I had my BA with Dr Traynor yesterday at the Manchester Lifestyle Hospital and I thought I would share my experience as I would have liked to have heard someone elses’s story beforehand to put my mind at ease.

I got up at 5 am after a disastrous nights sleep and forced myself into the shower and was feeling pretty nauseous about what lay ahead. Even though I had spoken to my consultant and she was fabulous I was still nervous about actually having the surgery; especially as I have never even been in hospital before.

I arrived at 7.30 am as instructed and was greeted by a friendly receptionist which instantly made me feel positive. After filling out my paperwork I was escorted to my room by a porter where I read the necessary documentation and made my lunch choices. After about 15 minutes another woman arrived with her mum which was great as we were both a similar age, size etc and had plenty to talk about which passed the time quickly. She was 3rd in and I was 4th which worked out well. After about half an hour Dr Traynor came to chat to me and drew on me which was slightly bizarre but there is a certain air about him that made me trust him 100%. Then the nurse came and asked questions/took blood pressure etc and she again was really nice and as a result at this point I was feeling quite happy about the whole procedure. My biggest fear was going under GA but the aenesthetist explained everything clearly and I was reassured.

I walked down to theatre about 11.30 am and had a chat with the nurse and aenesthetist and the next thing I remember is waking up happy back in my room. As Mr Traynor prefers his patients to go braless and doesn’t use drains it was fabulous to be able to look down at my new boobs and I was absolutely thrilled. This again is another advantage of such an experienced surgeon-he knows his business and carries out the prcedure quickly and efficiently meaning I was only under GA for approximately an hour and when I came round I was fine albeit a little tired.

It was nice to wake up and talk to the other woman who was sharing my room as she was about an hour ahead of me so she had experienced what I was going through which in all honesty was a bit of tenderness and a slight ache. I was so grateful for my tea and biscuits and enjoyed my meal soon after. It did take a while to eat as I grazed as I wasn’t overly hungry just fancied the refreshing fruit and ice cream.

I dozed on and off all afternoon and developed an achy back which was unpleasant but I was given pain relief which helped. It was hard initially to stand up and go to the bathroom as I felt a bit woozy but I managed. The whole experience was nowhere near as bad as I had imagined! At 5 O’clock the nurse came to take the drip attachment out of my arm and talk me through my medication; something to fight infection and some co-codamol. As I was also feeling nauseua I requested an anti-sickness pill too which really sorted me out.

I arrived home and got comfy on the sofa; checking my new assets every so often! Apart from the tenderness I felt fine but was still drowsy so dozed on and off again.

When I woke this morning I was surprised that I had managed to a) sleep all night and b) felt like I’d had a great nights sleep. However I was rather tender and achy again so I took the antibiotic and co-codamol but still felt sore so later I took Iboprufen which has done the trick. I can move about without too much discomfort and I am feeling very well generally.

I cannot rate Dr Traynor and the team at Manchester highly enough. Everyone from the MYA clinic to the hospital have delivered a superb service and I am grateful for all of their help.

Thank you so much.