Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I know this is going to be hard to answer between different surgeons and everyone heals at a different rate. I'm 8 weeks post op today and still take a panadols every day, I still have discomfort (not a lot but it's there) when tossing and turning in bed. Sitting upright and driving is still not great. I still walk a little slow too (maybe that's apprehension), still getting the electric zaps.

Been back to my surgeon for a few check ups and he says it's all healing fine.

How long did it take you to get back to normal?

Quote from: Serenation on July 16, 2015, 10:02:50 PM
I know this is going to be hard to answer between different surgeons and everyone heals at a different rate. I'm 8 weeks post op today and still take a panadols every day, I still have discomfort (not a lot but it's there) when tossing and turning in bed. Sitting upright and driving is still not great. I still walk a little slow too (maybe that's apprehension), still getting the electric zaps.

Been back to my surgeon for a few check ups and he says it's all healing fine.

How long did it take you to get back to normal?

I can remember after my surgery I had a job working on the second floor and going up and down those steps for the first few weeks, even though at the time I was about 6 weeks post-op, was a royal pain. The first time took every ounce of energy to make it up a flight of stairs. I had the electric shocks (nerves reconnecting I'm told) for a good solid year (maybe 2 years) post-op. It was more in the beginning and died down to very little near the end. Honestly for me, I didn't quite feel like a normal person until about 6 months post-op. That's when I felt I was healed enough to go back to a fairly normal life and my days didn't involve constant dilation. About a year post-op is when I felt like just a normal person again. The only thing I can say is patience.

Quote from: Zumbagirl on July 17, 2015, 07:55:29 AM
I can remember after my surgery I had a job working on the second floor and going up and down those steps for the first few weeks, even though at the time I was about 6 weeks post-op, was a royal pain. The first time took every ounce of energy to make it up a flight of stairs. I had the electric shocks (nerves reconnecting I'm told) for a good solid year (maybe 2 years) post-op. It was more in the beginning and died down to very little near the end. Honestly for me, I didn't quite feel like a normal person until about 6 months post-op. That's when I felt I was healed enough to go back to a fairly normal life and my days didn't involve constant dilation. About a year post-op is when I felt like just a normal person again. The only thing I can say is patience.

When could.unsay ur.vagina looked.normal?

Thanks Zumbagirl that's actually a relief to know, 3 month milestone soon then I get to look forward to the 6 month one of 1 dilation a day.

lovelessheart they told me at 3 months it will be healed enough to tell if it needs corrections, and swelling can be present for up to a year. Hope your doing ok.

Hello, 56 days since SRS, stopped taking pain killers two weeks ago.  Lots of discomfort, swelling and tenderness continues under pubic mound.  Doctor says it's normal.  Except for the smell all else seems fine.  I take care to limit walking, driving and any lifting!

Note: Serenation, going to try to cut back on dilation to once a day.  Last couple days seem fine.

Anne

Hi Anne I just woke so it's 12 hours without a panadol. but I'll have some then dilate. No way I could dilate once a day yet, be nice if you can though. Driving really does aggravate me, but sometimes I have to, the car being a manual certainly doesn't help

Hello, good to read you are in a little less pain.  Everyday gets better.

  I just got back from a Los Angeles to San Francisco, back to Los Angeles assignment.  Oh, I had to drive!  It was a larger vehicle with adjustable seat.  I placed a pillow under my thighs to raise them.  This shifted the weight towards backside, leaving surgery area up in the air.  It worked driving up but return trip was harder.  My healing body can only take so much abuse.  Swelling turns to numbness in the area of the clitoris.

Dilation once a day seems OK but after some fun online dating site messaging.  I better stick to dilating twice a day!

Thank you,
Anne

Quote from: lovelessheart on July 17, 2015, 08:27:03 AM

When could.unsay ur.vagina looked.normal?

Mine was roughly normal looking around 6 months or so, that's when a lot of the puffiness went away. I can honestly say in my case that it was a good solid year before I felt normal downstairs.

I guess it depends on how you define "normal." I was able to stop taking painkillers except plain Tylenol by day 3, and off of all pain medication by the second week. I was walking almost normally by week 2, too. But I was utterly exhausted, and the fatigue lingered for months, gradually improving. I didn't have my usual energy levels back for at least six months. I think the mild discomfort lasted about that long too, although looking back on it I'm not sure how much was post-op recovery and how much just that I didn't understand how delicate the tissues are now (I still get chafed and sore down there if I'm not careful to wear cotton panties and use gentle toilet paper, etc.).

