Icon from a picrew by grgikau. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
I created a small fundraiser to raise funds for my surgery recovery. This will help pay for missed wages and other expenses, including gas for the 220 mile round trip to the hospital. Don’t feel obligated at all, but if you’ve wanted a way to help, here it is!
Things about top surgery that I wasn’t aware of going in:
They’ll probably put a breathing tube down your throat after you’re knocked out. You’ll wake up and your throat will hurt (sort of like strep) for a few days after
You need to wear compression tights for a week or two after surgery, they’ll provide them. This is to prevent blood clots since you won’t be moving around a lot
The IV goes in your hand??? They’ll probably numb you first, which is good. But as someone who’s incredibly uncomfortable with medical needles, seeing a needle in my hand was weird
The surgeon will come in before the operation to draw on your chest. They’ll also ask what size you want your nipples to be. You need to tell the surgeon what size you want your nipples to be, don’t be afraid to be specific. These are your nipples.
Anesthesia/surgery will make you EXHAUSTED afterwards. Like “falling asleep if you’re sitting down for more than a few minutes” exhausted
The tightness of the bandage will probably cause most of the pain. Don’t mess with it, the nurse will fix it during the post-op
You will be PARCHED afterwards. You’re going to be IMMENSELY thirsty, drink LOTS of water. I found that sprite is good too, but you’ll want so much water
Part two, recovery edition:
The pain is going to come in waves. You’ll feel fine for hours then as soon as you move you’ll feel like you’ve been stabbed. It’s important to remember that the pain is temporary, but the relief is forever
Trying to sleep comfortably will be weird, because you have to sit propped up
No showers until at least your first week post-op, washing your hair in the sink or having someone to help wash it for you is your best bet
The pain medicine WILL make you sleepy, almost 24/7. Don’t fight the sleep, take naps. Fighting the sleep isn’t fun, taking naps is cozy
You won’t be able to move around much due to pain, so find a favorite show/movie/channel/literally anything you can watch or listen to while stationary
Laying down flat is BAD. Sitting up is GOOD. Sitting in some kind of couch or recliner or bed (while propped up) is BEST
Pick cozy pants that are loose fitting and easy to take off and put on, as well as a button up shirt that’s at LEAST a size or two too big. You’ll thank yourself
Changing dressings will look weird, you need to remember you’re healing. It’s not going to look perfect BECAUSE you are healing, let them heal and they’ll look nice once they’ve finished
Water and herbs are your friend. You HAVE to have a low sodium diet for a long while after, so spicing things up with herbs instead of salt is your best bet. Also water will continue to save you because thirst.
Keep everything you’ll need within like… half a foot away from you. You shouldn’t be reaching for anything
The bandages and tape will itch. It’ll suck. Taking Benadryl is supposed to help, try not to scratch at your bandages or it’ll mess with the scars
The doctors say this a lot but I’ll say it too, stool softeners. Not laxatives, stool softeners. Apparently surgery can cause difficulties with digestion and using the restroom, so better safe than sorry
DO NOT take ibuprofen or anything with ibuprofen in it!!! It can cause bleeding/complications, the doctors WILL give you prescription pain meds and you should take those as instructed. Worse case scenario, Tylenol is your friend.
There will be times when it will hurt even if you’re doing everything right. Your body just had giant stab wounds in it that are now held together by stitches. There’s gonna be pain, it’s gonna suck, but you need to remember that the pain is temporary.
Find a back scratcher. You’ll need the back scratcher. You’ll thank yourself for having the back scratcher.
Do you like blankets? Do you like stuffed animals? Do you like any kind of specific thing that makes you feel cozy? Use it. Let yourself feel cozy, it’s so much easier to feel like you’re recovering when you’re cozy
This is an awesome account of one person’s experience and that’s important for people to read, but different surgeons/hospitals have different rules and procedures. Don’t assume that just because this is written in a generalized informative tone that it’s what will happen to you!
For example, a lot of this wound care stuff just didn’t apply to me because my surgeon uses waterproof surgical glue instead of bandages.
One advice I have to give that’s informed by my experience is please please tell them if you’re in pain. I woke up from anesthesia with a distracting but bearable amount of pain, but they gave me pain meds for it because it wasn’t supposed to be so painful.
If you go home and the pain is bad enough that you are having trouble sleeping, are avoiding moving around more than what your surgeon has advised your limitations are, you feel yourself always tensing up to the pain, or you’re having trouble focusing because of it, TELL THE SURGEON. That is information they want to know! They might change the instructions on your medication, or prescribe another one on top. When I was still having bad pain a week or so in, I was prescribed a special pain med targeted at nerve pain, because they thought the drains were poking into some nerve somewhere.
Like, if you’re someone who gets or got really painful period cramps, and you get that level of pain during the recovery, please don’t just bear it because it’s temporary. Relaxed people heal better and u and ur surgeon can problem solve if something needs to happen to fix it together.
