Good luck with your surgery!

Dr. McGinn did mine back in June and I'm happy with it. The nurses at Lower Bucks were wonderful especially Susan and  Kimme!

Your mother can stay in the room with you apparently as a friend of mine stayed there with me and they'll provide the meals too. I didn't have to pay extra for this either. Saved on the  hotel/taxi fees, especially as she doesn't drive.

Diana at Gaia House is also fantastic! The breakfasts are out of this world.

Wishing you good thoughts on your surgery!

Love,
Clare

I wish I had seen this earlier and could have added more information for you but the first 3 weeks are the worst of all before you begin to feel better.

It's done...omg.  YES!!!!

The moments leading up to the surgery were so tense but the staff here has been so kind to me during check in and what not.  There were people all around me for quite some time in the prep room but all the hospital staff were so reassuring in the moments before.  Last thing I remembered was lackadaisically lying down on the surgery table after they wheeled me to the OR on a mobile bed.

Fyi: If you're looking for extreme handholding from the surgeon (which i wasn't). Mcginn is not necessarily for you...albeit, maybe that was also because I didn't really need it as I was relatively resolved and calm; both Heather and Mcginn did maybe a little handholding but both were also straight and to the point during the prep time.  Truly professional though and heather and I spoke about our shared status as Penn State alums.  They gave me plenty of time to think about everything and the complications up until the last minute.  We went over everything and was able to make an informed final decision.

Surgery was about 3.5 hours, I was unconscious/semi-conscious for about 5.  No immediate complications except apparently they had to use extra stitches inside my vagina while working on me.  Waking up in the post-op room was kinda uncomfortable but I'm better now in the patient room.

So I'm quite weak atm and lying in my patient bed.  So far, pain has been minimal except for the fact I'm stuck on my butt on a semi-hard bed (and I lost my fat cushioning via weight loss).  Nurse is saying that is actually my vagina/vulva, but hey, I can't tell where it is because I have seen it yet.  Regardless,  I haven't had to use the morphine pump at all and my family has been hanging out with me in the patient room since I woke up.  My mom, father, and my fathers gf are all here for me...this is usually like never the case due to their difficult divorce years ago.  It is crazy, this surgery has brought them all together behind me and has made everything so much easier so far .

Otherwise, some other stuff.  They used a lot of lubricant on my eyes during anesthesia and I still have some below my eyes I think but i don't really care.  Mouth is really dry but the occasional ice tastes awesome.  Furthermore, magnesium citrate (grape from cvs) bowel prep last night was easy...but the enema this morning, I had trouble using it and eventually my mom had to assist me.  The enema was only horrible part of the prep imho.

The hospital itself furthermore is in an iffy area but don't let that fool you.  It is modern and very clean and staffed.  Quiet atm too .  Much better than this one hospital in New Rochelle my mom went to for foot surgery, and got c diff/ischemic colitis at it :/ lol.  You can also, fyi: Consider having family staying further north near sesame place if you can handle the drive, there's apparently a nice Sheraton there (local motels/hotels near the hotel are iffy).

Congratulations!

Congratulations and welcome to the posties club

Hope recovery goes well for you

Hugs

Sorcha 

Congrats! So excited for you! I wish you a speedy recovery!

Congratulations!!!!

The worst is over. 

Hugs

Jen

This is really encouraging. Thanks for sharing. I am scared stiff of the pain. But I want it gone so bad and my correctly reconstructed organ in its place. I may start the ball rolling with her to see what I need to do.

And congratulations to you! Must be a real relief that the big part is over...

Some information was apparently withheld, I learned more this afternoon.

I heard about "extra stitches" in the primary recovery room as I was waking up.  Turns out what actually happened was more than that.  Due to weight loss, the ligaments that held my rectum near my bladder were pretty loose.  Mcginn overtore them slightly making room for the vaginal cavity, and repaired it in the Operating Room with a four layer graft of muscle fibers and such.

She ran a dye test in the OR to determine the existence of a fistula, it was sealed tight, no fistula.  However, because of the extra work, I will be stuck in bed at the hospital during my entire inpatient stay and will also have the packing replaced, rather than removed during the first post op appt.  I then am going to have to return a week later to have the new packing removed and then start dilating.

So, I unfortunately won't really be eating much except ensure at the bnb (as that is easy on the colon) as we need the rectum to heal fully and I don't want to end up with a colostomy bag...at least she was more than qualified to make the correction during the surgery though.

A positive though, I asked if the stretched skin due to weight loss allowed her to be generous with the labia minora on my vulva (given her technique using mainly stretched penis skin for that area).  She said yes, and despite the complications, said I made the right decision to lose all that weight.  She was able to do quite well on aesthetics.  Just hoping my lower digestive tract heals well.

