Quote from: Adabelle on August 06, 2013, 11:18:05 PM
I asked some of the questions that OP is asking. I'm about 5 months post right now and I can say the recovery is definitely life consuming for a while. Even when you're well enough to return to work you still feel a little sore there off and on. There are harder dilation times, and easier ones. I had only a tiny bit of necrosis that healed on its own, I do have some granulation tissue that causes me pain while I dilate. My recovery hasn't been 'easy'.
But I don't regret doing it at all, actually I'm very satisfied the way things are. Cosmetically it's not a porn star perfect vulva, but it's perfect for me. When I tried to 'decide' early on about SRS I stayed in my head intellectually. Thought about the whole pee standing up thing etc, but the thing is that my heart always knew what I wanted and what it was supposed to be. I realized that I've been making the choice to not follow my heart my whole life until I allowed myself to transition. After living two years full time I realized I was so much happier, and so I allowed myself to go forward with SRS.
Technically vaginas do require more care, and there are slight risks in terms of infection etc. However, like all girls do, you learn your body and learn to listen to it and take care of it. I've not had any UTI, or yeast infections by just being careful. My recommendation is to just take your time with your decision, and let your heart have a voice too. Give yourself a couple years and then check in with yourself and see if each step (albeit difficult) makes you happier. If so, you might find that SRS brings contentment along with the temporary discomfort.
I have a lot of fear of the surgery itself, the pain, the amount of post operative care that is required, the risk of complications and most of all the amount of time required which I still don't know how I will cope with. I was actually far more relaxed about FFS, on the face of it (excuse the pun
) a far more invasive surgery which for me required about 15 hours on the table in total in two sessions followed by long periods of recovery both times. However with FFS, even if there can be a lot of discomfort (though very little pain), there just doesn't seem to be the same level of risk concerning complications such as necrosis, fistulas etc..
However, just as Adabelle says above, having moved forward with all other aspects of my transition and feeling much happier because of it, I simply cannot see myself not doing GRS. I need it both to feel complete and so I won't have to live with a constant reminder of where I am coming from. My evolution here has been very interesting as a year ago, before I started living completely full time outside of work, I wouldn't have said this. GRS was very low priority, notably compared to FFS but since the latter greatly facilitated my social transition, an absolute must for me, the more personal, intimate dimension has really come to the fore.
At a far more practical level, I may also need it just to get my civil identiity changed, another indispensable step for me so that I can transition seamlessly on the job. Since I will be filing my application shorltly, a court procedure here in France, I should have the answer before the end of the year and if I can't get my Civil Identity change done without it, that will mean GRS sometime in 2014.
Hugs
Donna
