Countdown begins

[Tintin]

My compression vest arrived today and off course I had to try it on! Took me ages to get it on, but what a difference it made! Put on a t-shirt and it looked great…I hope the op gives me those results! Nice and snug fit, I even tried to Webster too!  Roll on the 16th!

[irish_dude]

Funnily enough it was my brother who I told in the first place. he wanted to know why I always wear a shirt and never take it off when the sun is shining or when I was having a kickabout in the park.
he was shocked an didn't believe me..had to show him which was embarrasing.

It's weird, but I had the same thing from two of my ex's. I was like "well, didn't you notice?" and they were like "no not really".

Now either they were being a) diplomatic or b) honest, but either way it's more about how you perceive yourself.

In all honesty, I think it's more down to our innate cunning ability to 'cover-up'. I mean, if we went around in skin-tight stripy white deisnger tee-shirts then I think it would be obvious.

If you can tintin, take some pre and post op pics. If not for yourself, then everyone else. Remember you don't have to post them if you really don't want to.

Good luck mate, the journey starts here.

[Tintin]

I agree with you there irish_dude, my shirts were carefully selected at all times!
Funnily enough my bro did say he remembers me having it when i was about 12-13. He remembers teasing me about it, but he says he thought it had gone away. the fact is that he hasn't seen me barechested since then. Plus I grew a lot since being a skinny thirteen year old. Loads of gym and rugby bulked me up so it probabaly was not that noticable when I was wearing a shirt.
I have not got any pictures of my own - does Mr Levick take any pr-op pics?

He did say that I would not win any gynecomastia competitions, but as you said, it was the way I perceive it and how it makes me feel. I remember bouncing on a trampoline about two months ago with my god daughter and her friends. She laughed and said your boobies are bouncing up and down. Ouch!

[Tintin]

Well it's been almost 5 days since I had the op. My experience was similar to everyone elses at the Priory - excellent service and very professional indeed. Mr Levick came and saw me and we had a chat as did the anesthetist, who was superb. I was  rather nervous but just relaxed on the bed and tried to read and dozed for a bit. I put on the gown and then walked down to the theatre with a lovely nurse. I sat on the operating table and chated to the nurses about random things before I was gently put under. I woke up to my bandages around my chest and two drains attached to my bed. Dozed in and out for a bit before tucking into a huge meal - I was starving!
Mr levick came and saw me and we had a quick chat and he told me everything went well and he was very happy. I had no pain, juts a feeling of dicomfort.

watched TV and read before falling asleep. woke up a few times, and remembered to disconnect the drains from the bed before I went to the toilet.

Woke up arounf 6ish and the nurses bought me a cup of tea, Got up again and went to look at myself in the mirror. Could not see much except the edge of a massive bruise. That suprised me a bit as I have been off al alcohol for a month and taken the arnica religiously.

Back to bed and a hearty breakfast. Read my book and Mr Levick came around about 9ish and took the drains out. I was not looking forward to this part after I read some of your experiences, but it was fine.

He told me to take it easy for a few days and to call him if I was worried about anything.

Left the hospital around 10.30ish. Looking forard to getting this bandage off though. Can anyone recomend the best stuff to use - surgical spirit? Someone mentioned some spray stuff they got at Boots, but I cannot find the link.
I would also appreciate the name of some crems to use to masage.
Pics will follow as soon as I have them.
Cheers
T

[webster]

Good on you Tin.
Sounds like you had a pretty standard Priory experience. In another week you should feel pretty much completely fine.

The only thing I would say is when you take off your bandages, if you find you have persistent lumps (esp. if they go down with compression vest on then get worse and swell when youre up for a few hours) - call Mr Levick and tell him. That is because you might have a little heamatoma or serotoma. This can be removed by quick aspiration, if caught early (ie a little needle is stuck in and liquid removed).
In most cases the body absorbs any little collections of blood, etc. But the process is that first scar tissue forms around the blood then it gradually shrinks away - this can take a very long time though.

Hopefully this won't happen to you. Its not the end of the world in any case, but seeing as I discovered this is what has probably happened to me to some degree I thought I'd pass it on.  As a matter of fact I think this is the cause of many peoples post-op concerns which I suppose eventually go away - but most of us want great results straight away.


All the best. Webster.

[Tintin]

Thanks for that Webster, at the moment I am suffering from major blisters! Phoned him straight away about it, but he put my mind at rest. Something called tension blisters that sometimes occur when the skin is pulled too tight. Rare, but nothing to worry about. Itching like hell is the other one - a right pain!

[London_boy]

Tintin

Well done mate, glad to hear everything went okay !

As for getting the bandages off if you pop along to a largish Boots and ask for some Zoff wipes, they're behind the counter so you won't find them on the shelves and cost about a fiver. It says that you can moisten the end of the bandage to help ease it off but to be hinest with you I didn't bother as they came off pretty easily anyway but they're great for getting all the sticky stuff off afterwards !

Don't worry about the blisters, I had those too and was really worried that they would kill when I came to take the bandages off but you'll be pleased to hear that they didn't !!

Let us know what everything looks like after the great unveiling....

[irish_dude]

Looking forard to getting this bandage off though. Can anyone recomend the best stuff to use - surgical spirit?

If you have blisters *DO NOT* use surgical spirit! In fact don't use surgical spirits at all!

Use 'Hydrex' - comes in a Windowlene like spray-bottle.

[IT100]

Hi all, I feel so proud!!

Can we rename this thread the big up levick thread. It's good to hear of all the positive experiences of people who have gone under Levicks knife as he's had a bad rap recently!

Especially the, swam for first time in 25 years posts etc!

Shows how quickly people feel confident enough to do things after their ops.

Ian