Heaven knows I've had more than my share of life challenges (most of which I haven't posted about) in the past year, and I'm not quite through it all yet. But some things are going great. Mainly, I'm having my hysto in a little over a week. I still have to iron out billing, transportation, and a couple of little things, but I'm very excited.
I'm also relieved. I was originally going to get two and a half weeks off from work, but my surgery date was delayed by three more days. I was half afraid that I would face another delay and not have the two weeks off that my surgeon wants me to take. But things are looking good now. I hope that I don't have any complications.
I was rather shocked to see my "clinical summary" in my health care system's online reporting system. The report starts out fine with male pronouns but suddenly dips into female pronouns before ending with male pronouns again. I figure that my doctor has a standard write-up that he uses for his hysto consultation; he must have just pasted it in without thinking. I had quite a jolt when I read the report, but he has never messed up on pronouns yet, so I'm prepared to be forgiving. ;D
This has been a long time coming, and I've had tremendous dysphoria over these internal body parts in the last few years. Sometimes, I wondered whether I would make it. Most of you know what I mean because you grapple with the daily dysphoria beast yourself.
If you are facing a long, long wait for services or hormones or surgery, KEEP GOING. The waiting seems like forever, but it isn't.
Great news Arch! All the very best! :D
Most excellent Arch.
Congrats!
Hugs,
Jen
Arch, that's great! May it all go smoothly for you.
That's awesome! Congrats :) I'm really happy for you :)
congr :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug: :icon_hug:ats
Congrats Arch! I hope you get all the details worked out, and everything goes smoothly for you. With any luck, I'll be having mine next month.
Hope it all goes well for you! Congratulations...
I appreciate all of your good wishes. I'm stoked!
I'm currently deciding on a cab company to take me to the hospital. Thanks to my parents, I'm paranoid about having a stranger pick me up at my home when I live alone and know I won't be there for a day and a half. My mother seemed to think that such a situation was a golden opportunity for dishonest cab drivers to come back and rip us off while we were gone. ::)
Arch,
Sorry for the late response. Awesome news!!!
Congrats.
Why take a cab? What is wrong with a Limo?
Hugs my friend
A limo, haha. I would look so funny driving up to reception at five in the morning in a limo and wearing Dockers and a ratty message tee. "Who's the celeb?" "I dunno, but he shoulda spent his money on wardrobe instead of a limo."
Quote from: Arch on December 14, 2015, 01:16:15 AM
A limo, haha. I would look so funny driving up to reception at five in the morning in a limo and wearing Dockers and a ratty message tee. "Who's the celeb?" "I dunno, but he shoulda spent his money on wardrobe instead of a limo."
Just another wealthy eccentric!!
Yesterday was interesting...never a dull moment. I spent three hours on the phone after I found out (at the last minute) that I wasn't preauthorized. One of the insurance people I talked to said that it was too late to get authorization; I would have to pay half of the full price up front as the hospital wished--and in all likelihood not get it back. I spent half an hour on the phone with her, and the best news she could give me was that I could apply for a reimbursement but that I shouldn't expect it because hospitals don't usually reimburse unless the surgery is preauthorized.
Well, if the surgery were preauthorized, I wouldn't need to pay up front, and I wouldn't need a reimbursement. Right?
Time was running out. I needed preauthorization by the end of the business day, and it was already midafternoon. Aaauuugghh.
At least I was able to get in touch with my case manager. She kept banging away on people until she found out what the problem was. She was told that my doctor's office had waited too long to send over my records; it takes five BUSINESS days to preauthorize, and my records had arrived only on Wednesday. But apparently, the records had been incomplete. The office did send the remaining records on Thursday. All set, right? I could be expedited in a day, right?
Wrong. Next, it seemed that my referral letters were not adequate. They were only "brief notes" stating that I was "an appropriate candidate." Um, no, these letters follow WPATH guidelines and are completely in order. I guess she went to bat on that one, too, only I didn't get the details. She was so disgusted, proclaiming, "It takes ten minutes to authorize the surgery. Literally ten minutes."
The afternoon dragged on. Finally, my case manager found out that my second referral letter HAD GONE MISSING. Blue Shield had never received a copy from my doctor, and his people couldn't find the original. They had received it, but nobody knew where it was.
