Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I arrived in Belgrade, Serbia, July 3rd at around noon. Made my way through the airport, through passport control, no luggage, then went through a hallway marked nothing to declare where 5 or 6 Serbian officials were standing looking at people. Very odd being in a country where you do not speak a word of the language. On the other side of the wall, just beyond a rope gate, stood Dr. Marta with a sign and my name on it.

Dr. Marta is young and with her accent reminded me of Ekaterina Gordeeva, one of my favorite figure skaters.

It was sunny, hot and humid, but not too bad. I was very tired, as it was 6am EDT. I had Dr. Marta take me to a grocery store where I bought some supplies, then she took me to the apartment.

The apartment on Vukovica is very nice and comfortable. I settled in.

On Sunday, July 4th, the day before Surgery, Dr. Marta came by and went over all of the paperwork, and later Dr. Korac, the anesthesiologist stopped by with more paperwork. I didn't see Dr. Miro until the morning of sugery as he had been vacationing and hadn't returned to Belgrade until late.

July 5, 2010 Surgery Day

Dr. Miro stopped by the apartment and picked me up and drove me to St. Medica, which was only a short drive away. It is a very small private hospital. After going over the surgery plan, Dr. Miro left me with 2 nurses who did not speak very much English. They wore a lot of makeup, and pink, which seemed to be the color of the hospital. Lots of white. And pink. I felt like I had been abducted by aliens, with these two nurses speaking Serbian and doing an EKG on me with these odd suction cups and drawing blood and what not. Then I had a physical exam with another doctor at the clinic, who asked me my medical history and what not, and I signed some more forms. Finally I was escorted to my room, the purple room, and told to get naked, shave my nether regions, then put on this robe and get into bed. I had hours to kill. I ended up reading an entire novel while I was waiting.

Finally they came and gave me a Johnny gown and a cap and told me to put those on, along with my compression stockings, which I did. Shortly afterwards, a male nurse came in and stabbed me in my butt. I asssumed it was just a sedative of some sort and was waiting to be wheeled to surgery. Imagine my surprise when the next thing I knew I was waking up following surgery, with 2 IVs in my left hand, Dr. Korac standing over me asking me questions which I could not answer, I felt like a limp dishrag. I was very tired and not painful. Eventually we ended up back in the purple room where I pretty much slept. I was aware of a nurse in and out through the night changing my IV bag and giving me meds. I also remember getting stabbed in the arm a few times with some anti-blood clot medication.

The next day I was starving and relieved that they let me eat some cookies and juice. Later I ate a chicken dinner and some pudding, pretty much scarfed whatever they gave me. All was well. The only thing I noted that was not quite normal was I had a lot of blood in my urine. A LOT.

By Wednesday, 2 days after surgery, things were not so great. First, my appetite was gone; everything tasted funny and I felt a little nauseated. I thought it might be the antibiotics or the pain meds; I'm not sure all of what they were injecting me with. I asked, but they didn't always know the answer in English. Second, the night nurse pretty much ignored me all night, such that when she came around at 6:30am my urine bag was practically overflowing and she hadn't flushed the catheter every few hours like the nurse had done the night before. They came in to offer me breakfast, which I started eating. Then I noticed I had to pee. And the urine bag was empty. It took a while to track down a nurse; I did not have a call button and they had closed my door. I finally got the attention of the cleaning lady who tracked down one of the nurses. I figured, she'll flush the catheter and all will be well. I was wrong.

My bladder was so full, made fuller by her flushing attempts. I thought my bladder was going to burst! The nurse was unsuccessful at flushing the catheter, and had called Dr. Miro and Dr. Korac. Dr. Miro was with a patient at the Children's Hospital but Dr. Korac came over and tried a few other things to get the catheter flowing with no luck. I was in so much pain!!! I just wanted to pee! About an hour later Dr. Miro finally arrived and basically stabbed me with a needle to relieve the pressure and then placed a new suprapubic catheter. He decided to leave the old one in to flush fluid in one and out the other. There was still a lot of bleeding, which he believed was from the closed vaginal canal seeping through my new urethra and into the bladder. At this time he told me to lie flat and not move.

