Had surgery at Rush in Chicago. Ask me any questions you have.
I was in the hospital for a week and nursing facility for 2. Dilation is not bad, when they took out the packing and the first feeling inside made me nauseous and dizzy but the physical therapist helped with that and no more issues.
Surgery: Penile Inversion Vaginoplasty
Surgeon: Dr. Loren Schechter
Congratulations!! 😊 I’m just coming up on 7 months. Great that you were able to sort things out with a physical therapist. I still have some minor pain dilating due to some hypergranulation tissue I developed, but its gotten better over time.
How are you feeling about it at this stage? Your results are gonna become much clearer as the swelling goes down, but are you happy with how things have been going? :) wishing you a swift and easy recovery!!
It has been going great. I’m really grateful the physical therapist was able to do the first dilating session and guide me on what to do and what I should be feeling. Surgery was on the 20th and it looks great. I don’t have a partner at the moment but looking forward to being cleared for that but also bath’s.
I talked with them about how it doesn’t feel new, like a new TV or car. Like it was always there but stuff was in the way. Dilating 3 times a day does let me know it’s new though lol.
Biggest issue is having joint custody of my 4 year old and I can’t pick her up. Having to rely on my sister a lot more for a bit but it’s nice having her around.
Swelling is down a good amount and I have taken progress pics, deciding where to upload them. My insurance’s gender care team called to see how I’m doing which I didn’t even know they had. Talked about the surgery and Dr, they know the ones in the Boston area and wanted to see how good the Dr in Chicago was.
Wow which insurance carrier is that? That sounds like something all of them should do to better care for trans people
Care first. I’m glad they did as I had a vasovagal reaction the first time and needed help to overcome that.
I completely get how you feel about it not being new. To me at first it was new, but at this point I can hardly remember being pre-op. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world not being repulsed by my anatomy, it’s affected my confidence and my self esteem in such an unbelievable way. It feels like I’ve always been this way but at the same time like I’m not quite the same person as before.
Make sure to have lots of support around the house and take as much time to rest as possible. I am blessed to have had my partner around, they did almost everything for me for the first 2 months.
So happy that things are going great for you. :) the first couple months can be tough mentally and physically, I hope that your recovery continues progressing well and before you know it months will go by and you’ll be up and about again.
Thank you so much. My sister is living with me and helping where she can. I have to keep reminding myself to not pickup things though. Mentally I’m doing good, sometimes thinking of the past and how I got here is bittersweet. my ex-wife and I talked a bit about our daughter and life while I was stuck in the hospital. We have a better friendly co parent relationship now and she was worried about recovery and the surgery in general.