The clock kept ticking inexorably. My case manager told me that if I had a copy of the letter, I needed to scan it and send it to her immediately so that she could forward it to the representative in charge of expediting my authorization. I had a copy and knew exactly where it was, so I ran to turn on the computer. Then, my doctor's office called. "We can't find the letter. Do you have a copy? You need to scan it and send it to your case manager." "Yes, yes, I'm waiting for my computer to wake up."
I was authorized at about four o'clock, waaaay too close for comfort. But I have confirmation from both my doctor's office and my insurance provider, and I have an authorization code to give to the hospital in case I have any trouble there.
Sheesh...
Congratulations. Insurance is tough sometimes. Your case manager needs a huge "THANK YOU". Good ones are a huge help.
Wishing you well Arch.
Hugs
Jen
Oh, dear, I promised to send her an e-mail as soon as I get home from the hospital. One more thing to do before I can crash.
Well, I made it home okay. The procedure went well, but I got hardly any sleep (hospitals are terrible places for rest), and, adding insult to injury, I am all shaved down there and on my belly. Not down to the skin, but short.
I reconciled myself to being messed with, catheterized, and decatheterized. I have treated the bleeding with bleak acceptance. But the worst jolt is the one that lasts the longest: I'm practically naked down there.
Wonder how long the hair will take to grow back?
Glad to hear it went well, and wishing you continued good healing!
Slather yourself in minoxidil and pop some biotin until you're a hairy beast again ;D
I'm glad things are going well Arch. Congrats and good healing. Hugs
Mariah
Oh my gosh, Arch, I was feeling sick to my stomach the whole way through your post! I can't imagine how tense you had to have been that day! Geez!
Glad to hear you are home. Did you get abdominal incision or lapro? I am wondering why they shaved your lower area? They did lapro on me and were able to get the organs out through the <hole>, yet I still wasn't shaved. I didn't even think about the fact that I wasn't shaved. :-\
I thought that only my belly was being shaved, but, well, the best surprises are...surprises. I think I just misunderstood when he said that they weren't going to "shave it ALL off." He just meant that my hair would be left short, not eliminated entirely. I am (was) very furry below the navel. And I will be again...that's the beauty of it. I just have to be patient. And avert my eyes a lot. ("Well, don't...knock it off!!")
I had laparoscopic. Abdominal has an insane recovery period...I had to wedge the surgery and recovery into winter break from teaching. As it is, I'm feeling good enough that I have to remind myself not to overdo.
Awesome awesomeness, Arch! Congrats!!!
Congrats, Arch!
Quote from: Arch on December 22, 2015, 04:54:37 PM
Wonder how long the hair will take to grow back?
It took about 6-7 weeks before my forest grew back, and I was shaved smooth for an abdominal incision...
Oh, hell. Well, it is what it is. Thanks, Trace.
My doctor told me that he was signing my release but contingent upon my ability to pee on my own. The first time I tried was when I realized that my crotch had been shaved. I still think that my inability to urinate at that point sprang mostly from shock and shame. I mean, I knew that people would be poking around down there, but to be reduced to such a state...it kind of overwhelmed me for a bit. As long as I have a lot of fur down there, I can sort of pretend that my real parts are hidden from view. Seeing that I was shaved actually made me a little dizzy. Good thing I was sitting down. It's odd what makes people dysphoric.
But I'm home now...and I'll just take it one day at a time.
Congrats Arch. Look at the positives, hair grows back the rest of the junk has gone forever.
Sounds like a good Christmas present!
Congrats Arch! Speedy recovery! :)
Big hug! Congratulations, Arch!
Hugs, Devlyn
I'm getting awfully antsy about another countdown: waiting for my innards to wake up and achieve full function. My surgeon said to give myself two or three days, but I've read that four or five days is common. It's been about two and a half days now.
Yikes. I've been ravenous since the evening after my surgery, so I've been eating like a horse. Maybe I should slow down and try some broth or something. And I'm still on opioids; I'm sure they don't help. Maybe it's time to stop those, too. I have to drive to therapy tomorrow afternoon, anyway, and I want to allow plenty of time for the meds to clear my system.
Otherwise, I'm doing fine...but I won't feel completely "safe" until this issue is resolved. There's always something...
