Susan's Place Transgender Resources

After GCS there is a lot of time in bed. Are there any hints about helpful things to do to make that bearable, being in one position for so long? Any massage pads or particular stands to mount the computer to so one can type in the bed? Any other items? I worry bout laying that long.
Moni

Not a lot of time. Now unless there are serious issues they have you on your feet after 2 days in bed. Lay on your back and sides, rotating as needed. Sit up as much as you are comfortable with and walk as instructed by your surgeon. I spent 6 days on my back and after that period of time there isn't anyplace you can lay  that's comfortable. Because of the way the surgery was preformed, my stomach was off limits however that most likely will not be true of your surgery.

 Hi Moni,

  I had the ummm 'pleasure' of spending a lot of time in bed for 2 weeks straight with a few days off and then repeating it again. I found out there was little I cold do to be comfortable so I lay there in mizzery, sick from the treatments, hooked up to various tubing and wires, oxygen mask on my face set at 6 liters flow and struggling to breathe. Yes, I was uncomfortable but I survived it. I hope GCS isn't as bad. I'm sure it's uncomfortable also and you probably won't want to do much more than watch TV or listen to audio books, sleep and be bored.
  I spent 11 days another time after an operation and again it was much the same watch tv, listen to books, sleep and be bored.
  Sounds like fun huh?

  Laurie

I would go for Audio Books, if you have never listened to one then do yourself a favour. As a little kid I always loved to be read a story and as an adult I have found the same delight. Audiobooks leave you free to concentrate on the story...Stress relief colouring books either for IPad/notepad or physical books and pens. Great way to while away some time, Some way to comfortably connect to the internet, your friends and includes a camera so you can have things like Skype calls... ;) Maybe you could have someone come over and give you a makeover!! We all know how good they are for you don't we.... :icon_rockon: :icon_rockon: (Laurie as in Dory?)

Quote from: ElizabethK on May 05, 2017, 11:23:12 PM
Maybe you could have someone come over and give you a makeover!! We all know how good they are for you don't we.... :icon_rockon: :icon_rockon: (Laurie as in Dory?)

*sigh* Now Liz You were doing so well with your suggestions for Moni (as in Tony) I liked the coloring book one best.
The you had to go and use that "M" word.. I cannot agree or disagree with it being something good or not as I have no experience with them. But I don't think Moni (as in phony) would really be feeling like having one done in that setting. I could be wrong though. I guess she would have to decide for herself as I can't help.

  What about it Monica (as in harmonica)? Do you really think one of the bothersome things would be something you would feel like enduring while suffering from surgery recovery? While lying in bed hurting and hair all a mess?

  Hugs,
    Laurie

I'm on day 9 post op and I'm still sleeping upwards of 12 hours a day and either in bed or on a couch for any time that I'm not actively doing something (walking sloooowly, getting around via Uber).

Today was a 1.5 hour excursion i only walked half a mile and sat with my gf in a couple of cafes catching my wind between short jaunts. This evening we went over to meet friends for dinner across town so that was a total of 2 hours of mostly sitting. Add in a shower and I was in bed for nearly 20 hours. The aftermath of today was substantially harder dilation due to some swelling caused by less time icing and more time walking & sitting.

I don't have energy for more than this right now and I'm not begrudging this in the least. I'm healing fast and that's my only job aside from also being sure that I keep swelling to a minimum and eat well for healing.

It was just last night I was first able to sleep on my stomach ****blessed be*****. About day 2 in hospital I had been able to get to occasional time laying partly at least on my side. That required help from the nurses with things like positioning pillows for stability and comfort.

I've been able to sleep on my side for a few days now, sometimes wanting a pillow to prop legs apart for comfort.

I keep my legs moving and make small shifts in body position often, both of these seem to help with having not gotten stiff.

   Sadie, I am wondering about that early time after surgery. I picture moving the legs some and perhaps flexing the muscles in the feet and legs. I can't picture if that would be painful. They always talk about blood clots with staying in one place too long. I know they probably put the compression cuffs on the legs in the hospital, but the whole laying on the back thing is worrisome. My surgeon sounds like she wants a lot of bed rest for me for the first two weeks.
   I see gizmos on line to mount a computer so one can lay down in bed and use it. I wondered if anyone had experience with a particular type or had a better method. I have to keep track of what those 'rascals' Liz and Laurie say in regard to corrupting my name pronunciation. I am tempted to call them Heckel and Jeckel but Liz is a moderator and she might make me disappear from my hospital bed in a puff  of smoke.
   I also hear people speak of ice for the affected area. I wondered if that was done on a consistent basis or just at first. Maybe each person is different I know, but I am trying to 'ballpark' what I might expect. Thanks ladies for any responses.
Moni (As in Bonnie!  Ugh!)

