Well, where to begin. I had my SRS surgery with Dr. Christine McGinn about 2 weeks ago and thought I'd share my experience, as hopefully it will help others.
First off, I am beyond pleased with the outcome. All bodily functions are intact. The cosmetic result is simply amazing. (We are talking porn-star quality looks here people
). I was worried about needing a second labiaplasty procedure, but after seeing the results, I'm beyond happy, and will not need anything further. Without getting into to TMI territory, I'm sensate and orgasmic. My resulting vaginal depth is 5.5 inches. The surgery is tough. Period. It's hard, painful, expensive, and scary. I am an active, healthy, and very fit 28 year old. The week before my surgery I was running 5 miles, 5 times a week, biking 15 miles, 3 times a week, and weight training and doing yoga 3 times a week as well. And despite my level of physical fitness, and youth, this surgery still put me on my ass hard. Now I will say I was up, and walking around without help, 3 days after surgery, which was a surprise to my doc and nurses, but it's a tough road to travel. The anesthesia did put me down hard. I still had the anesthesia taste in my mouth for like 4 days afterwards. Two other patients in the hospital at the same time as me had a much rougher go of things though. One was older (around 65) and the other was a little younger (20-25). Both of them were having much more trouble walking, getting in/out of bed, standing w/o help, etc than me. So everyone's recovery is different. I will say this is one time I was happy to have upper body and arm strength as it really helps you to get around. There is no doubt that this is MAJOR surgery. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You will NOT be up and running around doing stuff in a few days (which some other post girls told me I would be). It is a major ass kicker.
Dr.McGinn was great and lives up to the hype. She is well deserved of her reputation. I wanted the best (money was no object), and I got it. The whole logistical plan behind having surgery in PA leaves a lot to be desired though, and there were some small bumps in the road, but it went well overall. The biggest inconvenience is switching hotels, and driving up to the town where Dr.McGinn's office is located, which is about 1 hour north of the hospital. To add to the fun, it was snowing when we made the drive. Small dark, winding country roads + snow = fun times. The first week, from Monday to Thursday you are in the hospital, which is Lower Bucks hospital in Bristol, PA. You absolutely need to bring someone with you during this procedure. You cannot go it alone. I believe Dr.McGinn has a private nurse you can hire, but I didn't go that route. You need someone to drive you around, help you get dressed, get your meals, etc. You won't be doing much moving around afterwards. The nurses in the hospital rocked. They were all absolutely amazing and really take their jobs to heart. A big shout-out to Kathy, Charlotte, and Susan at Lower Bucks, You guys rocked! They went out of their way to make our stay there as comfortable as possible.
The surgery goes fast and is over before you know it. However, you will most certainly feel it in the coming days. The pain is pretty severe. The pain is a combination of small sharp stabbing pains, and dull sore aching pain. It's like someone kicked you a dozen times really hard down there and is jabbing you every now and then with a small needle. I'd give it a strong 6-7 on a 1-10 scale. I consider myself to have a pretty high pain tolerance, and only hit the morphine button once in the hospital, but it does hurt. No question. I have a high pain tolerance, but I also have my limits. For the next 2-3 days after surgery, you are pretty much confined to bed. Compression bands are around your legs all the time pumping air in and out, to prevent any blood clots from forming in your legs. You will have ice bags around the clock over the surgical site to reduce swelling. You will be urinating into a Foley Catheter bag for the entire time you are in the hospital. Upon your release you will have the catheter tube capped, but no bag, still attached. You basically uncork the catheter tube and empty the urine in to the toilet every few hours. Dr.McGinn doesn't release you with a Foley Catheter bag, as she wants to get used to the "new having to urinate sensation" again as fast as possible. The sensation does feel different though, and you will be going often for the days right after the surgery, as they want you to drink plenty of fluids. The new urination sensation does feel kind of painful at first, but gets better. After leaving the hospital, you will drive about 1 hour north to New Hope, PA, which is the town where Dr.McGinn has her office. Your companion will be staying at the Ramada Inn in Bristol, PA, which is about 5 miles away from the hospital while you are in the hospital. When you are released, your companion will pick you up at the hospital and take you to New Hope.
I stayed at the Fox & Hound Inn in New Hope, which is about 5 minutes from Dr.McGinn's office. As and afterthought, I probably would stay at the Ramada in New Hope as we did in Bristol, even though the Ramada in New Hope has horrible reviews and was not recommended by Dr.McGinn. The Fox & Hound Inn was nice, and quaint. However, personally I'm a big city girl and need certain comforts. My idea of roughing it at a hotel is the Plaza in NYC or the Beverly Wilshire in LA. The Fox & Hound has no room service, and there are only 2-3 restaurants that will deliver to the Inn. So unless you plan on eating pizza or Italian everyday (trust me it will get old fast), you better have someone that is willing to drive out everyday and get your meals (lunch and dinner). You can forget about ordering Sushi, Mexican, or anything exotic while there for sure. There is a Giant grocery store in the same shopping center as Dr.McGinn's office, and this is where I went to get most of my meals. Cold cut subs, hot prepared food (like rotisserie chicken, salads, hot sides like mac-n-cheese and mashed potatoes, etc) are what I mostly ate. New Hope is not the place where you will find a 4 Michelin Star restaurant... So be aware, don't go looking for Nobu or Le Cirque. The culinary highlight for me was that the Giant grocery store, which had these amazing marshmallow filled chocolate donuts that rocked. Otherwise there is a decent Chinese restaurant just about a block, away form the Fox & Hound Inn, but they do not deliver, and the food was a little too greasy for me. You do want to be sure to eat lots of protein (to help with wound healing and tissue repair), fruits, and veggies. Dr.McGinn recommends going easy on the breads and carbs, which can lead to constipation.