All I could think of were blood clots, as doctors and nurses in the US are adamant you get up and move constantly after surgery to prevent clots. Dr. Korac had told me to get up and move, but with the IV on one side and urine bag on the other, it wasn't something I could really do myself, and the nurses didn't seem too concerned about making sure I got up. Now they wanted me to lie flat. I was tired and achy and just wanted to get the heck out of the hospital.

By this time I noticed that my sense of smell was heightened and that food tasted terrible. I had no appetite but forced myself to eat. I also had intermittent waves of nausea that I couldn't pinpoint to any one specific thing. My mouth tasted terrible despite regular tooth brushing, food tasted terrible, and the nausea. Bleh. I finally remembered I had some Wrigley's Doublemint gum in my computer bag and that saved me. Got rid of the nasty taste in my mouth temporarily and made the nausea go away temporarily.

One thing I did notice was that they served me breakfast around 8-9 am, and then lunch around 2pm. And then nothing but juice or pudding. Then I started to wonder if some of the nausea was sheer hunger.

I ended up staying in the hospital until Friday, when they finally let me go back to the apartment. I was feeling very tired and not very hungry and now it was all on me to take care of myself. I forced myself to eat but ended up throwing up a few times. I had also noticed that I was having intermittent periods of feeling warm then cool, which I had attributed to not being able to regulate the air conditioner properly.

I was also having terrible headaches. Not sure what that was from, but at the time I attributed that to having to wear bifocals and trying to read a computer while lying down and other eye-strain related things. I still had a lot of blood in my urine, and remembering what Dr. Miro had said, I decided to spend a lot of time lying down in bed rather than sitting on the sofa watching TV. That helped.

By Sunday morning, not quite a week since surgery, I decided to watch some TV. I watched one show while eating, then used the bathroom, got something to drink, and then watched another show. When I got up after the second show, I was bleeding. A lot. Fresh blood. ACK. I called Dr. Marta and she came and changed my dressings. Everything seemed fine, with no bleeding, the rest of the day. She came around 8pm to remove the drain.

Well, after removing the drain the bleeding started again in earnest. She called Dr. Miro, and the next thing I know the whole team is in my apartment, waiting on some blood drawing guy to pull some blood, and then it's off to the hospital for an explore of the vaginal area to find out why i was bleeding. Dr. Miro had put on a compression wrap and told me not to move. I didn't move an inch, and the bleeding had continued. We ended up back at St. Medica, in the purple room, where the male nurse had fun stabbing me twice more for blood and then again to place an IV. I think he liked poking me. Ouch. But by then the bleeding had stopped, and everyone went home and said see you tomorrow. Surgery averted. But I ended up getting 2 units of plasma.

But I ended up staying in the hospital until Wednesday. Apparently my hot and cold flashes were the result of a fever. They switched my antibiotic and gave me this nasty IV medication for fever that made everything taste even worse than it had already. At this point I felt pretty bad, and was worried about other complications. While the doctors seemed focused on the surgical site and they had done blood work, I was concerned about the fever and infection and pneumonia or something; nobody had done another physical exam on me to see if anything had changed. Yes, knowing too much can make you paranoid. Somewhere in there they pulled the stent that was keeping my new urethra open. OWWWWWW!!!

Back in the apartment, I was feeling a bit better but still nauseated, still having hot and cold flashes, and still felt pretty miserable. The saving grace in all this was that the surgical site was really not all that painful. I finally settled on the combination of 1/2 percocet + regular strength tylenol every 6 hrs as the perfect pain combo. Ibuprofen alone had been doing the trick, but with all of the bleeding Dr. Miro told me to stop taking it. So I did.

At this point I just wanted to go home. I felt like a big baby. I was tired and hungry and nauseated but nothing tasted good, everything smelled bad, and I just wanted to get home to my own space to deal with everything. But, on the flip side, feeling as bad as I did I was NOT looking forward to the long trip home.

