Topic: Angies Blog - Part 4: The last Stage (GCS)

[AngelaJade]

Day 0
Hospital arrival:
I arrived at about 06:15, my ex-wife and her fiancé drove me to the hospital. I checked in and signed lots of paperwork.
Unfortunately due to COVID restrictions, my ex and her fiancé were not able to come up with me to my room..  This would be very difficult for some people, not having your family there pre-op..
Visiting is restricted to 2pm to 7pm, with a maximum of two visitors per day.

I made it to my private room, and started unpacking m things into the cupboard before the nurses came to let me know what I needed to do.  Soon, I was changed and lying in my bed nervously waiting for the attendant to take me up to theatre.

Off we go.. I arrived in the theatre waiting room, and soon after the anaesthesiologist nurses came to start their paperwork and ask 50 questions. It wasn’t long before I was in the theatre ante-room. The anaesthesiologist was there and she ran through everything and hot it will go as well as her plan for recovery and what I’ll be taking when I get home..

There was quite a bit of prep, as it’s a 6-hour operation.
Off we go, I’m happy, excited and a little nervous as I’m wheeled into theatre. There’s lots of large machines and things, plus I noticed the quite new davinci robotic machine. The relaxation drugs are taking effect, and it’s about then when I don’t remember anything.

[AngelaJade]

Day 0
Post-operation

I wake up. Yay 😀
I’m later told that I woke up with a smile and then fell back asleep for an hour.

I’m lying there in the recovery room feeling excited, happy and relieved. Once the lovely recovery team were happy with how I was, I’m wheeled off back down to my room...

The operation was just on 6 hours plus about half an hour of ‘stuffing about’ (Dr’s words) getting me all prepared..

In my room, and soon after my ex and her fiancé walk in... yay we did it..  there was quite a bit of babbling on my part, coming off the anaesthesia and the pain meds all make for some fun conversation. My ex had brought me a coffee and a small birthday cake.. what a birthday 🥳 My dinner arrived, which is great as I was a bit hungry. It’s now about 4 hours post-op.

Not long after, Dr Hart arrived 😊
He explained how it all went, he was very happy with it all and there were no issues. He said depth was over 6 1/2” (that’s as long as the measurement tool was), and that the peritoneal tissue is between 1/3 and 1/2 which is exactly the balance he wants with everything..

Then..... he told me that he had recorded the whole operation.  I was the first women to have the full PPV laparoscopic confirmation surgery. He had done a revision the week before.  He intends to shorten the video down to a 5-minute summary to show nurses and other specialists. He’s building a team of people to look after the whole experience.

Wow...

[mm]

Great to hear you are doing so well.

[Jane.Shannon]

Angie,
Congrats on completing this huge step in transition!  I am very excited to hear about your experience; PPV is my first choice when the time comes.
Happy Birthday,
Jane

[AngelaJade]

Hi everyone

I thought I would provide a quick update. I’m still writing up my notes.. and I’ll post that soon.

So.. Today is exactly one week since I had the operation. Dr Hart visited this morning to remove the bandages and take out the packing (yes that felt a bit weird) plus remove the last drain.

Then I had my lesson on dilation and had 45 minutes of experiencing a very different sensation.

I later had my catheter removed and was finally able to have a shower. Wow.. best feeling in the world..

I later had my first pee, which was interesting. So now, I’m going home tomorrow. 2 days earlier than planned.. yay..

The nurses have been really wonderful. I can’t thank them enough for their understanding and care.

[AngelaJade]

Here’s a few details on the operation for those who are interested in specifics..


Type: Laproscopic Peritoneal Pull through Vaginoplasty.. using a da Vinci Xi robot..
detail. It’s a hybrid of penile inversion and peritoneal tissue, with between 1/3 and 1/2 of the tissue peritoneal.

Basis of the hybrid, is to limit the potential for over lubrication from the peritoneal tissue whilst maintaining the normal benefits of this mucosal type tissue. It has been reported that a full peritoneal tissue outcome my result with the woman needing to wear liners to manage the leakage from lubrication from the tissue. Also managing the join between tissue types should not be in the region of the pelvic muscles which may cause complications.

Depth.. Measured depth after operation is >6 1/2”. That because that’s the max length of the instrument the Dr had.. I’ll know soon when my new dilators arrive..

Bleeding and other things:
I didn’t have any real bleeding at all. Even after removing the packing there wasn’t much leakage at all. The first day of dilation didn’t really leave any residue on the dilator either.

Challenges:
Coughing.. yeah, that hurt for a while.
Removing the main drain tube.. that was quite painful.

I hope that gives you an idea of what I’ve been lucky to have.

