Thank you everyone for your kind good wishes. Here is my report!
PAI carePAI (Preecha Aesthetic Institute) have been outstanding. I am so glad I chose them. It's the quality and professionalism of the care which mattered to me and they have been brilliant. They met me twice at Bangkok airports, answered emails very promptly by either emailing me or sometimes phoning me. I was chauffeured by one of their drivers to all medical appointments. Bune, one of their delightful front desk staff, came to visit me in hospital with some fruit juice and a chat.
Seriously, we all want to praise our team for reasons that are understandable. But if safety and quality of care matter to you then I'd be astonished if anywhere is better than PAI.
The operationPAI use Piyavate hospital for all their surgeries and they clearly have close coordination with staff at the hospital. The hospital is excellent and I cannot fault it. I spent the morning being prepped for theatre in various ways which included removal of my piercings and nail varnish
Everything came around quickly and I was trolleyed down to theatre at 1.30pm. They operated on me earlier than they said: nice!
I reckon there was a team of around 12. Dr Sutin came to say hello to me beforehand which was a good touch. Then the anaesthetists took over.
Now for all you girls thinking of Thailand as your option watch this one. Some places save money by not having a specialist anaesthetist in theatre with you. I can't personally believe how dangerous that is. The most life threatening aspect of our SRS surgeries is the General Anaesthetic. Piyavate put a team on and do it professionally and properly. GA is a weird experience: my legs felt very odd, my heart began to race. I stayed conscious for a good minute and then my lead anaesthetist just said, 'okay it's all looking good so here goes, night night and we will see you soon.' And that was it. I was under GA for 90 mins with the surgery taking an hour. Why so long for a bilateral orchiectomy?Well Dr Sutin did it carefully: he knows that this tissue is waiting for the full vaginoplasty.
I felt a little nauseous coming round in the recovery room but that soon passed. The first words I spoke were: 'I love Thailand.'
;)There was a dull aching pain but nothing too bad. I gave it a 5/10 on the pain level. The nurses seem to think I have a very high pain threshold. I'm not sure that's true (I used to hate back waxing). Update: I am on Etorixicib which is a 24-hour non-steroidal pain relief and anti imflamatory. No wonder I feel fine!
The ensuite private room (included in PAI's pricing) is lovely: very impressive. I would love to post pics if I can. I will try.
Nursing staff are lovely: both efficient and friendly. You have a call button and they immediately appear in the room. You can also talk to them over their intercom.
Practicalities One thing I would say is that I had my op on Saturday and it did get quite quiet. That's great but if you want more food I think you need to order it before everywhere shuts for the night. Despite having a lovely poached salmon tea around 5pm I did get hungry later. If I had my time again I'd have brought some biscuits or something because I was mega hungry by the time 7.30 am breakfast came. I managed a fair bit of sleep but was woken at 5.30 for bp checks etc: standard hospital procedure of course. There's a hot water boiler in the room so I wish I had brought my portable Bodun coffee maker too. But there is a proper cafe downstairs so if you're like me and like good coffee a nurse will go and get you one.
Dr Sutin will see me shortly on his ward round and then I'll head back to the hotel. As I may have mentioned, I'm in the Salil Hotel 1 Thong Lor. You can get a room through PAI for 1700 baht or a superior room with balcony and view for 1900 baht a night ($50) including a sumptuous breakfast. I thoroughly recommend this boutique 4*-plus hotel. I've stayed there before and it's terrific value.
All-in-all it has been a great experience so far. I would unreservedly recommend PAI to anyone. I'm not a share holder lol and have no vested interest. I don't work for anyone. It's just my opinion that they are superb.