Isn't having GCS  'make over' enough for you people?

Wasn't painful for me, changing body position however definitely was -- movements involving the hip bone. My nurses were definitely always also keeping my legs close together, I think to minimize stretching of the suture lines.They kept ice packs -- well insulated so that there's no direct contact with skin -- between my legs and at the pubic bone.

The compression cuffs are of course great, once you're moving with a little more ease, you can take that part over. Im good at isolating just the muscles I need to move, so I can lift / move from just the lower or upper, keeping the core muscles out of a given motion. Even today my core area is sore and I'm avoiding putting any stress there.

Since leaving the recovery hospital, keeping up with icing has probably been the hardest part (I'm really looking forward to seeing what Heidi says about how well I'm managing to control swelling at the 2nd post op next Wednesday).

I don't have any magic bullet as regards a keyboard, ive only used my laptop once and have been relying on phone for entertainment and web access.

After my 2 day hospital stay the only time I spent laying down was for napping or sleeping. Which for the first month was probably 12 hours a day. The rest of the time I was sitting (on my donut) or walking around. You can only spend so much time on the donut so I mixed in a lot of standing and walking. Sitting was not painful, it just wasn't comfortable so you have to take a 5-10 minute break from it every hour or so.
If you prefer to lay down then have lots of extra pillows and keep one between you legs when on your side.

You will be surprised at how soon you will be up and moving around. 2 days after surgery I had to walk up 2 flights of stairs at the recovery center to get to my room. The stairs were no problem and no pain.
Don't worry, you'll do fine!

Ice, oh my, I hate ice. I made them take it away at the hospital and never used it afterwards. The swelling goes down just fine without it.

Hospitals in the United States have a table that can be moved over the bed. While you are in bed, it works great for holding food, water, books and laptops so you don't need anything extra for your laptop. Once you are on your feet, you can work from bed or from a chair in your room. One good thing to have with you is an extension cord as most of the outlets near the bed are consumed by medical equipment.

Ice will depend on the doctor. A few don't use it but it seems to be pretty common now. I didn't have it and it took a couple of weeks for the swelling to be reduced to the point were I could pee. It seems now with ice that people are peeing around the catheter long before it's time to be removed so I suspect that ice is a good thing for at least some people.

Moving around after surgery isn't really painful and the nursing staff will make sure you have a minimal risk of clots. The biggest issue is some people are uncomfortable on their side because their legs come together. This is easily solved with pillows so if it's a problem for you, just ask for more pillows.

I was actually forced to get up and walk within 18 hours, which was stressful at the time but did seem to help me bounce back faster. (I also had to be up and walking around roughly every hour I was awake, including flights of stairs, by day 3.) On the other hand, I was sternly warned not to sleep on my side for at least 2 months, and that was a pain in the neck (literally). :) So some of this will depend on your particular surgeon's regimen. Personally, I had a tablet with a Bluetooth keyboard because even a netbook was too large/heavy for me to comfortably handle while lying down.

I had a total knee replacement on March 20, and was given an ice pack for the swelling, I can't take opiods. I was sent home for rehab 2 day later, and started using an "ice machine" - a six-pack cooler with an electric pump, attached to a hose and a pad which conformed to my knee. The temperature is variable and there's no condensation to make anything wet. I plan on using it (or one like it) for future GCS of any level. Only having to add ice to the cooler once in a while is also a benefit.

I second what SadieBlake said regarding her phone - I used it for email and websurfing, and the occasional phone call. There's even a couple of apps that will read to you if you want audiobooks like ElizabethK suggested.

I recently got an I phone. I thought the smallest one would be most convenient but the screen is so small, I don't see me typing on it much. I ordered an inexpensive computer holder. I'll see how it works.
Jenna Marie, that sounds awful. (not sleeping on side) I wonder what the reason was for them saying that. I had emergency surgery last year and had to stay on my back one night and that was not fun at all.
Dena, I will follow doctor orders, whatever that involves.
Cori that sounds like quite a contraption.
Moni

I hear you on the iPhone. I carry the smallest one because it spends most of it's time in my pants pockets as I am on call 24/7. I can see the screen but my fat fingers have a difficult time hitting the right spot on the screen. For me the small one wasn't a mistake but I till hope for a bigger screen.

Sleeping on my side would put pressure on the surgical site; basically, if I closed my legs, it would squash the whole genital area. I learned to sleep on my back, but I hated it! After the first couple months, I could at least sleep on my side with a pillow between my legs.