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Post Merge: August 06, 2010, 10:04:58 AM

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So by the end of my 2 weeks in Belgrade I was ready to get home. My initial elation at waking up from surgery and being fine had faded. I felt like I had been run over by a Mack truck, the bleeding complications and the plasma had really taken its toll on me, and the fever, nausea, smells...then my imagination kicked into overdrive and I started thinking, well, I survived the surgery only to die of complications! Yeah, a bit melodramatic. I wonder if a lot of that would have been alleviated if I had had a friend with me. Finances dictated that I couldn't afford to bring anyone; nobody I asked really wanted to go. Of course the whole time I'm there my mother kept emailing me telling me she wished she had gone. I was like, gee, I couldn't get you to even go to San Francisco that I knew I'd never get you to agree to go to Belgrade!! If my kids were older I would have brought them; but leaving 2 kids alone in an apartment in a foreign city didn't seem right. The apartment I was staying in was in the same building as Dr. Marta and her family. She lives with her parents and her Rottweiler upstairs. The good thing about that is that Mom made me food, delicious Serbian food. I ate most of it.

Dr. Miro usually does 2 patients every 2 weeks, and apparently towards the end of our stay likes to take us out to dinner. Unfortunately for me, the 100-degree heat wave that had been baking the US finally made its way across the Atlantic and it was 100 degrees F plus humid in Belgrade. Dr. Miro felt that with my complications and fever that it would be best if I did not try to sit for 2-3 hrs at a restaurant and have to navigate the heat. I had wanted to be a bit more social, but the reality was I really did NOT feel up to going anywhere. I had met the other patient who is extremely nice and from PA (we still email each other) and I would have liked to have met his partner. But no go. Dr. Miro did buy me a bottle of Serbian wine and Dr. Marta bought me a mug souvenir from Belgrade. I thought that was very nice that they realized I had not been able to get out and do any sightseeing or buy any souvenirs myself. Very thoughtful.

On July 17th, 12 days after surgery, it was time to go home. I still felt like crap. FWIW I am not one of those guys who sits around and whines; I'm the kind who gets crap done. And, I went back to work 4 days after my hysto, and went back to work 9 days after top surgery. I am not a wimp (like my ex-h who would take a week off work for something minor and lie in bed and whine all week like a helpless baby). I was impressed with the toll this surgery had on me and my body. It is not for the feint of heart, for sure.

Dr. Marta had the honor of driving me back to the airport. Of course, there were lines, and it was hot, despite the air conditioning. It was very hard for me to carry my laptop bag. I definitely need a new one. The bag itself is fairly heavy, and my laptop weighs about 5 pounds. It's small but heavy. Add in a few toiletries and yeah, it was heavy; heavier than I was supposed to be carrying. Thanks to the bottle of wine I was forced to check my smaller suitcase, which turned out to be a blessing anyway.

Dr. Marta stood in the line and carried my junk. We checked the suitcase, then she walked with me all the way to security until it was my turn to go. Then I was on my own. There was concern about my donut pillow and also my catheter. I had to hide the pillow in a bag and made sure the catheter hanging on my leg was hidden. Apparently if officials at the airport suspect a medical issue, they want proof that you are capable of flying, and if you have no such written proof from a doctor, they will make you have a physical exam until they are satisfied. This happened apparently to one of Dr. Miro's patients. And while he was ultimately able to fly, he missed his flight and connections, costing him several hundred dollars in fees to change things. Yikes. So that meant no donut until I got on the plane.

Well, I made it through the first round of security with no problems. But, when I got to the gate for my British Airways flight, there was another security station. Take out laptop. Empty pockets. Run stuff through the scanner. Didn't I just do this 20 feet ago??

Now the guard sees all of my pills on the x-ray. Sir, you are carrying a lot of medication. Can I see it? Out comes the Advil, Tylenol, stool softener, oxycodone, antibiotics, etc. Oh, and then they were very interested in my peanut M&Ms. But they waved me through. The gate was hot, stuffy, crowded, dirty, with minimal seating. I was too tired to stand, so I found one seat next to an elderly couple working on homemade Soduku puzzles. I took my sweatshirt and made it into a pseudo-donut to sit on. That was a very long wait before we were allowed to board the plane.

I won't bore you with long flight details, but suffice it to say I did manage to navigate Heathrow by myself lugging my heavy laptop down very long corridors, made it through security without incident, though I did almost lose my passport (oops). I was lucky in that my flight from London to Philadelphia had me seated just a few rows away from the bathroom on the aisle. I was very grateful for that, and I would have begged, borrowed, and stole to have arranged that if I had to. That was hugely helpful. The downside was that, due to my heightened sense of smell, let's just say the lady across the aisle had odor issues that surfaced every time she moved. Bleh. I'm lucky I didn't puke. I did manage to watch a movie on the screen in front of me, but it's very hard for the bifocal-wearing people to get the screen just right to see without things being wonky. But I managed to watch Date Night for a few laughs.

