Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hello :)

I had my SRS with dr. Chettawut on December 5th 2014. I'm 20 years old.

I am a little concerned though, since I'm going home tomorrow and it will be my last opportunity to ask the nurse, Ms. Sri a couple questions, but she always tells me everything is fine whenever I ask something. So I figured I'd seek for some of your experiences c;

When I touch the outside of my labias I barely feel anything. Is this normal? I still get occasional zaps/sharp pains, but last night I felt and itch, and wanted to attempt a little scratching, but it was hard for me to locate where the itch actually was. Torture. Anyway. When Sri opens up the labias to check inside, I do feel some sensation, but not in a good way, I kicked her in the head accidentaly a few times. But I'm not sure if it's me overreacting to the anticipation of feeling pain or actual sensation.

There's barely any pain. During examination on my follow up day, the nurses at the clinic warned me it will be a little painful. But it wasn't. I felt the speculum though, but I didnt feel when dr. Chett opened the labias. Dilations barely hurt, there are points of "resistence" that are a bit ouchy, but mostly it's painless. I mostly regained my full mobility, I've sat without the donut, I walk normally, I spent a full day at the Seacon Square mall shopping my life away, there's no pain no matter what position I assume ( bending down, running, walking faster ). Am I not supposed to be hurting? I'm concerned about how little pain I've been feeling compared to my roommate. And how fast I am "back to normal".

My other concern is how the area actually looks. When they took off the dressing, it looked horrible. After a day or two it settled down and looked tight, swollen, but promising. Now it looks a lot more red, the labias look swollen and flabby, much less tight than a couple weeks ago. The swelling is very uneven, and after spending the day at the mall, the swelling on the pubic area went up significantly. It just looks very unappealing to me right now, and I'm not sure what kind of result I am supposed to expect. When I look in the bathroom mirror, the vagina doesn't seem to be tightly attached to the skin, it's sticking out. Due to the swelling I suppose?

Also, is the vaginal opening supposed to be exposed as much as it is? Will the labias "cover" it as the swelling goes down? I don't know, it's just kind of "out there" :P

I might just be paranoid though, I don't know what to expect as the final result with the area looking the way it does now.

All input is appreciated :3

That all sounds within the range of normal. Not everyone experiences a lot of pain, and numbness is typical early on and fades as the nerves reconnect; it also takes the brain a while to rewire the nerve reports so that you can tell where a particular sensation is coming from. You're bouncing back fast energy-wise and in terms of pain, but that's not a bad thing.

The swelling is also normal - it took two freakin' years to fully go down for me - and it's expected that exertion and especially overdoing it will make swelling worse. Once the swelling recedes everything should look more typical in terms of location, and yes, the vaginal opening should be covered as that happens (if the actual vaginal opening is *protruding,* though, as you describe, you might want to be on guard for signs of advancing prolapse).

You answered your own question.

Ask the nurse or the doctors the same questions you placed here.

Swelling takes a very, very long time to go away.

Quote from: Jenna Marie on December 28, 2014, 01:25:24 PM
That all sounds within the range of normal. Not everyone experiences a lot of pain, and numbness is typical early on and fades as the nerves reconnect; it also takes the brain a while to rewire the nerve reports so that you can tell where a particular sensation is coming from. You're bouncing back fast energy-wise and in terms of pain, but that's not a bad thing.

The swelling is also normal - it took two freakin' years to fully go down for me - and it's expected that exertion and especially overdoing it will make swelling worse. Once the swelling recedes everything should look more typical in terms of location, and yes, the vaginal opening should be covered as that happens (if the actual vaginal opening is *protruding,* though, as you describe, you might want to be on guard for signs of advancing prolapse).

Thank you, your response calmed me a little. The opening is not 'protruding' or sticking out, it's just not covered by the labias, which are currently so swollen that they do stick out when I look in the mirror, full frontal xD "The hole" is exposed.

Edit: I will of course ask for sure, but I just keep being told it's fine way too much, it makes me wonder, so I figured there's no harm in asking here :3

Hi there.
Regarding lack of pain, my experience was very much like yours. I stopped all pain killers the day after I returned from the clinic and never used them again. I was also very mobile a good  week before it was time to home, well able to spend the better part of any given  day walking around.
Like you, I was also wondering if this wasn't due to nerve damage but, since I could actually see that I was healing well and feel it when Sri cleaned the more sensitive parts, I wasn't overly concerned. Since then, I've had ample confirmation that there was no cause for concern, everything works very well...
Regarding the physical appearance of your new bits, it really is very early days yet and they will certainly get irritated from mouvement, sweat etc.. So, if you have no obvious cause for concern best is probably to trust Chett and his team. 
Take care!
Donna

Quote from: Poison_Ivy on December 28, 2014, 01:14:30 PM
Hello :)

I had my SRS with dr. Chettawut on December 5th 2014. I'm 20 years old.

