Chase: Hey guys! Today I'm gonna be doing part one
of I guess, a two-part video series
about how to prepare for surgery
I'm gonna be talking about pre-op
and then there's gonna be a post-op video
coming up shortly...
So this video is gonna be focusing on
how to prepare yourself for surgery, pre-op
I'm gonna split this video up into two sections
I'm gonna be talking about the physical aspect
and the emotional aspect
Because I feel like, sure
there's a lot of things that you can say about
how to prepare your body, y'know physically
but you've also got to think about the mind
because, I didn't
and like a week before surgery I was like "oh my god"
We'll talk about this
So physically, there's a lot of things that you can do
to prepare your body for surgery
I think the most common one is to start doing push-ups
so that your pecs can start developing more
Because then, if you're gonna have
a double mastectomy like I did, double incision
the scars that you have usually go under the pecs
so if you do have developed pecs
then they're not gonna show as much
And also if you have like, a good...
not a good physique, but if you...
if you're into fitness and you do exercise more
then your body is used to recuperating faster
Just 'cause like, if you run a lot or you do biking
you know, and you do that every day
your body had gotten used to recovering fast
so that you can bike again tomorrow
So with that, your body will probably heal a bit quicker
That's not for everybody obviously
I'm just doing this from personal experience
Once again I'm not like, saying that
experiences of everybody who's had top surgery or not
this is just me
I think personally for me
it is super important to eat healthy
Once again it ties back to what I just talked about
I think eating healthier really does
help your body recuperate even more
I'm just saying this out of personal experience, because
not related to surgery
I gained about like 25-30lbs last semester
and I lost it all, and lost more, by eating healthier
and I completely cut out processed sugars from my diet
maybe like 5-10% of my diet had processed sugars
I ate a lot of fruits
which is good because that's natural sugars
but processed sugars
made me feel depressed, made me feel down
I was craving it in the beginning
only because to me it's like a drug, sugar is insane
And when I cut that out of my diet
I feel so much better, I have so much more energy
I recuperate faster when I run
I don't know, I feel a lot better
That's me, and I know that a lot of people
feel that too with sugar - processed sugar
So, my advice is to try to start eating healthy
to the months leading up to your surgery
and probably after
Eating KFC everyday is probably not a good idea
You need the blood to y'know, to flow well in your body
and not have anything that's clogged up
when you're healing, right?
I'm not saying that KFC, if you eat KFC
every day for three months before your surgery
that you're gonna be clogged up
I'm just saying, it's good to just start eating healthy
just eat some more fruits and vegetables
I'm not saying you've got to be vegan, god no
you can eat whatever you want to eat
Just add some more fruits and veggies in your diet
maybe have a smoothie
The other thing that's physical and it's not really in your body
is to start sleeping on your back
Now I know everybody says that
and "oh yeah sure, I'll start doing it"
[sighs]
I did it, I did not take that advice
I was like "yeah sure, I'll start sleeping on my back"
and I didn't and I paid for it
because after surgery I was like, I had no other choice
Going on a recliner is amazing when you're post-op
it's great, you're reclined
you don't have to worry about pillows
and you're not uncomfortable
'cause you're on a recliner, you're legs are up
everything is great!
But when you don't have a recliner
and you leave the recliner and go into a bed
or if you never had a recliner
you get really uncomfortable if you have to sleep on your back
if you've never done it before
So some advice that I'm gonna give you
in the post-op video that I'm gonna post
is just pillows, like you need pillows under your knees
I did not know this, my back hurt so much
whatever, now I sleep on my back all the time
So just try to sleep on your back, just start
maybe 2-3 months before surgery, just try it
I know it's uncomfortable, but start
It's gonna hurt your back a lot
but you'd rather hurt your back right now
and start feeling the uncomfortable feeling NOW
instead of having to do it when you've just had surgery
it's even worse
You have pain up here, you have pain
you just want to, no
Just do it now
Honestly, that's just the advice that I would give
I did not take this advice, and I really regret it
If you smoke or drink alcohol
my surgeon and doctors told me
to reduce it, or even stop smoking
Lucky for them I literally don't do any of those things
I don't even do drugs, or like
I don't even take Tylenol, like... [laughs]
But it was great for me, but if you do smoke
I know that Garramone actually...
I don't know if he requires that you stop smoking
like, 6 weeks before surgery
but I think it's highly
uh, highly... you should do it
[laughs] I don't know what the word is
I'm looking for right now
The only reason is because smoking cuts off your
not cuts off
but it slows down your circulation
and it's really bad for your nipples
Because your nippled are being regraft
onto your chest right
my nipples weren't always here
they were somewhere else
They cut a piece of the chest here
put the nips on, and attach them
if you smoke, this is what Garramone told me
the probability of you, not losing a nipple
but being close to losing a nipple
is pretty high, and like...
Why would you want to lose a nipple?
You just paid like, $7000 for your chest, you know?
And look, I'm the worst person to be like
"Hey! You should stop smoking!"