Got to Philadelphia, again long corridors to navigate to get through the passport station and customs. They weren't interested in my wine or Serbian cookies so I headed out. Due to a scheduling issue, I didn't have time to make my connecting flight that night to home, and before I left I rescheduled my flight for the morning, and opted to stay in the airport Marriott. So I finally get out of the international terminal, but where is the Marriott? Signs are not too helpful. I ended up having to walk a lot farther than I wanted to, outside in hot, humid weather, until I found the Marriott. It was not pretty. I was pretty whiny. Tired, hungry, painful, hot, feverish, feeling like crap, lugging luggage for what felt to be at least a mile when I was not supposed to be doing any lifting. Yeah, I admit it. I was a baby.

I get to my room and crash. Took a nice shower, downed a handful of pain pills (well, not really), and went to the hotel store for my first diet pepsi in 2 weeks. Ah, bliss! Before I went to bed, I checked the schedule for my flight. The first time I checked, I thought my flight left from B terminal, which was just a very short walk from the hotel. Cool! But thank goodness something made me recheck that. NO, my flight left from F terminal, the furthest terminal from the Marriott!! I knew I could NOT walk all that way, so I tried to make a few phone calls to US Air, the airport, to get a ride on one of those cart things (there were a few parked right outside the hotel in the terminal). Of course, trying to get local numbers and an actual human at an airline is impossible, so I figured I'd get up early and hit the hotel desk and they could help me.

Perfect timing. I arrived at the hotel lobby at 5:15am and at 5:20am they had a shuttle bus leaving for all of the terminals. Sweet! I was one of the first passengers to arrive at F terminal that morning. I found a store and got hard boiled eggs, a fruit cup, and some other snacks and had a decent breakfast at the airport. When I finally got on board, the pilot announced that the flight was 39 minutes. I about cried. I just wanted to get home!!

My father and brother picked me up from the airport and we went out for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Food still tasted gross but I ate anyway. It was good just to be home, to be with family.

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Post Merge: August 06, 2010, 11:05:25 AM

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There are a bunch of things I forgot to mention in the details of my surgery. The first is that there were a lot of bandages covering the drain, the pubic area, and even a little wrap on my penis, along with the stent tube in my new urethra. Several days after surgery they changed the bandages, taking off nice chunks of butt hair. OUCH. The bandages were changed every few days. When I was finally sent home to the apartment, I could have used sanitary pads, but with loose boxer briefs the pads did not stay in place without some kind of tape. Tape + body hair = pain!! LOL

So after my long journey home, I took a long nap. First thing I did Monday morning was call my doctor. Dr. Miro had wanted me to see her and have her do some blood work to make sure my anemia from all of my blood loss was resolving. Apparently I became fairly anemic, but not enough to warrant a full blood transfusion. They opted for the plasma, which restored some clotting factors. There was some question as to whether the ibuprofen I took in Belgrade contributed to my bleeding. My doc here in the US says no, even if I were taking 2 200mg ibuprofens 3x daily that shouldn't contribute to bleeding. After all, my gyno prescribed 600mg ibuprofen 4x daily after my hysto.

Anyway, being home didn't really change how I felt: tired, nauseated, overwhelmed by smells. Funny thing it reminded me of being pregnant. I was still having intermittent chills and hot flashes, and I did take my temp a few times. Since Belgrade I had been running a low grade fever from 99-101.5, depending. I basically napped a lot, forced myself to eat, took my pain meds, and felt like a lazy slug. A few days after I got home, I picked up my dogs from work. People at work thought I had been on vacation. Then they noticed I had lost a lot of weight. I lost almost 15 pounds since going to Belgrade. People at work now know I had surgery (the powers that be knew; the masses were told nothing).

Having the dogs home meant I now had something I had to do: walk the dogs. It was hard, but I think overall it was good for me. It forced me to take them outside many times throughout the day, which involved stairs and going outside. Forced exercise. I was afraid they would jump on me, but they have been very good.