I am a little concerned though, since I'm going home tomorrow and it will be my last opportunity to ask the nurse, Ms. Sri a couple questions, but she always tells me everything is fine whenever I ask something. So I figured I'd seek for some of your experiences c;

When I touch the outside of my labias I barely feel anything. Is this normal? I still get occasional zaps/sharp pains, but last night I felt and itch, and wanted to attempt a little scratching, but it was hard for me to locate where the itch actually was. Torture. Anyway. When Sri opens up the labias to check inside, I do feel some sensation, but not in a good way, I kicked her in the head accidentaly a few times. But I'm not sure if it's me overreacting to the anticipation of feeling pain or actual sensation.

There's barely any pain. During examination on my follow up day, the nurses at the clinic warned me it will be a little painful. But it wasn't. I felt the speculum though, but I didnt feel when dr. Chett opened the labias. Dilations barely hurt, there are points of "resistence" that are a bit ouchy, but mostly it's painless. I mostly regained my full mobility, I've sat without the donut, I walk normally, I spent a full day at the Seacon Square mall shopping my life away, there's no pain no matter what position I assume ( bending down, running, walking faster ). Am I not supposed to be hurting? I'm concerned about how little pain I've been feeling compared to my roommate. And how fast I am "back to normal".

My other concern is how the area actually looks. When they took off the dressing, it looked horrible. After a day or two it settled down and looked tight, swollen, but promising. Now it looks a lot more red, the labias look swollen and flabby, much less tight than a couple weeks ago. The swelling is very uneven, and after spending the day at the mall, the swelling on the pubic area went up significantly. It just looks very unappealing to me right now, and I'm not sure what kind of result I am supposed to expect. When I look in the bathroom mirror, the vagina doesn't seem to be tightly attached to the skin, it's sticking out. Due to the swelling I suppose?

Also, is the vaginal opening supposed to be exposed as much as it is? Will the labias "cover" it as the swelling goes down? I don't know, it's just kind of "out there" :P

I might just be paranoid though, I don't know what to expect as the final result with the area looking the way it does now.

All input is appreciated :3

I'm now 2 months and 2 weeks post op from dr chet surgery and I had the same questions to ask the first month. The way your labia looks and feels with the numbness is normal. Just give it time. You may be healing faster than I have but since it's been 2 months a 2 weeks for me, I can finally sit comfortably and threw away my donut as I don't need it anymore. I can sit in any position and my peeing is not spraying everywhere anymore but goes straight.

I still feel a little numbness in the labia when I touch it but not a lot like the first and second month but I can't say that i feel sensation when I touch the labia YET. After 3 months, I'll probably feel more sensation as the labia tightens.

I showed my two transgender friends and they were so shocked to see how nice it became than from the first time I showed them a picture of it. They told me it is looking more like a real vagina and better now than a month ago. It looks tighter and the swelling went down a lot. My dilating is now easier also to go in but there is still "tiny" pain but not as much like before.

As for the stitches, those will go away and sometimes will "fall" away and you might even see bits of them after or during dilation or maybe none at all. At first month it did look like it was sticking out and looks like it was not attached but trust me, it will form together and skin and nerves will connect and after 2 months you will see the difference and the labia will connect on the bottom but don't expect it to look exactly like a cis womans pussy just yet after 2 months, it will not look like a cis womans after maybe 5-6 months which is what Im guessing snce mine already looks really good.

Thanks for the responses ^^ It does look a little better since I posted here, I'm 35 days post op as of today, and I know it's still early. I am a bit worried about granulation, I got 2 "blisters" near the opening and emailed the clinic on monday, no response though. They're subsiding into the skin and going down though, so I don't know. Just have to wait for their response :|

Dilation is going well, I retired #1 since #2 goes into full depth, just takes a bit longer to get in at first :3

lack  of  sensation / nerve  deafness,  is  common  with  any  surgery.  swelling  ,  etc,  causes  it  along  with  the  shock  of  the  surgery  to  the tissue.    mine  took  every  bit  of  10  months  to  finaly  have good  sensation. 
  just  stay  in  touch  with  your  doctor,  he  can  advise  you  better  then  anyone  else  can.  do  your  follow ups  with  your  local  doctors  and  give  your  body  the  time  it  needs  to  heal.
  We  all,  for  the  most  part,  want  that  instant  result.  reality  is,  it  takes  many  months  for  the  body  to  heal,  remap,  reconnect,  and  function properly.    remember,  aside  from  soft  tissue  work,,  there  were  nerves moved  around,  and  blood  flow  redirected.