Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Just waiting for supper to be served, here at the recovery residence at the Brassard clinic. Moving to the hospital tonight. Surgery tomorrow. Yay!!

I know you must be so excited!

I wish you the best for your surgery and a speedy and pain-free recovery.

((hug))

WOO HOO  enjoy yourself and be safe and rest and let your depth heal..

hugs D

Best of luck! Hope the other inmates are nice. :)

Good luck, I wish you all the best!!

Good luck and wishing you a speedy recovery.  :icon_mrhappy:

Thanks!  Also, I'm apparently first!  ;D

early balloons and flowers

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Aww, THANKS, hon, how sweet!  I actually got one of those chocolate "It's a Girl" cigars at the bulk store. Hope it survives until I can show it to my brother when he visits on Saturday!

All the best for successful surgery, healing and Happy completion to true womanhood. After following Meghan Andrews story it sure sounds like Dr. Brassard is the best. Looks like you are in good hands.

Jamie(p)

Congratulations Colleen.  Sending healing thoughts and spells your way.

I'll keep you in my thoughts. May your recovery be "easy" and your results fabulous!  :)

Congratulations!

Congrats! Hoping everything is GREAT!

Congratulations!!

Good luck, and congratulations!

Colleen you lucky girl.
I wish you the best in the up coming surgery.
Will be praying for you.
Keep in touch sis.

Thsnks, everyone. It went very well, I've been up and walking twice today, had breakfast and lunch. They treat you very well here.

Sorry about that SHORT post - my iPod was about to die.  Here's a much BETTER one...

I was first in line yesterday.  They wheeled me upstairs, into the prep/recovery room, which is a big room with gurneys around the outside.  Curiously, I had dreamt of just such a room a few nights before.  Anyway, they asked me which doctor I was there to see, and what the operation was.  This is to make sure you can't later claim you "didn't know" I bet.

The surgery held a couple of surprises.  The anaesthetic used is an epidural, with twilight sedation, which means you're actually AWAKE, but don't remember much, or anything.  I do have some memories of the actual surgery itself, even saying "I'm awake" at one point.

Big surprise afterward, you can't feel or move your legs for an extended time, like 2 hours or so.  I was freaking out a little, I'll admit.  Finally they started coming back, though, and all is good now.  I've even been out of bed a couple of times.

There is surprisingly little pain, just a general discomfort, especially when sitting.  Well, DUH, given the size of the stent in there.  The stitches hurt a little, but manageable.  I haven't seen any bruising yet.

So... I was in surgery around 7:30 am, in recovery by 10, back in my room around 1.  Everything since then has been aces.  Couldn't ask for better service, and the food is awesome!   ;D

I'm a little surprised they didn't tell you about the anesthetic style beforehand. It's to avoid general anesthetic, which can cause all kinds of problems / makes recovery a lot slower. I slept through my entire surgery, thankfully.

Also, just a warning that you may find the pain level starts to increase. Please accept the offer of pain meds before it gets really bad, as it can become unmanageable if you try to "stick it out," since you can only take the pain meds every 4 hours (and the oxy pills are the best option, imho). Though some folks seem to just never get that much pain - I guess it depends on nerve damage / recovery. My roommate and I ended up in a crazy lot of pain the second night, unfortunately. (Do you have a roommate to talk to? I always feel bad for the people in solo rooms at the hospital.)

One of the best things I found, and that made recovery there so much easier, is just that EVERYONE is so nice. All the nurses and orderlies seem to have been selected based on their capacity to be charming and endlessly sympathetic and smile continuously for hours on end.

You'll be moving back to the residence tomorrow, right? Have you already met Simon? He's basically the nicest person on the planet. (Mark André runs a close second.)

Thanks, Sarah.  I concur on how nice everyone is here.  Yes, I move back to the residence tomorrow.  I haven't met Simon yet, looking forward to it.  Alexei is very nice also, and Darlene, and Marielle.  Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

I had a roommate yesterday, but she went over to the residence this morning.  Maybe someone new will come in around 7.

I would not think of turning down a pain med.  So far they have me on Tylenol 3.  That seems to be working pretty well.  Nothing much to complain about so far.

 ;D

Congrats as well  ;D  You just made a whole buncha us secretly jealous!

Every time I hear about this I secretly get anxious and wish I was in the OR.