My kids came home the day I arrived from Philadelphia, and they have been very helpful in keeping the house clean, carting laundry, and helping me out.

That first week home I still felt pretty miserable. I went to the doc on Thursday, July 22. I gave her the paperwork from Dr. Miro regarding my surgery and the complications. The nurse had done the weight and blood pressure and temp, but I was a bit disappointed my doctor did not do a physical on me, seeing that I had the fever. I suppose I could have spoken up, but I didn't. She sent me to the lab for bloodwork (OUCH!) and it turned out I was still mildly anemic. I was told to take vitamins with iron.

One other thing I noticed, in addition to the smells, and food tasting bad, etc, was that my hearing is off. Kind of like my ears didn't pop that one last time after the plane landed. Very odd. That has continued to today as well.

I'm not sure how much of the taste and smells etc is due to the antibiotics or even the pain meds. I am currently taking one antibiotic, Autmentin, once a day (started out twice a day). I'm supposed to take it until I take the suprapubic catheter out.

I have been home for almost 3 weeks now. I would say this last week I finally feel human. I am still limited in what I can lift; my body tells me when I shouldn't do what I'm trying to do, so carting laundry is still out and lifting much more than a case of soda is a no-no.

As I have posted before, Monday the 2nd of August was the official day I could pee through my urethra. Dr. Miro usually makes patients wait 3 weeks, but because of my exciting bleeding issues and complications he told me to wait until 4 weeks after surgery. I did, and as I posted, all went well. There was some concern about leaks, as my friend from Belgrade was having leaking issues. Turns out I have NO LEAKS with my new urethra, and for that I am grateful. There are so many things that can go wrong, and once you're home, that doesn't mean you are free and clear. I've read accounts of other guys needing many revisions and all sorts of surgeries to fix complications, something you do NOT want to even think about beforehand. We all assume we'll sail through without any complications and go back to our regularly scheduled lives. I feel very fortunate not to have any leaks.

I am now one month post surgery. There is minimal pain, mostly a pinching feeling from the stitches. The most painful area is where my vagina was closed; there is still some drainage frm that drain hole which is normal. I can expect drainage for another couple of weeks. It is minimal, though.

One thing I forgot to mention was a few days after I got home I noticed a huge amount of itching on my penis. The penis had been rewrapped right before I left Belgrade, and I was instructed to change the wrap in a few days. Getting that sucker off was a bear, and when I did my penis skin was raw and red and inflammed and itchy and OMFG ITCHY!! There was no way in hell I was re-wrapping that. I did clean it well and it is now almost healed.

Itches and Stitches about sums things up.

I hope I haven't grossed anyone out. If there are details I didn't mention that you want to know, feel free to ask. I wish I had known more about the post-op stuff, the drainage, the bandages, the sanitary pads, the itching, etc. Most guys post about their surgery and then disappear. There isn't a lot on post-op stuff, though occasionally I've found a few accounts of complications. I'm lucky my complications were minor in the grand scheme of things, and that the most important things: functional urethra and sensation to my penis, are NORMAL.

The downside to all of this? Not working = no paychecks. I did apply for short term disability, which is supposed to kick in right away. Of course paperwork delays mean I havent' seen a dime. I'm eligible for a whopping $400 a week. Better than nothing, but I haven't seen a penny yet. Likely I'll be back at work before I ever see a penny. Oh well. I'm living off savings and my online job.

Thanks for reading my drivel.

thanks for posting.  :D
all I can say is the experience in Belgrade sounded terrifying. I've flipped out over much less.

Jay ive been crossing my legs and wincing the entire time i was reading this post but thank you. Youve put a lot of stuff on here that ive definitely never heard before and its good to read even if it makes me go ouch. Really hope things are continuing to get better for you and its worth all the pain. If its not too personal and it may sound like a daft question but does it feel like you ve got something there or is it disconnected from the rest of you?

Thanks for posting all of this. Some of us really need to know what's involved, and there isn't much detailed information out there--at least, not from a first-person perspective.

I'm glad you're doing okay now.

Thanks for posting this, i'm planning on having meta so its useful to know your experience.

