I had an orchi about ten months before my SRS. At the time I was still not quite sure about whether or not to go through with SRS. But I did want to take some positive, irreversible step in my life to give myself psychological comfort. I also wanted to reduce or eliminate the amount of spironolactone that I was taking.
I talked the options over with my endocrinologist and talked about whether or not there would be sufficient scrotal tissue for SRS. My doctor told me that at my age, 55, and the amount of time I had been on HRT my scrotum had already shrunk as much as it would. He said it would be different if I were younger and would not have GRS until much later.
As far as how it went, check out my blog entry:
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,13143.0.htmlI can't really tell you about the cost. My insurance did cover it, so it was done in a hospital with a full surgical staff. The amount billed to my insurance company was over $10,000. My deductible was $100. I've heard of clinics that will do it for less than $2000.
Post surgically, it did have an effect on my ability to have spontaneous erections and of course I no longer ejaculated. However I still had a bit of libido and could achieve an orgasm with bit of effort, though it was not as intense.
The surgeon who performed the operation was also my urologist and we had an extensive conversation regarding my needs. As a result when she performed the operation, she not only removed my testicles, she also removed additional cordage from my testicles as well in anticipation of my GRS. My GRS surgeon was grateful for this. If she hadn't done that, then as I healed, the residual cordage from my testicles would have receded into my body and made my GRS surgery more complex.
Following my orchiectomy, my endocrinologist reduced my spironolactone by fifty percent. I asked why not eliminate it all together? He told me that the adrenal gland produces about ten percent of the testosterone in the body and my testosterone levels were still a bit high so he still wanted suppression.
-Sandy