'cause I've never smoked a day in my life
and I know how hard it is to quit
not personally, but I've seen my Dad struggle to quit
for like, his entire life
He recently got really sick and had to quit
because if he smoked again
then he would have another stroke
so that's a different story
But I think that...
knowing that the probability of you not healing as fast
because of your smoking, maybe start cutting down
It's hard to quit cold turkey right?
But maybe cutting down is better? I don't know
Maybe like... whatever
Anyway, with alcohol
um... actually before surgery
I... yeah, I think I used to drink back then
which give me a lot of anxiety to think about
but I stopped drinking
6 weeks before I had surgery I think, or 3 weeks?
Who knows
But I remember stopping drinking
because I was having surgery
and I wanted to take care of my body
Even though I knew drinking was bad for me, I still did it
and like honestly...
Whatever, I have issues with that
I don't drink anymore at all
I've been sober for a like a year and a half, so yay
I think I covered the physical aspect pretty well
These are my experiences that I'm telling you
Obviously this isn't medical advice, so
don't take it and like, sue me if something goes wrong
But I'm just saying these are the things
hat doctors have told me
And let's move on to the emotional aspect
because that - no one talks about
So it's 100% okay to be nervous about surgery
it's also 100% okay to be excited about surgery
I feel like...
I was supposed to have surgery in 2012
but I cancelled it, instead I waited a year
and I got it in June
no sorry
May 30th 2013, so two years ago
And um... I feel like there was such a lead up to surgery
that when it was there
It like, slapped me in the face
like holy fuck it's here
This was really hard for me
because I didn't emotionally prepare
and I started freaking out
like "oh my god, am I ready?
I know that my body is ready
but am I okay to let go of something
that's been on my body for 19, no 22 years?"
When did I have surgery? I was 22 I think, yeah
for 22 years, it was... I felt bad
I felt like "god, I know I'm trans
I know I should have surgery
I know that this is who I am, I've wanted surgery forever"
but I felt such a connection with the body that I had
it was so weird to have that feeling
like, two weeks before surgery
I was like, come on why am I having all these feelings
about my chest even though I know I want so badly
to have top surgery and be free?
And I think one of the biggest reasons
was because of my nips
I was so scared to lose sensitivity of my nipples
and I knew that it was going to happen
Um... and I
I don't like change, right
So it was really hard for me to handle thinking about
having a completely different chest
So I cried a lot in that video I made
it's called 'Top Surgery...'
uh, no not excitements
'Top Surgery Anxieties'
I cry because I'm scared, and I hate that I was scared
and I hate that I was scared because
either I thought people weren't gonna think I was trans
because I couldn't express this
Okay, I "couldn't express it" but yet I make a video for...
I don't know how many subscribers I had back then
like, 5000 subscribers?
Like, c'mon [laughs]
Who am I? Why do I do this to myself?
But, I knew that I wasn't alone
because I always think there's no way that I'm alone
if I feel something, someone else is gonna feel it too
like, c'mon it's impossible that I'm alone in my feelings
So I made a video and a lot of people messaged me
and they were like "I feel the same,
I wasn't emotionally prepared for surgery"
So when it actually came down to it, after that video
I really started preparing myself mentally
which I should have done months before
but I started doing it
I'm ready for this, this is what I've always wanted
It's not like I was talking myself into it
but I knew that this was what I've always wanted
and I was getting super excited
The night before surgery, I made another video
called 'Top Surgery Excitements'
and in that video, you could see
you could SEE the difference
in how I'm mentally prepared for surgery
in those two weeks
or I think it was like a week and a half/two weeks
it was insane
So that was super important for me, and I think
it's also important to mentally prepare yourself
for expectations
I talk about this in my post-op video
the part two of this
But it is really important to understand
that everyone has expectations
of what their chest is gonna look like
and you should mentally prepare yourself
before you have surgery
that maybe it won't 100% be what you want
and that's fine, you just need to prepare yourself
and I wasn't prepared
I'm going to talk about that in my post-op video
All of this to say
that it's important to prep your body
physically and emotionally
I did as much as I could before
but I like that I've learned from my mistakes
and that I can provide it to you guys
so that maybe you, before you have surgery
after you have surgery
you might have done maybe one of the things
that I suggested, that I forgot to do
and it might help you
So I hope this was a bit helpful
and if you have any questions, let me know
and please check out part two of this video
which will be posted shortly
I'm gonna be talking about top
uh sorry [laughs], fuck
post-op care, physically and emotionally again
because I think emotional is super important
because mental health really ties into that
and that's something that I'm really...
advocating for I guess?
Anyways have a great week, I'll see you later!
[Preview] And of course, get some laxatives
and honestly
they tell you to take the laxatives before surgery
and I was like "I'll be fine! I'll take them after surgery!"
[exhales]
I could not poop for like four days
Honestly, it hurt more than having surgery
I was like my chest is fine right now
I just need to take a fuckin' shit!
It was so bad...