I'm glad things are going ok now  :)

There are a few other accounts I've read, one is a whole website devoted to a guy's transition and he takes you step by step through not only his Belgrade experience but through all of his complications and revisions and surgeries by his US doctors.  I read one other account that stopped pretty  much when the guy got out of the Belgrade hospital.  I occasionally read on the surgery lists about some post-op questions, but no real details.  I know I asked a bunch of questions on post-op care but there were no real answers.

I do think most guys get surgery then get on with their lives.  They just disappear from trans websites.  I admit I probably will too at some point; I don't ID as trans, and now that transition is complete, I'll probably move on to other things in life for the most part.

I don't mind questions.   At some point my pics will surface on transbucket.  I will probably wait until I have a nice set of post-op, mostly healed, and done pics, so it will be a while.


Jay

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Post Merge: August 06, 2010, 01:59:09 PM

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Quote from: al james on August 06, 2010, 12:37:59 PM
Jay ive been crossing my legs and wincing the entire time i was reading this post but thank you. Youve put a lot of stuff on here that ive definitely never heard before and its good to read even if it makes me go ouch. Really hope things are continuing to get better for you and its worth all the pain. If its not too personal and it may sound like a daft question but does it feel like you ve got something there or is it disconnected from the rest of you?

I had a meta with urethral hookup and implants  All of the parts are mine, except the implants.  So I definitely notice my penis, primarily because it sticks out, and currently in its state of healing the foreskin is pulled back making my penis very noticeable when rubbed by the fabric of my shorts.  OUCH!  Very sensitive.  But better sensitive than the alternative (numb).  Obviously the implants have no feeling, but the labia were used to make a scrotum and there is a full feeling.  Right now the skin is tight, but this past week I can tell the skin is stretching and things are not so firm.

So yes, I can feel everything and it feels like normal parts of me.

Jay

Wonderful story, thanks for posting and now I am officially terrified.  Terrified but not entirely put off, you survived after all.  You didn't say but I assume you had the Phalloplasty procedure done.

I am curious about the particulars and feel free not to answer if you don't want.  What size is your penis flaccid and erect?  Is the end result similar to what a bio man would have?  Do you have a circumsized or uncircumsized appearance?  How is sensation?  Is penetration possible?  Is orgasm achievable?       

Thanks Jay I know you have been good to this forum.  Thank you for answering questions

Look at the comment above yours, he had meta.

from what I've read about phalo, you have to go back for a second surgery to get an implant that allows for erection/penetration. and most sights said that sensation wasn't very good.

Quote from: Nathan. on August 06, 2010, 06:10:05 PM
Look at the comment above yours, he had meta.

lol, yes sorry.  I had this tab open for a while so I could read it all when I had the time.  With all the trauma I assumed the phalo.  Clearly I need to learn a bit more about both procedures.  It's all right as I am a ways from either of them. 

Quote from: Squirrel698 on August 06, 2010, 06:06:56 PM
Wonderful story, thanks for posting and now I am officially terrified.  Terrified but not entirely put off, you survived after all.  You didn't say but I assume you had the Phalloplasty procedure done.

I am curious about the particulars and feel free not to answer if you don't want.  What size is your penis flaccid and erect?  Is the end result similar to what a bio man would have?  Do you have a circumsized or uncircumsized appearance?  How is sensation?  Is penetration possible?  Is orgasm achievable?       

Thanks Jay I know you have been good to this forum.  Thank you for answering questions

Don't know the answers to your questions, too soon to tell.  I'm about 2" flaccid.  Have not used the  equipment for anything other than peeing, sorry.  Penis is uncircumcised but currently looks cut due to the stitiches and minor swelling.  Since I have sensation, I'm sure I'll be able to orgasm with good sensation.

Jay

Thanks for the detailed account and the nitty-gritty.  You're right--there isn't a whole lot of information on what this surgery is actually like.

And since I hope to be going to the same surgeon this time next year... good stuff to know.  Thanks, Jay.

I was wondering: when the catheter is in, does urine just drain automatically until the bag is full?  Terrible that the one night nurse neglected to empty it...

Overall, would you say the doctor and his nurses/staff were professional?  Did you feel as if you were in good hands?

Man, that is rough.  I'm so glad you made it through.

Quote from: Ender on August 06, 2010, 09:46:30 PM
Thanks for the detailed account and the nitty-gritty.  You're right--there isn't a whole lot of information on what this surgery is actually like.

