Now I Have a Reason to Get in Shape

The review I want to share today was written on the 30th day after surgery.

He had worried that his chest might still look prominent after surgery, and even now, past the 30-day mark, he wrote that more time seems necessary.

He is right. Even when tissue is removed by surgery, it takes several months for the swelling to subside and the remaining tissue to settle. Day 30 is not the point at which a result is judged; it is a point at which change is still under way. So we explain this timetable before surgery, and at follow-up visits we confirm together which stage he is passing through. A tentative impression is not a warning sign; it is an honest record written in the middle of recovery.

Asked what stayed with him during the surgery, he wrote this:

"It was my first time under sedation, so that memory was a very strange and new one for me."

The experience of simply closing your eyes and opening them to find the surgery over is bound to feel unfamiliar to those going through it for the first time. Before anesthesia, we explain in advance how one falls asleep and wakes, and through cooperation with the anesthesiology team we safeguard the patient's condition during that time. Our role is to keep an unfamiliar experience from becoming an anxious one. As something he also liked, he noted that the staff were tidy and professional.

The words he left for others with the same concern struck me.

"After the surgery, you should be prepared for the recovery. It's harder than you think."

I pass this sentence along without erasing or softening it. The pressure and discomfort of the recovery period are real, and the degree varies from person to person. Still, I always see that those who prepare knowing exactly what to expect pass through that time more calmly. That is why, in consultation, I explain what may be uncomfortable and for how long, without exaggerating or downplaying.

The sentence I lingered over longest in this review is a different one. Asked what he wanted to do after surgery, he wrote:

"Before, I had this doubt — what's the point of building my body — but now that's gone."

The feeling that effort itself becomes pointless because of a part that exercise cannot hide. This is the way gynecomastia wears down the mind before the body. That he is still holding his judgment on the result yet has already recovered his reason to get in shape — I think this change is close to the essence of this surgery. Through the remaining recovery, I will keep confirming his progress at follow-up visits to the end.