Truman Customer Story Column
The Worry Was Long, the Surgery Was Short
For someone facing surgery, time seems to flow in a strange way.
The road to deciding feels endless, and yet the surgery itself passes in a moment.
A recent account from a patient who underwent gynecomastia surgery captured exactly this. Decision, surgery, and recovery. Let me put it into three scenes.
Scene one: the decision
At first, this patient told us, the very fact of "surgery" was what worried him.
Yet his memory of the day itself turned out to be surprisingly simple. He closed his eyes, opened them, and it was already over. Compared to the worry he had carried for so long, the actual experience passed far more calmly, he wrote.
Of course, this is one patient's experience, and how surgery and recovery feel varies from person to person. Still, that a vague fear is often inflated beyond reality is something we confirm often in the consultation room.
Scene two: the consultation
When we asked what finally moved him to decide, his answer was brief.
"The staff were so kind that I decided on the surgery right away."
It was no grand act of persuasion. The ease he felt during the consultation moved a hesitation he had held for a long time. The harder a worry is to speak aloud, the more the warmth of that first response can shape an important decision.
Scene three: the care
Surgery is not the end. This patient wrote:
"They explained everything in detail, which put me at ease, and the post-op care was good too."
Explaining things before surgery so that no question is left behind, and looking after the recovery process together afterward. Only when both ends are in place, I believe, is a surgery truly complete.
Wishing him a smooth recovery
This patient went home leaving behind a wish for his recovery to go well. Making sure that wish comes true, by watching over him to the end, is what remains for us to do.
Let the worrying be long, and the surgery short. I would like to reverse that order for you. If your deliberation has been dragging on, please come confirm it first in the consultation room.