Want SRS with BRASSARD - Need help & tips with my questions

[ainsley]

I went to Brassard. 

Do you recommend Brassard?  Highly.
How is your new vagina? Better than I expected.  My primary Dr. is an OB/GYN and has delivered many babies and her first comment was "You would never know".
Do you have sensitivity & also do you self lubricate? & How is your depth?  Yes, very much so.  Yes, but not like my wife does.  Average ciswoman depth. (I've been married to my wife 26 years and she is the only one I have sex with, so I cannot speak about male penetrative sex)

I live in Missouri, and my wife and I drove up there for the surg.  She stayed in Laval and came to visit everyday I was in the hospital and then in the recovery center (Asclepiad).  I opted for the spinal and the twightlight method.  I woke up a couple times during the operation.  I felt nothing.  Brassard started the surgery, and then I woke up and Belanger was finishing up on me.  They tag team it these days.

We drove back late last year because my urine stream was very forward.  Dr. Belanger fixed it in a 30 minute operation in the OR using a local anesthesia.  No charge.  She is soooo awesome.  Now I pee in the water. lol

Their front office and clerical folks leave a lot to be desired. lol  I coordinated my entire surgery (both) via email.  Never called them once. Suzanne and Josie were pretty good getting back to me, however, I am persistent and advocate heavily for myself.  I suggest the same for everyone else.

[Emmy]

I went to Brassard. 

Do you recommend Brassard?  Highly.
How is your new vagina? Better than I expected.  My primary Dr. is an OB/GYN and has delivered many babies and her first comment was "You would never know".
Do you have sensitivity & also do you self lubricate? & How is your depth?  Yes, very much so.  Yes, but not like my wife does.  Average ciswoman depth. (I've been married to my wife 26 years and she is the only one I have sex with, so I cannot speak about male penetrative sex)

I live in Missouri, and my wife and I drove up there for the surg.  She stayed in Laval and came to visit everyday I was in the hospital and then in the recovery center (Asclepiad).  I opted for the spinal and the twightlight method.  I woke up a couple times during the operation.  I felt nothing.  Brassard started the surgery, and then I woke up and Belanger was finishing up on me.  They tag team it these days.

We drove back late last year because my urine stream was very forward.  Dr. Belanger fixed it in a 30 minute operation in the OR using a local anesthesia.  No charge.  She is soooo awesome.  Now I pee in the water. lol

Their front office and clerical folks leave a lot to be desired. lol  I coordinated my entire surgery (both) via email.  Never called them once. Suzanne and Josie were pretty good getting back to me, however, I am persistent and advocate heavily for myself.  I suggest the same for everyone else.

Wow!! Thank you, I really want him to be my surgeon, I think he does the best and seems like a sweet caring person from what other girls have said on here. Why is it taking them so long to respond to my messages/emails?

[ainsley]

Yes, it can be frustrating to wait for them to reply.  I understand and empathize with you.  If you feel so inclined, give them a call.  I am pretty sure there are some posts on this forum of me venting my frustration with their lack of response, too. lol  Maybe that is just part of the experience they offer?  Just kidding...I know, sorry.

Hang in there!  I bugged Suzanne to death sometimes. lol  I was ALWAYS polite, and wrote proper emails with pleasantries, though.  I jsut wanted to let her know I was waiting and eager to get the process rolling.

[elobo]

Had surgery with brassard, aesthetic looks very nice considering the time since i had the surgery. Only problem are lateral scars but ive heard they fade with time and that you can get additionnal surgery to hide them.

I self lubricate, orgasm on clitoris stimulation every time and i have 6.5 inch depth.   I havent tried the "full thing" yet due to little hypergranulation at the end of my vaginal cavity wich create discomfort and blood. Im waiting till i have no pain to try it and be able to enjoy it like a cis woman having first experience.

It was paid by provincial health care.

[Lucie]

Hello elobo,

Could you tell please when you had your surgery with Brassard (I mean how long time you are post-op) ?

