Well, first things first – I guess I should start by saying that this is my first and will probably be my last post here on gynocomastia.org. I have spent years of my life dealing with this sensitive and often crippling issue, not to mention the countless hours spent scouring this website – sometimes with great luck – other times sifting through useless and vague information. I hope this post will clear up some questions and paint a realistic picture of my experience.
I am 26 years old, 6’3, 175 lbs. and have dealt with my gyne since I was 12 or so. My gyne has kept me from wearing t-shirts, forming romantic and sexual relationships, swimming, given me horrible posture and terrible self-esteem. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
I have finally been freed of this burden that has been resting on my shoulders – or should I say, chest. I had a surgery with Dr. Craig Fielding in Toronto, Ontario Canada and I am happy to share the details of my experience.
First things first – I did my research. As I mentioned previously- I spent countless hours scouring the web for information regarding surgeons, their work, cost, healing times, prep work etc. I felt; because I had read so many positive things about Fielding, I would book go with him or Dr. Lista. For me, it was a matter of cost and from information provided by other reviewers – I knew Dr. Fielding would be thousands of dollars cheaper than Dr. Lista. I live in eastern Canada (in one of the maritime provinces) and while I knew that it would be more expensive and time consuming to go to Toronto for the surgery – I wasn’t willing to risk an operation with a local surgeon who didn’t have the experience, specialization, or skills in dealing with gyne.
My journey started two years ago. I was overseas doing some volunteer work and I just so happened to have a few days in Toronto on my way home. I called Fielding’s office for a consultation but, he was on holidays during those dates. No luck. I put the idea on the back burner for another year before I had an opportunity to go to Toronto. It just so happened my trip to Toronto coincided with an opening for a consultation. I booked it and confirmed with the receptionist that because I was from out of town that it wouldn’t be changed.
About a month later, she called to tell me that my appointment had to be changed. I was pretty upset, as I had had the whole things planned (hotels, time off work, flights) that were somewhat revolving around this appointment. I begged, pleaded and threw a bit of a fit and the receptionist (somewhat begrudgingly) worked her magic and had it changed to the day I flew in. I was grateful for this, but so much was riding on this appointment – I didn’t want to miss it.
I flew into to Toronto completely white knuckled praying that that the flight made it on time. I ran off the plane, into the airport, into a cab and to the office right on time.
The office itself is in an office building and apart from the receptionist there were one or two other guys coming and going. After filling out some forms, Dr. Fielding called me in. I felt a bit like Dorothy finally meeting the wizard. The consultation was a bit of a joke to be honest. He explained to me what gynecomastia was (I knew all along ☺), asked me when it first appeared, asked me to take off my shirt, and measured me. I felt like I only had so much time and had lots of questions. I asked him about recovery time, cost, scars, logistics etc. He said I would be good to leave the hospital that day, the scarring would be there but minimal (two tiny dots where I had lipo, and two tiny scars under the areola ) and that the receptionist would handle the cost stuff.
So, with that, I threw on my shirt, went back out and the receptionist asked me if I wanted to book the surgery. She gave me a quote of $2,800.00 and said I could book the surgery if I put down a 10% deposit. I still had some thinking to do so I told her I would call back. I left feeling confident and excited.
Once I got home, really thought about it and made the proper plans for time off work, cost, and recovery I decided to call back and book the surgery. This is where it got a little annoying. You can only send a money order and have to have it couriered there (if you live out of town. If you live in Toronto you can use debit/credit in the office. Note the surgery has to be paid for a month in advance to secure the spot). So, it was an extra stress, cost to have to express courier (it was around $17.00) to the office.
Once she received my payment we agreed on a date and booked in. My surgery was to be at 7:00 in the morning at St. Joseph’s hospital in the middle of July. She also told me that because I didn’t know anyone in Toronto, that I had to stay in the hospital the night of my surgery - which was fine with me as I was happy to be monitored and would save me some cash on the hotel/cab. She sent me (in the mail) some info regarding the surgery (no eating/drinking the night before and no smoking a minimum of two weeks before the surgery). At this time I was a heavy smoker and had been for about 6 years. I knew how SUPER SUPER SUPER (If I haven’t stressed how SUPER) IMPORTANT to not smoke before or after your surgery. So, a month and a half before my surgery – I quit smoking. It sucked and it was hard, but four months later, I’m still smoke free and in the long run is one of the best choices of my life.