And since I hope to be going to the same surgeon this time next year... good stuff to know.  Thanks, Jay.

I was wondering: when the catheter is in, does urine just drain automatically until the bag is full?  Terrible that the one night nurse neglected to empty it...

Overall, would you say the doctor and his nurses/staff were professional?  Did you feel as if you were in good hands?

Yes, when in the hospital the urinary catheter is attached to a urine bag so you don't need to get up to pee.  When you leave the hospital, they give you bags you can use at home (they even made me take some to the US) but you can basicaly go to the toilet and unclamp the catheter and pee without using a bag.

Other than the one nurse who was snoring and ignored me, all of the nursing staff was professional and caring.  If I had gotten a call button it would have been better; I did ask one nurse but she couldn't find it, so that made things a bit more difficult.  The male nurse was a bit rough but professional.

I would say that the care was very good overall.  They were attentive to complications and erred on the side of caution with regards to staying in the hospital longer rather than just discharging me.  The surgical team all speak excellent English.  The nursing team for the most part speaks enough to get by, but not much more.  One nurse spoke excellent English but she was only on twice the whole time I was there.

Jay

wow, all i can say is I'm sure if any of us had the money we would have been there for support, what a hardcore thing to have to go thru by yourself! I'm glad you are doing better!

That was pretty brave of you Jay, I don't think I would ever dare to have such a delicate kind of surgery on my genitals. I have entertained the possibility before but the current surgeries don't seem like they would satisfy me very well so I'm pretty ok with what I got.

It sounds like you're doing well even through all the complications you had. I hope that the rest of your recovery goes fine :)

Apologies if it was already posted, I am feeling lazy.

Are you going to Transbucket this?

Oh, also, congrats!

I am horrified by what you have posted here Jay.

I have recently been through a radial forearm free flap in the UK and have experienced nothing of the treatment you have mentioned. Which country are you based in? Is this the best treatment you can expect from where you are based?

I am sorry if it seems like I am being rude here but I am not intending to sound offensive  in any way. I have not been on this forum for a while and am sorry for not following your story so far. I do want to post my full "lower surgery" story but am too nervous to do so fully on this site.

Take care and I hope things go better for you from now on mate.

John

Quote from: Snowdoggy on August 11, 2010, 08:26:14 PM
I am horrified by what you have posted here Jay.

I have recently been through a radial forearm free flap in the UK and have experienced nothing of the treatment you have mentioned. Which country are you based in? Is this the best treatment you can expect from where you are based?

I am sorry if it seems like I am being rude here but I am not intending to sound offensive  in any way. I have not been on this forum for a while and am sorry for not following your story so far. I do want to post my full "lower surgery" story but am too nervous to do so fully on this site.

Take care and I hope things go better for you from now on mate.

John

Horrified?  That wasn't my experience at all.  I feel the care I received from the doctors was excellent; the nurses good (except for one).  I chalk everything else up to the language barrier.  I also wrote this from  the perspective of how I felt during everything, since I find that most accounts posted sugarcoat the experience. I was also there alone with no support system.  The doctors themselves saw me every day, checked me personally every day, both in the hospital and at the apartment. 

I am in the US, but I traveled to Belgrade, Serbia for surgery.  I am very happy with my decision to have Dr. Miro perfrom my surgery, and currently I am urinating well through my new urethra with no leaks, have sensation, have had an orgasm (!) and am very satisfied with my results.  The complications I had (bleeding from the vaginal closure) is a common one.  Mine may have been due to the placement of a drain suture, but I can't be sure of that.

Jay

Wow. I want the same surgery, if not the phallo instead of the meta. The only thing I was worried about when reading on it was the mention of the chance of severe bleeding when they sew up...the hole. That scared me. But it makes me feel better to see that you did have bleeding and they were able to take care of it.

Sorry I didn't mean to say that I was horrified by your surgery Jay, it just sounded pretty scary out there on your own with all that going on.

It sounds like your surgery has been very successful.

Congratulations fella  :)

John

Well, I'm late to the party, as usual.  Congrats on your surgery, and thank you for posting this detailed description.  :)

I do have one question, if you don't mind answering.  How much difference is there in size and placement pre- vs. post-op?  There are so few comparison pics out there, and I'm trying to get an idea of whether or not meta is even an option for me in the future. Thanks!

