Hi everyone,

I had a consultation with Rachel Bluebond-Langner on December 12, 2017, and it was great. I was impressed with her, Dr. Zhao, and the staff so much that I decided to have my surgery with her before the appointment was over. They preauthorized my insurance and called me on December 28 with a surgery date of February 8, with my pre op appointment and tests being on February 6. Now I'm working on getting some blood work and a medical clearance from my PCP, which shouldn't be difficult. I'm excited and happy that I'm finally going to have the surgery after 2 1/2 years of HRT, but I'm also nervous and scared. I guess it's the usual fears: what if the anesthesia kills me, what if something goes wrong and my vagina looks terrible, what if there's a post op complication and I have months of pain, etc. I also absolutely DO NOT want her medical students observing my post op exams. The thought of being on display for a group of students freaks me out. Can I refuse to allow them to observe? I guess this is just normal presurgical jitters. Has anyone had GCS with Bluebond-Langner? If so, was it a good experience overall?

I had surgery with another doctor but some of your fears are pretty common. For healthy people, surgery is very safe. Often surgical numbers include people who are at risk but need to get surgery because of serious issues. There is one thing you lose is often not mentioned and that is your modesty. Between doctors and nurses regularly checking the surgical site, after a few days you are ready to walk out the door naked. Just remember they are checking to ensure healing is progressing correctly and they are not there for a peep show.

Quote from: Dena on January 09, 2018, 05:32:31 PM
I had surgery with another doctor but some of your fears are pretty common. For healthy people, surgery is very safe. Often surgical numbers include people who are at risk but need to get surgery because of serious issues. There is one thing you lose is often not mentioned and that is your modesty. Between doctors and nurses regularly checking the surgical site, after a few days you are ready to walk out the door naked. Just remember they are checking to ensure healing is progressing correctly and they are not there for a peep show.

You have to dance for the medical staff?  Just kidding.  Peep Shows - think I saw one when I watched the movie "Porky's".

Quote from: Dena on January 09, 2018, 05:32:31 PM
I had surgery with another doctor but some of your fears are pretty common. For healthy people, surgery is very safe. Often surgical numbers include people who are at risk but need to get surgery because of serious issues. There is one thing you lose is often not mentioned and that is your modesty. Between doctors and nurses regularly checking the surgical site, after a few days you are ready to walk out the door naked. Just remember they are checking to ensure healing is progressing correctly and they are not there for a peep show.

I read online that people with high blood pressure are at risk of dying during surgery, and I have high blood pressure. After googling high blood pressure and the risks of anesthesia for a while, I think I convinced myself I was going to never wake up. I know people with high blood pressure have surgery successfully every day, but I keep finding things to worry about now that I have a surgery date, I guess.

I've never been comfortable with medical students being in the exam room with me and observing while I was receiving medical care. I've never allowed it, actually. I know they have to learn, but my attitude has always been they can learn on other patients. My husband is the opposite of me. He can have an army of people in the room observing him and he couldn't care less. He told me that considering the shortage of GRS surgeons in this country and the need for quality health care for trans people, he thinks I should make an exception and allow the medical students to observe my post op examinations. I don't know, though. I think I'm going to need to discuss this with Dr. Bluebond-Langner.

I had my GCS with Dr Bluebond-Langner 10 weeks ago and I can confidently tell you that you are in good hands. I had a lot of the same concerns as you did. The medical students thing isn't that bad and became routine in the mornings. They came in two groups (Dr Bluebond-Langner's Team and Dr Zhao's Team) around 7:30 in the mornings to look at how things were healing.

I had very little pain from the surgery itself, the worst was the gas from the anesthesia and the car ride from the hospital to home. (I live 25-30min away in NJ.) The only pain medication I was on was Tylenol but Oxycodone was available to me.

After 3½ weeks I was moving around pretty good and even started driving. I have full sensation and have already experience a few orgasms post-op. The first one post-op blew me away and I cried in happy tears.

Quote from: Sydney_NYC on January 09, 2018, 09:56:32 PM
I had my GCS with Dr Bluebond-Langner 10 weeks ago and I can confidently tell you that you are in good hands. I had a lot of the same concerns as you did. The medical students thing isn't that bad and became routine in the mornings. They came in two groups (Dr Bluebond-Langner's Team and Dr Zhao's Team) around 7:30 in the mornings to look at how things were healing.

