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The Man Who Wanted to Stand Tall and Wear a T-Shirt
The Man Who Wanted to Stand Tall and Wear a T-Shirt
When summer comes, the clinic grows a little busier.
Only when the season for thinner clothing arrives does a worry postponed for years become one that can no longer be put off. Today is the story of a man who made his decision at the threshold of that season.
Pain and the compression garment were his worries
What this patient worried about before surgery were the pain and the life of wearing a compression garment.
When I asked after the surgery, he said there had been no major discomfort. This is his case, and pain and adjusting to the compression garment vary from person to person. Still, the story that the discomfort actually experienced was smaller than the size of the worry is one I hear not infrequently in the consultation room.
Pain usually subsides considerably within two or three days, and for the rest of the period most people don't report significant pain. It's true that wearing the compression garment is uncomfortable. But when I explain that it's important to press the skin, stretched after surgery, as closely as possible against the chest so it adheres, and the patient understands the reason, they endure the discomfort of the garment well. Knowing why you must endure something, versus not knowing, makes a big difference in getting through the recovery period.
The first day, arriving tense
He said he was very tense when he first came to the clinic. But he wrote that the staff and the doctor were kind, and that put him at ease.
The more difficult an area is to bring up, the more the atmosphere of the first day matters. We believe that easing a patient's tension is itself the beginning of care.
Our clinic's motto is the mindset that "a member of our own family is having this surgery," and we approach every operation with that heart. We also regularly train on kindness and on thinking from the patient's point of view. I believe it's thanks to this that we often hear such praise from patients.
"Opened my eyes and it was over"
When I asked about the most memorable moment during surgery, his answer was brief. "Opened my eyes and it was over."
Years of dreaded time had passed for him in the span of closing and opening his eyes. Fear is usually greater than the surgery. Many people learn this fact only after the surgery is done.
The surgery is done under local anesthesia with an injection around the areola, and the actual operating time is about thirty minutes. Over years of accumulated surgical know-how, I've been able to shorten the time considerably. Because a shorter operation is safer for the patient, I believe it matters to have surgery with an experienced surgeon.
What he wanted to do this summer
When I asked what he most wanted to do after surgery, he answered this way: "I want to stand tall and wear a T-shirt with confidence."
A single T-shirt is nothing to one person, and a years-long homework assignment to another. Shoulders that once curved inward straightening out is, before it is the result of surgery, the sight of a heart recovering.
I always approach surgery believing that a clinic must heal not only the physical change but the patient's psychological state as well. For a man to walk with his shoulders back is a posture that appears only when he is no longer diminished and is full of confidence. Especially for younger patients, I think this recovery of confidence matters greatly, because it has a large effect on other areas of life too.
To those with summer ahead of them
This patient left words to the effect that others with the same worry should have the surgery in preparation for summer. Of course this is his experience, and whether to have surgery should first be decided after confirming your own condition through an examination.
He also left a request that we keep being kind. That request, I take to heart. If you feel the wish to stand tall this summer, I hope you won't worry alone but will come in once and talk with me. Just asking everything you're curious about and leaving with it sorted out makes the decision far lighter. I sincerely want to help.