Hello everyone. My name is Maiara, im 32, I work as a physician (GP) im on HRT since 28 years old.
I used to come here often during my early stages of transition. As time went, I got so busy with graduation and SRS seemed far away. I felt I didn't have much to contribute to the forum at the time, I was often tired and though, now and then people did post asking for help related to hormones, so often it was so away from my own experiences, diferent countries and realities you know, I didn't feel I could help much. So I stoppped posting, but every now and then Id always come by to post
After graduation and getting a job as a GP, I began saving money for SRS and researching for a suitable surgeon.I live in Brazil and as far as I am aware doing surgery here is a turkey shoot. So I looked abroad and eventually set my eyes on Thai doctors. Namely, Suporn, Kamol and Saran.
Suporn, even if I could wait to afford him, I felt was overpriced. Sure, great looking vulva IMO... it is said he does a deeper vaginal canal than the others. However, as he charges double of what Kamol andSaran charges,basically, I felt it was not worth it. Anyway, to make it short, eventually I settled for Kamol.
I'm married for two years, and my wife told me she felt it would be nice if we did a bit of tourism before going to the clinic. And so we did. Thailand is an amazing country... we arrivied in Bangkok and stayed at Ibis Riverside with a great cost benefit to rest from the 20 hour long flight. It had a great befenit for low cost and we were surprised. The next morning we left for Krabi and the amazing beaches of Thailand. We went to Railay Beach, Laem Tong Beach in Phi phi don, stopped a bit at the phi phi village as well, then we did a bit of sightseeing to bamboo island, mosquisto island and maya bay.
Before heading back to bangkok, we went to Chiang Mai for two days as well. During our stay there we got the news that my partner would have to return to Brazil on the 9 of march because her medical license had been called off. We received this news on the 3rd of march. It was a huge letdown and we didn't know yet what to do about it, as my surgery was scheduled for the 7th
Why do I say this? It is not my intention to write atravel blogto any of you. We used about 12 days to do all of this, and Thailand is a very cheap coutry for turism. This time we used to rest from our routine, for reflection on what next steps to take, and hopefully, to arrive at Kamol's clinic with a clear view of what his clinic truly was. We never forgot we were in a foregin country, with competely diferente standards of medical care than we are used to in our western world.
My wife was very worried about me, through she'd often just enjoy our vacation. She was worried I'd pick a wrong decision. She is not agains't my CRS... she just wantsme to choose the right doctor and moment, instead of just jumping in some kind of bandwagon and doing something I'd regret forever.
Her worries increased because there was someone else from Brazil who went there to Kamol. She sent back a picture of hervulva. Through the uretra and clitoris were normal,the vaginal canal had a fairly open O shape and you could see edema and granulation tissue. This was one year after the procedure. In my opiniion it was a good result, but in hers it was not acceptable.
As we arrived from Chiang Mai in Bangkok, the clinic was supposed to have a driver waiting for us somewhere. But my cellphone was low onbattery from our vacation in Chiang Mai. I didn't remember in what airport gate the driver was supposed to be and so we had to take a cab. The driver barely spoke any english, he had a very hard time to find the clinic even though we had a map and its written adress in both english and Thai. On top of it, I think he overcharged us for the ride.Anyway, we arrived there at 11 pm. It is a seven story tall building, thuogh not exactly in the most modern side of Bangkok, its not too far off.
The clinic was dead silent, and anight guard opened the front gate for us. They have a floor dedicated as a hotel and we stayed there. The room is large, like a luxury hotel room, with jacuzzi and everything. However, it was smelly and a bit sufocating. I don't know what kind fo smell it is, but I guess it was a mix of bathroom smell, medication smell and onions. We turned on the air conditioner and opened the windows, what helped a bit. The sight to the town outisde was gloomy as we saw only old and dirt buildings.
So ok, by now my partner was freaking out. I still thought, even if the clinic is not in the best side of Bangkok he could still be a good doctor. We had an argument that night, barely had any sleep and woke up next morning early for breakfast. Breakfast they gave us what stuff from seveneleven, juice, a banana yogurt and a sandwich.
I'm used to eating very well at breakfast. Im a active person. So after eating I was still hungry.
Anyway, on our hotel floor there was a table with "information" written in front of it and a guy behind it. So we went there. We asked the person if they knew when was the doctor's appointment, and if it was somehow possible for us to look at the nursery rooms as we were worried about how the post op care was. He said appointment began at 10pm, and as far as heknew we could not be at the nursery room without going through a procedure... we couldask dr Kamol about it though.
This person had very very basic english and it took a while to understand him and get this info.
