Your top surgery was in two days, and you were nervous to say the least. Luckily, your boyfriend, Carl, had taken six weeks off work so he could go with you, and look after you during your recovery. You had wanted top surgery for most of your life, and you absolutely couldn't wait but were still apprehensive about it. You were borderline viable for peri-areolar, so you chose double-incision, just to be safe.
Tonight you were going to a hotel so you could be closer to where your top surgery is. You chose Dr. Miles Berry to do your top surgery, because you loved Noah Finnce's results so much. You had your favourite takeaway for dinner to try to calm your nerves, and it helped a little. You both got in the car, Carl started the engine, typed in the address of the hotel in the SatNav, and you set off. Since it was a twenty-three hour drive, you had brought a pillow and a blanket so you could sleep on the way there and not feel like crap when you arrived. You aimed to fall asleep as soon as possible and since you were driving overnight, it was already 11 PM so you had no trouble.
When you woke up, it was noon the next day and you reached into the cooler in the back of the car and took out your favourite sandwich. When you took a bite you closed your eyes in bliss. You knew the last time you would be able to eat is at midnight tonight because your surgeon required you to be NBM for the surgery.
Carl was very useful in the driving respect, because, since he was a robot, he didn't need to sleep and could drive forever. This was great because it meant you could set off a day later to the hotel. The hotel you were staying in was a 3 star hotel that had a breakfast deal, but you know neither of you would use it because you can't and Carl doesn't need to.
You got a shower and washed your hair tonight because you knew you wouldn't be able to shower for a week after your surgery because of the bandage. Obviously you were excited to get the useless lumps of tissue and fat off your chest, but you didn't like feeling gross. You watched a top surgery survival tips video on YouTube, and the YouTuber suggested getting a certain type of wipe to keep you as clean as possible without the use of a shower. The other videos you watched also suggested eating pineapple before and after the surgery, because of its natural anti-inflammatory chemicals. You had brought a pineapple with you and you put it in the fridge at the hotel to keep it cool.
Since it was almost 11 PM, you decided now would be a great time to eat some of the pineapple, so you got a knife and chopped it up. You put all the pieces in a bowl and sat down to watch your favourite TV show, You knew you could fit three episodes in before midnight, so you watched three episodes while eating the pineapple then headed off to bed.
While you were brushing your teeth you could feel the nerves building up, so you decided to do an exercise you saw Ash Hardell recommend. When they went for their top surgery, they wrote a letter to themself explaining why. You knew that after the operation there could be post-op depression, which can make you feel like it was a mistake. You finished brushing your teeth, then got a piece of lined paper and a pen, and started writing.
To (y/n),
Tomorrow is the day of your top surgery, and you are more nervous than ever. You have wanted this for most of your life and you will feel much better afterwards, I promise. Immediately after the surgery you may feel like this has been a mistake, but this is just the post-op depression, so don't worry. This is meant to be and you won't regret it.
I am giving you this £6,000 gift because I know it will make you happy and you deserve it. I love you and the gender dysphoria is why you are having this operation.
Much love, (y/n).
You then gave it to Carl to check over and see if it looked good, and he said softly "It's perfect."
Since brushing your teeth was the last part of your nighttime routine, you took off your clothes so you were left in your underwear and snuggled into your bed.
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Your alarm clock went off and you groaned and turned over to turn it off.
"Morning sleepyhead!" Carl said excitedly as he smiled at you. He had been packing everything you needed during the night, and was sitting on the settee playing boggle on his iPad.
"Why are you so excited for today?" you asked, smiling in response.
"Why do you think? You're getting top surgery today, and I'm excited for you."
Your heart melted a little at this as you dragged yourself out of bed to give him a hug. "I love you Carl." you said as he hugged you back.
"Me too." he responded.
You broke apart after a few seconds, and you went to get a shower to make sure you were as clean as possible before your top surgery. You got new underwear from your bedside table and took your red flannel shirt, denim jeans and shorts out of your suitcase.
You walked into the bathroom, closed the door and turned on the shower. You took your underwear off and stepped into the shower. The warm water ran down your back. You washed your hair, and as you knew you weren't allowed to put anything on your chest apart from water, you tilted your head back so the shampoo ran behind you. You got out of the shower and wrapped yourself in one of the fluffy towels. You were going to be able to wrap it around your waist after your surgery!
