Truman Customer Story Column
I Want to Wear White Short Sleeves Often
Saying you cannot wear a white T-shirt in summer divides people into those who understand and those who do not. In this consulting room, it needs no explanation.
What this person wrote as what they most wanted to do after surgery was: "I want to enjoy summer. Wear white short sleeves often, go to the bathhouse with friends — I think I'll gain a lot of confidence."
Three things stand side by side: a white T-shirt, the bathhouse, confidence. The first two are concrete scenes; the last is what accumulates from them. I thought the order was exactly right. Confidence is less something you resolve into than something that attaches as the situations you no longer have to avoid increase one by one.
It Is Better to Bring Worries Out and AskUntil they decided, what this person worried about most was the financial burden. That is something to discuss thoroughly with the counselor, and not a subject for this piece.
But I do want to say that whatever the worry, it is better to bring it out and ask. Unasked, a worry does not shrink; it is simply postponed — sometimes for years.
That the Nurses Are All MenFor their first impression, they used the phrase "kind to a fault," and added that it was more comfortable because the nurses were all men.
This is a structure we intended. Gynecomastia involves repeated examinations and treatments performed with the shirt off. Who is present in that situation matters more than you would think — all the more for someone who long hesitated even to open the door.
The Tension Had DisappearedAsked about their memory of the surgery, they said nothing from the operation itself stayed with them, and that although they had been very tense beforehand, after a nap it had disappeared.
The surgery is performed under sedation and takes about thirty minutes. How it went is explained in the recovery room afterward. Tension tends to gather before surgery, and once it has passed, it becomes hard to find the reason you had been holding onto it. "It had disappeared" seems to me an exact transcription of that state.
Asked what they would like to convey to others with the same concern, they answered to the effect that they hope others can experience the change they did. That is what they experienced, and whether your condition calls for surgery is something to judge after confirming it through an examination.
On the last question, along with thanks, they wrote "Be well." Not many people add a greeting like that to a review form. We return the same greeting.
