Solo GRS With Chet on 07/26/2016

[Rafaela]

 Mmmmm dooooohhnuts

Is it inflatable? Inflatable ones you could just let out some air, but with flying they'd puff up and deflate as you land as the air pressure changes on the plane.

[IWentWithChet]

Mmmmm dooooohhnuts

Is it inflatable? Inflatable ones you could just let out some air, but with flying they'd puff up and deflate as you land as the air pressure changes on the plane.

Nah it's a plush thing. It's just SUPER hard.

[IWentWithChet]

I'm on the final 3 hour leg of my flight. Let me just say - this has been one of the worst experiences of my life and 99% of that is THIS DAMN "PILLOW." My butt is in an INCREDIBLE amount of pain.

BRING YOUR OWN IF YOU DO SRS WITH CHET

[jujubes1986]

I'm on the final 3 hour leg of my flight. Let me just say - this has been one of the worst experiences of my life and 99% of that is THIS DAMN "PILLOW." My butt is in an INCREDIBLE amount of pain.

BRING YOUR OWN IF YOU DO SRS WITH CHET

i hope you arrive safely... and i hope your butt feels better after

[Rafaela]

 
Hang it up when you get home to remind you how strong you can be 

[IWentWithChet]

Well I'm back. The flight was one of the worst parts of this whole experience, without any doubt.

My butt and my vagina were in constant pain throughout and I had to adjust my seating and sometimes just get up and stand in the bathroom for like 15-30 minutes at a time just to survive some legs of it. I could barely sleep because of the pain.

And, the worst experience of all, one of my flights got delayed, then the baggage carousel broke (because the USA requires you to re-check bags once you arrive in the country again), and I got stuck on a different flight for the way back home. And I was in a middle seat this time and this ->-bleeped-<- next to me on his laptop wouldn't let me out to use the bathroom or anything. I was crying because of the pain. I took more painkillers and it helped a bit but... Yeah.

On the flights, the bathrooms were SUPER tiny. I have some leg fat. What this means is that, I was unable to spread my legs so that the leg fat didn't cover the vagina, making peeing... A bit of a thing. I honestly had to, ironically, position myself above the toilet and stand. This was the first time I've experienced a "spray" rather than a "stream" which also meant that, TMI warning, I had to sit in pee (the stuff that missed the pad) for large sections of the way home! Joy!

Worst of all, since the flight I've noticed some white discharge coming from my vagina. It looks like a possible yeast infection maybe? I'm not sure. I've emailed Dr. Chet with pictures.

I've dilated twice since coming back home - the first time, it was a bit tricky to get to full depth on #1, but with some work I go there. The second time was fine on #1. On both dilations I was still about an inch off of full depth on #2. Not spectacular, but about where I was before the flights.

But let me tell you - lying down your first time after coming home feels INCREDIBLE. No stupid pillows cutting into your butt. No pressure on your vagina. And you can really relax a bit.

Sadly it's back to work for me in 5 hours though so I've got to get ready!

[IWentWithChet]

So, two things about my dilation experience.

Sometimes when I'm about to reach my full depth I feel the dilator "push" through something. Like it pierces some wall and can then do the full depth without problem.

This happened with #1 a couple times in the early days (no longer) and just happened with #2. It's always very scary and weird feeling when it happens. But now I can get to full depth with #2. And I'm discharging blood which is of course lovely. The white discharge appears to have gone away, btw.

Has anyone else had this happen to them? I'm wondering how normal it is. It DID happen with #1 and this was before Chet gave me the all-clear. And I'm not passing any feces or wind through the vagina so I don't think I'm creating a fistula?

That said, also I've noticed after dilating that there's tons of lubricant up my butt. I asked the nurse about this awhile back and she said it's normal - I'm just again curious if others have had that experience as well and how it gets there?

[IWentWithChet]

I suppose at this point since I have time, I should do some final thoughts on doing SRS solo with Chet and my advice for others planning to do it. A tldr for the entire thread.

