Truman Customer Story Column Surgery date: 2026-04-13
The Most Memorable Moment of Surgery
"They had just finished positioning my arms and legs —
and the next thing I knew, it was over"
"I lay down, and before I knew it, it was over"
The worry I hear most often before gynecomastia surgery is, without question, ‘pain.’ The very phrase ‘going under the knife’ carries a weight of its own.
Yet the faces of patients coming out of surgery tell quite a different story. “It was nothing compared to what I expected” — I have heard those words in my consultation room more times than I can count.
Today, borrowing the story of a recent patient, I would like to write about that gap — the distance hiding inside ‘compared to what I expected.’
The Pain He Feared Most Turned Out to Be 'Less Than Expected'
The patient I would like to introduce today also worried most about post-surgical pain.
But having been through it himself, he said it “didn't really hurt.” There is always a considerable distance between the pain we imagine and the pain we actually feel. The pain patients picture before surgery and the pain described by those who have actually had it are clearly two very different things.
One Short Word: "Kind"
Asked how the clinic felt on his first visit, he answered simply: “kind.”
The chest is not a part of the body anyone shows easily. That is why the warmth of the very first greeting matters so much. The comfort carried in that one short word is what brings hesitant footsteps all the way into the consultation room.
A Surreal Experience on the Operating Table
When we asked about a memorable moment during surgery, we got an intriguing answer.
“I remember lying down and them positioning my arms and legs — and then suddenly the surgery was over,” he said. A surreal experience, in his words. Opening your eyes after anesthesia to find it already finished — a great many patients describe exactly that.
"Do It — No Question"
When we asked what he most wanted to do after surgery, he said he “wanted to work out his chest.” It was the wish to reclaim a part of daily life he had long put off.
Asked what he would say to others facing the same concern, his answer was concise and clear.
Turn the hours you would spend agonizing and hesitating into that first step, as soon as you can — and Trueman Daegu will take it with you.
— Dr. Chul Moon, Trueman Daegu —