Retrospective on Orchiectomy Six Weeks Post-op

[AvaNovum]

For those considering Orchiectomy I wanted to share my experience having this procedure at Kaiser Permanente in Woodland Hills California.

A Little Background.
At the time of surgery I was about 60 years old and had been on Estradiol for about 14 months.  I opted for the Orchiectomy because of adverse side effects from Spironolactone (my kidneys had started to fail) and the risk profile other the other available drugs was not appealing.

Procedure
I had a bilateral scrotal orchiectomy using a midline incision (approximately along the line of darker skin that bisects the scrotum).  Procedure was done under general anaesthetic and took about an hour.

Recovery
I did not have any significant pain or nausea immediately post-op.  If nausea is a problem for you tell the anesthesiologist and request they administer Zofran (Ondansetron). It does miracles.
I was provided with a "jock strap" type support that I needed to wear for the first week.  This was stuffed with gauze  (just what every girl wants) to help keep the dressings in place.
Going into work was not an option the first week because of the dressings.  Pain was minimal after day two and I stopped the Norco (hydrocodone and acetaminophen) at that time.  Extra Strength Tylenol was enough from day three until I stopped all pain meds after day seven. There was some minimal fatigue but rest, good nutrition, full hydration, and having friends visit helped amazingly.
Second week I was able to swap the "jock strap" for some full coverage panties, a non-stick gauze pad, and some additional gauze just for comfort (kind of a custom fit mini "light days' pad ).  I wore A line dresses (Fit and Flare) or full skirts for the next three weeks because tucking was not an option and these provided enough camouflage that I didn't need to .

Six Weeks After
Really no discomfort except for the occasional pinch from some of the self dissolving sutures that haven't fallen out yet.   
The total volume of stuff is a lot less now to tucking is less of an issue and things settle in comfortably enough that I really forget about it most of the time.
Hormone levels are excellent with Testosterone well within the range for Females.  Estradiol levels are also much closer to where me and my endocrinologist want to be on a much lower dose.

Physical Stuff
Once you do this you are NEVER EVER going to sire children PERIOD.  The doctors go over this multiple times and I hope all us Girls know that but be sure because this can NOT be reversed.
I know some folks worry about libido.  For me having the Male libido and arousal response disappear was the happiest day of my life. If that is important to you then maybe another reason not to go with this option.
As a plus the Female libido and arousal response has improved since the surgery.  Now if that is because of relief from being sans half of the Male anatomy I am dysphoric about or the change from less Testosterone or something else i don't know.  Honestly I don't care and just revel in the experience . 

Hope you find this helpful
   

[Linde]

  Pain was minimal after day two and I stopped the Norco (hydrocodone and acetaminophen) at that time.  Extra Strength Tylenol was enough from day three until I stopped all pain meds after day seven. There was some minimal fatigue but rest, good nutrition, full hydration, and having friends visit helped amazingly.

Sensation of pain and the need to abate it can be different from person to person.  I had the identical procedure done, you had.  The only pain medication i need were 2 normal strength Tylenol the day of surgery, and in the evening, to make sure I had a good night rest, one hydrocodone and acetaminophen pill.
After that, I did not need any further pain medication.
The fatigue was the biggest problem I experienced, I think it was partially because of blood loss, and partially because of a very low hormone level.

[JanePlain]

I read the posts and wanted to make an observation.  It might be me over reacting but I see so many post surgery posts about how few pain pills were taken.  I understand if the intent is to demonstrate that some folks either have a great pain threshold or?  Bragging rights maybe?  Or maybe most likely you had a really good surgeon who did minimal "damage"

What I will admit is that I had enough pain that sleeping was near impossible and this lasted longer then a week it actually was more then a couple weeks.  I think my surgeon was a good one and its just possible I have a lower threshold then others.  There is one think I did wrong which was that the pills laster almost exactly 3:45 minutes.  the bottle instructed me to take 1 or 2 tabs every 4 hours.  Well that last 15 minutes got pretty bed until I talked to a very fine nurse who told me it was ok to to them 15 minutes ealier.  SIGH...

