Being stealth after OK

[November Fox]

I just got my surgery date. Second week of January   

In the second week of December I´m moving into a new place. These people don´t know me very well yet and I don´t want them to find out I´m trans after my surgery.

However hey are going to see my bandages because I´ll be home the first month and facilities are shared.

I guess the options are, I could them them I have gynecomastia, but that´s highly unlikely (I´d think), I´m as skinny as a stray cat and I´m not sure they would "buy" it. What other reasons would there be to have a bandage across your chest? Heart surgery strikes me as a bridge too far 

Any other guys who had this problem?

[November Fox]

I found some suggestions on Tumblr, so I´m just going to comment on my own post (hope that´s ok)  .
Someone had the same question and got this answer:

- Gynaecomastia surgery
- Lung surgery
- Pectus excavatum or pectus carinatum
- Removal of harmless lumps/tumours
- Being vague, for example corrective surgery, or saying that you're okay now and prefer not to talk about it.

I think I will just  tell them something about my sternum growing slightly outward and needing a correction for it. Hopefully I won´t disrespect anybody who actually has this (does not seem fun).

[Elis]

Well done for answering your own question 

I think you may run into more issues by using some of the other reasons. Your housemates may give you that 'sympathetic' look or assume it was a more serious surgery than it actually was; despite you explaining it to them

I explained that I was having chest reconstruction surgery to my coworkers and they just assumed it was because I used to be 'big'. Not sure if I should just be glad they didn't ask more probing questions or annoyed that because I have a stocky build it seemed plausible 

[Jailyn]

Well I believe there is a place and time for everything. This includes being stealth. With being trans doctors need to know in order to treat us properly to know our meds we take. Otherwise there could be unforseen things happen and they don't know your history. In this case of surgery happening I would let the doctors know I am transgender. It is not a bad thing to let people know that we are trans, we put too much pressure on ourselves living in stealth and not outing ourselves. If perhaps we didn't keep it such a secret maybe people could say yeah I know a trans person more and understand us. This is just my view though. Again I would for sure tell the surgery team that you are trans, you can worry about living stealth afterwards. Don't leave them surprised. I don't feel that is the time to be stealth on something like this. I mean it's one thing if it was just a pcp than someone doing surgery on you. So don't be scared to tell them and give them the full picture of who they are dealing with and what they are dealing with, no mysteries.

[November Fox]

Well I believe there is a place and time for everything.

The surgeon knows I´m trans  Otherwise she wouldn´t be operating on me.

I meant my future house mates. I feel no necessity to come out as anything to them. I would not tell them my sexual preference either after just having met them, so I see no reason to share this.

Being stealth is no pressure. I have experienced no situations in which I was afraid to be "outed". This being an exception because the surgery vest will make my surgery obvious.