Surgery date: 7/24/2014
Surgeon: Dr. Garramone
I finally get to join this thread! So, sorry for the lateness of this post. I've been enjoying an excuse to be extremely lazy and not do anything. Honestly, I need to stop being quite as lazy, as I really need to get back to my usual activities. Anyway, I'll sum up my entire experience here.
I actually ended up leaving Osaka around 1pm on July 21st and arriving in florida around 7:30-8pm on the same day thanks to the international dateline. I met my bestie/sister there in Ft. Lauderdale at the airport and we took a cab to the Comforte Suite hotel that Dr. G's office recommends. A word of warning, don't take independent cabs in Ft. Lauderdale; they are just scalpers. Go with yellow cab. It wouldn't have been a problem if I had thought to call ahead for a shuttle or get a temp cell phone before I even arrived in the country since I was not going to take my Japanese cellphone and get insane charges.
Since I live in Asia, I decided to get my physical and clearance through a local doctor in Florida rather than trying to locate an English speaking doctor here who could do the medical paperwork to the satisfaction of an American surgeon. I went to the doctor that Dr. G's office told me about on the 22nd and they were great. It was a quick in and out, fairly close to the hotel and the doctor was really nice (and nice looking to boot). Turns out I'm pretty darn healthy, aside from needing to lose a little weight, which I already knew. I was able to do a walk in with their office at around 9am, and I was out by 11, I think. From there we went to walmart and stocked up on more than enough things and an ungodly amount junk food. Ever since we were kids, the second my best and I get together we revert to being daring 7 year olds who think that our stomachs are made of iron and that very small graphical errors on video games are the most hilarious thing in the world. She also suggested picking up some canned soups which, as it turned out, was a very good idea. We did order out a few times, but that was because I wanted to. We really wouldn't have had to at all.
The 23rd was the pre-op and I was scheduled for 11am. I arrived, checked in and found out from Jodi that my bloodwork had not been faxed over. I called the doctor's office, had a mini panic attack and ended up waiting until 1pm to be seen. I'm not sure if this was because of the paperwork (which had still not arrived when I was called back) or because of how busy he was. There were so many other guys in there that it was crazy. I mean, I know that there are a lot more of us out there than who are on here, but honestly, I had never expected to see so many guys there like me. It was kind of interesting. Though, I believe I was the only gay one, which was made funnier by the fact that everyone assumed S was my girlfriend. Anyway, pre-op was short and sweet, couple of pictures and I had to lose my nipple piercings, but I'm getting those puppies back eventually, if only for aesthetics. I was given three prescriptions (antibiotic, painkiller, nausea meds) and I went ahead and purchased the arnica and the bromelain, as well as the scarguard from his office. I probably would have been fine without the herbals, but I figured it couldn't hurt and frankly, I think they did help. They told me if it was a cost issue to just get scarguard, but after the amount of money I had put in a little more wasn't going to hurt. His office is located near a Publix and they offer a pretty good discount on the prescriptions from his office, so its certainly not a huge deal to pick them up in Florida.
As it turned out, I was the first surgery of the day on 7/24, so I had to get there at 6am. After some paperwork, the surgical center fee and a urine sample I was taken back to the pre-op area. I forgot my compression socks in the hotel room, but I actually ended up not needing them at all since they have heated leg massaging things they put on you in the OR. After getting dressed in my lovely gown and getting settled in the bed I got to meet the anesthesiologist and the RN who was in the OR with me. They were both quite nice and the nurse had an excellent manner. I had a conch piercing which gave them some trouble getting out (I also wasn't able to get it back in, sadly). S was brought back with me and she and I ended up chatting and, as per usual, laughing like hyenas. Dr. G. came back and drew on my chest. I was really relieved to see that he was awake and alert, since I am a terrible morning person. The nurse thought we were amusing and even commented that I apparently didn't need "happy drugs" in my IV. When they did give me the benzo, I have to say, that was awesome. Everything was great. My nurse that I probably wouldn't remember anything, but I do remember a good deal compared to what I've heard others say. In the OR I was moved to another table, covered with a toasty blanket, had my arms strapped out and the leg massagers put on. I remember telling the nurses about Alaska and live in Osaka and when the anethesia was put in my IV it burned a little. I remember complaining to the anesthesiologist that she needed to "heat up the drugs before she molested me with them", then taking two deep breathe from the oxygen mask, everything getting fuzzy and nothing. I woke up in the recovery room and I was in pain. Apparently I woke up way too early and I was given from demerol for the pain, though for some reason the nurse gave me a shot instead of putting in my IV (a fact that I still am kinda ticked about). S was brought back early my mistake and I remember her talked to me and I think I was complaining to her about hurting. Anyway, I dozed back off and I apparently I slept for two more hours. It was after 11 when I finally woke up, and I could still feel a decent amount of pain. The nurse wouldn't give me anything else, and in hindsight she knew what she was doing. I was pissed though.