Oatmeal, brown rice, and beans ;D Gets things moving through nice and easy...
No worries now...
:)
I've gotten to the three-week mark. I had one big scare a week ago when I REALLY bled on my first day back to work. (Before that, I'd seen only spotting and little streaks of blood.) I let another instructor meet with two of my classes, and I left early after calling my doctor. He saw me the next day, but the bleeding had stopped by then. He says that I'm healing well. Now all I have to do is get through the final post-op appointment in three more weeks.
I really pushed it to be ready for work at the two-week mark. The big push and lack of sleep that night couldn't have helped my health, so I might have caused the bleeding myself. Fortunately, I teach only three days a week this term, but the work days are still rather taxing. I get a vague aching where I'm healing, and sometimes some nasty twinges, even today.
I had a million things to do after work and grocery shopping today, but I forced myself to come home and do absolutely nothing, just in case. Now I see why some doctors recommend two to three weeks off. Of course, now I have that much more to do tomorrow. I don't know how long I will need to get back on course without overextending myself. I'm frustrated because I'm not really sure how much is too much, but I figure that I should slow down if a regular work day still causes me some discomfort.
Still, the hard part is over. I am doing well.
Arch, thank you for posting this. It is helpful to see what healing is going to look like.
Do you think you would've been able to travel comfortably at 2 weeks post op? I have a consult for my hysto at the beginning of February, 3 weeks before I fly to Chicago for my consult for bottom surgery. I don't want to reschedule the second consult, but I can postpone the hysto until March if I need to. Assuming I can get the hysto done within a week of the consult, that would leave me 2 weeks before traveling. I'd be driving to the airport, flying from DC to Chicago, riding in a shuttle, then a rental car, then a shuttle again, flying back to DC, and driving home. It feels like a lot for one day even without healing considerations.
Max, three days after surgery, I skipped the Oxycodone, drove to my therapist's office, and ran a couple of errands. I definitely needed to nap and rest after that evolution!
Exactly two weeks after my surgery, I drove about ninety minutes to my first day of work. I was quite comfortable.
BUT work itself was a different story. I had been prepping all the previous day--lots of activity from the computer to the couch to the computer to the bookshelf to the couch to the...you get the picture. And I got about four hours of sleep when I needed maybe ten. When I arrived on campus, I had to walk to my office, walk to the department, stand around at the copier, check my mailbox, go back to my office, walk to class, move around in class, etc. That's when I started bleeding.
In short, I think that the driving was the easy part. Even the drive home was pretty much a piece of cake after all of that moving around. I made one stop (for maxipads) and then rested all day. I was physically tired, and I was emotionally strung out because I was worried about bleeding. But driving wasn't really a problem.
Okay, that's three hours of self-driving and about three hours of various forms of light physical activity after a full day of prepping and too little sleep. I left the house a little before 10:00 a.m. and arrived home a little before 4:00 p.m. I don't know how my experience stacks up against what you are planning. Does it seem equivalent? How long is the flight from Chicago to D.C.? You can definitely improve your situation by sleeping a lot and taking it easy beforehand AND afterward. Perhaps you can hire transportation? At least you seem to be considerably younger than I.
But it still sounds like a lot from where I am sitting. If I were you, I'd lay everything out and ask the surgeon if that sounds like too much at the two-week window.
I know that most people don't care about post-hysto updates, but I thought that the information might be of use to someone.
At the six-week mark, I had a second post-op appointment. I wasn't quite healed, so he told me not to put anything in there for another two weeks. TMI: I do put things in there now, but mostly as a self-harming activity. So I did use a dildo after eight weeks, and there was a smear of blood. I gave myself another rest of about two and a half weeks and promised not to do anything rough even when I started up again. The funny thing is that if I can't play really rough and cause myself pain, I don't have much reason to use a dildo. (It's another great reason to have bottom surgery and get rid of the hole altogether.)
I am getting close to the three-month mark. I often get a bit of an aching sensation after a long day (I teach four classes at two schools on Mondays, so Mondays are the worst). I sometimes have quite a bit of discomfort when my bladder is full. I seem to have fewer problems when I completely abstain from any dildo activity.
But so far, so good. I can call this surgery a great success, and I expect that I'll be in great shape in a few months.