Quote from: Jamie-o on August 14, 2010, 04:55:59 AM
Well, I'm late to the party, as usual.  Congrats on your surgery, and thank you for posting this detailed description.  :)

I do have one question, if you don't mind answering.  How much difference is there in size and placement pre- vs. post-op?  There are so few comparison pics out there, and I'm trying to get an idea of whether or not meta is even an option for me in the future. Thanks!

The length of your dick from top to bottom will be the approximate length post op.  I am supposed to keep pumping for a  year for maximum length (haven't started yet; hard to do with itchy stitches! LOL).  Girth will be thicker.

I know Dr. Miro looks at your junk to see if you are ready; he doesn't like to do surgery if your junk hasn't grown enough.  Then he wants a minimum of 3 months pumping prior to surgery.  If your junk is too small, he will tell you, because he knows you won't be satisfied post op.  His consults are free and he does them in the US.  I was on T 18 months when I had my consult.

As for placement, your dick will be lower than you think.  For me, just reaching down and finding a dick and balls, no matter how small, and a dick that pees, is 1000x better than reaching down and finding a vagina.  The longer I was on T the more disgusting I found my v to be.

Jay

Quote from: sneakersjay on August 14, 2010, 06:56:21 AM
His consults are free and he does them in the US.

Where in the US does he do consults? Pretty sweet that he does them for free. If you don't mind me asking....were you pumping that the time you had your consult, and how big were you then? I'm only wondering cause although I pump, my  junk seems to have hit a standstill. Does he not do surgery on less than a certain size?

You need to email Dr. Miro and ask.  He is in the US a lot for various medical conferences and to visit his daughter.  So he is all over the place.  Commonly in Maryland and Florida, but others have seen him in San Francisco.  I saw him in Oklahoma City.  Basically he tells you when he'll be in the US and where, and you figure out if you can see him there or not, or wait until he's in a different city.

I was not pumping when I had my consult; I started pumping afterwards.

He does not like to do surgery if you are not of a certain size (sorry, I don't know what that is).  Your junk needs to be a certain size so that when he releases it, you have an actual small dick and not a nub.  He wants you to be happy.  If he doesn't think you are large enough, he likely will tell you to pump and then reconsult.  He basically looked at my junk and said if I pumped regularly I'd be ready in 6 months, and I was.  He's less about collecting your money and more about giving you the best result he can with your anatomy so you're happy.

Jay

Thanks for posting Jay. I'm glad everything turned out for you in the end. And congratulations! Oh, what was total cost to you if you have calculated it?

Dennis

I was lucky; with the exchange rate between the dollar and the euro (1.23) I paid, including airfare) approx. $16000 USD.

Now 6 weeks post op and finally feeling like my old self.   ;D


Jay

:O
Dude...when it comes to getting my surgery...I'm definitely going to talk to you. Did you looks for deals online for the airfare? Was the hotel you stayed in while there covered in your surgery costs?

Quote from: zombiesarepeaceful on August 18, 2010, 01:58:40 PM
:O
Dude...when it comes to getting my surgery...I'm definitely going to talk to you. Did you looks for deals online for the airfare? Was the hotel you stayed in while there covered in your surgery costs?

I actually chose the airline/airfare that had the shortest total travel time.  I paid approx. $1450 for the plane ticket for one person.  Travel time was 15-16 hrs each way.  Some of the cheaper fares had travel times from 20-26 hrs. !!  But I was cutting everything a bit close; I only had approx. 1.5 hrs between flights in huge airports.

In Serbia (if that's where you choose to go) they put you up in a fully furnished apartment at 60 Euros a night.  I spent a total of $35 on groceries.

$13500 Surgery/Hospital
$1950 apartment
$1450 airfare
$35 Groceries
So total closer to $17000 Total.

So by saying if that's where I choose to go....you mean they have more than just that one site that they do surgery at? Where are the others?

Quote from: zombiesarepeaceful on August 19, 2010, 10:35:46 AM
So by saying if that's where I choose to go....you mean they have more than just that one site that they do surgery at? Where are the others?

As far as I know they have only 1 surgery center, St. Medica.  I meant that if you chose Dr. Miro over another surgeon for your surgery.


Jay