The accommodations at the Fox & Hound Inn are very humble to say the least. The 2 first floor rooms only have 1 queen size bed per room. You do want a 1st floor room, as SRS and lots of stairs do not mix. So I suggest you not mind sleeping together or sharing a bathroom with your traveling companion. My mom came with me, so it didn't matter as she's seen it all before
. However, I was going to bring my boyfriend as well, and if he did come there simply would have been no room for him. The rooms are very small, and there was barely enough space to sit our two suitcases up right and move around. The bathroom is Navy ship size small. It's tiny. Hot water is also a premium. I hope you like cold showers... especially in winter. Also be prepared to spend money on food, as New Hope is not a cheap place, despite its rural looks and ambiance. It's a tourist town with prices to match. For two people I spent around $40-$60 on food (lunch/dinner) per day. You do get a free breakfast at the Inn each morning, but it is nothing to write, home about, and you will be looking forward to lunch. Places to eat are few and far between. There are a lot of nicer upscale restaurants in the Main Street / Downtown area, but believe me you won't feel like getting up and dressed to gout to dinner. So carry out and delivery will be your friends.
I was up and walking around after my first day at the Fox & Hound Inn, as the nurses had me up and walking around daily at the hospital after my second day there. There was some confusion about this though, as Dr.McGinn does not want you up and walking around too much at the Inn. She wants you mostly on bed-rest. My mistake. The time moves slow, so have plenty stuff to do. Also my sleeping pattern was totally put off by the meds, pain, and the overall procedure. I found it very hard to sleep, and my sleeping schedule was wrecked. I'm usually the off to sleep at exactly at 11:00pm up right at 7:00am type of person and normally sleep like a rock. Not so much after surgery. Bring stuff to do like books, movies, etc. The WiFi at the Inn wasn't that good (sporadic at best), but luckily I have wireless internet on my iPad, so it wasn't a big deal.
So basically the overall timeline goes something like this: Monday- Surgery, stay in hospital until Thursday, sleep in Ramada Bristol, PA Thursday night, leave Ramada Friday morning, drive to Fox & Hound Inn New Hope, PA on Friday. My first office visit with Dr.McGinn was on the Tuesday the week following surgery. This is when you will have the catheter tube and vaginal packing removed. I did take a Vicodin pill about an 1 hour before the office visit, as I didn't know what to expect as far as level of pain would go (some told me it was very painful, especially the catheter removal), but it went smooth, and wasn't that bad at all. I think I was more worried of the pain ahead of time, than it actually turned out to be. You will also dilate for your first time during this office visit..., which is a daunting experience, to say the least. Especially when you see the size of the first dilator, and your mind goes: You want me to stick that, in there? WTF! It actually didn't hurt much at all, which was a big relief to me. You also need to be able to urinate on your own by the end of the day once the catheter is removed on Tuesday. I did and it felt great. At the risk of TMI, it did take me 9 days to have my first bowel movement after surgery, which I think was an after effect of the anesthesia, but Dr.McGinn said that was normal. I was super happy to have my first BM after surgery though... Thanks greasy Chinese take-out place!
My next and last office visit was on Thursday, and it really is just a general checkup, with lots of after-care instructions. Spreaders are used to check the inside of the neo-vagina and to make sure the graft is intact and healing properly. Depth again is checked, and everything gets a once over. I also received my letter stating I had "irreversible gender/sex reassignment surgery from male to female" then too. Yeah! We all have to go thru so much garbage for this little piece of needed paperwork. It feels very anti-climatic. At least give us a t-shirt or something.
It did feel nice reading it though. We left on Saturday morning, and never looked back. The plane ride home was semi-hellish, as even with a special foam post-surgical seat cushion I had, I was still in a good amount of pain sitting for the whole 2.5 hour plane ride. The sad thing is there isn't really much you can do about it. As there is nowhere to lie down or stand up and pace around, as those are the most comfortable positions for me right now. I also got a nice upper respiratory infection and hacking wet cough while in PA... and believe me you do not want to be coughing 24/7 just after surgery. It just adds to the fun. Glad to be back home in warm, sunny Miami, FL. I now remember why I moved here. I hate cold, snow, and rain. Hate it. Give me warm sunshine anytime.
Overall it was a very good experience, and I am simply ecstatic over the results. Dr.McGinn is a great surgeon, Heather her Physicians Assistant, also rocks, and they both did a great job with the surgery, with my after care, and with any questions/concerns I had. I can wholeheartedly, and with full confidence recommend Dr.McGinn as a surgeon for anyone else looking into this or related procedures.
Quick Cost Breakdown:
1. SRS cost: $18,500.00
Detailed: $12,250.00 Dr.McGinn's Fee
$1,350.00 Anesthesia Fee
$4,900.00 Lower Bucks Hospital Fee
2. Lodging: $1557.00
Ramada Bristol, PA (near hospital): 7 days $457.00
Fox & Hound Inn New Hope, PA (near Dr. McGinn's office): 7 days $1100.00
3. Air Travel: 2 people Miami, FL to Philadelphia, PA $830.00 roundtrip
4. Car Rental: 14 days $830.00
5. Food & Miscellaneous Expenses: $1000.00 (plan on $50 per day for lunch/dinner expenses).
Total Cost = $23,000.00 (rounding up) as of March 2013.
-Jenn
