Goodbye to the dreaded bulges

[carinabag]

Hi folks,

Usual lurker until picked enough courage to place a post. Mid 30's now and had the dreaded bulges since teenager and finally enough was enough, couldn't face yet another summer of baggy t shirts and bent over hunches in all the summer photos  . 

Appointment made with Mr Levick who is as everyone says is a brilliant chap who puts you at ease straight away and very understanding. Consultation is relaxed and he talks you through the procedure with no pressure at all, completely down to you. I am not keen on the idea of a general but that said not sure I really want to be awake through the process.

Having read these blogs I decided it was either Kardis or Levick, having met Levick and preferring the under the arm technique decided he was for me.

Can get it done cheaper abroad but not for me personally. BMI (Priory hospital card) have a credit card offer where you can pay on their card and have 12 months interest free, quite handy although I am fortunate to be in a position to pay for the operation.

Gone and booked my op this and have a real mixture of nerves and excitement.

Having read the blogs I am realistic that I will have quite a while before everything settles down to normal but it's going be worth it in the long run.

Thanks to people who do take the time to post on here, I have found entries really useful. Still somewhat of a social taboo, doesn't seem right to openly talk about the procedure with mates in the pub or work.

Hopefully I will get some photos up at some point and let people know how my experience went.       

[scotty1986]

When is your op mate?

[hopetochange]

Good Luck - your in the best of hands!

[Donut]

You've made the right choice! - Mr Levick sorted me last January - best money I ever spent 

[carinabag]

Hi folks,

Writing this from Priory after Mr Levick operated on me this morning. Procedure went well, given the anaesthetic and next thing I knew it was all over.

Roughly taken 130 grams gland material from left and 120 from the right, I think thats a fair amount???

Will post better update when I am home but really pleased so far, not in much pain really just a little soreness.

No drains fitted Mr Levick doesn't use them anymore just got a machine keeping my chest cool to reduce the swelling.

[hopetochange]

Congrats! It's surreal when you come round from the operation & it's all over and done with?

Best of luck with your recovery, take it very, very easy for the next couple of weeks. For me the first week post op I was very sore but it does slowly get better day by day.

That's a fair amount of gland to have taken out, I think mine was 174g on the right and 206g on the left :-/

As Levick would say... today is the first day of the rest of your life

[carinabag]

Back home now after returning from the Priory. My experience appears similar to others but here’s my viewpoint.

Arrived at Birmingham New Street after catching the train down, taxi to the Priory and arrived at reception. Within a matter of minutes taken up to my room and show all the facilities, very good room with Sky Sports/movies on tv and free wifi (although it’s a bit slow so it’s fine for web browsing but youtube/spotify was a struggle)

Staff and nurses very friendly and make you feel at ease. I had a mixture of feelings at this stage, excited that  i was about to get rid of the moobs but wasn’t looking forward to a general anesthetic. However anesthetist  came in to see me before hand  he is very calm  and will take you through any concerns. He also treats people having heart operations so is very experienced.
Mr Levick came in and said I would be up second  that morning so  I had a short wait (1 hour or so) before I went to theatre .  Prior to this I got changed into the paper pants   and gown already to go.  Was collected from the room and at this stage it feel surreal, I feeling relatively calm, seemed there was little point getting worked up as it would only raise my blood pressure.

I was taken to theatre and met by Mr Levick again and the anaesthetist , Mr Levick marked me up and I felt very self conscious sat in front of effective strangers but the staff were great and friendly chatting away which helped distract me. Little struggle finding a vein in my hand but the needle went in first time and very little pain. Couple of minutes later anaesthetist said he was introducing the anaesthetic, for some reason I was worried they wouldn't tell me when they started to administer the drug  but  you  are kept fully updated throughout.

Once the drug was administered I remember  having a cold feeling in my arm,  I think I got to about 10 seconds and I was thinking this isn’t having any effect on me and then I felt my eyelids getting heavy ………. next thing I knew I was coming round  all done!!!  I didn’t  feel too bad at all really, drowsy as you would expect and a dry mouth.  After a short period I was taken back to my room.

Managed to type a text to family to say I was ok and then just relaxed for a bit. No chest drains fitted but I had two cooling pads  on my chest which worked really well. They don’t seem to feel cold on your chest but if you put your finger under they really feel cold and make a difference

My right hand side had bled during the op so I was checked a few times to see how that was getting on. Mr Levick came in a short while later and said he was pleased with how the operation had gone and would pop back to see me later, probably when I had come round a bit better.

Had some dinner as I hadn’t eaten since the 6pm the previous day and food was really nice. Soup, sandwich (mainly as they could keep  this ready for me unlike a hot dinner)and rice pudding, all very nice.

Took my Chromebook with a few movies and just relaxed watching films and surfing the net. Mr Levick came in again had a quick check on my chest and said he would see me in the morning.

Settled down for the night and managed to get to sleep about 11pm and woke up at 5 but due to my mind racing couldn't settle down again. Breakfast was bought in and after that another visit from Mr Levick. He was happy with how things had gone but told me to expect some bruising and that I needed to take it easy for at least a week and no gym fitness for at least four/six weeks.

Glands - 144 removed from the left (in the very large bracket apparently) and 120 from the right. Lipo 200 from left 100 from the right

Had the cooling pads removed, got dressed and was chomping to get going, given medication to take with me, went to reception to ask for a taxi to the train station. Train back home and relax!!!!

Wasn’t in much pain but kept taking paracetamol as didn't want to have problems the other end that co codamol can cause. I have been in some discomfort but nothing that isn't manageable.

Day 5 now, lots of yellow bruising but don’t seem to have any excess swelling and managing to keep my binder is on tight.
Bigger problem is the same as lots of people experience binder pushing my skin up under the armpits and causing reddening and bruising.  Will be glad to swap to the pressure vest after 7 days!!!!

Already a number of people (who don’t know about the op) have commented about the amount of weight I have lost, I haven’t lost any but I can finally wear t shirts that fit. I am probably a stone to a stone and half overweight if I am honest never lost this as it just made me more conscious of the moobs, once I have the green light I am off to the gym again and diet to drop the weight before summer. 

Will try and add my burger shot......

[carinabag]

Photo

[hopetochange]

Great write up.

Have you had a sneak peak at the results?

I was very relieved to finally ditch the binder! I presume you've bought yourself a compression vest to switch to? I found it really comfortable to also wear an under armour compression t-shirt underneath the vest, it evens the compression out a bit, especially around the arms.

Take it easy & all the best with your recovery.

[carinabag]

Yes, got a couple from the company Mr Levick suggests, thanks for the suggestion on the under armour, i will give that a try. 

[Donut]

Congrats!

Definitely recommend a compression T-shirt under compression vest when you switch - really helps with the under arm swelling issues.

Get glugging the pineapple and relax!

[carinabag]

Hi folks, over four weeks now since surgery. Still getting used to lack of needing to hutch over or to wear baggy t shirts. Spoken with Mr Levick's office on a couple of occasions, always got back to me the same day, can't fault it.

Got a blister on or under (not quite sure) on my right hand side nipple and bruising still worse that side but did bleed that side during surgery. I think my nipple will look better once this has cleared up.

I am very happy thus far, think my left is slightly flatter than the right but all needs a few weeks to properly settle down. Still wearing my compression vest I think for another week or two and the purchase of the compression vests underneath were a revelation, highly recommended!

Photo was three weeks post surgery.   

[Donut]

Keep up as much compression for as long as you can bear it! - an extra few weeks is no price to pay for achieving best possible result that is going to last you the rest of your life