First - let's get the bad out of the way

• Far and away the worst thing was waking up after going under for me. It was terrifying and incredibly painful. When they first wake you up - it's not fun. Though hearing the surgery went well was a relief. Thankfully they put you back under quickly afterwords and when you wake up back in your room, much of the pain is gone.
  
  
• The second worst pain was removing the catheter. It was a nightmare of burning awful pain and I hated it. Thankfully, it was short and once it's out, the burning subsidies pretty quickly. I took a painkiller beforehand - I recommend you do too. Even with that it was awful though.
  
  
• The third worst pain was relieving myself of a serious fit of constipation. This is a possible side effect of the painkiller you're given - probably exacerbated by the fact that I wasn't drinking as much liquid as I should have. It was... REALLY painful.
  
  
• Another major pain source was moving around while the vaginal packing was in. It's basically a dilator that just lives in your body and it's the worst thing. But once this is removed, which feels weird more than painful, almost all of that discomfort and pain goes away instantly. It sucks, but it doesn't linger so it's tolerable.
  
  
• Having to sleep on your back SUCKS! Minimal side laying for you until after your packing is out!
  
  
• Dilation was initially very painful - until I learned to read my body. It took awhile for that to be the case, but once I did, it became more of a chore than anything else. It's an art that you need to learn. Still, moving up dilators takes an adjustment period and it's pretty painful at first. Just keep plugging along at it though and you'll get there! It can actually be relaxing now - it's an excuse to do nothing and watch YouTube!
  
  
• Seeing initial little black goops on your pad can be scary... But they're just the dissolved stitches! They'll go away gradually.
  
  
• The plane flight home was awful. In no small part due to the butt pillow Chett gives you being VERY stiff.
  
  
• Sitting down in general SUCKS. The drive from the clinic to the hotel was AWFUL.
  
  
• My arm still hurts. They were overly aggressive with their heart rate monitor and it cut off blood too long, causing nerve damage. It is recovering gradually (initially it was entirely numb), but will probably take up to 3 months to recover completely. Sucks until then.
  
  
• Many of the nurses at the clinic don't speak English well. This can occasionally be a problem.
  
  
• The Princess had regular power outages, I had a broken chair, the TV was very "SD," there are limited English channels, and the Internet was occasionally pretty spotty or slow. That said, that's more a Thailand thing. And it wasn't too bad - just annoying at times. Overall I had a pretty good experience at the Princess.
  

Now - the good!

• This was VERY doable solo. If you have a rich online life and don't mind waking up early to Skype with friends and family, your loneliness can be mitigated pretty easily. I took the time to play a lot of games I'd been meaning to play on my Vita and my Laptop. I was also able to work from home at my job. That kinda sucked at times, but it was doable - and that's a good thing! Except in the early days when the packing was in and I'd drop something on the floor, I never felt like I NEEDED someone else to be there. If you're worried about doing this alone - don't be. It's VERY doable.
  
  
• The vagina looks nice! Chet is well regarded for a reason. It's indistinguishable from that of a natal female. Chet's also incredibly nice, even if he can be pretty blunt at times.
  
  
• Peeing was easy, I had no spray, I accomplished a natural stream right out of the gate, and beyond some initial pain at the end of the stream for the first couple days or so, it was, and is, natural to me. No problems holding it and no incontinence issues.
  
  
• The nurse who visits you at the Princess is very nice and very fluent. She can be a bit aggressive at times, but it's because she genuinely cares - and she is great at calming you when you're scared.
  
  
• Getting stitches removed at the final check in with Chet was surprisingly painless!
  
  
• I pass well already since I transitioned early (HRT started around age 19/20/21). Now I don't need to worry about random things in gym changing areas, I can go to onsen just fine, etc. This opens up my life a lot - and I'm very satisfied with that thing not being there.
  
  
• Now, it's not an ENORMOUS psychological boon to me or anything, but it feels like a giant weight has been lifted off of my chest. A weight I didn't even know I was dealing with. I'm much more psychologically satisfied with this than I thought I'd be - I went in doing this because "it needed to be done" and my insurance was going to reimburse me 80% up to 10000 usd (though I'm still waiting on that). I came out feeling a lot more free than I expected I would.
  
