A week ago marked the one month left to go mark until my SRS.

I'm not sure if I'm in the excited, nervous, or get this over with stage. I can't really describe how I feel.

It's made me curious for those who have had surgery, is there anything you wish you would've prepared for, told yourself, told others, done, any kind of advice, etc., before your SRS? If you could tell your pre-SRS self anything, what would you say or advise yourself about now having gone trough it?

5 weeks I fly to Thailand. I share the same mixture of apprehension wonder excitement fear. In the end one of my transfriends said it is all normal and just prepare yourself mentally and physically for strong recovery. Focus now on the next part of life - not the dilation details. On physical level prepare things so that you don't have to lift much. And relax...

Congratulation! I haven't had it yet but I would encourage you to do some serious homework on HRT then get your doc on board. Too often, post ops are put on WAY too low of dosages. You didnt come all this way to live life as a menopausal woman! The right HRT balance will leave you energetic and mentally healthy. I beat you up a little bit in another thread about progesterone but only because about you and others. P4 is VERY important for mental well being, reduces anxiety and MANY other health benefits including reduced rates of breast cancer. I will have a ton of research to share with you soon!

To get SRS sooner. I had enough money for two years before I finally made the appointment.

I'm leaving for Thailand in 6 weeks and I'm excited, scared, and on roller coaster of emotions because I'm losing my job on September 1.  My post op friends have been a wealth of help and advice.  I've stocked up on 4 cases of Lube that I can buy cheap from my current hospital employer.  I've still have half a large pack of maxi pads left over, plenty of panty liners and I purchased 100 of the Chucks bed pads.  I'll stock up on food when I get closer to my surgery date.  Plane tickets ordered, check.  Light weight, non constraining clothing, check It's rainy season in Bangkok, oh the joys of heat and humidity.  I've saved 4 of my old night gowns to wear and if they get messed up, no problems.  I'll just chuck them.  I also bought a 10 pack of white panties that I can bleach out any stains from.  And they are cheap and disposable.  My better panties are for when I've healed up and not likely to mess them up.

I to am going it alone to Thailand.  My daughter was to accompany me in October for my originally scheduled surgery date, but I had to reschedule my surgery date to August 5th and I hit them with FMLA, my last month of employment.  My daughter couldn't get off, so I have to go it alone.  They are eliminating my position effective September 1st.  Because they are eliminating my position, they avoid getting sued for discrimination.  But I'll get to use my sick time up and they'll have to pay me for my acrued vacation.  I've worked here for over 8 years, so I will have 8 weeks severance pay that will cover September and October before I go on unemployment compensation.

I've waited like forever to SRS and if I don't do this now, it may never happen.  I'm as ready as I can be and they aren't going to see any tears from this girl.  I'm a strong woman and I will survive whatever I have to do.  Kathy

I under-estimated how much help I would need socially, but that's just me. I did not need a huge amount of physical help in recovery, but spending recovery with my SO who is very understanding was very special to me.

I'm just taking a guess at it, but probably stretching all the muscles and ligaments in my groin. Being up in stirrups for so long I think really put a lot of strain on those areas and I ended up very sore from it all.  I don't know if being more limber would have helped or not.

Otherwise:
-Be ready mentally. When you're getting wheeled in and about to go under, keep only happy thoughts in your head. Don't worry about anything.  Positive thoughts will help you when you wake up. This was something told to me before I went in.
-Be ready for recovery to be much harder on you thank you think.  Hopefully it won't be, but it wasn't at all what I expected.
-I wish I had wound closure strips with me for after I got released. I think that would have helped not pop as many stitches and be further along in healing now.

I'd tell myself two things:
First, prepare for the return home THOROUGHLY. Clean everything. Etc.
Second, pain is natural. Live with it.

Take one extra week off from work. And whatever you've laid in by way of supplies, double it. (Except the douches, those were counted out to last precisely the prescribed number of days.)

1. don't wait so long (I was 30), and
2. Go to Colorado for surgery (I only knew of one surgeon at the time (pre internet) and he was pretty bad)

My advice to myself pre-SRS would be "don't." I should have done more to deal with the issues that were pushing me to have SRS when it wasn't what I actually wanted for my own body.