Hmm, I wasn't given any such warning and I've spent some time sleeping on side and as much as I could on stomach. I agree that legs closed squeezes things a bit but my doc hasn't said not to, then again, I favor stomach, back anyhow.

Today I was told to keep time standing, sitting to short periods, <10 minutes to minimize labia swelling, also to use ibuprofen (I'm past the period of worrying about bleeding problems) in addition to the ice I already had going. I can well imagine it's going to take a couple more weeks before I'm going to even consider working sitting at a bench. I'll be talking to Heidi about that on Wednesday.

My GCS surgery was finished in the office 1 week after the operation at Papillion. Brianna checked in on me at the hospital. I was not allowed to go on my side and my legs had to remain straight. I was on bed rest for 3 weeks.

I slept a lot. I then started to stair at TV. I spent some time on Susan's and checked my work e-mail from my phone. 

Showering, eating, dilation and sleep took a lot of time up each day.

Ambien. Lots of ambien. That's the only way I could sleep for any of my surgeries that required sleeping only on my back.

That and movies and netflix for dilation haha.

I was sleeping on my side by the 3rd night. I just loaded up pillows between my legs and suppprting my shoulders. That worked good in the hospital and at home. Sitting up in bed enough to use my laptop was too much on my incisions in the hospital, I just used my phone.

Dr. Gallaghers protocal is up and walking on post-op + 2 as they say. They have a Physical Therapist come in and make sure it happens first thing in the morning.

It's kind of difficult to gauge swelling. It means different things to different people and the deswellification happens at different rates too. You would think there would be a more universally accepted recovery process with as many people have made this journey but thats obviously not the case. I think the best medicine you could have with you for GRS is someone who's already been through it for support.

Oh, no one mentioned revenge of the prep. That was terrible.




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Oh Emma, you reminded me about the prep, my favorite part. lol

I am looking at it as an adventure. I will deal with whatever I need to. I love the advice from all my trans sisters here. The thing I have in the back of my mind is that once I have this done, I am in control. No one can take this away from me. Part of this whole transition process is frustrating because others (doctors, therapists, insurance) have the power to control my life. Dilation will probably get old quickly, but it is something I can do for myself.

May look back at this post and say, "Wow, how naive I was at that point." Oh well!
Moni

Ambien huh?

Moni, it sounds like your on top of this. I felt much the same way and still underestimated how much it actually meant to me when it was done. That was a good thing.

I still discover new things I hadn't thought about before. The least of which are how awesome my pants and underwear fit and not having to worry about anything protruding in any way. Being naked now feels so much more liberating now that i'm not self-conscious about "that".

The prep turned into a 3 day bowel circus for me. It was the gift that kept on giving.

And yes dilation turns into a chore pretty quickly.



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Hey dont forget relearning the fine art of urination, fun with catheters and mastering the wings on a maxipad. These are too often overlooked. Lol.

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Emma,
   If I am able to proceed with surgery, all the things that you mentioned that might be considered negatives are okay with me. I feel privileged if I can have this done. So many others are unable to have surgery or are waiting for what  seems like an interminable amount of time. My heart goes out to them. If I come on here in six months complaining about dilating, someone please give me a hard time. I reserve the right to complain about the bowel prep though. lol
   I will add one massive positive to your list of good things, the possibility of being sexually aroused and not have it accompanied by the feeling of that awful movement in the pants. Running around naked without feeling shame would be fantastic  too. I'll have to ship my kids off on vacation somewhere, so I could do it. Ha ha!
Moni

Moni if you are bemoaning dilation in 6 months or in 6 years I will be commiserating. I'm about to go dilate and where I'd held out some inkling of hope that if it were not exactly sexy, then slightly painful and mostly numb honestly hadn't crossed my mind. 15 days post op I'm absolutely sure things are gonna be ok and one minor worry is past with some slight tearing of the left fourchette still being a bit of a problem.

Not in the least sexy, definitely at present rated on the not fun scale. Still I agree 100% on privileged and glad to be here, anticipating the time when it will start to feel fun and 100% thankful that so far dilation has been trouble free and easy-in, easy-out.

Huggles,

Sb

I bought 2 luxury items for my recovery time spent in bed. I got a relatively cheap computer holder/tray that works well while I am lying down. It is adjustable for angle and for height. Pretty stable actually! The other item was more expensive, but I think possibly worth it if I must spend a lot of time in bed. It is a weighted message blanket.  It is 2 speed with multiple vibration areas. I am thinking that after leaving the hospital, this might help with going to sleep. After my emergency surgery I spent one horrible night on my back not being able to move much. I counted the minutes through the night. I am willing to try anything to avoid multiple days like that. I think many times the meds are ineffective for pain or sleep. I wanted a backup plan. If anyone wants details on the products let me know. Hopefully I will soon know if they actually help.
Moni

Yesterday I elected to spend most of the day horizontal and don't regret it -- swelling is down a little if definitely not as much as I'd like. No pain meds at all beyond the ibuprofen I'm already taking to try to minimize swelling.

