Hi brothers,
After probably about 10 years of living with gyne I finally built up the courage to do something about it.
It actually eventuated unintentionally however. I went in to visit my GP regarding an immunisation because I was travelling to India for a while. Anyway, I thought while I was in and chatting with him that I just query him about gyne. (Mind you, at the time I had never researched the condition and knew only very little about it). My questions came out a little carefree sounding and he brushed them off. But once I explained that it was effecting my life psychologically, socially and sexually. (I thought about the ways it was effecting me and realised that one of these leads and feeds another, a vicious circle
) My doc took me a little more seriously from this point on and examined my breasts and came to the conclusion that there were glands and excess fat beneath the skin.
BUT WHAT NOW!? I HAD NO FREAKIN IDEA!! :
He told me that I should visit a specialist, a plastic surgeon. Being the busy doc that he is, he sent me on my curious way and told me to ring him in a couple of days and he would give me the surgeons name and number that he recommends. So I anxiously went about my business and called my doc later, just as he requested. Well to my dismay, the good doc was too bloody busy to get a number and name. So this meant I had to bust another blood vessel waiting for this dang number. Finally I got it at the end of that week and decided to build the courage, give him a call and see what the deal was. Immediately, I was speaking to possibly the most helpful receptionist known to man-kind. Anyway I described my dilemma, who referred me and some other minor insignificant details. He said that he would send out some information to me that I was required to fill out and send back. In this package was also information about gyne and liposuction. It wasn't overly informative, pretty much verbatim to what you find scattered across the web when you type in gynecomastia.
I came home about 3 days later to my delight was an A4 letter and I knew what it was! So I pulled out the information and filled it out over the next couple of days. I also was super keen to read over the gyne and lipo brochures that he had sent-pfft. I sent my details back in the mail and rang up the same day and requested a consultation with the head plastic surgeon (PS). I couldn't get a time to see him until about two months later but what could I do. So I took the Tuesday appointment time.
The time waiting for the first consultation is quite daunting. You don't know what to expect - will the surgeon be happy to operate, will have to have another consultation, can he fix me, is my skin elastic enough - all these questions and more were flooding my brain. But so was the thought that perhaps in some time not so long from now my breasts could be gone, WHAT A JOLLY THOUGHT!
I walked into the hospital where my PS is based and was so nervous trying to remember the directions to his office - "left at the first door, the big elevator, level 4, down the end and second on your right". Something like that anyway. I made it and met the receptionist that I had been talking to over the phone so many times. He was so, so, so nice and even nicer in person. It was very important that he was so nice as it made the consultation experience so much less daunting. Anyway, I sat and waited for about 20 minutes for the surgeon to come and collect me. He came out and called me into the consultation room, THIS WAS IT, make or break! He sat me down and we talked about nothing in particular for a while which was great, he was great. He then said, "so you've got a bit of the breast development going on?" I said, yes and he gave me a white surgical gown to don and he left the room for some a reason I didn't know at the time. While he was gone, I took of my top and put on the gown. He came back in with a digicam and a sat back down. He asked if I had had any excretions and "if my balls had dropped" as he laughed. It was actually all SO comfortable, easy and humorous. For me and for any others with an open mind, the first consultation is the hardest but once your in there it is the opposite to what you expect - it's almost fun! From this point on it becomes better and better believe me. I'm getting off the track a little. My PS then asked me to pull of the gown and he examined my breats. I watched his face and he seemed not concerned and said, "hmm, seems like you've quite a bit of tissue." He said my gyne was moderate. Next he stood me up and took some photos of me with my arms raised, arms against my hips on the side, front on and at 45 degree angle to the camera. We then sat back down together and I said so will you be able to operate on me. He said "yes" and that I wouldn't need another consultation as I had researched well and understood most of the basics just prior to this consultation. IT PAYS TO READ THESE DISCUSSIONS - learn as much as you can. He drew a schematic of what he would do, basically, and described all the necessities about glands, fat, lipo, incisions etc. Then I asked him about costs, he replied one of his nurses would come in and discuss this with me. About 40 minutes of decaying the nurse came in and hit me with the damage. About $200 dearer than what I expected, but I had a little nest egg saved and couldn't better think of a way of spending it than on booting the cans. She asked me when I was free for an op date - I was possibly never more excitied. I said I was free anytime except for next week. She said how about not next Wednesday, but the one after? I was expecting the date to be like 3 months away - but hey, 2 weeks suits me A.O.K!