I had very little pain from the surgery itself, the worst was the gas from the anesthesia and the car ride from the hospital to home. (I live 25-30min away in NJ.) The only pain medication I was on was Tylenol but Oxycodone was available to me.

After 3½ weeks I was moving around pretty good and even started driving. I have full sensation and have already experience a few orgasms post-op. The first one post-op blew me away and I cried in happy tears.

Thank you, Sydney. Did the medical students just stand around and gawk at you? Did they examine you, or was it like a Q and A session between them and the surgeons like on Grey's Anatomy? Did you feel like you were being treated in a respectful manner? Did you have a private room post op, or did they put you in with a roommate? I'm having a hard time with this at the moment because I've always valued my privacy and I've never allowed medical students in my exam rooms or in my hospital rooms. I've thrown medical students out of my exam rooms before, actually. This surgery is so very intimate to me. My husband thinks I should allow the medical students in because it would be an opportunity to do my part to improve trans medical care in this country.

My husband is going to be terrified to go anywhere near my vagina for a while. He's going to be afraid of hurting me, I know it. It's amazing you've already had several orgasms. Based on my current sexual functioning, Dr. Bluebond-Langner thinks I'll have good sexual function post op. I hope so.

Congrats on the upcoming date!

What you might want to do is look into the anesthesiologist a bit, and ask if they have experience with patients with high blood pressure. I've heard a number of times not to just trust what surgeons or other doctors have to say about anesthesia, they tend to be a bit nonchalant about it. Which isn't to say you should worry, the overwhelming majority of the time anything serious that happens under anesthesia is because it is being given during an already dire surgery where a high rate of complications exist. While stuff can happen with even less dangerous procedures, the rate is astronomically low.

I apologize for a semi hijacky question, but I am curious though, is Bluebond-Langner known for good cosmetic results? I have been doing a lot of random research lately, and the questionable realism of some doctors' work has my anxiety up (but that mostly seems to be the Thai surgeons, who typically are more public with their before and afters than the western ones). I am looking for names to file away for future reference.

Quote from: Roll on January 09, 2018, 11:55:06 PM
Congrats on the upcoming date!

What you might want to do is look into the anesthesiologist a bit, and ask if they have experience with patients with high blood pressure. I've heard a number of times not to just trust what surgeons or other doctors have to say about anesthesia, they tend to be a bit nonchalant about it. Which isn't to say you should worry, the overwhelming majority of the time anything serious that happens under anesthesia is because it is being given during an already dire surgery where a high rate of complications exist. While stuff can happen with even less dangerous procedures, the rate is astronomically low.

I apologize for a semi hijacky question, but I am curious though, is Bluebond-Langner known for good cosmetic results? I have been doing a lot of random research lately, and the questionable realism of some doctors' work has my anxiety up (but that mostly seems to be the Thai surgeons, who typically are more public with their before and afters than the western ones). I am looking for names to file away for future reference.

Thank you!

That's a good idea. I understand that extra care needs to be taken with patients who have high blood pressure and go under anesthesia, so I'm going to prepare a list of questions about it for my pre op appointment. I want to be thorough.

Dr. Bluebond-Langner is gaining a reputation for being among the best in her field, and her results, based on the pictures I've seen, are outstanding. I had several consults with other surgeons and I spent about a year researching surgeons all over the US, and I chose Bluebond-Langner. I was impressed with everyone in her office, including the front desk staff. I think the main reason I'm getting nervous and maybe a bit panicky now is because I was under the impression that she had a one year waiting list for surgery, so I was expecting to have surgery around the beginning of next year. Instead, I'm having surgery next month. I'm happy to finally be close to my goal, but I wasn't prepared for things to move so quickly. I guess she got through her waiting list. Dr. Bluebond-Langner accepts many different types of insurance from all over the country with no prepayment of surgical fees upfront, which is another reason I chose her.

Quote from: AliyahL on January 09, 2018, 11:02:37 PM
Thank you, Sydney. Did the medical students just stand around and gawk at you? Did they examine you, or was it like a Q and A session between them and the surgeons like on Grey's Anatomy? Did you feel like you were being treated in a respectful manner? Did you have a private room post op, or did they put you in with a roommate? I'm having a hard time with this at the moment because I've always valued my privacy and I've never allowed medical students in my exam rooms or in my hospital rooms. I've thrown medical students out of my exam rooms before, actually. This surgery is so very intimate to me. My husband thinks I should allow the medical students in because it would be an opportunity to do my part to improve trans medical care in this country.

