TiredofIt's Diary

[TiredofIt]

Well, I'm a week in, and everything seems to be going smoothly. My swelling is still pretty minimal, the bruising has darkened a little, and I'm doing pretty well with my vest. The best solution I've found so far is wearing my wife's small, stretchy T-shirts under the vest, so I'm going to buy a few of my own and go that route for the remaining three weeks of this garment.

I haven't taken any pain medication today, and if I feel like I need it, I'll stick to a couple of Tylenol. If I'm feeling up to it, I think I"ll have a glass or two of wine with my wife tonight.

Some observations:

-I have full sensation in both nipples. I have no numbness to speak of.
-This stage-1 vest does not really conceal all that well under a T-shirt. I suppose it could partially be because I'm wearing an additional T-shirt underneath is, but the velcro straps on the shoulders definitely show a little through a T-shirt, even if the shirt isn't particularly tight. Also, because I have some swelling in the center of my chest, I have to keep "puffed up" gauze under the vest there for additional compression, and it causes a bit of a protrusion in the front that is a little bit visible even w/ a T-shirt on. Wearing a button-up, collared shirt is better for concealing the vest.
-Walking and standing upright is as great as I hoped it would be.
-I'm very excited to start trying on clothes and refurbish my wardrobe.
-I'm glad that I got my surgery in the middle of winter, as it seems like a better time to go through post-op. I would expect to be less comfortable if I were in this exact same stage but with an outside temperature of 80 degrees or something.

My dressings come off on Valentines Day -- I'll remove them myself, with Dr. Bermant instructing me on the phone. I'll post new photos afterward.

[reaper33]

tiredofit, bermant usually uses dissolvable sutures, so what is it that you need to remove, is it the white bandages, just curious,coz im getting my op by bermant aswell. goodluck.

[TiredofIt]

Hey, reaper -- yeah, the white bandages and the clear protective covering over them. He prefers for patients to allow him to remove them, but it's just not practical for some, so he sometimes walks people through it over the phone. Best of luck with your surgery, and feel free to ask me more questions about how my experience with Dr. Bermant was.

[TiredofIt]

Nine days post-op.

Great news -- I think I have this vest figured out. During a conversation I had with a woman from the company that makes the vest, I had mentioned that I had had the most luck while wearing one of my wife's T-shirts under my vest. So she mentioned that Target makes a flexible, soft women's shirt that some men have had luck with under vests. I mentioned this to my wife, and she was like, "Oh, I have a couple of those, actually." I wore one yesterday, just under a T-shirt and hoodie, and I was comfortable all day. I wore the other one today, and once again I've been very comfortable. The key is that it's soft, flexible enough to easily get on, but fits snugly enough that there are absolutely no creases in the shirt under the vests. If a T-shirt creases up at all under this tight vest, it's no fun.

So we went out tonight and bought a few more of these T-shirts -- I think they're called Mossimos -- to help me get through the next few weeks. They're not really feminine looking -- they've very much like wearing a thermal T under a T-shirt, which I often did pre-surgery anyway.

So, in short, I just dropped a bunch of money to look more masculine and now I'm out buying women's clothes. You've gotta be kidding me. 

Swelling is still minimal. Pain is subsiding -- I still get sore a couple of times a day, but it's no big deal. It's almost always when I'm in the car. I'm feeling like I'll probably be ready to sleep vestless when I'm two weeks post-op.

[TiredofIt]

Ten days post-op.

Ah, duct tape. I have a roll of white duct tape. I put strips over the shoulder straps on my vest, from my chest to my back on each side, and the vest isn't nearly as visible through a shirt now. Just a tip for anyone else who is finding that the stage-one vest isn't as concealed as you'd like it to be. I've got a normal chest now -- why would I want to continue to cover myself up in clothing to conceal a vest?

[TiredofIt]

Eleven days post-op.

Today I removed the dressings from my chest with Dr. Bermant on the phone. I took my time, it was easy, and there was no pain involved. I've posted photos sans the dressings:

http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q124/TiredofIt2007/

I'm extremely pleased with the results. It will still be a while until the swelling subsides and I see the final results of the surgery, but honestly, if this was the end result, it would have exceeded my expectations. I certainly don't think I have a perfect chest, but I do think I pretty much look normal already. With more healing and an excercise program, and with careful scar care, I think I'll be happier still. Oh, and I'm looking forward to finally getting this marker off of my chest!

Speaking of an exercise program: There's an outdoor work-out plan I've done three times in the past few years. It's six-weeks long, three days a week, 75 minutes a day, with a small group of people of different fitness levels. Its boot-camp format is extremely intensive, and it adjusts for each person's fitness level. We've even had people in there who are training for marathons. Through each of these classes I've taken, I've dramatically increased my fitness, stamina, and even appearance -- except, of course, for my gynecomastia. And that was so frustrating that I had a hard time feeling like all of the effort was worth it. I'd get discouraged and then fall out of shape again, only to try once more.

I can't wait to see the results of the next class I take, starting in mid-April. I've definitely got some fat I want to convert into muscle.

[reaper33]

tiredofit, man those are awesome results, honestly cant ask for anything better, the doc did a great job, congrats, now its up to you to protect what you acquired. do everything it takes to keep yourself in shape, i can only imagine how its feels to be finally free of gyne, im almost there, but im patient, anyways, can you tell me is it easy for you to sleep on the back, coz it sounds impossible for me since im a stomach sleeper, and for how many days did you sleep like that, and i assume that you got local anesthesia with sedation, so does that mean you are awake and numb, or are you completely knocked out? goodluck man

[TiredofIt]

Twelve Days Post-Op.

