Experiences from Post Op MTF's with Dr. Satterwhite

[LVTourGuide]

Hi All:
I am getting ready for SRS MTF surgery with Dr. Satterwhite in the Bay area of California and I would love to hear from anyone that has gone through SRS with him or his team at Brownstein and Crane.  I would also love to hear what you think my expectations should be after SRS (over the first 8 weeks)

Thanks....
Kate

[sunshine]

Kate - I'm sorry nobody had an answer for you but do you mind giving me a review? I'm scheduled with him in January.

[JustASeq]

Kate - I'm sorry nobody had an answer for you but do you mind giving me a review? I'm scheduled with him in January.

I'm scheduled for December 31st so would love to hear if you have found anyone with results.

[gaygirl420]

im scheduled for an orchie in september and SRS in january (thank god for california free health care) so ill talk about my experiences as it goes along

[andreapdenver]

Hi.  I am waiting on a date with Dr. Satterwhite for GCS.  It should be sometime in the next 6 months.  Did any of you complete your surgery?  Thoughts?

[JustASeq]

Hi.  I am waiting on a date with Dr. Satterwhite for GCS.  It should be sometime in the next 6 months.  Did any of you complete your surgery?  Thoughts?

I had my surgery Dec 31st. I have had no real complications and am healing great, expecting to be back at work in a few weeks tops. It was the hardest thing I have ever gone through physically in the first 2 weeks or so following the surgery. Now at about month things are basically getting back to normal.

[Christina Jean]

Hi my name is Christina and I am a post op mtf trans woman.  I have been a lurker on Susan's place for a long long long time.  I have hardly ever posted but thought maybe it was time to get started. 

So I am three weeks post op with Dr Satterwhite as of yesterday.  He did a fabulous job and I would give him five stars if I were doing a priceline review.  He is just amazing.  He is a very sensitive and caring person who really gives amazing attention to his craft and is really in just incredible demand in California.

Part of what I like so much about Dr Satterwhite is that he understands how important these surgeries are for trans men and trans women and he seems to be very passionate about the value of these surgeries and how important they are for the trans community.  He seems like a real advocate for our community and I just admire his work so much.

I think he did a great job and I would totally recommend Dr Satterwhite.  There was a story in a prominent publication about his work and Dr Crane and my impression is that they are filling up very fast. 

At the clinic where they operate it is non stop shoulder to shoulder trans folks coming through on certain days and I can tell they are doing a lot of work with the community right now.  I definitely recommend Dr Satterwhite and his team.  He does a great job and is very supportive.

Christina

[andreapdenver]

Not one to post here, but just got my date with Dr. Satterwhite at the Greenbrae surgery center on May 3.  How is everyone healing?  Aesthetics are good?  Function good?  Pain manageable?  I am looking to take off 4 weeks of work.  I have a desk job and work from home so going back will hopefully be a non-issue after 4 weeks.  By the way, I am freaking out, but also excited.  Just got the call with a date today so reality is sinking in.  Any advice on calming the jitters would be appreciated.  About me, been living FT for 4 years.  I'm 44, and in good health.  I have been on hormones for 24 years, so this surgery is a long time coming.

[Dena]

I would allow 6 to 8 weeks off post surgical. I returned to work 4 days out of the hospital and it just about killed me. You might survive taking a month off after surgery but it's going to be close.

[Kizzy]

I'll be 7 weeks post-op on the 23rd. It was a little awkward the first couple of weeks, but the drugs were great. Coming off of those, things got pretty crappy. Oh, the surgery went well —besides my need for getting the catheter reinserted (I wasn't able to pee after it was removed initially) — but dealing with the emotional trauma brought on by this great trauma to my body and huge limitations in mobility plus feelings of isolation was hard for me.

Dr. Satterwhite has been lovely to deal with, really patient and seems to have done a decent job as nothing has fallen off, ha ha. I still have quite a bit of swelling, so won't know the full result for quite some time.

As someone who dislikes having to do things at certain times and is a chronic procrastinator, getting around to dilation was tough for the first month. I've gotten used to it now.

[Meghan]

Kizzy, look like you make a good progress for post-op. Hopefully you on the road recovery fast.

Luanne

[JustASeq]

Quick update. First day back at work today a day short of 8 weeks. Was great, sucked waking up early to make it there and stuff but nice to have the day disappear like that.

As for aesthetics I am pleased with my results, however I have a pretty large clitoris which swelled up sometime immediately after the surgery while I was still in the hospital. There is lots of sensation down there overall already and I even achieved orgasm with my dilator. Since my clitoris is still pretty swollen it is also more sensitive and not really in a good way yet I didn't mess around with that too much. I will be talking with Dr. Satterwhite at my follow up appointment in April about the clitoral swelling if it is still an issue. He says it is an outpatient procedure so if it is needed it should not be so bad. Overall I would 100% recommend Dr. Satterwhite to anyone.

[andreapdenver]

Kizzy, how long did you have to have the catheter in the second time go round?  How many more weeks past the meds portion were you feeling physically and emotionally stifled?  My date is May 3 (as stared before).  I am only able to get a month off, but I work 100% remote from home and can even work from bed if I had to.    Regardless, I am a single parent too so I cannot be bedridden for too long.  I am exercising and eating really well trying to prep for the recovery.  My biggest concern is hair removal.  I am JUST starting it and only have 2 months for surgery,  Hoping it's enough.

