thanks mate
congratulations to you too for completing the first stage which is supposed to be the most difficult stage of 3/4 depending on what operation you've had and how many stages.
6 weeks is usually the time when you can move around a lot more and genuinely feel better in yourself. I remember i had a little opening underneath the phallus and id tried everything to get it to go away and it wouldn't so i kept calling st peters but they said i just need to wait for it to heal because different people take different times and eventually at about 8/9 weeks the little opening had healed. I didn't have any haematomas so i can't really help you there but all i can say is sometimes things take so much longer and if London aren't worried they you shouldn't be and if your concerned in anyway or things seem to be getting worse then again just either ring them or send an email. Theres nothing they can't do to help you and if you were going to have any severe complications then they usually happen within the first 3 weeks but still just keep an eye on things and if your worried ring them. I know its a mentally draining time and so many emotions and physically so hard but you will get through it and in a couple of months time you'll be looking forward to your next stage and everything will be more normal again. Just got to stay strong.
I was in hospital for a week monday to monday from feb the 10th at spire thames for the first operation.
For my second stage saturday the 25th of october
I had my phallus catheter and my drain removed 1 week post op and my supra pubic ( abdominal) catheter removed at 3 weeks after my op date.
In terms of removing the supra pubic catheter basically depends on if you can urinate through the phallus and your passing a good flow of urine . I had and still have a fistula leak near the top where literally a drip of urine comes out when i go for a wee so i got told to just hold a tissue on it and put pressure and it should slowly heal up in a couple of weeks ( again its gonna take longer for me but I'm not worried). I also have two little stitches that haven't healed down the bottom I'm gonna give it another month because like i keep saying healing varies with different people. Ive been told not to worry about any leaks only if they get worse rather then better but I'm sure its a problem easily sorted
A little bit of pre warning as well about the supra pubic catheter it may give you bladder spasms which is like a having a constant stomach ache but i got some pills for it but again London didn't warn me so for three weeks i was in agony but as soon as the pills kicked in i was fine . Also water infections are very common and easily treated with antibiotics.
As for the uretheral lengthening i think they just did something to my original urethra. On my first op i had to push a catheter through my phallus once a month to keep my 'neo urthera'( i think this was used to make my new urethra well tie up my old one with my new one and pull it through my phallus) open until my next stage. I also had to keep flushing 60ml of water twice with a little syringe everyday ( which isn't painful just feels odd lol ) Have you been to back to harley street yet? if you haven't one of the nurse whoever you see will show you how to do this. It does get annoying and a little bit unnerving every month it comes round to pushing it through but you kind of get used to it and it just makes you want to get to stage two so much more lol.
Sorry about the essay i have a lot to tell anyone and like i said if you don't understand what I've written or you want more detail I'm happy to help. If you've had the arm graft i remember being more stressed about the fact i couldn't use my arm and sleeping was always so uncomfortable but it will get so much easier i promise you
