Hello! Just thought I'd stop in and offer a 5 month update.
In general I'm back at full capacity, and have been for some time. Better than full capacity, in fact. I'm content with my body in a way I've never been before. Everything is going swell. I had an orgasm with my new equipment a few weeks ago. It hasn't been repeated yet, but I think that's mostly a lack-of-sex-drive thing. I was impressed at how fast it happened. Things are very sensitive (in a good way), no pain at all.
Now that it's all healed up, things look... well, normal. My new genitals look exactly like labia, a clit and a vagina should. My partner even says they have similar smell/taste to a cis-female. (sorry if this is too much information, I'm just trying to be informative, not vulgar or titilating). The scars are noticeable even if you're not looking for them, but not intrusive.
Dilations continue. I'm doing ~2/day, sometimes only once. I can definitely feel a difference now, where missing a session (or even a whole day) only makes the next dilation mildly more difficult. Before, going even 12 hours without a session would take days recover from.
The #4 dilator remains quite intimidating, but I can fit about 4 1/2" of it in. #3 I can do 5 2/3", while #1+#2, I can fit 6". I lost half an inch of depth from my post-surgery maximum during a bout of depression when I missed too many times and wasn't careful with those dilation sessions I did have. Exactly as the doctor warned, it doesn't come back. In my case it's perfectly fine, I'm not worried about it since I still have plenty of depth, but it is a thing to pay attention to.