[RubyAliza]

Hey ya'll I'm having my surgery with Dr. Satterwhite May 17th, not long after andreapdenver. I'm also doing it a the Greenbrae surgery center. I'll start a thread with my experiences. Dr. Satterwhite is as good as Dr. Bowers, in my opinion. They updated their website with new results that look amazing. The wait time isn't terrible either - for me 6 months waitlist. That's shorter than it took for Dr. Bower's office to call me just to verify my insurance. I waited 6 months for a consulation with Dr. Bowers, then 7 months to hear back from them - 13 months, and then they said their waitlist was over 2 1/2 years. That's almost 4 years total! That's gotta be the longest waitlist of any srs surgeon in the world. Headsup to any trans ladies in the bay area who re stressing - Dr. Satterwhite is a wonderful option. No need to wait a quarter of a decade Check out their website - The best results are Dr. Satterwhite's (a few are Crane's but he mainly does ftm surgery).

andreapdenver - Have you heard where we are going to recover after surgery? Greenbrae surgery center doesn't have an impatient area - we're going to be transferred elsewhere for recovery apparently. Wondering about that.

- Ruby

[JustASeq]

As someone who dislikes having to do things at certain times and is a chronic procrastinator, getting around to dilation was tough for the first month. I've gotten used to it now.

Since you are around the same time out of surgery.... I bet dilation has become more fun by now for you also?

Hey ya'll I'm having my surgery with Dr. Satterwhite May 17th, not long after andreapdenver. I'm also doing it a the Greenbrae surgery center. I'll start a thread with my experiences. Dr. Satterwhite is as good as Dr. Bowers, in my opinion. They updated their website with new results that look amazing. The wait time isn't terrible either - for me 6 months waitlist. That's shorter than it took for Dr. Bower's office to call me just to verify my insurance. I waited 6 months for a consulation with Dr. Bowers, then 7 months to hear back from them - 13 months, and then they said their waitlist was over 2 1/2 years. That's almost 4 years total! That's gotta be the longest waitlist of any srs surgeon in the world. Headsup to any trans ladies in the bay area who re stressing - Dr. Satterwhite is a wonderful option. No need to wait a quarter of a decade Check out their website - The best results are Dr. Satterwhite's (a few are Crane's but he mainly does ftm surgery).

andreapdenver - Have you heard where we are going to recover after surgery? Greenbrae surgery center doesn't have an impatient area - we're going to be transferred elsewhere for recovery apparently. Wondering about that.

- Ruby

Is this not the Sutter Pacific medial center in the Castro in San Francisco it will be done. They have the office in Greenbrae, but pretty sure it's just for consults and stuff. I know when I had mine in December I had 3 nights in the hospital and then 1 follow up per week in Greenbrae. The first was to remove some sutures, the Foley catheter and the packing material. Good luck to you all, Dr. Satterwhite is a great surgeon.

[RubyAliza]

Is this not the Sutter Pacific medial center in the Castro in San Francisco it will be done. They have the office in Greenbrae, but pretty sure it's just for consults and stuff. I know when I had mine in December I had 3 nights in the hospital and then 1 follow up per week in Greenbrae. The first was to remove some sutures, the Foley catheter and the packing material. Good luck to you all, Dr. Satterwhite is a great surgeon.

Here is where some of his surgeries are being done http://www.greenbraesurgerycenter.com/. It's literally a block away from where he does all his consultations. He's trying to book as many surgeries as possible and  there aren't always enough OR's available. Andreapdenver and I are both getting it done at this place - we'll have to be transferred after surgery to a recovery center somewhere close. Not sure how that's going to work. Thanks for the wishing us luck, sounds like everything went very well for you

- Ruby

[JustASeq]

Here is where some of his surgeries are being done http://www.greenbraesurgerycenter.com/. It's literally a block away from where he does all his consultations. He's trying to book as many surgeries as possible and  there aren't always enough OR's available. Andreapdenver and I are both getting it done at this place - we'll have to be transferred after surgery to a recovery center somewhere close. Not sure how that's going to work. Thanks for the wishing us luck, sounds like everything went very well for you

- Ruby

Oh, that is actually the same address as Satterwhite's office. I was not aware they did the procedure there as well. Anyways you are in good hands

[Kizzy]

Kizzy, how long did you have to have the catheter in the second time go round?  How many more weeks past the meds portion were you feeling physically and emotionally stifled?  My date is May 3 (as stared before).  I am only able to get a month off, but I work 100% remote from home and can even work from bed if I had to.    Regardless, I am a single parent too so I cannot be bedridden for too long.  I am exercising and eating really well trying to prep for the recovery.  My biggest concern is hair removal.  I am JUST starting it and only have 2 months for surgery,  Hoping it's enough.

I had to have the catheter in for an additional week (basically until the next post op visit) and took a generic Flomax prescription to make it easier for me to pee. My stream is all kinds of crazy, but it comes out fine now.

I started working again from home after about 2 weeks off. Sometimes I got a bit tired early, but I made it happen. My biggest concern was also about hair removal. I started at about 5 months out but had a few interruptions. Also my pain tolerance was way low for that begin. I was getting work done just a few days before my surgery. I do have some hair between my labia, but not in my vagina (best I can tell), so will definitely need to do some followup work. Schedule make up sessions if any need to be canceled. That's my advice. Have you started yet?

Oh, and, JustASeq, I tried out my blue dilator a little early for a bit (based on my understanding, I'm introducing one size larger dilator every three months). It felt really good going in after warming up with my purple.

[andreapdenver]

I started hair removal a couple of years ago downstairs, but the doctor I was looking at, at the time said it was not necessary.  Now, I got a 2 months out date and Satterwhite does require it so I am in a mad scramble to get it done, starting tomorrow.  At most, I may get 3 laser sessions in.  A bit nervous that it will not be enough.

[andreapdenver]

RubyAliza, did not realize we have to be moved post op.  That sounds like a bit of a nightmare.  Hope I am worrying needlessly.