So - I quit smoking, started to eat super healthy, and get in the best shape as I could for surgery. It felt good physically and mentally to prepare myself. The mental suspense was probably the most intense part. I was making a huge financial sacrifice, it was definitely a risk and I was scared the results of the surgery wouldn’t be what I wanted. Looking at the forums here were a great help and as the days ticked by, I got more and more excited. I would stress here, was that I was doing this surgery in somewhat secrecy. I told one close friend whom I could contact in emergency - but other than that – I was on my own. I think the most stressful part was not quit knowing how much my mobility would be affected and for how long.
I flew into Toronto on a Tuesday (apparently all of Fielding’s gyne surgeries are on Wednesday), checked into my hotel (the Sheraton downtown. There are definitely closer hotels, but I got a deal on hotwire and new I could take a streetcar) and took it easy the night before. I woke up early and I was hungry and thirsty but packed up my bag and took it with me to the hospital. I found the day surgery wing fairly easily and after I checked in, I went through a set of doors where I was asked to change into a gown with special shoe covers and check my belongings (Note: They were very adamant about not leaving any valubles – but since I wasn’t staying in a hotel that night I brought everything and packed it in a very small suitcase. Nothing happened to it, but in hindsight I probably should have listened.) After that I had a mini physical with a nurse who went over my height, weight, blood pressure etc. I was then moved to another waiting room. A nurse came over and we talked about the surgery. She went over everything and made sure I knew what was going to happen. I agreed and signed a piece of paper copies of the papers that I had signed during my consult with Fielding.
She told me it was time to go, so I got up with her and walked through another set of doors directly into the operating room. This was the weird part. I had this vision of me being rolled into the operating room and it looking very much like something off the show ER or Greys Anatomy. This most definitely wasn’t either of those. To be honest, I was pretty shocked at how shitty it looked. Maybe because I had only seen the “Hollywood” version of an operating room. Once I was in, I was told to lie down on the bed that had almost cross like arms.
At this point I started to panic a bit because I assumed I would have a little sit down with Fielding before the operation, but these people (there were maybe 5 of them in the room) seemed pretty set on getting started. I went along with it and the anesthesiologist put an IV in my arm. She said that she was going to put me asleep and I sat up and said that I thought I was going to the doctor before the surgery – they all looked around at one another a bit confused, the nurse explained to me that it was possible if insisted but wasn’t really necessary. Hesitantly I agreed, and they went back to work. I thought, it really wasn’t going to make big difference weather or not he see’s me conscious or not. Fielding does tons of these surgeries and he knows what’s going to get me the result I want weather or not I want it.
I instantly was put to sleep and this was actually super cool, I woke up outside of the waiting room on a gurney with a nurse making sure I was okay. I was definitely groggy, but numb. All I could feel was some mild pressure from the pads and vest that they had put on me. Because I didn’t know anyone in Toronto, I already new that I would be staying in the hospital for one more night (at no cost to me). This was a relief because I couldn’t imagine moving – let alone getting up and driving somewhere.
So I was wheeled into a room with another person and monitored by a nurse for pain and vitals every few hours. I made sure to stay put and not move around. I wasn’t really sore – but was definitely still taking the pain medicine. I didn’t really eat much but drank quite a bit of juice, which was tasted really good for some reason. I slept fairly well throughout the night (Sleeping on my back all night was much harder than the pain). The pain wasn’t too bad. I just felt like there was a pressure on my chest and the occasional twinge of pain when I moved too much.
The next morning the nurses told me I was good to go, but that Dr. Feilding would be coming to check me out and make sure everything was good. He came in and was very friendly, and even apologized for not getting to talk to me before the surgery. He undid the top Velcro on the vest, which hurt a little and pulled at the sticky foam pads on my chest (which really hurt) and said everything looked great. I was originally scheduled to go and see him the morning after that but he told me that he was confident nothing would change and to call him at the office with any concerns. I was cool with that and we wished one another well. I sincerely hoped I would heal well and it would be the last time I would have to see Dr. Feilding.