I seem to need just as much sleep as on days that I went out for a couple of hours so I think I'm going to check the forecast and get out somewhere in the city this afternoon.

Sadie,
   Thanks for continuing to let me know how things are. My pre-op is tomorrow. It is scary to think it might not happen. I am trying to be positive. Getting outside definitely helps the mental outlook so I hope you get to go out.
Moni

Today I overdid it a little and walked farther than I'd done before. I think for me alternating days of pure rest with days of activity has worked really well, yesterday I was quite tired and enjoyed every bit of my self imposed rest. To be sure, I was also pf sore at the end of going nearly a mile today, OTOH this was a first day if being active with no Percocet and only ibuprofen and it worked ok as well as I appreciated being clear headed. I also took an hour nap immediately on return to My friend's place.

Hooray on the pre-op! How close does this mean you are to your GCS date? My thoughts will ne with you.

P.s. before going out I also did some rock climbing exercises, just hanging body weight from fixed holds out on my friend's porch ceiling. That felt *really" good, doing something positive towards keeping my upper body strength going

Quote from: HappyMoni on May 14, 2017, 08:20:02 PM
Sadie,
   Thanks for continuing to let me know how things are. My pre-op is tomorrow. It is scary to think it might not happen. I am trying to be positive. Getting outside definitely helps the mental outlook so I hope you get to go out.
Moni

Hey Moni,

Just want to say I hope your pre-op goes smoothly tomorrow. I'm not sure anything can help your mental outlook other than you looking out the tiny window at the world from your padded cell. There nothing to be afraid of. Everything is going to be just fine if you will just calm down and let it happen.

  Hugs,
    Laurie

Quote from: HappyMoni on May 14, 2017, 08:20:02 PM
Sadie,
   Thanks for continuing to let me know how things are. My pre-op is tomorrow. It is scary to think it might not happen. I am trying to be positive. Getting outside definitely helps the mental outlook so I hope you get to go out.
Moni

Hope it goes well Moni

Thinking of you

Hugs
Liz

Hi Moni, When is the big day?

   Call me crazy.  Call me silly. Call me a cab. No, actually call me relieved. I got my doctor's clearance for surgery today. I am so happy. I had to pass the physical, a chest x-ray, and the lab work. Maybe I am crazy but I have no fear of the surgery itself, but I was terrified I might not be able to get to it. My surgery is June 27. So near and yet so far. Thank you so much for anyone wishing me well, especially Laurie since I know it physically hurts her to be nice to me. lol The support we give each other on this site is really amazing. Love you all!
Moni

Quote from: HappyMoni on May 16, 2017, 07:28:48 PM
   Call me crazy.  Call me silly. Call me a cab. No, actually call me relieved. I got my doctor's clearance for surgery today. I am so happy. I had to pass the physical, a chest x-ray, and the lab work. Maybe I am crazy but I have no fear of the surgery itself, but I was terrified I might not be able to get to it. My surgery is June 27. So near and yet so far. Thank you so much for anyone wishing me well, especially Laurie since I know it physically hurts her to be nice to me. lol The support we give each other on this site is really amazing. Love you all!
Moni

That is wonderful news, sweetie! <doing happy dance now> 

xo Terri

Quote from: HappyMoni on May 16, 2017, 07:28:48 PM
   Call me crazy.  Call me silly. ....
...Thank you so much for anyone wishing me well, especially Laurie since I know it physically hurts her to be nice to me. lol The support we give each other on this site is really amazing. Love you all!
Moni

Hi  you silly, crazy woman.

  No problem fulfilling that wish of yours, Moni, as in pony, ( I have some more, umm descriptive words for you if you want, They are pretty colorful ones too...)

  hmmmph "especially Laurie" she must be talking about a different, She know I'd never do something like that.

  LOL You're welcome you silly, crazy woman.

Hugs & love,
   Laurie

That's ***wonderful*** news Moni! So glad for you.

And while I've not been without my fear of surgery, when the surgeon's office briefly fumbled my dates to something that really didn't work for me (after my insurance via COBRA lapses) I was far more fearful just as you say of possibly not being able to get it. It was a terribly stressful couple of weeks while they confirmed that we could do April rather than August.