Top surgery is scheduled! WHEEEEEEE!

[Xren]

I am so happy.  On December 21st I'm getting top surgery in Philadelphia (well, technically Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania,) and the surgeon is Dr. Leis.  It will either be a doughnut or lollipop incision, and after I've recovered for a while I'm going to spend a week of doing fun stuff in the city.

All I can think to say right now is OMG I am so fortunate that this is happening...I almost can't believe it, but it is, and I am thanking every lucky star in the blinking SKY that I've been able to get to this point in my life.  Moving forward, breaking free of the doldrums, not having to walk around with my shoulders slumped and my confidence wheezing out its last hallelujah--it's like right now, all the stress and sleepless nights and metaphorical ulcers make sense.  This is why I'm transitioning, not because I'm loopy, not because I hate myself or have daddy-issues or any of that neolithic twaddle, but because I'm happier with a body that fits.  I knew this all along in a rational way, but just now it's become intuitive and unassailable by shadows of fear or doubt.

And to think of how terrified I was before the phone consultation.  It all worked out fine.

Surgery itself is a little scary to consider, all the needles and drip-tubes and things which smell of hospital, but I AM SO JOYOUS TO GET THIS DONE AT LAST!!!

[M.Grimm]

Congratulations! It's a great feeling, isn't it? Taking the steps to become your real self.

[LordKAT]

Congrats!

Care to share costs and what a 'donut' or 'lollipop' incision is?

[Devyn]

Congrats, man. (: I don't exactly know what a "donut" or "lollipop" incision is, but I mean, still. It's top surgery, right?
Lol. That's great.
I still have to wait 3+ years. 

[some ftm guy]

congrats man that's awesome! i think but not completely sure, even though i know lordkat asked you and not me obviously, i just like takin guesses, donut would be one incision all the way across your chest and lollipop is a half circle incision under each breast? then i don't know why it would be called the donut...anyway it's great hearing good news

[Xren]

Hey everyone, thanks for the responses--sorry I didn't get to the questions asked sooner.

About the incisions: The doughnut incision goes around the aureola, and the lollipop incision is also an incision around the aureola but with a line going downward (shaped like a lollipop, hence the name.)  Neither one of them severs the nerve which goes to the nipple, as far as I know.  I didn't even know such procedures were possible before the consult and looking at the surgeon's website, but they do, which was a total doozy to find out.  There's also something called an anchor incision, which goes around the aureola, then downward and with a curve along the bottom (shaped like an anchor.)

I can't find a concise link that explains all three in the context of FTM top surgery, but there's a lot of stuff on google about it in the context of skin-sparing mastectomies for those with breast cancer and the like.

[Xren]

Congrats!

Care to share costs and what a 'donut' or 'lollipop' incision is?

Urghh blurble, forgot to say stuff about costs, I am an addle-brained insomniac.

The periaureolar/doughnut: Surgery is 4,000, hospital is 1,850
The "lollipop" is 4,500 for surgery and hospital is 1,850
The "anchor" is 5,500 and hospital is 2,400

This info is on a link to the surgeon's website, navigation is a bit headachey though, the things to click on are "Chest Masculinization" and "Pricing Examples," the first one has a better explanation of the surgery in general and the second has a list of costs and such. 
http://www.thetransgendercenter.com/transgendersurgeonaboutsurgerycenter.html