It’s still awesome to hear a lot of different people’s experiences. But if you want detailed rundowns of what top surgery might look like for you, try finding people local to you who have had surgery with the specific surgeons you’re considering! Everyone’s different so it won’t be exact of course, but it’ll be much closer than someone online who might not even be in your country.
six weeks from my surgery consult is April 7th. I will likely hopefully hear back from my surgeon’s office this week about whether or not my insurance has accepted the pre-auth.
I already know my blood pressure is gonna spike whenever I get a call.
I really hope they call and I don’t have to wait another week or longer
Things about top surgery that I wasn’t aware of going in:
They’ll probably put a breathing tube down your throat after you’re knocked out. You’ll wake up and your throat will hurt (sort of like strep) for a few days after
You need to wear compression tights for a week or two after surgery, they’ll provide them. This is to prevent blood clots since you won’t be moving around a lot
The IV goes in your hand??? They’ll probably numb you first, which is good. But as someone who’s incredibly uncomfortable with medical needles, seeing a needle in my hand was weird
The surgeon will come in before the operation to draw on your chest. They’ll also ask what size you want your nipples to be. You need to tell the surgeon what size you want your nipples to be, don’t be afraid to be specific. These are your nipples.
Anesthesia/surgery will make you EXHAUSTED afterwards. Like “falling asleep if you’re sitting down for more than a few minutes” exhausted
The tightness of the bandage will probably cause most of the pain. Don’t mess with it, the nurse will fix it during the post-op
You will be PARCHED afterwards. You’re going to be IMMENSELY thirsty, drink LOTS of water. I found that sprite is good too, but you’ll want so much water
Part two, recovery edition:
The pain is going to come in waves. You’ll feel fine for hours then as soon as you move you’ll feel like you’ve been stabbed. It’s important to remember that the pain is temporary, but the relief is forever
Trying to sleep comfortably will be weird, because you have to sit propped up
No showers until at least your first week post-op, washing your hair in the sink or having someone to help wash it for you is your best bet
The pain medicine WILL make you sleepy, almost 24/7. Don’t fight the sleep, take naps. Fighting the sleep isn’t fun, taking naps is cozy
You won’t be able to move around much due to pain, so find a favorite show/movie/channel/literally anything you can watch or listen to while stationary
Laying down flat is BAD. Sitting up is GOOD. Sitting in some kind of couch or recliner or bed (while propped up) is BEST
Pick cozy pants that are loose fitting and easy to take off and put on, as well as a button up shirt that’s at LEAST a size or two too big. You’ll thank yourself
Changing dressings will look weird, you need to remember you’re healing. It’s not going to look perfect BECAUSE you are healing, let them heal and they’ll look nice once they’ve finished
Water and herbs are your friend. You HAVE to have a low sodium diet for a long while after, so spicing things up with herbs instead of salt is your best bet. Also water will continue to save you because thirst.
Keep everything you’ll need within like… half a foot away from you. You shouldn’t be reaching for anything
The bandages and tape will itch. It’ll suck. Taking Benadryl is supposed to help, try not to scratch at your bandages or it’ll mess with the scars
The doctors say this a lot but I’ll say it too, stool softeners. Not laxatives, stool softeners. Apparently surgery can cause difficulties with digestion and using the restroom, so better safe than sorry
DO NOT take ibuprofen or anything with ibuprofen in it!!! It can cause bleeding/complications, the doctors WILL give you prescription pain meds and you should take those as instructed. Worse case scenario, Tylenol is your friend.
There will be times when it will hurt even if you’re doing everything right. Your body just had giant stab wounds in it that are now held together by stitches. There’s gonna be pain, it’s gonna suck, but you need to remember that the pain is temporary.
Find a back scratcher. You’ll need the back scratcher. You’ll thank yourself for having the back scratcher.
Do you like blankets? Do you like stuffed animals? Do you like any kind of specific thing that makes you feel cozy? Use it. Let yourself feel cozy, it’s so much easier to feel like you’re recovering when you’re cozy
if i sell nudes to pay for top surgery can i call them limited edition
uh oh
alright fuck it. yous have blown up my notifications for three days. put your money where your mouths are.
i’m getting top surgery in january. i need to get £1500 together by christmas to have the full cost saved up. i will be taking 150 pictures of my boobs and printing them as physical photographs so this shit really is limited edition. 50 will be sexy, 50 will be goofy, and 50 will be themed. they will come with stickers and a thank you note. they will not have my face in them. these fuckers will be paying rent in their final months so help me god.
the pictures will be available for purchase from the 20th of november for one month only. details to follow.
if anybody is feeling generous before that time, my paypal is neuronary.n.neuronary@gmail.com. i really sincerely appreciate anything anyone can give, so thank you so much.
to put that big number in context, if everyone who has liked this post was able to donate £1, i would have more than enough to afford the surgery.
hey so like. if you rbd the original please also reblog this version.
I’d never heard of Top Surgery Revision before. But this is super interesting!
Revisions are pretty common, actually! I wish more people knew that bc a lot of people do need them. As with any other surgery, it can be tough to know how you will heal, and revisions are not an indication that your top surgery was done badly or that you “failed” somehow. (But if your surgeon did fuck up, you can get revisions done by someone else.)
ALT