Awesome, I'm glad everything is going so well. You'll find the discomfort comes down a lot each time they pull something out of you: drain, packing, stent, catheter.

Oh, and get outside a bit if you can once you get to the residence. It was so nice to put on actual clothes and feel like a normal person for even just an hour or two each day. And unlike for me (it was February and snow-covered), the weather should be pretty awesome right now.

Sorry, I'm full of unsolicited advice/information. I was just there a couple weeks ago for my last checkup, so I guess it's sort of fresh in my mind again.

I'm glad to hear, it all went well, Colleen!

(however I prefer general anesthetic myself)

Quote from: Rita on September 13, 2012, 02:34:25 PM
Congrats as well  ;D  You just made a whole buncha us secretly jealous!

Every time I hear about this I secretly get anxious and wish I was in the OR.

This is me right now...

*opens a new window to check, double-check, and ruminate over how slooooow the surgery savings are increasing...*

Praying for a quick healing for you sis.

I do seem to be healing nicely. I was up and walking four times yesterday. No bruising to speak of. Just finished breakfast. Today I get the drain removed and move over to the residence. Hope to shave before I go.

A bit of drama removing the drain this morning. It didn't want to stop bleeding right away, so the nurse went to get a different bandage, leaving me to press on it for an uncomfortable 5 minutes. When she came back, the bleeding had stopped.

And... I just shaved!!  Nice to have a nice clean face. No more ice packs, no more drain, YAY!!

Quote from: Beth Andrea on September 13, 2012, 10:03:32 PM
This is me right now...

*opens a new window to check, double-check, and ruminate over how slooooow the surgery savings are increasing...*

Beth, given your avatar I am thinking we can sell magical pixie dust together.  I am no web designer but I can program and set up all the loops and hoops.

Well sell a little magic in every pouch, $1000 a pouch. To cure everything~  Well have SRS in no time!

Well, I'm at the residence now, and much to my surprise I have no roommate!  As today is Friday, and there are no surgeries till Monday, I guess I'll be mostly alone. Oh, we'll, there are some nice people here.

 Colleen hopfully you brought a couple of novels to read.
They sure help pass the time and are allot more entertaining than the boob tube (TV).
And I'm sure you will becoming home soon.
Hugs,
Jillieann

I'll be honest after the stress of life(outside of transition) a little peace, and quite for a weekend would be ever so quaint.

Quote from: Rita on September 14, 2012, 11:43:39 AM
Beth, given your avatar I am thinking we can sell magical pixie dust together.  I am no web designer but I can program and set up all the loops and hoops.

Well sell a little magic in every pouch, $1000 a pouch. To cure everything~  Well have SRS in no time!

I'm all out of pixie dust... :(

What I *do* have, though, is a never-ending supply of magical ink...I make a mark on my timecard with the ink in the morning and again in the evening, and every two weeks those marks magically change into money!  ;D  On those days I'm like, "OMG! It's a miracle!1!!" I'm going to have to ask my supevisor how they do that...but it's a steady source so I'll get there after a little time...

Colleen...wow! Sounds almost like shake-n-bake procedure for you. So glad there's no significant complications!

Well, up until about a half hour ago, my main entertainment has been the search for the elusive first bowel movement, however I'm happy to report the successful completion of THAT project!  Tomorrow the external dressing comes off, which will be a breath of sweet freedom, then Monday the stent is removed, and dilation begins. I'm told by then I may be asking for better pain meds...

Thanks for the update Colleen. Sound like everything is moving along as it should.
Keep the updates coming sis and I'll keep the healing prays going your way.
Hugs,
Jillieann

Sorry for the lack of posts the past couple of days, it's been quite busy, but also the WiFi has not been working except in the living room, so I've been severely hampered.  Basically, yesterday they removed the external dressing which was stitched in place, and while that was a relief, it increased the pressure of the stent inside, so by last evening I was in more pain than I had been.  Up till then, I'd only been taking Tylenol (not even extra strength) but by suppertime yesterday I was asking for the Oxy.  Another one at bedtime, and this morning, I needed 2.  I could barely eat breakfast.  Finally they removed the stent, and things have been a LOT better since then.  I've dilated three times today so far, and it's been no problem at all.  Tomorrow morning may be a different story, since the new vaj will have had overnight to contract, but I'm resolved to be patient, relax, and take my time.  I'm sure it won't be too bad.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the new hardware.  Quite a bit of swelling, but not much bruising.  Once the swelling goes down, I expect it to be quite lovely.  MUCH better than what was there before, at any rate.