You dried yourself off and put your clean clothes on, then came out of the bathroom.
"I'm ready to go now!" you said excitedly.
"Alright then, let's go shall we?" Carl replied.
You grinned at him and grabbed everything that you would want for after the surgery, then unlocked the door and got in the car. He followed you, locking the door behind him and getting in the driver's seat. He started the car and pulled off the drive. The hospital was about a half hour drive away, so you have to set off at 9:00 to make sure you'd get there for 9:40, accounting for traffic of course.
You pulled up to the hospital a few minutes early, so you both got out of the car and walked to the reception. The receptionist asked you to sign in so you did so, sighing happily because you didn't have to put down your deadname anymore.
After you signed in, you went and sat in the waiting room for a few minutes, until your surgeon called your name. You stood up and walked over to him as Carl followed you, you practically vibrating with nervous and excited energy. You followed him into his office and he stepped out for a second so you could get changed into the gown. After you got changed you opened the door again.
He asked you to let him see your chest, and you took the top half of the gown off. He then asked you a couple of questions while drawing on you to mark the incision lines and such. He said he was going to do a bit of lipo-suction on the sides of your chest to make sure there we no dog-ears left after the surgery, which you agreed to. You pulled the gown back up to cover your shoulders.
After this was done, he lead you to the surgery room and asked Carl to wait back in the waiting room. He said it would take about 3 hours so he said he could go home.
"I want to stay and be here when they wake up." He smiled at you and you smiled back and blew a kiss to him, which he caught, and put in his shirt pocket. You told him you loved him, before the surgeon took you into the surgery room and asked you to lie down on the table.
An anaesthesiologist came in and asked you if you wanted an anti-nausea in the anaesthetic, and as you were prone to nausea and didn't want to feel sick, you agreed to it. They inserted a needle into your arm and hung a saline drip up on the drip stand, to make sure you stayed hydrated during surgery. They clipped a heart monitor onto your finger and you heard the steady beating of your heart. They put a mask over your face so you would receive oxygen, and explained they would intubate you and put you on a ventilator once you were under to minimise the discomfort caused to you. The anaesthesiologist prepared the anaesthesia in a syringe and needle, and then injected it into your drip. You were told to count down from 10. You stopped at 3, and when your surgeon ran his fingers over your eyes, there was no blink reflex.
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When you came to, you remember that the last thing that had happened was that you said three, so you tried to say 2, but you winced as you felt that there was a tube in your throat and wiggled your toes to get the surgeons attention. He looked down at you and asked you to breath in deeply and blow out as hard as you could when he said to. He told you to blow out and took the tube out at the same time. You coughed a few times afterwards and he tilted the gurney up so you were in a sitting position and went to get you some water.
He came back with a plastic cup full of cold water and brought it to your lips so you could drink, and you drank all of it. You thanked him for the water, and after you looked down you made an excited sound. Your chest was finally flat! You couldn't see your chest just yet, but the bandages over it obviously had no lumps in them.
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When you fully came around, you asked to see your boyfriend. The surgeon went and told him you were awake, and Carl clearly couldn't wait to see you, as he jogged down the corridor to greet you. You were still lying in the bed, because it was very difficult to move given your incisions. He gave you a hug, being careful not to squeeze your sides too hard.
"So they'll need to stay in the hospital overnight for observation, to make sure they don't have any bad reactions to anything." said the Doctor.
"Affirmative." replied Carl. You chuckled quietly, remembering about John teaching the old T-800 not to say 'Affirmative' as it was too robotic. "Can I stay with them?" asked Carl.
"Okay, but they need their rest." said the Doctor with a smile.
Carl kissed your forehead and sat down in the chair next to you. He brought out the bag that he packed full of things for you to eat after your surgery. He brought chopped pineapple to reduce the inflammation and the crackers and fizzy pop. He also packed you a bendy straw to make sure that you were able to drink the soda easily, because then you wouldn't have to lift the can up and tilt it, you could just hold it instead.
He gave you the pineapple and you ate all of it, and then gobbled down the crackers and drank the pop. Your body was very grateful because you were absolutely starving after not eating anything before the surgery.