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The Courage That Knocked on the Door Without an Appointment
The Courage That Knocked on the Door Without an Appointment
One day, a man came in through the clinic door without even an appointment.
He said that after years of only deliberating, that day, for some reason, courage came, and he just came in. I think that step is truly precious. Gynecomastia worry is usually postponed for years, hidden behind the word "someday."
That very day, the consultation room door opened
This patient wrote in his review:
"Even though I went without an appointment, they consulted and treated me kindly."
On the day someone works up the courage to come, hearing them out before that feeling cools—it's what we should naturally do. Of course, if you come with an appointment you can be seen without waiting and with more ease, but if it's courage hard-won, you may come that day just as you are.
I don't think a consultation is a procedure to obtain a surgical consent form. Until the patient fully understands what they're curious about, I explain the same thing again however many times if needed. Because I think that's the best way to ease tension. Only after confirming that the anxious, tense mind has somewhat eased do we bring the patient into the operating room.
His biggest worry, about pain
What this patient worried about most before surgery was, again, pain. But after finishing surgery he wrote:
"I was most worried about pain after surgery, but when I actually experienced it, it didn't hurt."
Of course this is his case. The degree of pain one feels and the pace of recovery differ from person to person, and some do experience a certain amount of discomfort. Still, the story that the distance between the pain pictured amid worry and the actual experience was farther than expected is one I often come to hear in the consultation room.
Regarding pain, I explain it this way. Gynecomastia surgery is done under local anesthesia with an injection around the areola, and the last words the patient hears are, "This will sting, please bear with just this part." The actual operating time is about thirty minutes; through years of accumulated surgical know-how I've shortened the time considerably, and a shorter operation is safer for the patient. Post-surgery pain, too, usually subsides considerably within two or three days, and after that few patients report significant pain.
The words heard in the recovery room
When I asked which moment stayed with him when he opened his eyes after surgery, this patient said, "The words 'the surgery went well' stayed with me."
Because we know the tension of the road to the operating table, we don't spare that single line. To the patient, it's the signal that a worry years in the making is over.
Exercise, and what comes after
This patient named exercise as what he wanted to do after surgery. And to others with the same worry, he left words to the effect that even if it's a bit hard, it's good to go through with it. Of course this too is a story from his experience, and whether to have surgery is best decided after confirming your own condition through an examination.
I don't think surgery is the end. If anything, I try to manage things more closely from right after surgery than before, and afterward we watch the course together for a long time. I consider it important to give the trust that whenever a problem arises, consulting resolves it.
If you've been worrying alone for years, appointment or not, I hope you'll come once and start with a conversation. From the moment the conversation begins, the worry starts to sort itself out.