Cheers
Angie

[Devlyn]

Hello everyone

Yay. I’m awake and so very happy.. I made it.

Ive had dinner, and my ex-wife brought me a small birthday cake...


So... I’ll post more details later, but...

The operation was about 6 hours long..

I woke up in recovery and went back to sleep for a while..

Dr Hart came to visit and was all smiles and is very happy. I’m also #1... the person he did the operation on a ween ago was a revision... woohoo.

That’s it for now.. I’ll post tomorrow.

Angie.

Ps how do I post a photo..

Big hug! Sorry I missed your moment.



Speedy recovery!

Hugs, Devlyn

[Megan.]

Angela,

Thank you for sharing so much so far, and congratulations!

Best wishes for a continued swift and easy recovery. X

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[Jane.Shannon]

Angie,
I am even more excited to hear about how things go.  The idea of about 1/3 to 2/3 peritoneal tissue is what I have been thinking.  It seems like it would offer some benefits of both traditional PIV and PPV.  I am particularly interested to hear to what depth you are sensate. 
All the best,
Jane

PS.  I recommending sending a PM about posting a photo to Danielle.  She has the instructions.

[AngelaJade]

I’m now home 😀

Sitting is somewhat more comfortable than I had thought. It’s ok in short sittings, but the 25 minute drive across town I was thankful for the donut for the last 5 or so minutes.

After a snooze on my very comfy bed, I had a nice long shower.. mmm.

I’ll just say that i am extremely excited and very very happy with the outcome. I’ll refrain from celebrating too much online in support of those who are yet to have surgery and I certainly don’t want to invoke dysphoria. I’ll never forget how that felt.. I still get it a little when shaving (hopefully that will be solved in the new year).

I had a nice long chat with my Surgeon this morning. I’ll summarise by saying that he’s over the moon with how my surgery has turned out and how well I’ve recovered. I went home 2 days earlier than planned.

The ‘partial peritoneal method’ (maybe needs a name), provides a bit of a best of both worlds. The dilation is more focussed on the pubic muscles, the need for douching is much less and reduces as the peritoneal tissue normalises, plus the overall health of the vaginal vault (cavity) is better with the secretions and absorbing nature of the peritoneal tissue.

My personal view is that the complication factors are lower with this method, but time will tell. Whether recovery is better with this method, my experience alone (whilst exceptionally well) isn’t a good comparison yet, it will take time to assess with many different experiences to be compared.

Thanks for the question Jane about sensation at depth. I think that’s a great topic alone to talk through. For me it’s too early to tell as nerves are still remapping. (That’s a whole interesting discussion itself..). I’ll talk with my girlfriends, however as I understand it cis-women don’t quite have sensation along the vaginal cavity. The do feel a fullness, which is exactly what I get with dilation at this point.
I don’t yet know what it’s like full length, as I’m waiting for longer dilators to arrive.  The surgeon even told me he needs a longer measuring device as 6 1/2” wasn’t long enough for me.

As for the biggest challenge in recovery for the first week in hospital.. It’s gas and a bloated tummy. The pain from gas and bloating was often above the background pain of the surgical sites (including the stitches at each robot entry incision).

Xx
Angie

[AngelaJade]

Update @ Week 5 and 2 days.

I've been getting better and better each week, with my energy levels improving. Going for a walk every day has helped a lot, and I'm now able to walk 3km and I can even do a light jog for a few hundred metres.
Some of the stitches are slowly dissolving and falling out. Almost everything has healed up, with the area around the clitoris and urethra being the last to still heal further. The perineum was slow to heal (which is normal to be a bit problematic according to my surgeon), but its now stable and healed over well.

I'm able to wear shorts and jeans comfortably, just have to be mindful that the seam isn't over the laproscopic scars. I can now also comfortably wear most thongs and g-strings (just being careful about the perineum which is only now just healed).

Interesting point about alcohol tolerance.. Since surgery, I haven't been able to drink much at all without it severely affecting my energy. I waited a week after arriving home before having a celebratory drink.. 1 is ok, but 2-3.. 
Now at week 5, its better, but still not how I was pre-surgery.. I'm hoping its a bit better before NYE..


Today I had my follow-up consult with my surgeon..

Everything is healing really really well. Swelling has reduced considerably and is mostly resident in the pubic mons area.  As for appearance, well it looks like a cis-woman's vagina. The scars are healing well and will eventually fade with the use of bio oil and another creame I have found. The two large scars are disguised amongst the wrinkles and folds of the outer labia so you don't see them until up close.