The swelling took well over a year to go away, but things started looking more or less normal otherwise by 3-4 months.

I seem ok energy wise, early on around week 2 and 3 I'd get exhausted from malls. I think I went and seen movie at week 4 and I could hardly walk out of the theatre. sitting on uncomfortable seats for hours was a bad idea.

Yesterday I woke up could walk at normal speed but that only lasted a few minutes. My aches and discomfort usually comes from the clitoral area. I went back to my surgeon about it when it was quite painful to move (week 3 or 4 ) and he checked it all out and said every things fine, stop trying to tough it out, if it hurts take the endone.

Hello Serenation,  do you live close to your surgeon office?  Who did the surgery?
I get the same line from my surgeon about not toughing it out, take the drugs he says!

Thank you,
Anne

As I understand it, pain management is very very important in the healing process. If it starts out as a small pain (which might require a small dose of painkillers), but you ignore it until it becomes a BIG pain, not only will it take more meds to help, it also takes longer to take effect because the discomfort is now being traumatic in itself.

Take the meds per the doc as prescribed and indicated.

Hope things get better soon!

*hugs*

Quote from: OOAnne on July 19, 2015, 09:23:15 AM
Hello Serenation,  do you live close to your surgeon office?  Who did the surgery?
I get the same line from my surgeon about not toughing it out, take the drugs he says!

Thank you,
Anne

I had surgery in Melbourne with Andrew Ives, he asks patients who don't live in or close to Melbourne (6 hour trip for me) to stay nearby for about 3 weeks (I stayed with friends for 5 weeks, until I felt I could drive that far). He likes to keep seeing his patients afterwards, also you can pop in if you have any issues. See him again in August.

Beth Andrea *hugs* yes the friends I stayed with had some experience with major surgery and said that exact same thing, have to keep a lid on it. I'm ok with just taking panadols before dilation now, unless I go grocery shopping etc then I have more.

Hello,  what are 'panadols' is that a pain killer?  You find the need to take pain killers before dilation?

Thank you,
Anne

panadols are paracetamol (aussie brand i guess) I doubt they help with dilation. Just take the dull ache away I get when I'm moving. As far as I recall we were only given paracetamol after the surgery. I was getting nausea from the medium pain killers, so had to make do, though they did give me some oxycodone to take home.

Dilations going ok but spent most my time putting it in still, maybe I need a lube applicator or something.

Serenation,  I was having lots of trouble getting dilator in, and once in would stick inside me, not good.  Learned about using coconut oil for dilation from a post on this forum.   Made a world of difference.  Perhaps you should try it.

Anne

Quote from: OOAnne on July 20, 2015, 12:21:05 PM
Serenation,  I was having lots of trouble getting dilator in and once in, would stick inside me, not good.  Learned about using cocoanut oil for dilation from a post on this forum.   Made a world of difference.  Perhaps you should try it.

Anne

I went through the search engine and found a lot of tips on dilating seems lot of people take time to get it fully inserted, have tried a few different lubes now and wet stuff seems pretty effective. If I don't move it for about 30 seconds when right it, it does stick. I'll read about coconut oil.

When searching for topics you often never get to hear when things were resolved, so about 2 weeks after I made this thread I was able to stop having any paracetamol, there's still some slight discomfort but have come a long way in the last 3 weeks.

:D

I don't know. The only pain medication I had was what was left over from surgery and two aspirin the doctor let me have to help with a post surgical fever. The nursing staff wouldn't give me any more aspirin without the doctor approving each dose so I gave up on asking for more. I rode a bus and flew home fresh out of the hospital and then returned to work about 4 days later. I do admit to keeping my inflatable donut with me at all times but sometimes it became uncomfortable and it felt better not to use it. I must be pretty numb down there.

Quote from: Dena on August 10, 2015, 09:57:35 PM
I don't know. The only pain medication I had was what was left over from surgery and two aspirin the doctor let me have to help with a post surgical fever. The nursing staff wouldn't give me any more aspirin without the doctor approving each dose so I gave up on asking for more. I rode a bus and flew home fresh out of the hospital and then returned to work about 4 days later. I do admit to keeping my inflatable donut with me at all times but sometimes it became uncomfortable and it felt better not to use it. I must be pretty numb down there.

I'm sure you will find people had it easier or worse than you did, every ones different. Asprin is a blood thinner so that's why they don't want you to take that before or after surgery.