Well I'm back (Post-op diary)

[doddy]

Oh how long I've been waiting to write this diary..

Arriving
Arrived at the Priory and went to the front desk. Felt a bit nervous, but not too bad. Paid, got taken up to my room, Bourneville number 24. Pretty nice room. Sat in there for a bit with no real idea what to do..

And then..
A nurse came in. Had to answer lots of questions, get my weight taken, height, etc etc. Had to get into that f*cking surgery gown but got my dressing gown on as quickly as possible. With hindsight, I'd recommend waiting to do your blood test before you get changed. I felt like a bit of a knobber sitting in the waiting room in a dressing gown..

The waiting game
Literally just sat around now. Watched TV, filled out my menu choices, got bored. Said "come on Levick" to myself a few times. Eventually, he came in. Filled out a form, various questions etc. He told me it'd be a couple of hours until my surgery.

Three and a bit hours later..
A nice girl came in and took me to the "go to sleep" room. Was a bit nervous at this point, as it all suddenly dawned on me. The anesthetic is some seriously strong business. I was out before he'd finished his "I'm putting the stuff in that makes you go to sleep now.." bit. Woke up in the recovery room.

Feeling really quite drunk
Would be the best way to describe waking up. I was talking random crap to people I now cannot remember at all, when Levick came in. He described the op as "perfect". Good stuff. Heard the dreaded "h-word" but only to say ".. no hematoma at all". Excellent.

Back in my room
Dinner came. I'd ordered soup and an omelette. The soup was really nice, but I still had a fairly strong taste of anesthetic in my mouth, so didn't really enjoy it. I was bloody starving though. Ate about half the soup, then mustered up the strength to push my table away and fall asleep.

That evening
I was fairly comfortable. Probably still quite high on all the chemicals. Watched the football on TV and slept a bit. Overall I'd say I slept around 6 hours, so not bad at all. Various nurses came in through the night with anti-biotics / painkillers / etc.

Breakfast is served
Two fried eggs and bacon. I think this was around 8.30 am. A bit sore, but not too bad. Watched TV etc, then Levick came in. Said again that it went really really well, and he was surprised at how much there was to take out (you reading Yorkshireman?  ). He just said "200 fatty tissue, 100 gristle".. not sure if that's each side, or overall. He was really good at this point. Said things like "you've done it" and ".. another victory in my personal war against gynecomastia!". I asked when my drains would be coming out.. about an hour later:

The f*cking drains
This really did hurt. Seriously. It was the initial sharp pain that was bad. I hadn't bled much, which was good.. but yeah. Afterwards though, I was straight up for a piss (the drains were attatched to the bed before, meaning I couldn't really get up, and didn't want to piss in a bottle). Felt pretty good.

Chilling out
Stayed in til about 4pm. During this time, I ate lunch and watched TV. The lunch was absolutely awesome. Seriously, the food was so nice. Not really much else to say about this bit. Got given some anti biotics and painkillers (only taken two the whole time though). Anyway, checked out and got a taxi to my hotel.

Last night
Levick told me I could stay another night if I wanted. I really shouldn't have turned him down. I missed having food bought in and a better TV but I also wanted to basically get out of hospital and all the nurses (as nice as they were) all the time. Last night was a bit gash - I wasn't really in any pain, but the bandages are quite annoying I feel. Eventually fell asleep and..

This morning
Got up early to get an early train home. Was bloody hungry at this point (about 9am this morning) so got some food and got on my train. Not a bad ride home.. relieved to have it all over with.

To sum up
I'm really glad it's all over. It hasn't really sunk in yet. I'm not in any pain and can feel more movement coming back all the time - e.g. it was a hell of a lot easier to put a t-shirt on this morning than it was last night. My only complaint is with this chuffing bandage, which is itching like an absolute bastard. Don't seem to be too swollen either..

I'll keep you posted. Any questions would be very welcome.

[Dave88]

Congrats man  

I'm glad everything went well and you're now on the road to recovery to enjoy your life without gyne

[doddy]

Many thanks.

[Dave88]

It was you who was having the surgery without anyone knowing about it ?
Where did you tell your family and friends you were going for the past couple of days ?
Has anyone noticed or said anything about your chest or the like now that you're home and 'de-gyned' ?

 just curious.