It was a bit tough putting on my clothes and bending down to grab my stuff but I managed. The foam pads and vest were a little bulky, but I had a zip up hoody on to cover it up. I thanked the nurses (who FYI were amazing. Very kind, patient, funny and awesome in general). Feilding left me with a prescription that I filled in the pharmacy on the first floor of the hospital. Being the middle of July in Toronto it was SCORTCHING hot out. I still managed to hop on a streetcar and make it to my second hotel (which, looking back would not be recommend. I should have just spent the $40.00 on a cab) I got off the bus and walked a few blocks to my hotel, which was so so so unbearable in the heat. But made it.
I checked into my hotel and knew that I didn’t want to leave during the next few days unless absolutely necessary. I got another hotel on Hotwire, which was great and I spent three days in my room watching TV. It was AWESOME! Normally when I take a vacation – I always go somewhere that’s go-go-go. With this, it was in my best interest to just lay around and that’s what I did, apart from going out a few times for meals and snacks.
The first few days I wasn’t really sore but definitely a little numb. The only thing that was hard was making sure not to move anything heavy (I didn’t try) and it was a bit hard to raise my hands over my head. I didn’t peak at all but could see some yellow brusing coming up around the top of my chest. Sleeping on my back was a little tough but other than that I was pretty comfortable and whenever I felt a little pain I took a T3 which worked fine.
Another thing I would like to mention is how important I think nutrition and not smoking played in my recovery. I made sure to eat really clean, lots of veggies, no alcohol (1 month) no smoking (never again) and lots of lean protein. Your body is put in an extremely unfortunate situation after surgery and needs everything you can give it while healing.
After three days, I flew back home and by that time I was pretty stinky. I could give myself little sponge baths and clean what I could. But the compression vest (which had to be worn for a minimum of three weeks) was stinky and gross. I spent another week hanging out around the house and by day six – caved and took a shower. I took off the vest and was left with two ¾’ thick foam pads over each side of my chest. The foam was glued (seriously glued) down to my skin and with a little willpower, wincing and swift movements – I pulled them off. Underneath were some gauze, which fell right off, and what stared back at me was an extremely flat and average looking chest. I was to put in mildly – thrilled. I was definitely bruised, yellow and numb – but the shape and contouring was great.
I wasn’t supposed to spend much time without the compression vest on so I went right to work, quickly washing the vest in the sink. After a week with in on – it felt felt really weird to have it off for even a moment. As soon as I was done washing the vest (which reeked by the end of the my week laying around in it.) I put it in the dryer and hopped in the shower. Showering felt good and again – that was probably the hardest part of the first week – Taking off the pads and being pretty stinky.
The next three weeks was pretty tricky. I took a full two weeks off after the surgery and that helped but what didn’t really help was that summer was in full swing and wearing the same vest everyday was often kind of gross. Other people have talked about this as well, but I got really used to having the pressure of the vest on and whenever it was off, it felt like I was missing something. In terms of hiding the vest – that was not really a problem. I was used to wearing sweaters in the summer and I knew that wearing the vest was an integral part of keeping down the swelling and healing.
So, for the full month after my surgery – I wore the vest night and day and slept on my back. After the month of wearing the vest and I took it off. At first there was some sensitivity in my nipples but nothing really painful. Some people recommend massage to get rid of any scar tissue under the nipple but even almost three months after surgery my chest is still pretty sensitive to hard touch.
It’s now four months to the day that I got my surgery and in my overall opinion was a great choice. I lucked out. I got the results (realistic) results I was hoping for. I made the sacrifice (quitting smoking, eating well, and financially) and it worked out for me.
Overall, I would say with flights for the consultation, food, hotels, surgery time off work were somewhere in the five thousand range (which, let me assure you – I really can’t afford) I put in on my visa will be paying every penny of it off over the year which is hard when you don’t make much. In general it was a scary process but in the end was actually really rewarding and helped me to take control of my life. I would say the difference physically is night and day. I barely have any scaring four months in and I know that it will only fade over the course of time. (I have two little lipo scars and two other scars right on the line where the areola connects to the skin)
While the gyne is gone, I’m still dealing with years of poor posture (I’m very tall which doesn’t help) and am about to start strengthening the muscles to improve that (yoga, pilates, and weightlifting), but I know with some hard work it will get better.
If anyone has any questions regarding my experience, please feel free to message me here and I will eventually get back to you.
Good luck and take care.
-c-
Topic: Dr. Fielding (Read 2286 times)
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