Heh, I was doing 6-8 oxy a day for the first few. But I had a problematic interaction with my pain condition which made things interesting.

And I was purple from my knees to my belly button. It was rather dramatic. Luckily I look good in purple.

I'm glad it's been fairly reasonable for you. And, ya, having the stent finally out feels sooo much better. Now you just need to ditch the catheter and you'll be done! :)

When they pull the catheter - that stings. When I had my SRS in Montreal I had the Chopin Room, do they still have the rooms named after different composers?

That must have been a while ago, I see no indications of composers anywhere, but that would be a nice touch. Just got the catheter out, no big deal, and now I'm doing the first morning dilation. Again, no big deal. I'm on the #2 (Cookie Monster). Aside from now having to measure liquids in and out, life is good!

Good to hear you are doing well.  Keep up the dilating, I know it can get old after awhile.

One mighty big Aussie Congratulations Colleen.

Fabulous that your recovery is as strong as it is. Got to be your attitude. After all, attitude determines your altitude.

I'm absolutely amazed you were on the table for only 2 and half hours with an epidural. That's completely awesome. I'll have to psych myself into that one, but it sounds like the way to go.

Keep up the mighty job you are doing. You're an inspiration to us all.

Mighty big Huggs
:icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug:
Catherine

Girl it sound like your doing fine.
I am so happy for you Colleen.
Hugs

Well, here I am nearly 2 weeks post-op, and things keep getting better. It's really great to be home, been home since Saturday. It was a bit more difficult getting set up than I'd thought it would be, but I'm getting there. Been out for 2 long walks (1hr +) so far this week. Love having my boyfriend to cuddle with, and he does the housework for me.

Sure will be nice when I can sleep on my side again, when the pain is a memory, and getting out of bed doesn't involve gymnastics!  ::)

 ;D

Hey, hon, whenever you post a single emoticon like that, I read half your tagliatelle before realizing I'm reading tagline, not reply, lol!  ::)

Colleen,
It is great to know you are home. Must be nice to has a guy there to help and cuddle with.
Keep getting stronger.
Hugs,
Jillieann

Hi Colleen  :)

Sorry I'm late to the party but my internet was down awhile

Just want to say congrats and glad thing are going well  :)

Hugs

Sorry...
I was just so tickeled pink for you that all I had was a big goofy grin.

:)

Today was a good day, starting with last night being a good night. I seem to have turned a corner of sorts. Less bleeding, less discharge. My routine is becoming easier. Less pain. I still have to walk slow, but my pace is picking up. The swelling is also way down, and pretty much no bruising left. Less gymnastics getting out of bed. I can almost begin to imagine walking with a spring in my step. Feeling good!  And this is at the END of the day!  :)

Thanks, Hun. Yes, I do have the world's best bf!  Kind, gentle, and loves me to bits.  I love him to bits, too.  ;D

I am so delighted for you sis.
It's been a privilege to see you come so far so quickly.
Hugs

Had an amazingly naughty dream this morning...

Dreamt I was masturbating, and I was oh... so... close to orgasm...

I think it wasn't entirely a dream, when I got up, there was something running down my leg... Hee-hee!

Congrats on the Surgery Colleen!

Hi Colleen;

I am so envious. And I have been meaning to say what a beautiful name. I presume you are of Irish descent. Congratulations on the SRS and I hope recovery goes well. Talking of Ireland have you been to the Ring of Kerry.  I reckon this would be a great place for the bf to take you for some great fresh air, seafod and R&R on the road to recovery!!
Love & Hugs

Congratulations!!! hope you are doing well!!!  :)

Wow, hard to believe it's over a month already!  Today I added dilator #3 to my routine, but now dilate 3 times/day instead of 4, so that makes it a bit easier. Had some trepidations about moving up to #3, but it proved to be no sweat. Saw my doctor yesterday, and she said mine was one of the better looking post-op vaginas she's seen. Still a fair bit of swelling, but getting better all the time. I go walking outside every day for 45 minutes to an hour, and I'm getting around by myself, too. I have an appointment with my hairdresser this afternoon. Life is good!  :)