GCS with Dr Rachael Bluebond-Langner on Nov-02-2017 at NYU Langone Health

[Sydney_NYC]

As some of you know I have my GCS with Dr Rachael Bluebond-Langner and Dr Lee Cheng Zhao next week on November 2nd at NYU Langone. I created this thread to share updates on my progress.



Today I had my pre-admission check-in.
(It was a wet and windy day in Manhattan so I had to wear my hair in a ponytail which I normally don't do.)

I had several surgical consults and I chose Dr Bluebond-Langner and Zhao for a number of reasons, but she shined above all the rest for me. Plus the big bonus is that she is local to me via a 20 minute car ride (without traffic).

One of the most interesting things about her technique is that it's call a Robotic Penile Inversion Vaginoplasty XI Robot. This allows for a more fine tunes surgery and there is a video of how this is done here (NSFW):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQlYSaueHT4?t=2s

Having seen the outcome two of her patients and one revision, I have a lot confidence and the facilities and staff are incredible.

So now, my insurance has approved everything, my PCP has signed off and OK'd me for surgery, EKG is good, all my pre and post op instruction have been given and everything is a GO. The only thing left for me is the home pre-op instructions and showing up next week.

My hospital stay will be for 5 days and before I leave the hospital, my packing and catheter will be removed then I will do my first dilation in the hospital and as long as it's all good, then I'll go home to recover.

I also have a private Facebook group with near real time updates that my wife will be updating the day of my surgery. If anyone wants to be added to that group PM me for the group name and I will approve you. I will try to put out updates as I can here.

[Gail20]

Good luck to you. 

I had mine with them on 8/18. I'm a bit biased but I think their work was excellent. I too chose them because of their team approach.  Dr Zhao is a Urologist and Dr Bluebond-Langner is a Plastic Surgeon.  They use robotics which increases their accuracy and allows for finer work.

I had no issues with their surgical work. No dead tissue of any kind at all. Everything just healed up!!

NYU is a major teaching hospital so they naturally are state of the art. You also have lots more eyes on your surgery and recovery. Both surgical teams visit you each morning on rounds with their scary bright, students and all these students are hoping to be the one to catch something during these observations.

You're in great hands . . . .

[Sydney_NYC]

An update. Everything is ready for Thursday. There is some stress from last minute touchups on projects and my wife sprained her ankle last week, but we have backup support for my return home from the hospital. Hopefully she can transition from crutches to a cam walker boot tomorrow when she sees her orthopedic doctor.

On the rough side, I have been without estrogen for 3½ weeks as advised by my surgeon and my hot flashes are having hot flashes (phrase borrowed from dear close friend.) So I'm cranky with PMS like symptoms and my wife just started her period too, so two bitchy women together, LOL. My wife is like, well at least hers started now and not in 4 days during my surgery.

[Sydney_NYC]

I wanted to give everyone and update. My surgery went very well and it turned out that I did have an intersex conditions as things were not fully developed and Dr Bluebond-Langner was unable to use most of my scrotum tissue, but was able to successfully skin graph from other areas an with the use of the robot was able to make it all work well.

I'm on day 3 of recovery and I'm now able to get up and shuffle around. Surprisingly my pain has not been too bad and I'm only taking Tylenol for pain. I had more pain from gas from the anesthesia more than anything else on the first day of recovery. Now that is gone it's only the hot flashes that are driving me crazy when thy occur. I have sensation that I can feel and it more of compression that's uncomfortable than pain. That a big advantage of them using a robot to do the graphs from the inside. They entered through my belly button which it awesome. 

There is not doubt in my mind that I chose the right surgeon for me. The hospital has been fantastic and I've been in excellent care. On Tuesday the packing, wound vac and catheter get removed and as long as I can pee, douche and dilate on my own afterwards I can go home on Tuesday.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Gertrude]

Jeez, I forgot you were going in for this. Great news that you're doing well. Good for you. I wish you a speedy recovery and that it's everything you've hoped for. Keep us posted and up to date.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Devlyn]

Speedy healing!

Hugs, Devlyn

[Rachel]

Congratulations

You look awesome.