In any event if you do have an orchie and its painful this is normal.  Who who uses the least pain  meds doesn't win because its not a contest.  Woooo I just thought of a contests to see who could have their balls removed the fastest.  I'm not sure I would tune into that althought I must admit I've watched a lot of videos showing SRS surgery and it IS very complex and amazing.
And its ok to take pain meds as long as you don't have an addictive nature or are taking more then prescribed.  Anyway keep and eye on your homone mix.  Jiggling out mt doss really halped.

[Quinn]

Ava

Had Orchi at Kaiser Woodland Hills 3-11-19  about 6 weeks ago.

i also did not have much pain from the actual surgery just from my back getting tweaked during surgery was the worse, of coarse i had to be careful about how i moved and carrying things but other for the most part fairly easy recovery

The incision for me can still sting a bit at times probably from the stiches in there still getting pinched

[Linde]

I read the posts and wanted to make an observation.  It might be me over reacting but I see so many post surgery posts about how few pain pills were taken.  I understand if the intent is to demonstrate that some folks either have a great pain threshold or?  Bragging rights maybe?  Or maybe most likely you had a really good surgeon who did minimal "damage"

What I will admit is that I had enough pain that sleeping was near impossible and this lasted longer then a week it actually was more then a couple weeks.  I think my surgeon was a good one and its just possible I have a lower threshold then others.  There is one think I did wrong which was that the pills laster almost exactly 3:45 minutes.  the bottle instructed me to take 1 or 2 tabs every 4 hours.  Well that last 15 minutes got pretty bed until I talked to a very fine nurse who told me it was ok to to them 15 minutes ealier.  SIGH...

In any event if you do have an orchie and its painful this is normal.  Who who uses the least pain  meds doesn't win because its not a contest.  Woooo I just thought of a contests to see who could have their balls removed the fastest.  I'm not sure I would tune into that althought I must admit I've watched a lot of videos showing SRS surgery and it IS very complex and amazing.
And its ok to take pain meds as long as you don't have an addictive nature or are taking more then prescribed.  Anyway keep and eye on your homone mix.  Jiggling out mt doss really halped.

Jane, if you have more or less post surgical pain does not tell you anything about the quality of your surgeon, but rather about the location of the incision and the way it was closed after surgery.  We feel pain, when the open nerve endings are exposed to oxygen.  Depending of the location of the incision, and of the way it has been closed, more or less nerves are exposed to oxygen.
Another factor is a pain threshold one has.  pain is felt by different people very different.  I did not know that I seem to have a rather high threshold, it can be that I have developed either less pain sensory nerves (which could be possible, because my biology is screwed up pretty much anyway).  I have no problem to get electrolysis and/or laser treatment around my mouth (no numbing required), and in my genital area either.  A few years ago I had open carpal tunnel surgery on both hands, and was off of pain pills on the second day after this.  I really start to believe that I seem to have less pain receptors compared to most people.

But it is a known fact in the pain medication field that one should take pain killers before the pain sets in, because they all need some time to work, and once the pain is almost unbearable, they have a hard time to be effective!  In your case, it would not have hurt anything, if you would have taken the pills every 3 hours instead of the recommended 4 hours (which is based on the average time to metabolize the stuff).  it was to be expected that you were not on pain meds for a longer duration, and increasing the frequency of taking the pills beats the negative effect pin has on ones body!

This is not a medical advise, I am just sharing some info I learned while I was still working to earn my living.

[krobinson103]

Its been about six weeks since I had my orchie and the nerve pain is still a real presence. The incision did not require any gauze or pads at all except for the first day. However, I did suffer from fatigue for a month or so (to the point of almost passing out) and strong pain from the cut nerves that still limit me to no more than 2-3km walks and no heavy lifting unless I want waves of pain.

After a week the incision was pretty much healed and the stitches fell out a few days later. Just goes to show everyone reacts differently! As for libido, since I was on an implanted blocker it made little difference. What it did do was steal most of my energy till I got some progesterone to help balance things out a little.