  
• Chet saw me despite my having a BMI of like 39-40 (since I'm otherwise young, extremely healthy, and work out regularky) and did a superlative, flawless job. Also, since my "source material" was like practically 2.5 inches or something insane, his non-penile inversion method (which Suporn also uses) was practically the only one that would have worked on me. So I'm glad he was willing to work with me (though I had to do extra tests to prove I was otherwise healthy). He's stricter on BMI for FFS, apparently. He also said that, should I lose weight, which I am in the process of doing (lost 20lbs so far!), the vagina will still look just as good and everything will be fine. So it's nice to know that this appearance is quite independent of weight or body mass.
  
  
• I always felt taken care of and safe - except times when I freaked myself out! But then the nurses, particularly the one who sees you in the hotel, would help you out substantially.
  
  
• I feel like I'm kinda part of the "woman" club more than I was before. Now, I know that isn't the case - but it feels that way to me. And it's a nice feeling. Like, I get why vaginas kinda suck now. They're maintenance machines that can get all sorts of wacky problems like yeast infections and stuff. And now that I've been through a vaginal examination, I "get" obgyn jokes in a way I really hadn't before. But this all makes me feel more genuine and "whole" than I did before - even though, obviously, having a vagina or not has no bearing on you being a genuine of "whole" woman.
  

Now some tips

• Bring a range of laxative types. Especially stool softeners. You don't want to go through the side effect of the tramadol painkiller if it happens. TRUST me.
  
  
• Drink LOTS of liquid and eat LOTS of yogurt and fruit. For the same reason as above.
  
  
• Bring your own painkiller. You want to move away slowly from the tramadol if you can, since it's a serious drug with some potentially quite painful side effects. Thankfully, I found OTC drugs like Tylenol worked pretty well!
  
  
• Sign up for foodpanda. Trust me - you want to try some GENUINE Thai food while you're there and it's like 4x cheaper than the hotel food. They'll deliver to your room. It's great. They'll ask you for a subsoi or something like that when you put in your address - that's just a crossroad. Look up your nearest intersection and put one of those roads in. Try the spicy chicken wings at McDonalds delivery - they're glorious (and pick up the Milk tea - it's a joy and something we sadly don't have in the States). Also Thai-styled fried chicken anywhere - it's a bit like karaage in Japan. Very tasty and very light. Also the Clam Nachos at this other nearby place to the Princess. Surprisingly amazing! And it goes without saying that the drunken noodles (which go by a different name there, I forget what) are delicious - try them with cuttlefish! Experiment - you're in Thailand! Go nuts and try the weirdest, coolest stuff on the menu.
  
  
• The Princees delivers breakfast buffet for free to your room if you pay for it. DO. But also, it opens at 5:30 and closes at 10:30. So be smart - order breakfast at 5:30, then order again at 10:30 and it eat it for lunch. It'll save you some serious money over the long term.
  
  
• BUY A COMFORTABLE BUTT DONUT PILLOW. Maybe it was just me, but I found the one Chet provided VERY painful to sit in for a length of time. Shop around, buy a HIGH quality one, and do a stress test - sit in it for 18 hours straight (or however long your flights + layovers will be). Make sure it's comfortable for that sort of length of time.
  
  
• Use a wheelchair in the airport. This not only helps your recovery, but... It also helps you skip SO MANY lines in customs and airport security. It probably saved me multiple hours of standing in lines... Also not having to walk is PRETTY NICE.
  
  
• Sign up for Global Entry. It's 100 dollars for five years and it basically lets you skip the TSA lines (since you also get TSA pre check) AND you basically get to skip US customs entirely. It'll save you literal hours of lines going in and coming back - DO IT. I got this and I don't regret it one bit. Some of the best money I've ever spent.
  
  
• Fly Delta if you can. I had to transfer airlines a couple times for reasons beyond my control (delays changing flights and stuff). The airline that worked the hardest to get my comfortable seating was Delta. They didn't do MUCH mind you - but they worked with me a bit. Most of the other airlines didn't care and did nothing (one even changed my window seat to a middle seat for no reason!).
  