[elobo]

4 month ago . I also can "squirt" forgot to mention it ;p

[KayXo]

Had surgery with brassard, aesthetic looks very nice considering the time since i had the surgery. Only problem are lateral scars but ive heard they fade with time and that you can get additionnal surgery to hide them.

I self lubricate, orgasm on clitoris stimulation every time and i have 6.5 inch depth.

I had my SRS with Dr. B in late 2005. Those lateral scars you speak of are still there 11 yrs later and when I asked him if there was anything that could be done to make them less apparent, he said I could undergo surgery but that that there is a 50% chance, nothing would change.

I can rarely orgasm on clitoris stimulation alone and I started with 4.5 inches depth.

The rest is pretty much the same.

[Lucie]

Hello Kay,
I believe that there are aesthetic/plastic surgeons who are able to have good results in smoothing scars. Did you try to consult some of these surgeons (Dr Brassard apart) ?

[elobo]

Lucie, i dont have enough post to reply to your private message.  Please pm me a skype id , email or facebook id so i can get in touch with you

[KayXo]

I believe that there are aesthetic/plastic surgeons who are able to have good results in smoothing scars. Did you try to consult some of these surgeons (Dr Brassard apart) ?

No, not yet. I know there is surgical tattooing and laser CO2 resurfacing.

[Lucie]

Lucie, i dont have enough post to reply to your private message.  Please pm me a skype id , email or facebook id so i can get in touch with you

You can't yet initiate a PM but you should be able to reply to PMs you receive.

[Emmy]

Lucie, i dont have enough post to reply to your private message.  Please pm me a skype id , email or facebook id so i can get in touch with you

They STILL haven't responded to my emails, this is getting frustrating

[jessical]

I would call them.  At least then you will get some ideal of the expected response time.

[VivianJane]

Hey, I had surgery on March 1st.
My file with them started in September 2016.
They called me in December to go over the file to make sure all the info was correct and then it gets presented to the surgical team. That is the surgeon and all the nurses that help out in the OR.
I got an email on January 11 2017 offering a cancellation date of Jan 23 or 25.
I could not do those dates and asked for March 1st.
Now I am laying in bed dilating...which is all you will be doing for the first two months after surgery.
CMC, delivers the fastest service possible...they are not slow.
It is a different culture in Quebec than elsewhere in Canada and USA so don't think that they are awful.
I flew there from Toronto, got picked up by the limo as soon as I got there and retrieved my bags.
You go to a bed and breakfast place to prepare for surgery.
You have surgery and stay in hospital for 48 hours.
You move on to the recovery house for 6 more days.
You go home if you don't have a major complication, which is rare.
The service from the nurses and staff is fine they are all very lovely, some especially so.
The food at the recovery house is good and plentiful, you will not go hungry.
Dr. Brassard is a very nice person, speaks with you very warmly and listens to everything you have to say.
I am now almost 4 weeks post surgery and everything looks very good health wise.
Esthetically I think the results are very good and I am happy.
But I would add that my happiness is not just about what is there but what is not there.
I didn't have huge expectations about appearance because I already knew that the results are generally very authentic. I wasn't afraid that it would look grotesque and even now there is still swelling and it looks good.
Sensitivity is still an unknown because one has to wait until 8 weeks post surgery to be making contact manually with the clitoris.
All the nerves are preserved so there should be some level of sensitivity eventually.
My depth is quite good at 6 inches.
Very important to do the dilations as per the schedule or more if you can. It is a chore but it is not agony.
Also do have the time off for the full two months, it might seem like a lot of time but it is not. Think of it as an investment for the future.
My female partner was doing an inspection for me because |I had some soreness.
She said everything looked fine, nothing looked really red and sore.
Her assessment of appearance was no kidding "It's a miracle".
Do call them instead of email, I dealt mostly with Suzanne but also with Genevieve
(Jenny). Be patient as it does take time, let them know you will take a cancellation if you can.
But understand that until you hear from the clinical nurse to go over the file you are still on the waiting list.
They will get to you, I got antsy too just wanting to know the date too.
Once they call you back everything happens faster.