My dilation efforts have resulted in some good news and some not so good news.. I've managed to slowly work up to the largest dilator in the set my surgeon gave me, which I use for half the session now.  I'm also able to use the orange dilator in the Soul Source dilator set.  The surgeon is exceptionally happy that i've achieved this width in this short time.
The issue now is that I can't achieve the expected depth during dilation.. At the end of surgery the surgeon measured 6 1/2" + (that's as long as his depth tool is) and he thinks it's about 7" total.  As I have good width all the way to about the 5 1/2" mark, the surgeon isn't worried. He will have a look with a camera in the new year after everything has settled down more. Hopefully ongoing dilation will slowly bring it back.  I think this was partly caused by not having longer dilators in the first week after surgery.

The surgeon commented that I've recovered exceptionally well. All that effort pre-surgery getting myself fit and healthy has certainly helped. Being mentally prepared helped me through the emotional drop which happened at day 3-4 and week 3-4 post-surgery... 

I'm now cleared to go back to work tomorrow and I can finally drive my Mini again
And I'll be slowly working my way back to running and rowing. I'll plan on going back to the gym in January to start building up my strength and tone a bit..

Cheers for now

Angie x

[Megan.]

Angie, so glad you're well and continuing to heal. I'm three weeks behind you on my recovery, so it's very encouraging to hear things do get better!

I hope things continue to progress for you and the depth issue gets resolved for you to your satisfaction. X

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[AngelaJade]

+7 Weeks and 2 days

Hi everyone. I thought it was time for another update of my recovery, which is now basically at the point of just getting on wth life..

I’m feeling really good, and almost everything is sorting itself out slowly.

All of the stitches have come out or dissolved, and the last part of visual healing around the clitoris is almost there.

The scars are healing well and the bio oil is helping with them hopefully fading a bit. Swelling is still slowly going down, with what’s left which isn’t much. It will take a bit of time for it all to redistribute the fat and look a little better, even though it looks really good now.

I’m now doing a bit of running during my daily walk, so I hope to be able to get back to my 3km run soon and then see what 5km looks like in late Jan..

Some good news on the emotional front, is that I’m finally just now having erotic thoughts and feeling horny again.. I just have to wait for the nerve endings to sort themselves out before I can explore exploring those feelings.

As for alcohol tolerance, that’s finally back to normal which is good although I’ll need to slow down after NYE to start losing some weight..

Cheers
Angie

[Megan.]

+7 Weeks and 2 days

Hi everyone. I thought it was time for another update of my recovery, which is now basically at the point of just getting on wth life..

I’m feeling really good, and almost everything is sorting itself out slowly.

All of the stitches have come out or dissolved, and the last part of visual healing around the clitoris is almost there.

The scars are healing well and the bio oil is helping with them hopefully fading a bit. Swelling is still slowly going down, with what’s left which isn’t much. It will take a bit of time for it all to redistribute the fat and look a little better, even though it looks really good now.

I’m now doing a bit of running during my daily walk, so I hope to be able to get back to my 3km run soon and then see what 5km looks like in late Jan..

Some good news on the emotional front, is that I’m finally just now having erotic thoughts and feeling horny again.. I just have to wait for the nerve endings to sort themselves out before I can explore exploring those feelings.

As for alcohol tolerance, that’s finally back to normal which is good although I’ll need to slow down after NYE to start losing some weight..

Cheers
Angie

Glad hear your recovery continues well.

Any pain or discomfort remaining at this point, sitting or otherwise? X

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[AngelaJade]

Up until this past week, pain has been really low. Essentially only on one side along part of the long scar. I’ve been walking quite a bit and started running last week without issues..

Sitting for long periods doesn’t bother me or cause pain, and last night I was dancing in heels for a few hours.. 😊

Recently, I’ve noticed that I’m getting pain from the clitoris and clitoral hood. It’s not I think this is part due to the nerve endings connecting and waking up together with the last parts of it healing.. Taking a close look with a mirror, I’m now able to make out the shape where before it and the surroundings were swollen and didn’t look like much. Everything else has pretty much healed nicely, so it’s the last part to sort itself out.

I’m getting the pain mostly when I wake up from sleeping on my side or front, or when I have something putting pressure on the area. Hopefully this means that I’ll be able to enjoy pleasure sometime soon..

I’ve also found the occasional sharp pain, which I’ve found to be from hair... whilst I’ve been plucking the odd hair from my inner labia, it’s some of the longer hair from the outer labia which I’ve now trimmed and hopefully that will sort out that bit. Phew.

Angie

[Megan.]

Thank you for the update. Nice to hear your recovery is continuing.

I'm getting a variety of different sensations from my clitoral area as it heals. Some are quite sharp and sudden, others more of a 'pressure'. I like to side-sleep, and that certainly squishes things a bit! X

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