The next several days were actually a lot easier than I thought they would be. I slept that first day and its pretty much a haze. But, after that I was fine and aside from some drowsiness from the pain medication I didn't sleep any more than normal. I just did so in weird bursts and my hours are still wonky. I'm waking up at 5:30am and falling asleep at like, 9. I had a draining problem with my right drain that we had to go back to the surgical center to address. The nurse showed us how to empty the drains but she did not tell us how to strip them in the event that they became clogged, which is exactly what happened with my right one. I went in the day after surgery, maybe about 24 hours after surgery and Dr. G stripped the drain and showed us how to do it. He was really sweet about it and was pretty surprised by how much sensation I had. I could feel the vacuum in the drain basically suck a lot of fluid out. It was weirdest feeling, and it hurt a decent bit. He patted my shoulder a few times and told me "Don't worry, you're fine buddy!" It ended up being a good thing that I went in though, because the bulb was a malfunctioning one and the drain stopper that prevented fluid from going back up popped out when he stripped the drain. They changed it free of charge and I was in and out in maybe an hour and half, though it only took so long because Dr. G was in surgery. That and the constipation are the only hiccups I have had in recovery thus far.
My range of movement is coming back great, and I can get around a lot better than I thought I would be able to. The only strange thing is the differed sensation from the nerves and the weird pulling sensation I get around my left nipple. Its painful, just really weird. My nipples look icky, but I think that's to be expected. I'll post pictures eventually. I have A LOT of sensation though, and the only numbness is my scars a small area around them. I can feel some stinging in the nipple grafts when water his them and I can feel pressure and some sensation when I put the xeroform and nerosporin on.
The flight back wasn't too bad, I managed to get around fine. I would say to anyone travelling internationally get as direct a route as possible like I did and avoid JFK if possible, That airport was a damn nightmare for me.
So, with the overview out of the way, I'll get into a couple specifics:
Dr. Garramone was really, really sweet. I don't get what the complaints about his bedside manner are. He was friendly, relaxed, open, professional and generally just very comfortable to be around. His staff were great, all of my questions were answered in a timely fashion and I have no complaints. When my paperwork had not cleared, I told them the name of the doctor and that was the end of that. Jodi and Dr. Garramone said that they knew the doctor I saw and he was excellent about getting results to them. In the event that they had not had them at the end of the business day, Dr. Garramone said he knew he would have them in the morning no problem. I honestly can't think of a single complaint about the practice, and after my reveal, I felt very confident that I had made the right choice. Due to my weight (I'm not huge, I'm just stocky and a bit heavy at the moment, though I am already losing weight) I was concerned about dogearring and needing lipo, but after taking the tape off the incisions (I did so in the shower last night) I have no puckering, no dogearring, my incisions are flat and for the most part very straight. I have very little swelling that is already noticeably less and I had only a slight amount of bruising. I honestly can't even imagine myself going anywhere else.
I do have one warning I want to give to others though: Dr. G DOES NOT take chest tattoos into consideration when placing nipples. So, if you are anal about your tattoos potentially being disrupted by a nipple being grafted on top of them you may want to reconsider surgeons or talk to him during your consultation. My right nipple is placed partially in my tattoo and my left just barely covers a bit of it. I don't really mind and it doesn't screw up my ink all that much, but if it had been an elaborate one it may have ended up looking worse. I don't regret my choice at all, but some people may.