[VivianJane]

Hey again, I just remembered something that might be useful to know.
My surgery was March 1st, I was the only surgery that day.
Dr. Brassard saw me two days later on the Friday when I was to move to the recovery house.
He had to wait for me to transfer before he could go away for holidays.
He was off to Vale Col. to go skiing.
I don't know how long he was gone for but no vaginoplasty surgery would be happening if he is not there.
Probably he is back by now but the office staff would still be working.
It was very quite at the recovery house when I left, they were waiting for two trans guys to come over later that day.
Anyway you should just call and politely enquire.
Are you just making first contact with them? Have you sent in assessment letters stc.?

[Emmy]

I would call them.  At least then you will get some ideal of the expected response time.

I tried! No answer.. It says, press 2 for english then does nothing

[Emmy]

Hey, I had surgery on March 1st.
My file with them started in September 2016.
They called me in December to go over the file to make sure all the info was correct and then it gets presented to the surgical team. That is the surgeon and all the nurses that help out in the OR.
I got an email on January 11 2017 offering a cancellation date of Jan 23 or 25.
I could not do those dates and asked for March 1st.
Now I am laying in bed dilating...which is all you will be doing for the first two months after surgery.
CMC, delivers the fastest service possible...they are not slow.
It is a different culture in Quebec than elsewhere in Canada and USA so don't think that they are awful.
I flew there from Toronto, got picked up by the limo as soon as I got there and retrieved my bags.
You go to a bed and breakfast place to prepare for surgery.
You have surgery and stay in hospital for 48 hours.
You move on to the recovery house for 6 more days.
You go home if you don't have a major complication, which is rare.
The service from the nurses and staff is fine they are all very lovely, some especially so.
The food at the recovery house is good and plentiful, you will not go hungry.
Dr. Brassard is a very nice person, speaks with you very warmly and listens to everything you have to say.
I am now almost 4 weeks post surgery and everything looks very good health wise.
Esthetically I think the results are very good and I am happy.
But I would add that my happiness is not just about what is there but what is not there.
I didn't have huge expectations about appearance because I already knew that the results are generally very authentic. I wasn't afraid that it would look grotesque and even now there is still swelling and it looks good.
Sensitivity is still an unknown because one has to wait until 8 weeks post surgery to be making contact manually with the clitoris.
All the nerves are preserved so there should be some level of sensitivity eventually.
My depth is quite good at 6 inches.
Very important to do the dilations as per the schedule or more if you can. It is a chore but it is not agony.
Also do have the time off for the full two months, it might seem like a lot of time but it is not. Think of it as an investment for the future.
My female partner was doing an inspection for me because |I had some soreness.
She said everything looked fine, nothing looked really red and sore.
Her assessment of appearance was no kidding "It's a miracle".
Do call them instead of email, I dealt mostly with Suzanne but also with Genevieve
(Jenny). Be patient as it does take time, let them know you will take a cancellation if you can.
But understand that until you hear from the clinical nurse to go over the file you are still on the waiting list.
They will get to you, I got antsy too just wanting to know the date too.
Once they call you back everything happens faster.

Congrats!!! I'm so happy for you, thats amazing & where do you live? america? how much did you pay for surgery, i'm 21 i want to get the operation already. & I haven't sent letters in because I don't know which are needed  & that is very helpful, thank you so much.

[VivianJane]

Hey again, I live in Toronto and travelled from there.
The provincial health care plan pays for our surgery.
The letters you need have to come from two doctors who follow the WPATH guidelines to do a readiness for surgery assessment which must include a diagnosis that you have persistent gender dysphoria.
I think the letters should be addressed to Dr. Brassard specifically as well vs a 'to whom it may concern'.
Hope this helps.

[Emmy]

Hey again, I live in Toronto and travelled from there.
The provincial health care plan pays for our surgery.
The letters you need have to come from two doctors who follow the WPATH guidelines to do a readiness for surgery assessment which must include a diagnosis that you have persistent gender dysphoria.
I think the letters should be addressed to Dr. Brassard specifically as well vs a 'to whom it may concern'.
Hope this helps.

Ugh, they STILL haven't responded to my emails, I'm getting sad.