Dilating schedule and work schedule

[Ms Bev]

I have a question for you women who work.  Dr McGinn has her patients on a 5 X a day dilating schedule for the first few months.  How in the world can you keep a dilating schedule like that, and still work, I mean, "excuse me boss....I hafta.....hmmmm".
I used to be concerned about this a year ago, but I retired early, so it's a non-issue here.  But what do you do??
I'm at home, or out and about, and it's not that easy to schedule.

[Annah]

I got lucky. My longest class is only three hours long...usually with a 1 to 3 hour break in between. I just walk to my apartment on campus...bring up Netflix and chill lol

For those who work fulltime...i'm in the same boat as you. I would assume it would be quite difficult and would require some creative time management thinking skills!

[Zumbagirl]

  But what do you do??
I'm at home, or out and about, and it's not that easy to schedule.

Those early days were a royal pain. I used to get up super early in the morning and do a double session and then when I got home from work I did another double session. I think it's not the number of dilation sessions but the amount of time the dilator is in and how far apart it is time wise.Those early post srs days were so time consuming, between dilating, cleanup, sterilizing it just chewed up all my free time. The only bright side was watching a lot of TV since I had nothing better to do.

[LilDevilOfPrada]

I have a question for you women who work.  Dr McGinn has her patients on a 5 X a day dilating schedule for the first few months.  How in the world can you keep a dilating schedule like that, and still work, I mean, "excuse me boss....I hafta.....hmmmm".
I used to be concerned about this a year ago, but I retired early, so it's a non-issue here.  But what do you do??
I'm at home, or out and about, and it's not that easy to schedule.

Can I just say even 3X would be hard in some careers. How do you girls do it??

[Annah]

no other choice.

I know a girl whose parents paid for her SRS (they paid everything for her...so she never really appreciated anything...silver spoon mentality).

Well...she didn't take dilating seriously. Long story short, she closed up.

[blueconstancy]

My wife came home during lunch for the one week she was on a 4X daily schedule. (Once at about 6 am, once at noon, and then ~5 and ~9 pm. Brassard says it has to be at least 2 hours from the end of one session to the start of the next, so to do two in the morning would've meant getting up about 3:30 am!)

Going down to once a day is a huge relief... for both of us, since I kinda missed her being able to do things without being handcuffed to the dilators for what seemed like half the day.

[LilDevilOfPrada]

no other choice.

I know a girl whose parents paid for her SRS (they paid everything for her...so she never really appreciated anything...silver spoon mentality).

Well...she didn't take dilating seriously. Long story short, she closed up.

OMG just that thought makes me almost cry..
Heheh if I get my full paid scholarship for university then my parents might do the same.
But I sure wouldnt let mine close up EWWW.

[Annah]

OMG just that thought makes me almost cry..
Heheh if I get my full paid scholarship for university then my parents might do the same.
But I sure wouldnt let mine close up EWWW.

She didn't care that she closed up. I felt sorry for her on many different levels

[LilDevilOfPrada]

She didn't care that she closed up. I felt sorry for her on many different levels

I cant even wrap my mind around the idea.

[Zumbagirl]

so to do two in the morning would've meant getting up about 3:30 am!)

When I said I used to get up really early I wasn't kidding I got to be quite an expert from watching a ton of CNN in the morning because that's all there is. I was finally happy about 6 months post op when the schedule became more manageable

[LilDevilOfPrada]

When I said I used to get up really early I wasn't kidding I got to be quite an expert from watching a ton of CNN in the morning because that's all there is. I was finally happy about 6 months post op when the schedule became more manageable

Seeming I am obviously pre-op how do you know when you can change your schedule?

[Annah]

your doctor lays out a regiment for you

[LilDevilOfPrada]

your doctor lays out a regiment for you

And here I thought you just know 

[Zumbagirl]

And here I thought you just know 

By the time I was about 3 months post surgery I knew all I ever wanted to know about vaginas first hand simply because all of my free time was spent taking care of it. It was still a swollen puffy mess but is MY swollen puffy mess

[blueconstancy]

Zumbagirl - good grief, you were hardcore. I'm impressed.

(Yes, the doctor usually gives a pretty detailed schedule. Brassard does leave it up to the patient after the first year - "gradually decrease as it's comfortable for you" or something like that, until it's down to one session of 15 minutes per week [largest dilator] for life.)

[Tristan]

I started going back to work on week 7 and its hard to fit everything around that time. but the trick I used on my male boss was to start telling him each and every step I had to do and 10 seconds in he said,"to much info just take the time you need for your lady stuff but ell me ahead of time". its so great that that actually worked.

[AusBelle]

Reading all about dilating 5 times a day for xx minutes makes me feel lucky.  I had a colon type SRS and only had to dilate the opening.  It was a long time ago now, but I'm sure I only had to do it twice a day for about 10 minutes a time in the first few weeks, decreasing from there.  I worked shift work at the time so it was easy to schedule around my shifts.

[Tristan]

Reading all about dilating 5 times a day for xx minutes makes me feel lucky.  I had a colon type SRS and only had to dilate the opening.  It was a long time ago now, but I'm sure I only had to do it twice a day for about 10 minutes a time in the first few weeks, decreasing from there.  I worked shift work at the time so it was easy to schedule around my shifts.

yeah. im so glad my doctor has mine at 2x a day

[Jessica07]

Working 9 hours a day 5 days a week.  Went to Dr. McGinn -- I just took the 8 weeks necessarily to move down from 5 x a day to 3 x a day -- even that is hard to manage -- I get up at 7:30am and do once, then when i get home at 6:30 I do the 2nd time and then around 1am I do the 3rd time -- repeat every day for the most pat -- In a couple more weeks i'll be 4 months post-op --

It still feels like im chained to the dilators too, will be nice to get down to once per day...even twice would be better...but I highly recommend taking off work as much as needed in those initial 8 weeks, the extra week or two pay surely isn't going to mean much in the long run if you miss out but the comfort of healing and knowing you are listening to the Dr's orders is important.

[Zumbagirl]

It still feels like im chained to the dilators too, will be nice to get down to once per day...even twice would be better...but I highly recommend taking off work as much as needed in those initial 8 weeks, the extra week or two pay surely isn't going to mean much in the long run if you miss out but the comfort of healing and knowing you are listening to the Dr's orders is important.

When I read back on this and other threads on electrolysis, ffs, etc I am amazed that I made it this far in life I have a hard time thinking now, how the heck did I do it all? I guess I didn't have much of a life back then