Congratulations on the completion of your surgery. You are in good hands with both Heather and Dr. McGinn. I found the hardest part of my hospital stay was staying on my back all the time!

If any of your nurses are named Susan or Kimme, let them know Clare from back in June says hello!

Good luck girl!!!! and best wishes for a perfect recovery..
Keri

Recovery in my case is getting difficult.

I had horrible GI problems last night.  I couldn't sleep even after I took two ambiens prescribed by the nurse.  It felt like acid reflux and gas.  Even after taking iv meds for both gas and reflux, still had issues sleeping.  The only reason I think I was able to finally stay asleep is because I went delirious from the pain...at least the pain went away when I woke up, especially since I was given permission to use a bedpan to let out the gas.

Now I'm supposed to be on a liquid diet as today is goal discharge day, but **** it is difficult to eat, especially after the total freak out last night.  I however just have to be extra cautious, this recovery is much harder than I anticipated it would be.  I mean, I never read anything about major gi problems from friends or anecdotes online...so (wish I did but no one wrote about it or told me, ugggh)

At least the pain down in my genital area is literally nothing and just w/e.  Furthermore, they had me walk around the patient wing today, I was able to do it but my vision was blurry and it was nauseating.

Being told over and over now to drink a boost nutritional drink, wish me luck now cuz I have to...*GULP*.

Good Luck!

It will take time but it will get better!!!!

Hugs

Jen

Omg...just

Holy ****, it took forever but I'm out of the hospital.  Also, the issue during my last post was really just TREMENDOUS GAS after three days straight bedrest.  Right before I left the hospital, I sat on the toilet (as I finally had permission), I literally just exploded poop, and just RELIEF.  It literally sounded like an eruption, my mom flushed it before I could see it though hah.  (I guess I had a lot difficulty pooping into the bedpan)

Then, more fun but I made it...if you've been watching the news right now we're being hit hurricane Joaquin/a nor'easter.  Therefore, getting to the bnb (especially walking from the car lot into the front entrance of the bnb) was extrenuating.  I had to hold the umbrella as it was too small to cover both of us, plus I was freezing cold as I walked from the car to the front door in nothing but PJ's and a snuggie.  Once we were inside and upstairs though (climb was really tough), just lol...GAIA is super clean, modern, shnazzy, a RECOVERY PARADISE.  Even more so too, my mom looked at the extra bed in the Grand Riverview room and immediately and spoke with the bnb keeper as she figured she'd have issues sleeping on it.  They let us just simply move to the two rooms across the hall (which are adjoined with a door) given her request for real bed.  It's all good now, so glad I'm out of the hospital, it must've been having more of an effect on my morale than I realized.

Only real issue now is that my legs tingle like hell because they've been in pressure wraps for days.  They're also quite itchy...meh.

Oh and funny addition, with the catheter in (possibly for another week and a half in my case in fact). I have to pee standing up...LOL.  Getting up is very doable with assistance right now so it's no big deal though.  I know there's a vulva down there, just a week and a half of auto-pee out of a capped tube (you don't use your bladder sphincter to pee with a catheter, it just comes out).

That is some serious irony...

Quote from: TG CLare on September 29, 2015, 02:09:30 PM
Good luck with your surgery!

Dr. McGinn did mine back in June and I'm happy with it. The nurses at Lower Bucks were wonderful especially Susan and  Kimme!

Your mother can stay in the room with you apparently as a friend of mine stayed there with me and they'll provide the meals too. I didn't have to pay extra for this either. Saved on the  hotel/taxi fees, especially as she doesn't drive.

Diana at Gaia House is also fantastic! The breakfasts are out of this world.

Wishing you good thoughts on your surgery!

Love,
Clare

I wish I had seen this earlier and could have added more information for you but the first 3 weeks are the worst of all before you begin to feel better.

Lol, she said you came down to visit yesterday or the day before (days are still rolling together) before your post-op checkup and that you said hi .  So, hi back .

Yes btw I can concur that the cream of wheat and especially the yogurt here are fantastic!  It's all I can unfortunately eat now though.

Btw: goodness this packing is getting tiring.  I had a freakout last night due to an incessant feeling of butterflies in my torso, hot flashes and sweating...I calmed down about it, tried to go back to sleep.  When I got up (I really can't tell if I really slept) I came to a conclusion given tremors I could see in the daylight that it was hypoglycemia.  Jeez Apple/cranberry juice was like pure adrenaline in my system when I had it!