Hey, reaper and VA. Thanks a lot! I'm definitely stoked so far. I can't wait to get back into shape; I think my motivation will be ten-fold what it used to be. In the meantime, I'm being very careful. I'm not walking around like a robot or anything, but I'm definitely taking it easy and being as smart as I can be.

I'm a back-sleeper anyway, so I haven't had any trouble with that. For the first week or so, though, I slept elevated on pillows to help with swelling, and I much prefer to sleep with only one pillow, and a flat one at that. So I had some back pain from that in the mornings at first.

You're right, I did get local with sedation, but I was totally out of it. From my perspective, this is a much better option than general anesthesia. It's much easier on you when you wake up, you don't have to be intubated, it's less risky.... When I woke up, it was only a matter of minutes before I felt pretty much normal, mentally. I felt great the rest of the day.

Anyway, thanks again, and good luck with everything. Let me know if I can answer any other questions about my experience.

Back to general diary stuff--

Some notes:

-I've decided to keep my vest on 24-7 and not sleep without it after two weeks. I want to be serious about scar care, and removing the compression for that many hours each night just isn't doing as much as I can do. I'm pretty comfortable in this thing now anyway. So it's me and the vest, together, forever. Well, forever for a couple more months, anyway.

-It is not easy to get this marker off of my chest! Granted, I'm not exactly scrubbing due to the healing tissue underneath, but I thought  it would just kind of wear off after a couple of showers. Wrong! I honestly will not be surprised if I still have marker on me in two weeks, and I'm gently taking soap to it every night. (I don't care about this in the least--it's just unexpected.)

-Since removing my dressings, my nips are a good bit more sensitive. I'm sure I'll get used to it after a day or two more.

-When I get cold chills -- and we're having sub-zero temps here now, so it's been pretty common -- my whole chest seems hyper-sensitive. It's not unpleasant at all; kind of like a sneeze is not bad at all, not exactly good, but just sort of momentarily very intense and almost good. That's what these chills are like.

-Not sure if I mentioned this or not, but I haven't taken any pain medication in days. Totally unnecessary.

[TiredofIt]

Two weeks post-op.

Yesterday I ordered new clothes. Wow, now that was a cool experience. Six shirts/sweaters, all in my actual size. I'm not sure how many of them I'll be able to wear before I move on to the stage-two garmant, but that's only two weeks away. I never thought I would actually get excited to buy clothing.

My duct-tape idea isn't working all that well after all. This vest is just bulky and shows through the shoulders of just about anything I try to wear. So for the time being, I'm still in big/thick clothing. I don't think I'll wear a hoodie again for a long time once I get out of this vest.

[Optimistic]

You look great man, congratulations.

[TiredofIt]

Seventeen days post-op.

I can tell that my internal healing is really coming along. I let pain be my guide for what to do and what not to do, and I'm able to do a little more each day. I still have some surface soreness, but it's not too bad. The vest is fine with these Target T-shirts. If you need to wear a T-shirt under your vest, trust me, the Target Ts are the way to go.

I'm really looking forward to starting a workout plan. I'm not going to rush into anything, though, and when I'm ready I'll start slowly.

[TiredofIt]

Sure, I'll post some this evening. I still can't get all of the marker off though!

[TiredofIt]

I've updated my photo page.

http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q124/TiredofIt2007/

[TiredofIt]

Eighteen days post-op.

Thanks, fellas.

I fielded a question a while back via private message that I thought might be good to include in my diary.

Somebody asked me if I saw an endocrinologist before I had surgery, and while my answer was no, I should have added that I had my hormones tested (and freaking everything else) five years ago, when I had a bizarre health scare. I started to get discoid rashes on my arms and other rashes on my body, and I had some joint pain and swelling, so I went to the doctor for it. After some blood tests, I tested positive for having elevated antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in my blood, which pretty much indicates a real problem of some kind, most likely an auto-immune problem. Because those are three syptoms of lupis, and you can be diagnosed with that nasty disease if you have four of the known symptoms, I was obviously scared as hell. But I only had three. Then the games began.

The doctors could not figure out what the hell the problem was, so they just kept taking blood. Over and over. I was tested for everything, including my hormones. (Obviously the point here, but I may as well finish my story.) They were hoping to find the right doctor to refer me to to get me fixed up. Everything except my antinuclear antibodies came back normal. Meanwhile, I itched, itched, itched. It was horrible, and I kept waiting for the dreaded fourth symptom to come along. Sometimes my mind would play tricks on me, even. Add to it the fact that we were expecting our first child, and I was an emotional wreck.

By the time I went to my third doctor, this time an allergist (the second I'd seen), we were going over my records and she suddenly said, "Oh, I see "XXXXX" was the lab where your blood has been sent. They're well known for returning false positives when they test ANA. Let's take some blood and send it to a different lab."

A week or so later I got a call and was told that my ANA levels were completely normal. Soon my itching stopped, my joints got back to normal, and I moved on with life. I've been fine ever since. I hope it was a one-time deal, which is often the case with mystery hive cases.

So, in short, no endocrinologist, but my hormones are normal. And, thank god, so are my antinuclear antibodies.

And now my chest, too!

[reaper33]

hey tired dude, it was me who asked you about the endo thing, coz im planning my surgery this summer, anyways i got myself checked with an endocrinologist immediately after i started noticing gyno symptoms about two years back, but everything came back normal, even my testosterone, but i wasn't surprised coz im sure of that dept,  but my thyroid came out overactive, anyways i was taking some protein and creatine supplement around that time, but my doctor said it couldn't be a factor, he couldn't find a real reason and said i might have got it coz of hormonal imbalance in puberty, i dont know if i should see an endo again since its been 2 years, but the surgeon wont pressure me coz its very stable. wat do you think?