Dear All,
This is an initial post, and will be followed with a more detailed post in the next couple of weeks.
I was interested in talking with everyone about a topic a friend and I have been discussing and considering working on. This is the absence of care/support post-op from a physical health perspective.
For disclosure, I am about 9 years post-SRS with Dr Meltzer, and started my transition in 2006. My own views are there are good resources to be found pre and during transition (endocrinologists, mental health experts/therapists, surgeons etc.), but that post-op the opportunity and level of care diminishes or is absent.
It took me quite a while to find a gynecologist I felt comfortable with and was ok disclosing to fully. She is good, but is poorly versed in post-op neo-vaginal care and overall care for a transwoman. I have had to do most of the research and education of her myself and provided references and notes (I live in an educated and pretty metropolitan area too, not out in the sticks!).
My question for everyone here is do you see a need/gap in post-op care, and if so where? In my view there is a dearth of gyn's trained or aware how to provide us with care. What about post-op self-care? I know I got adequate instruction on dilation technique, but looking back I received little to no advice on how to care for or minimize scarring, how to clean correctly and safely, how to establish a good microflora. I am now just doing more self-body work and physically connecting with my vagina and vulva (yes, years on, but that is another story!), and this too has made me think there could be some great value in better resources to help each of us live in our new bodies, to understand masturbation techniques, normal female function (and what is abnormal), care and love for our new genitals. In my own case, the pain and stress of dilation never allowed me to connect and "bond" with my vagina, it always felt somewhat foreign and in some ways I resented how much care, effort and pain to maintain... silly I know, but at least in my case resulted in me not fully connecting and appreciating my new tissues for a long long time. I think if I had better advice and guidance early on from somewhere things could have been very different.
How do you feel about this? Is there a gap? How might you have been better helped as you completed your surgical steps and what things did you miss or never get that looking back might have been helpful or of value.
I would love to hear back from anyone that feels they have some views and perspectives to share.
Hugs
Sarah