  
• Bring stuff to do you've been meaning to do for a long time. Especially if you're solo. For me, this was a lot of video games I have been meaning to play for a long time. Since several of these were 20-40 hours long, I had plenty to do to keep myself occupied.
  

I'll update this more if I have a different experience moving up to dilator #3 than I did moving up to #2 or if I develop a fistula or something, but right now everything looks happy, healthy, and good!

I hope you found any of this helpful future solo Chet goers! I was impressed and surprised with how doable this was alone, so please don't worry!

[Sharon Anne McC]

*
IWentWithChet:

Congratulations and welcome home.

Allow a few added tidbits to your travelogue.

     -  Dr. Chettawut's travel letter is supposed to get a good airplane seat for you - without bumping elbows on either side.  Likewise, the airlines are supposed to provide that wheelchair assistance service through the airport and all the lines.  That wheelchair is medically necessary to keep your from injuring your surgery site - no long walking.  Insist upon it - you have your letter to show the airline.

     -  You should not experience any discharge.  If you are, then see your home 'team' pronto.  Is it excess lube?  You need only an amount that works for you - not too much, not too little, but just right.  Generally, a four or five ounce tube will last one week for the average user going all the way on all four devices; some people develop their own natural process.

     -  Yes, you will experience all new sensations as you complete your 'duty'.  You may have a set of deep muscle that is prone to stricture.  Here is when you develop relaxing techniques.  Take deep breaths, apply steady pressure.  This must never hurt or be painfull.  Slow and steady if need be.  You might be finding a bonus feeling at the end of depth.

     -  There are ways to not get tired arms and hands during your long session:  use a towel or pillow to retain the position of the appliance or cross your legs to hold it in.

     -  Follow your schedule as precisely as you can.  If you falter, that's okay, your are still early.  Begin each session using your #1 / smallest and work to your largest.  Again, this must never cause pain (and it can be pleasurable if you work at it).

     -  Keep Dr. Chettawut (or whomever else for those who attend another surgeon) apprised of all issues, good, bad indifferent - by your own correspondence as well as by your home physicians (get your home physicians acquainted with your surgeon as soon as you make that determination).  This correspondence will help when it comes time for your 6-months and 12-months post-op exam.  If your community lacks a post-op gyn specialist, then your own gyn should have assistance from your surgeon developed through these correspondences.

     -  Yes, drink plenty of water - whether pre- or post-.  Fluids aid in both urinary and bowel function.  Stay with light fruits and vegetables until you are fully functional post-op; this will allow you to avoid constipation.

     -  One sign of healing is when you have that urinary feeling - your body is telling you it wants to go on its own.  That is when your nurse can remove your catheter.

     -  Some recovery residences offer varying entertainment options - from basic broadcast TV, to cable TV, to high-speed wi-fi.  Bangkok has four primary English language broadcast TV stations, some cable offer additional English language channels, some Internet may be blocked because you are not in American jurisdiction.  It all depends upon where you go.  Rather than spend time watching the tube, visit with others at your recovery residence who are there for the same procedures - you'll make new friends from around the world.

     -  While you can order fast food in, also walk the area where you are residing and enjoy a sit-down meal at a street cafe or snack from a street vendor - 'crispy critters' or that banana and egg tort are common delights.  Be certain to take plenty of pictures and video when you tour the sites - especially the temple district.

Thank you, IWentWithChet, for sharing.

Of course, the frequent refrain is YMMV - every experience will have your own individual circumstances to manage.  Prepare a  positive attitude and expect the best.

*

[Mohini]

So I had a conversation that went like this:

"You no bring panties?"

"No. I was afraid of them being tight"

"You no bring panties?"

"No."

This is what I'm afraid of; a double communication problem (deaf as a doorknob, always have been).  This is like Ms. Swan in Mad TV - I CAN'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING EXCEPT, "He a look like a man."

-

The fact that she repeated the question to you means that she is NOT fluent in English at all and has not developed the level of familiarity with English to the level required for fluency.  I'll try to learn some Thai, but I am trying to learn Sanskrit and Hindi already.