Another thing I wanted to mention was my choice of lodging (very happy with) and weird encounter my friend had. After a lot of thought I decided against NBR. A lot of people swear by it, but it just didn't sit right with me for some reason. I already dislike being around a lot of strangers and I never liked bed and breakfasts, so I didn't see the appeal at all. The selling point of 'you can meet a lot people' was not appealing to me and I wasn't really going there to be social. I know I could have stayed in my room, but it would have still been staying in someone's home essentially. I didn't need company or anything like that since S and I are really quite skilled at entertaining ourselves. We laughed at emulator program because it was called 'sluss' for about, I'm sadly not kidding, 15 minutes. I nearly pee'd myself. So I was not worried about being bored. Yes, we had to take cabs, but it wasn't that much really, and even with buying my own food for the hotel (every room comes with a fridge and microwave since they have a lot of post-op recovery stays) and paying for cabs, it ended up being the same price if not a little less than going to NBR. The day of surgery, I didn't need to take cabs at all, as the office set me up with a car service free of charge there and back to the hotel. It was an excellent service. The only hiccup was that the guy who had surgery after me left at the same time (since I slept for so long after) and thanks to his mother and my being insanely loopy the driver took five of us back to the hotel. I should have just taken the car since it was for me and not all of us, but I wasn't in the mindset to make any choices (normally I would have thrown a fit) and S didn't want to make me wait any longer since I really just wanted to get back and sleep. But, the important point is that it was free and still essentially being put in a van and driven back, so that was no different than if i had stayed at NBR.
At the surgical center, when I was in surgery, the owner of NBR came to the surgical center and was handing out his card and inviting people to come to the retreat for get together/social event. He was talking to another couple and tapped S on the shoulder, handed her his card and invited her and her partner to come hang out and chill with 'the guys'. It struck her as odd and it does to me too. I mean, its a surgical center that about 30 doctors work at and Dr. G wasn't the only one who had patients there. I'm sure he would say he was doing it be nice, but to me its just really, really weird. I mean, he handed out his card to random people and invited people who had just had surgery, who were staying in hotels and who couldn't shower or be presentable or in some cases sober thanks to pain meds, to come and hang out at his b&b/house. How did he knew she was with me? She wasn't wearing a sign, so unless he was looking at her computer while she messaged my husband to let him I know I was okay, that means he was just assuming random things about random people. That doesn't sit right with me. Its just a strange, kinda creepy and odd thing to do. So, thanks to that and a few other things I have been told and read, I am extremely happy I didn't go there.
The rides to from surgery, the cost which ended up being the same if not cheaper, the weird encounter and the fact that I met one of the nurses that Dr. Garramone puts the guys traveling alone in touch with and she was very sweet, I honestly can't see any reason why they are a better choice than a hotel. Unless you are exceedingly social or can't manage on your own, I don't think its worth it. That's just me. I'm sure the owner is a nice enough guy, and I don't have anything against him. This is just my opinion and my thoughts, so don't take anything I say as gospel or even personally. A lot of guys swear by their experiences, and a lot of them think it was not the best idea. I fall into the latter.
I've pretty much written a novel... yeesh. Sorry for the wall o'text. If anyone has any specific questions I will do my best to answer them. I have a couple of quick questions of my own for guys who went to Dr. G.
-Did you guys use the scarguard or did you go directly to using strips?
-Did you wear your ace bandage the two weeks after drain removal or did you wearing it for longer/shorter duration?
-Now much neosporin did you use over the xeroform and did it last all three weeks? I swear it looks like it isn't enough at all.
-How did you know you were healed enough to stop bandaging the nipples?
I'm so overly paranoid about screwing up my results.
ETA: I promised S that I would add that I was an awful patient and even if you can do something, probably don't if you don't have to and let someone else do it. I was okay to travel but I did tire much faster. I'm almost fine to do most things around my house but I have to keep telling myself its okay to harass my husband.