We went for the doctors appointment. We had to do some bureacratic stuff with the nurses, ID CHECK and such. After this process, we had to go back to our room to get a doc we forgot, and noticed I had also forgot my room key inside my room. Someone from their cleaning staff was passing by and we askedher for help. We thought she had understood us, she took us tothe elevator and took us to the nursery room. I don't know why she lead us there, but we were curious to see what the other floors looked like.
It was clean, very quiet, not very different from the 7th floor. We walked to the end of the corridor and back. All patients inside seemed to be sleeping. We saw about 6 nurses on the floor, it had about 10 rooms, 2 beds per room, though only 3 people were there as patients in that morning. Most of the nurses seemed very young. Anyway, regular hospital floor is what I saw.
They don't have a intensive care unit on their clinic, though there is an ambulance parked outisde. I don'tknow how far away is the nearest major hospital. Anyway, I see SRS as a major procedure, and it can be life threatning. In any procedure of this size, it is relatively common for some patients to need intensive care for one day before they go to a standard nursery room. This made me feel unsafe.
We left to get the room key back and finish the signing of docs. Soon after we had the doctors appointment. Kamol greeted us and he was fairly empathic at first, although he was surprised I was marriedto a woman and wanted to go through SRS. He spoke only very basic english. Although he was surprised, he never asked just why I wanted to go undergo SRS, through he wanted to know if my wife agreed with it. Then he said "you have psychiatrist letter, so no problem for me". He asked if had BA and I wanted to do the procedure together with SRS, I said no.
I dont want to do BA for personal reasons, I have small breasts from hormones and I love them.
He asked me to lay down for examination, I did so, asked a few quick questions, then we were back by his table. Then he told us ad he said EXACTLY THIS "If you want cut cut then I cut cut, no problem for me " then He went through a very brief explanation of his technique and told me I didnt have much skin that he could construct a 13 cm long vaginal canal. Then he completed "after cut cut, hormones for life, no going back"
I was shockedand forgot to ask some stuff I wanted to, including about the post op care, and also about the doctor who would do anesthesia. There was no appointment with the anesthesist schedule,what rang another alarm bell for me.
After this, we were off. Personally. I found his posture a bit unprofessional. It is not only the quick motion of the appointment, I felt this doctor barely scratched through my medical history and reasons for this. Basically, I felt he didn't care. As someone from medical background I know that some surgeons are fairly quick with their appointments, and some of them are good surgeons, but it is only logical that someone who is so quick about this also will be quick and superficial when analyzing patient outcome and that the post op care can be lacking, the doc won't care either way.
Still in the reception, we saw a book with some after pictures. The vulva that was there was like the one my friend sent me. Thevaginal canal was enlarged, brown, and there seemed to be some granulation tissue inside it, with a bit of edema just under in the skin between the vagina and anus. The major lips seemed to have saggy skin, though its hard to tellby the picture only. All these, we had seen in the picture my friend from Brazil had sent to us from her surgery.
I had blood taken and a torax x ray the same day. All quick and professional, nice staff, nothing to add there.
So after all this, we went to Bangkok International aiport because my wife had to get back home earlier thanexpected due to the problem I mentioned earlier. At first we were going to change her ticket only. But add to it that there is no way in hell she'd leave me alone there, as we didnt get a good impression of kamol and his clinic, and she'd lsoe her job if she didnt get back. Her english inst good, its limited, so it would be risky for her to take all the trip back alone.
We were eating at the starbucks, we hug each other there, cried, and decided to go back home together. After we finished our meal, we went to the airplane company office and changed both tickets. I was crying and shaking, but felt it was the right decision.
We told the clinic we'd quit from phone call, no refunds,no hasle either.
I left Thailand sad and disapointed, but at the same relieved and feeling it was the right decision. Even if it was somewhere that made me feel safe, I could not have my partner lose her job over it. This also is a one time deal, and I can always earn all the money I used back, but I cant do the surgery over again if its botched.
I feel Dr Kamol can be a good choice if you live in Asia and if you can't afford other surgeons, as he is cheaper. I think it its possible for someone to arrive in Bangkok after the long flight, be unsure about the procedure or not due to how the clinic is set up,but end doing it anyway just to not waste the flight, time and money. It takes a while for you to get used to the timezone and your bearings straight once you arrive, so under the excitement of SRS a lot can be missed and not spotted.
I have to leave for lunch now. Im at work... i will finish writting later. I hope all girls who read what I wrote so far find it helpful. Im notagainst anyone going to Kamol. I just want people to be aware of what they are doing. I was lucky to have someone beside me so I didn't feel too vulnerable and didnt do the procedure just cause I was there.