On the way home I was thinking should I just rip my shirt off now in town and show everyone my cans because they weren't going to be able to admire them for much longer. Anyway I didn't flaunt them like I planned. I prepared by telling my immediate family and they supported me so well. I was so happy the way that my family dealt with it. Every day before the op I was thinking about my cans and how I would only have them for 10, 9, 8 .... more days. Such a good feeling, and I was constantly wondering why I didn't do this earlier. Didn't matter anymore, because I was finally getting surgery!
The night before September 19, 2006 was weird. I was anxious, happy, excited all of those sort of emotions that are expected when about to embark on a life changing journey. And let me assure you, it is every bit of that. My family took me out for dinner, Italian, and I gorged my head on great food in great company. We went home I had one last drink before my ban on food and drink by midnight the night before. Sleep was patchy that night.
Beep, Beep, Beep. My alarm 6am Wednesday morning! My check in was at 8am with the op at 8:40, first cab off the rank. I got ready and enjoyed all the emotions that I was feeling and I didn't look at my cans one last time. I figured I had seen them enough over the past 10 odd years. I checked in and a nurse took me through to a small white room. She handed me a backless gown and told me to put it on and take off my necklace and meet her down the hall when I'm done. She was so nice and reassuring. Anyway we walked into this other room where she took my weight, 84kgs, height - 189.5 cms and blood pressure. Which was high for my age, 21, she said it was probably attributed to nevousness. Hope so!? From here she escorted me to a bed in a room which overlooked the city and showed me my bed. I lay in there and get blankets put on me, handed the newspaper etc. Really well looked after. I was waiting for the anaesthetist at this point. He came at about 8:30am and was an unusual looking man. He simply told me what he would do, I would go to 'sleep' and all that jazz. Convo probably lasted 3 minutes, pretty pointless I guess. Maybe not though. 10 minutes later this cool male nurse came along and wheeled me into the post op room. This was it, the time has come! We talked for about 5 minutes whilst he moved about the room with purpose, fiddling with the equipment. A female nurse came in and asked some basic questions regarding allergies etc. I said I had none and then in walked the anaesthetist. I was clearly nervous. He sat by my side and but a strap on my arm to vascularise the veins in my hands and said "this will sting just a bit.." he poked in his needle and said, "good". That 'good' was reassuring. He then put a thing on top of the need he just inserted and said this will calm your nerves. Boy did it do that, I was floating, bent as a mofo. I then just laid back all muscles loosened and I was waiting, for I don't know what. Then my PS came in, greeted me, told me to sit up (I felt like saying maybe later) and he drew some black circles and lines on my cans. There were about 7 people in the pre op room by now but I couldn't cared less. I laid back down and they wheeled me into the theatre. The next part is pretty hazy but it went something like this. The anaesthetist said you will feel a cold sensation work its way up your arm. He was right, it felt like my arm was freezing at about 30cm a second by the time I felt the cold at my shoulder...zzzz zzz.
Wake up in the recovery room. A nurse comes over and says how do you feel. Rate the pain out of ten. I said 8, but it was more like 4. It was just general stinging, not unbearable pain. It was very bearable. She hit me up with some morphine and man, I was one drug cocktail. This was evident in my come down post op. Anyway, I stayed in recovery for an hour they took blood pressure. I didn't check the cans once, I was too nervous to look. They moved me to another room with more beds in it and I had a chance to look. MAN, DID THEY LOOK FLATTER OR WHAT!!! OH YER
The rest of the day involved me in the hospital for another 5 or 6 hours just laying there and feeling better exponentially. Had the drains removed about an hour before I left at 4:30pm. My PS came by to tell me it all went a treat and said he'll se me next week. My mother came by and we went in the car home!
Got home had some pain killers and went to bed. Still groggy from the anaesthetic. The next morning I woke up and was feeling pretty good. Every day from then on I was feeling better and better. I had to wear my custom made compression vest which is a pain in the arse. Currently I am on day 6 post op going onto day 7 in 33 minutes. So I will update constantly and provide photos when I get them next week from the PS. Thanks for reading and if you haven't had surgery yet, and are contemplating - DO IT!
Topic: My story *OM* (Read 3618 times)
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