Top Surgery Experiences

[Guest thmidnightbeast]

I'm thinking of going to Dr. Kathy Rumer for top surgery, I haven't scheduled anything yet & I have a couple questions maybe someone could help me out with?

How does one go about scheduling a consultation? & when you call should you give them your birth name or preferred name?

How much did your surgery generally cost?

How long did you have to take off for work / school?

I will not have anyone to take care of me after surgery, how do I approach this?

It all seems very stressful to me but its something that needs to be done!

[VickySGV]

Dr. Rumer and others go to the principal Transgender Conferences to give infomercials and meet potential patients.  Your state has about two of them on a national scale and several local ones. You can listen to the information and sometimes have a mini-consultation on the spot.

Go ahead though and just call the doctors' offices and  you will get the information easily.  Use whichever name you will be using at the time of the surgery, but don't be embarrassed to give them your "mailing name" if it is legally different at the time.  Each doctor will have different fees that for simple BA are in the $5K to 10K range depending on if it is an office visit or a hospital stay.  Also, they do have web-sites with the major info on those.

[Briana]

Hi, good questions to ask.  :-)  Vicky provided some good info for sure.  As far as time off for work and aftercare, it depends on you.  Things like your general health coupled with the amount of work you have done & type of procedure can drive your post care needs.  (i.e. under your chest muscle or on top of it etc. )  Barring any complications, most people go home the same day or have an simple overnight stay.  Aftercare is generally pretty minimal and they'll provide you with good instructions.  Most people will have their breasts covered with gauze that will stay on till your first visit with your surgeon.  Once the gauze is removed they'll instruct you on what you need to do. 

Returning to work depends on what you do.  You'll need to discuss that with your surgeon and they'll determine when you can safely return.  Some people with "office type" jobs come back within the week.  Some people with "heavy lifting" type jobs come back in 2-3 weeks on light duty if available but usually there's no heaving lifting for 6-8 weeks.  Just depends, and your doctor will work that out with you. 

Pain control for most is the big thing.  Be sure to work that out ahead of time, however most surgeons that perform a lot of augmentations are skilled at helping you manage that.  Again, just be sure be upfront about your health and don't be afraid to ask LOTS of questions.  

[Guest Alexthecat]

22 hours ago, thmidnightbeast said:

I'm thinking of going to Dr. Kathy Rumer for top surgery, I haven't scheduled anything yet & I have a couple questions maybe someone could help me out with?

How does one go about scheduling a consultation? & when you call should you give them your birth name or preferred name?

How much did your surgery generally cost?

How long did you have to take off for work / school?

I will not have anyone to take care of me after surgery, how do I approach this?

It all seems very stressful to me but its something that needs to be done!

Since the girls didn't bother to read that you asked about FTM, I'll fill you in.

I didn't go to her so it can be a bit different. Look for their website as it will probably answer most questions. Get their phone number and call them. All my surgeon required was some nakey pictures and that was the consultation and he said what procedure he was going to do. Just give them both names and say what your preferred name is.

My surgery was $6500 with Medalie, but it can cost up to $10k at some surgeons.

I took two months off work because I have a very physical job. Desk jobs you should be fine after 2 weeks at the least.

They will require someone to stay with you for 24hrs after surgery and for someone to pick you up after surgery. After that you will be okay. Look up things to have for after surgery, (backscratcher, prepared meals, baby wipes, etc).

There are many resources in a google search. "preparing for top surgery" "techniques used for top surgery" etc

Also look up her surgery results on transbucket and compare them with your body type. You may find that she is not the right surgeon for you and a trip to Ohio or Florida may be needed.

 

[Ravin]

I am having surgery with Dr. Ley, who works with Dr. Meltzer in his practice in Scottsdale, AZ.

My surgery cost is $11,424. I have no travel expenses because I live in the Phoenix metro area so my doctor is local. I do have someone to care for me after surgery; if I did not there would be added cost for a longer hospital stay or hiring a caregiver.

I just found out today that Dr. Ley is requiring I have a pre-surgery mammogram done. I think this is aggravating and it's going to be an added expense I didn't budget for but at this point I don't care. I just want it all over with.

I chose Dr. Ley because she was trained by Dr. Meltzer (that and his bringing her into his practice give me confidence in her abilities) and her waiting list is much, much shorter.

I was told to expect 2 weeks before I can return to work, and 2 weeks of "light duty" status, which is a non-issue in my job.

[Charlize]

Best of luck Ravin.  You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

[Briana]

On 9/13/2016 at 7:39 PM, Alexthecat said:

Since the girls didn't bother to read that you asked about FTM, I'll fill you in

Guilty as charged!    Sorry about that. 

 

11 hours ago, Ravin said:

I just found out today that Dr. Ley is requiring I have a pre-surgery mammogram done. I think this is aggravating and it's going to be an added expense I didn't budget for but at this point I don't care. I just want it all over with.

Hi Ravin,

Yeah that's something that should have been discussed upfront with you so you could plan for it.  However, be glad that they are; it's good practice.  I'm going to guess they explained why but just in case.  Although there are quite a few clinical reasons, in general she wants to make sure you don't have breast cancer that wasn't detected during exam.  You'd be way more upset if you had the procedure and they found it during surgery or post-op in pathology and had to go back in.  She'll also used the mamo as somewhat of a road map during surgery to help her "see" what/where to remove tissue.

As Charlize said, best of luck and you'll certainly be in our thoughts and prayers.