[doddy]

I just said I was visiting a friend.  

No one has asked anything, because no one really knew I had it anyway. I had a mild-ish case (pics in sig, second picture just about does it justice) and covered up pretty well in any case.

I just want to get these bloody bandages off. They are itching like hell.

[AJP]

Well done Doddy!

It gets so much easier from now on.

By the way, don't get too irritated by the bandages or you might do what I did - wake up at 3 in the morning having removed half of them in your sleep!

Just stick to doing things by the book and you'll be fine. I had quite a mild case, like you, and my results are pretty good, so judging by your pre op pics you should get very good results.

Prepare yourself for some 'phantom itching'. You'll get an itch where you are numb and because you can't feel it you won't be able to get rid of the itch. Nightmare! But that's about as bad as it gets, unless you stretch a bit too far for the TV remote or something.

Take it steady.

[Yorkshireman]

Nice 1 mate, glad to hear it went so smoothly.........hope it looks good when the bandages come off...

[doddy]

Cheers everyone. Btw I've noticed in pics that people seem to have the bandage residue on them days after they take them off. Any ideas for getting rid of this?

[Kk]

glad it went well mate, given that your gyne was probably like i'm i'm very keen on seeing the results given that i've already started putting away money for what will hopefully happen in a couple of months, im nervous but anxious too...

BTW the extra night, was it included in the price? I would have stayed if i was you, if i use levick i will try to stay 2 nights, just in case, but you seem to cope with it well...

Anyway, well done, another pair bite the dust, hopefully mine will be history soon too...

BTW, just because I am still slightly clueless to the ins and outs of the entire process, how long did he say u'll have to wear the compression vest for? And it didnt hurt, not even now? really?

[doddy]

It really doesn't hurt at all now. It was a little sore after the op, mainly the drains though.

But as I said, I'm in no pain now. Just this damn itching. My movement is getting better all the time, although obviously still a bit limited.

And yes, the extra nights stay would have been free, I'm sure.

[doddy]

Small update today.

Did a bit of a repair job on my bandages. The big padded bit that went under my armpits has been cut off. It wasn't actually doing anything except causing unnecessary bulk, and I'm more comfortable now.

Got a look at my wounds. They seem to be healing pretty well really.

[AJP]

Doddy, the residue is a proper b*stard to get off - I bought some surgical spirit but it wasn't much good. It gets rid of itself soon enough though.

Kk, the vest has to be worn for 3 weeks continuously (apart from when you shower!), then 3 weeks at night only. I'm on week 6 (ish) and I still wear it on the odd day if I'm not out and about. Not sure if it helps, but I suppose the more compression the better. I'm treating the 3 week guideline as a bare minimum.

Hope this helps.

[uk_bloke]

hi doddy

glad to hear it all went well,

as for the sticky residue ,best thing to use are called zoff adhesive remover wipes ,these are made by smith +nephew ,should be available from the pharmacy at boots /superdrug  etc, if not ive got half a box left in my bathroom cabinet i'd gladly post you f.o.c as i wont be using them (pm me if you like).

good luck mate

paul.

[doddy]

Cheers, but I'm heading into town today anyway.

About 4 days post op now. Feeling pretty good. It's interesting, I seem to sleep really well on my back. I opted for Chorlton's technique of putting a pillow under my knees.

The only real swelling I can feel is those famous "lumps" under my armpits but they're not too bad at all.

The future benefits of being totally flat got a trial run today when I walked downstairs wearing (trousers and) a small t-shirt that I haven't worn in about 2 or 3 years. I just stood there talking to my Mum feeling fine. The bandages are surprisingly unnoticable  

Looking forward to getting them off though.

[AJP]

Sounds like you're doing fine Doddy.

The lumps under your armpits will settle down pretty soon; I think it's just inflammation from where they stick the drains.

Quite liberating being able to wear clothes that fit properly, don't you think?!

I went for a game of snooker in a tight(ish) t-shirt a couple of days ago. I've put a bit of weight on recently (it was a tighter fit than I thought!) and I was quite concious of it showing my gut and spare tyre. However, not once did I think "oh jesus, my boobs are on show". Now that for me is a real breakthrough. Believe me, I'm much happier having a 'complex' about my beer-belly than my (former) man-boobs!!!

All the best.