Also as I peed a little blood 20 min ago, given specific instructions I recalled to call if you pee blood, I called the PA.  She said that was normal as the catheter was in so long.  But good god, I nearly fainted in panic after that yelling at my mom to pull my pj's up already so I could roll back into bed.

Thus, I guess I can conclude that recovery even at the Gaia is hard, but damn I'm looking forward to the first post-op appt tomorrow.  I want to see my vulva already even if it looks like a bruised tomato!  The packing is like a gift wrap I've been told I can't open on a long awaited present!

Omg...
The results I got to see today after removing the packing...I was expecting a bruised tomato.  As McGinn herself put it though, nope, it's frankenpussy!  To think I half expected to still see a penis down there given the like 5 lbs of packing and gauze she put over my vulva (god it made a massive bulge in my pjs).  Nope!!!

Removal of the packing was four seriously sharp snips (for the packing), and a tremendous 2 second sting for catheter removal (re-insertion was worse, 5 seconds and in two directions as she had to pull to adjust the catheter, and yes I'm still catheterized, will explain...).  She then tweezed off several blood clots and pulled out lots of bloody gauze .

I must've followed recovery instructions well as there was minimal bruising, and she seriously got some exceptional external appearance, behind the hairy labia majora (haven't shaved for two weeks given she specifically states to shave exactly 7 days before surgery) my labia minora are indeed quite well defined and go all the way to the bottom of the vaginal opening, they don't stick out of the majora when I stand but meh, kinda to be expected...they are VISIBLE though when I stand though!!  My clitoris is also rather sensate (I literally jumped when she prodded it) and visible+hooded in my vulva. Depth was around 5 inches.  There is like no hair around the vaginal opening, albeit there may be some in my labia minora further up (which was originally the base of the penis...see her site, kinda predictable as she said that hair is hard to treat). That is ofc treatable after surgery...but we need to see if there is other regrowth later.

Regardless, good god, the whole endeavor was exhilarating and also I felt like a lab rat.  So many new sensations at once, and finally seeing a vagina/no penis down there under the packing...I nearly fainted.  My mom and McGinn were having a discussion after the fact and I like had to tell McGinn three times to get her attention, "Hey can I get some water?!". Lol.

But yeah, we however did not go over dilation, instead, I actually had new sterile gauze inserted into my vagina and the catheter put back in.  We didn't sew it back in though. The reason was related to the earlier hiccup in surgery, McGinn really wants my rectum to heal WELL after the enterotomy she performed to correct it in the operating room (dilation could cause issues with that due to proximity).  She did however assure me given the packing, I won't lose depth.  I might have a little less in the end though given now is expansion time, but you know what, it's probably more important that I don't start defecating out of my beautiful new vulva! (Tbh, I probably don't have a lot of room for expansion in there anyway, nature did not gift me with anything other than slender hips and broad shoulders, ugggghhh).  She is having me actually hold the packing in with a clean finger when I stand to use the toilet/pee/shower, so I guess I'll still get acquainted with where my new introitus is (look for the bottom of the minora, I've noticed is a good way to do it).  Otherwise, I'm on bed rest another week and still on a liquid diet, woo!  She also convinced my fam to have me stay in new hope rather than shlep three times to Manhattan (there, back, and there again) until Monday (thank goodness!)

If you have any medical knowledge, you might also be wondering with this setup, what about toxic shock syndrome?  Well, she actually put me on another antibiotic (was originally on flagyl only, now flagyl and bactrum), plus the gauze was literally soaked in antibiotics overnight, so I should be good, albeit ridiculously queasy.

So, this part of recovery should be annoying, but relaxing...so glad there's nothing between my legs now except a semi permanent max absorbency gauze tampon and a thin maxi pad.    We're also holding it together with spanx.  Just need to pretend I'm now having a week long super messy period (in a way I kinda am with all the blood) and pee out of a catheter for another week.  My spirits are higher than ever! .

Through all the details, it really feels like I can picture what's going on, and I crave my own appointment with McGinn like never before, lol.  Even through all the "horror stories" you're telling us, it all sounds so worth it.  Thank you, thank you.  I hope you continue to have a smooth recovery!

There are studies showing the tissue of a neovagina can over months turn into a mucosa with hormonal influence.
And mucosa has no hairs 

Some people use an estrogen crem additionally to hrt from time to time in the vagina.
It should be estrogen cream from a gyn, over the counter cream usually does not content enough estrogen.


hugs

You had a little trouble but it was fixed. You'll be inconvenienced a bit, but WOW. It is done! It's all upside from now on sister. You have what you've always wanted. You are YOU! Congrats, although belated.

Cindi