Good luck Sis,

Thinking of you

Hugs and Kisses

Cindy

Has anyone heard from Suzi,

I hope all has went well and you are just now spending your time relaxing and healing.


Isabell

I'm back at Dr. Rumer's recovery center from the hospital. I'm pretty comfortable sitting on a doughnut cushion I brought from home. There is another patient here, someone who had SRS and FFS.

The hospital stay was largely unremarkable. Most of the nurses were really terrific though there was one I got a really bad feeling about. The hardest part about the hospital was that Dr. Rumer wanted me flat on my back for the full three days. They didn't even have me sitting up until this morning. I'm sure it helps healing, but I never realized how the ability to make minor shifts to my position promotes comfort. The first day I was getting all sorts of muscle cramps and kinks. I talked to the doctor when she came to see me on the second day and she OKed my lying on my side with a pillow between my legs. Every hour or so I'd buzz the nurse (those poor nurses) and have them shift me from one side to the other. Once I discovered this, I was A LOT more comfortable.

Dr. Rumer came in every morning to take a look at the site. She told me she was pleased with how things are going and that I should expect to be really happy with my result. She told me not to expect much for the first three months ("It'll look like a Frankenpussy", she said). I haven't looked yet, but the nurse who was checking the dressing told me it looked really natural.

Now I'm back at the recovery center. I'd been warned how agonizing the two flights of stairs would be three days post-op, but it was no big deal. Actually, I'll have to say that, other than having to stay still in the hospital, nothing has been a big deal. The pain has been manageable. The one time it got intense was when one of the nurses accidentally jolted the catheter and I suddenly felt pain in a place that I never before had. Otherwise, the feelings I have down there are quite strange. They're sort of like pinpricks in places that I know I don't have any more. I'm curious what it will feel like in the end – what my nervous system will make of the way things have been rearranged – but time will have to tell.

Dr. Rumer plans to leave the drains in one more day. My understanding is that the catheter will stay in place until I'm a week post-op, after which she removes the packing and instructs me on dilation and the real fun begins.

Suzi,

Glad things so fare are going good. Take the time to relax and get your walking in. It will help with the healing. Do what the doctor asks and get yourself ready for the joy of dilation.

Speed in recovery
Hugs
Isabell

Congratulations!
As a newly postop girl myself, all I can say is: endurance is good! Stick with it and things'll be good, even when it hurts like hell.

Very excitd for you suzi and thank you for sharing your experience in detai, I think that way we can expect the realities of healing will happen and be prepared for them, congratulations on the new you x x

It is so wonderful to hear that all went well and WELCOME TO THE OTHER SIDE sis.  Getting to turn on my side was a big moment too, oh the relief!!  Each day you will know it is getting better.  Like Isabell said, do get out walking, it really helps you gain strength again, and keeps you off the painy spot!  It takes a while to figure out where sensations are really coming from but they will sort themselves out. 

Speedy recovery to you!!

Congrats Suzi.

Thinking of you

Hugs

Just had a skype session with Suzi. She is doing great.
Very happy, tired but going really well.

I am so glad that it went well Suzi. Frankenpussy?  Sounds like your doctor has a great sense of humor.

Omg im so happy to hear everything is going well.. I'm scheduled for srs with her in September

Congrats Suzi    Best wishes to heal quickly

Hugs

Dr. Rumer came in to see me again today, but is not removing the drains. I know she told me yesterday she would do that today. When I asked her whether she saw something that caused her to delay a day, she told me, no, she just wanted to do it tomorrow.

I'm disappointed. I was hoping not to spend another night worrying about where the drain hoses were when I tossed in my sleep, but I'll have to live with it.

I packed ridiculously in hindsight. What I really need is a bunch of grungy sweatshirts and sweatpants, but somehow it didn't occur to me to pack them. I assumed (1) it would be hot (the center is heavily air-conditioned) so t-shirts would be enough and (2) that it wouldn't be as messy.

The other people here are grousing about their not being enough supplies up here - paper towels, toilet paper etc., and why couldn't Dr. Rumer's people provide them. My friend went out and bought more of each. I had been warned about this ahead of time so I didn't expect much (easy for me to say, I'm not the one that has to go out and buy everything).

I hope you a speedy recovery!

Also frankenpussy is about the funniest thing ever lol but from pics I have seen of the recently post OP accurate. I do wonder if people really expect things to just look all healed after the surgery lol

Suze, Zoe, I'm tearing up, knowing you are finally where you want to be (ok, well, really in a few months from now), but you're in my prayers for a speedy, incomplicated recovery!  Hugs, sis's!  <3

 Thanks for the update!
Drains? I've never heard of them being used in SRS before. Are they commonly used? Sounds uncomfortable, for sure. You must feel like a science project, with all those tubes (catheter and drains) comming out of your crotch. :/

About a half hour ago, Dr. Rumer came in and examined the site, declaring it looked fine. She then removed both drains. This was the most painful moment so far in the whole process, but didn't last long. I feel a lot more free without them, now that two thirds of the things hanging off my body are gone.

She also emptied the garbage basket in our room.

This is a good time to talk about the fact that the entire office is (necessarily) run on a shoestring. She caters to transgender people and cosmetic surgery clients who have saved up for the largely uninsured procedures she offers, so she needs to keep her prices down. It's clearly a family operation. Her husband is her business manager (former aerospace engineer) and her stepdaughter runs the reception desk.

That's the reason why accommodations in the recovery area are so basic. There are multiple schools of thought on this, but I'm inclined to see it as a good thing. If prices for SRS and other gender-confirming procedures stay low, more of us will be able to have them. Would it be better to have a modern facility with round-the-clock nursing care? Sure, but if it raised the price of SRS a few thousand, how many others would not be able to afford it?

The legal basis by which we occupy this room is interesting. The surgery fee reasonably included nine days of consultative care, which included the pre-surgery exam, exams for each of the three hospital days, and for each of the five days in the recovery center. Once this package is included, the rooms (for all nine days, including the day before surgery) come with no charge. According to the documents, we are "guests" in Dr. Rumer's home. I imagine this eliminates the need for her to get licensure as some time of in-patient facility or perhaps even as a boarding house.

Quote from: Pickles on June 23, 2014, 01:18:24 PM
Drains? I've never heard of them being used in SRS before. Are they commonly used?

After seeing your post, I asked Dr. Rumer whether drains were standard for this type of surgery. It's her understanding that they are.

Quote from: Pickles on June 23, 2014, 01:18:24 PM
Thanks for the update!
Drains? I've never heard of them being used in SRS before. Are they commonly used? Sounds uncomfortable, for sure. You must feel like a science project, with all those tubes (catheter and drains) comming out of your crotch. :/

Yes Drains are very common in GCS. I only had 1 but it was not uncomfortable until it was removed.

Felt like burning as it was pulled out but pain only lasted a minute or two.

Isabell.

I had another surgeon from Suzi and Isabell, and yes I had a drain.  Drain removal was a definite YIPE moment as a suture was dug out of swollen skin and snipped, and then the pulling out that Isabell described.  Mine had been a suction bulb on a long tube that a nurse emptied every shift change. It came out the day I was discharged from the hospital.

Dr. Rumer saw me again yesterday, asked me to hold off one more day before trying to figure out what I was shaped like. Today, the catheter comes out (Aagh!!! Spray Pee Syndrome! Save me! The other post-op who was here recommended holding a huge wad of TP above the area so no fluid escapes upward.) Also today, the packing comes out meaning my dilation adventure begins.