[Michelle_P]

Congratulations, Sydney!  I'm two weeks ahead of you and am healing up nicely.  It will be interesting to see how your healing goes (fast, I hope!) with this less-invasive technique.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Gail20]

I had more pain from gas from the anesthesia more than anything else on the first day of recovery. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Gas was a big problem for me too.  They told me that with the Robot they inject a lot of air into the abdomen to give them room to work.  It takes awhile for it to all come out.  Congratulations on just taking Tylenol. I needed that and more. . .

[Megan.]

Brilliant news, I'm glad it's gone well and the pain isn't too bad. X

Sent from my MI 5s using Tapatalk

[Sydney_NYC]

Gas was a big problem for me too.  They told me that with the Robot they inject a lot of air into the abdomen to give them room to work.  It takes awhile for it to all come out.  Congratulations on just taking Tylenol. I needed that and more. . .

They told me the same about the robot. I feel like I have a pot belly tummy. It will be nice when all the air is out of there.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[LizK]

Congratulations Sydney I hope your recovery goes really well I am 386 Days behind you and counting

[Sydney_NYC]

An update.....

I've been home since Tuesday night. The car ride was rough in NYC traffic as every time my father in law had to hit the breaks, yikes!!! Plus I was trying to navigate him to the fastest way home, since he has only driven a tour bus from TN in NYC before he wasn't familiar with best route by car. It normally would have been a 30 min car ride but was 50 min because of traffic.

I'm super happy with the results and even with the swelling. I have just over 6" of depth and I was able to start on the 2nd dilator which has a 1¼" diameter. Everyday gets a little better, but after being up from a shower I get pretty tired and happy to be laying down. Sitting at my desk get's too uncomfortable after 10 or so minutes, but using a laptop while laying down is pretty comfy. My first followup appointment is on Tuesday Nov 14th.

One weird thing is I weighed myself when I got home from surgery and weighed 4 lbs more than when I went into surgery. Then this morning I weight myself and I weighed 7 lbs less than when I went into surgery. So from Tuesday to Friday I lost 11 lbs, probably most of it from swelling and retained fluids from my hospital stay.

[Emily R]

Nice to hear more from you!  Sorry but I had forgotten about you surgery.

I hope you continue doing well and I will be watching for progress.

Emily

PS:  if you can add me to the surgery FB page I would appreciate it.

[Sydney_NYC]

A followup from Tuesday's office follow up visit.....

Dr Bluebond-Langner was extremely happy with the way I'm healing and I was told I could start my HRT (at half dose) again (yay, no more hot flashes!) The car ride through NYC traffic was a lot easier this time than when I left the hospital and I was even able to walk well from the parking garage to her office.

Everyday gets easier doing things and I've even manage to do some work on my laptop from home.

[Sydney_NYC]

I had my one month follow up appointment yesterday and both the urologist (Dr Zhao) and Dr Bluebond-Langner were very happy with the results. I'm of course ecstatic myself. I'm also thankful that my wife was there to hold my hand when some of the stitching that hadn't dissolved was removed from some super sensitive areas around my clit. I'm surprised I didn't crush her little hands. If she had not been there they would have been peeling me off of the ceiling. One thing is for sure, sensitivity is not going to be an issue for me.

I'm getting back into the swing of things with work and life. Now I'm so looking forward to the future of living my life the way it was meant to be, as me and sharing it with my my wonderful wife.

[mm]

Good to hear you had a very positive checkup and have good sensitivity in all your new lady parts; I know you will appreciate them in the future.

[Megan.]

Sydney,  thank you for the wonderful update. Very glad to hear you're happy and doing well [emoji5] X

Sent from my MI 5s using Tapatalk

[Sydney_NYC]

(Almost) 3-month update!!!!!

Today I had my 3-month followup with Dr Rachael Bluebond-Langner and everything is going great. I've been cleared for swimming and even using a hot tube. Everything has healed enough to use everything and her office did some very intimate pictures of me, LOL. Now I only have to douche once a week and I'm on the orange (largest) dilator. I'm so happy with everything 

I don't see her again for a follow-up until May for my 6-month follow-up.

[Dee Bellwether]

thank you for sharing your experiences.

you have me considering going to these surgeons.