order my compression vests until after surgery to get a better idea of the correct size, as couldn't really guess how much I'd lose in surgery / how much I'd gain in swelling.  Well, just as well! - I measured on the morning before leaving for the hospital, and my bare chest was 39 inches. This morning I measured over the top of the binder, and it is 36 inches! - so allowing a little bit for the thickness of the binder, that puts me on the top limits of the small size of Macom vest (31-35 inches). I'm going to go for the long version I think, as looks more comfortable and hopefully avoids a "spare tyre" of wobbly belly sticking out the bottom! - though it does say that small size fits 26-30 waist, and I wear 32" jeans, so might have to leave the bottom couple of hooks undone possibly.

That's all for now folks - and this time I'll remember to copy this text before hitting the "post" button, expecting some other stupid photo upload problem to occur!

[Donut]

Hi Improving - thanks! - enjoying the 'top of the world' feeling before the inevitable roller-coaster of lumps and bumps sets in in a couple of weeks time.

They're still doing bits of refub to the Priory - I forgot to take any photos of the actual room, but it was really nice, very nice shower room too - obviously been done relatively recently, and like I said much better than many a half-decent hotel I've stayed in.

Would be good to see a pic of how you're looking now?

[Donut]

Hey Qaz - thanks!

You won't regret choosing Mr Levick or the BMI.

Mr Levick binds you up in a Velcro elastic bandage thing that you wake up in and keep on for a week before swapping to a compression vest - hence no need to worry about ordering any before surgery. I'm going to order Macom ones on Monday - they're about £55 each. This actual binder thing I've got on is by Macom too. None them are cheap, but having spent £3,805 on surgery, another £100 for a couple of vests is neither here nor there!  Think I'll get one white and one black one.

I'll take a photo of me in the binder thing a bit later and post it up so you can see.

Pleased to hear your parents are helping. Should show them this forum and get them to read some if the stories - they'll be glad they're helping you at 18 then, instead if suffering for nearly 30 years like I have!

Ill be posting lots of progress photos etc., and if you have any questions, just ask!

[Donut]

A quick photo for you - 3rd day post-op, here is what the compression bandage thing looks like.

Changed the dressings, the little cuts seem to be healing fine, no leakage. Probably didn't really need to cover them up again, but helps to keep them clean during this time when can't have a proper shower.

I've enhanced the colour saturation a bit in photoshop to bring out the bruising - it doesn't look that bad in the mirror - you can hardly see the yellow in reality. There is no visible bruising at all under the bandage.

Still no real pain, not taking any painkillers.

Slept on back and both sides last night - just have to be a little careful turning in bed or get a little twinge under the arms - think what it is is when the weight of your body is pressing the bandage against bed, you go to turn, and its like trying to twist body around inside the bandage, which pulls things around a bit and hurts (slightly) - so just learnt to lift weight up a bit before slowly turning, and all is good.

Think I'll go for a nice long walk in a bit - already bored of sitting around watching DVDs!

[darkmagician]

Looking good bro.

[Donut]

Hey Qaz,

No, Mr Levick says to leave this on for the full week and just wash around it - bit of a nuisance, but there we go! - it would be really difficult to get back on tight enough anyway because of the way it overlaps - you can't really hold the overlapped bit whilst you stretch it round, if that makes sense. Takes two of them to do it whilst you're out cold on the operating table!

I've ordered 2 Macom vests today, should arrive Tuesday, ready to swop on Thurs/Fri when I can take this off, have a proper look, and a proper shower!

No-one can know how this horrible condition affects us apart from ourselves. Mine was just about able to be well disguised most of the time - summer was always button up shirts with 2 chest pockets on, a size too big... Just about got away with it! - winter not so bad of course with a few layers. A lot of my life I've been 2-3 stone heavier than I am now too, and of course that balances out things a bit, but got fed up of being overweight, apart from it not being good for me.

Glad you're sorting it out at a young age - I missed all those years of topless summers and beach holidays etc. - hope to start catching up this summer!

You should start a thread on here 

[sjwsjw]

Congrats mate.

Nice to see someone get what they want after such a good dedicated effort saving up the pennies

Look after yourself now and take things easy, you worked for this give your body the best conditions to heal and you've done all you can for the best results.

I was surprised by the little amount of pain, i got the odd sharp shooting pain when i moved occasionally.

Yea, the photo thing can always be a pain. I always make sure i select all the text and copy it before i submit it to save that hassle :p

[Donut]

Hey Qaz,

Well you're doing better than me, I've never set foot in a gym! Not been swimming since was forced to at school either. Or had a beach holiday. Hoping things will change soon!

Week off work a good idea, rest is best healer for all things.

I'm in Warwickshire - so only half hour from the Priory - London would have been easy too for Dr. Karidis, but I preferred Mr Levick's technique as I didn't want any cuts made to my chest.

Don't worry about posting photos - just chop your head off like everyone else does! - and no-one is going to be looking at this website for fun are they??? - only guys with moobs - and we're all in the same boat 

I thought my case was only "average", but surprised at the amount of crap Mr Levick cut out! - I'll post the surgery pic later

[thetodd]

well done mate really pleased for you.

To be honest when i read that you were on the "wrong side of 40" i was expecting something totally different in the pics, seriously you've got the physique of a guy in his 20s lol. Your going to have a great result keep us updated.

[Donut]

lol @ thetodd !

I've wanted the physique of a 20 yr old guy since I was... er... in my 20's!!

Now I'm rid of these damn things, perhaps I'll be inspired to do something about toning up a bit? - who knows, I might even discover some pecs underneath this big bandage?

[Donut]

More pre-op photos:

Here's the photos Mr Levick took just before surgery. It is not overly warm in that room, so nipples contracted a bit, coupled with slight goose-bumps and lots of red spots/rash from hair removal, and I'm not exactly a pretty sight!

[Donut]

...and here is the wonderful "BURGER SHOT" (as I christened it) - all that crap has been in my chest all these years causing a LOT of misery and stopping me doing a LOT of things.

I still find it hard to understand how on earth Mr Levick managed to get all of that disgusting muck out of two tiny little nicks in my armpits! - the man is a genius.

Mine was almost 100% gland/tissue - you can see from the liposuction jar that there was basically no fat. The tiny little bit of fluid in there is apparently just the watery stuff Mr Levick squirts in at the start to work his magic.

Just makes you truly appreciate that no amount of excercise or diet would ever shift that muck.

I'm now fully paid-up and qualified to fearlessly use the cliche: "I'm glad I've got that off my chest!" 

...and I don't think I'll be wanting a beefburger for a while for some strange reason?

[thetodd]

I wish other surgeons done those pics, it would be so satisfying seeing it!

Thats a staggeringly low amount of fat, especially for the amount of gland but you are a pretty trim bloke. Did he weigh it by any chance?

Your gonna have a great final rresult, like you say you've gotta get through the recovery but blimey thats a big load of gland!