My husband is going to be terrified to go anywhere near my vagina for a while. He's going to be afraid of hurting me, I know it. It's amazing you've already had several orgasms. Based on my current sexual functioning, Dr. Bluebond-Langner thinks I'll have good sexual function post op. I hope so.

I wasn't anything like a Q and A from Grey's Anatomy or Scrubs. Each time someone from the surgical team was leading the students and they would first ask if it was OK to look and show. I had zero exceptions to it and felt I was always treated in a respectful manner. I was always gendered correctly (but I do have passing privilege) and the nursing staff was wonderful.

In the surgical recovery floors (usually floor 12 or 14 are the two they usually use) there are no private rooms as they are all semi-private and each room has only male or female patients. (They of course respected gender identity so you would always be roommates with a another female patient.) I asked for a window bed (which is bed 2 in the rooms) and had 4 different female roommates the time I was there. The first one was there the first 3 days and then I was by myself for a day and later had two different roommates for just a few hours apart each, one was an elderly British woman who had broke her hip and they moved her to a different building for emergency surgery on it and the other short term roommate was an elderly Chinese woman who spoke hardly any English who was moved to ICU after her oxygen levels dropped dangerously low at 3am. (Didn't get much sleep that night.) The last 2 days a young woman who was out of it most of the time. All of them were cis women and they had no clue why I was there except the first roommate as the last night she was there we talked for a while getting to know each other and I told her. She said she would have never known I was trans and was amazed how well I was doing considering how invasive the surgery was performed. She told me she overheard some of the discussion with my doctors and she thought I had a full hysterectomy.

They are building a new building next door where all the rooms are private, but that will not be open until later this year.

Quote from: Sydney_NYC on January 10, 2018, 10:09:39 PM
I wasn't anything like a Q and A from Grey's Anatomy or Scrubs. Each time someone from the surgical team was leading the students and they would first ask if it was OK to look and show. I had zero exceptions to it and felt I was always treated in a respectful manner. I was always gendered correctly (but I do have passing privilege) and the nursing staff was wonderful.

In the surgical recovery floors (usually floor 12 or 14 are the two they usually use) there are no private rooms as they are all semi-private and each room has only male or female patients. (They of course respected gender identity so you would always be roommates with a another female patient.) I asked for a window bed (which is bed 2 in the rooms) and had 4 different female roommates the time I was there. The first one was there the first 3 days and then I was by myself for a day and later had two different roommates for just a few hours apart each, one was an elderly British woman who had broke her hip and they moved her to a different building for emergency surgery on it and the other short term roommate was an elderly Chinese woman who spoke hardly any English who was moved to ICU after her oxygen levels dropped dangerously low at 3am. (Didn't get much sleep that night.) The last 2 days a young woman who was out of it most of the time. All of them were cis women and they had no clue why I was there except the first roommate as the last night she was there we talked for a while getting to know each other and I told her. She said she would have never known I was trans and was amazed how well I was doing considering how invasive the surgery was performed. She told me she overheard some of the discussion with my doctors and she thought I had a full hysterectomy.

They are building a new building next door where all the rooms are private, but that will not be open until later this year.

Thank you so much, Sydney. You've put my mind at ease about the hospital stay. It's reassuring to know I can request a window bed and refuse to allow the medical students to observe my post op examinations. I just had this mental image of the surgeons lifting my gown and quizzing the students "Grey's Anatomy" style. 'OK, class. Here's her clitoris. It used to be the head of her penis. Everyone gather around!" I guess my mind has been going to some weird places since I got my surgery date. I'll inquire about a window bed when I go for my pre op appointments on the 6th.

I received my pre op packet today containing the medical clearance forms for my PCP to fill out and an information sheet listing the lab work I need to have done through my PCP's office. My husband has booked us a hotel room in Paramus for the three weeks we'll be in the area, so everything looks like it's working out. I'll be taking my last dose of Estradiol tomorrow, and I'm concerned I'll lose my facial feminization and end up with a masculine face (I've had a lot of facial femininzation from the HRT. Like you, I also have passing privilege), but Dr. Bluebond-Langner said I won't. Still, I have a bit of worry about it. This is all moving so quickly, my head is spinning. Still, I'm glad to be so close to my goal.

Quote from: AliyahL on January 09, 2018, 04:27:23 PM
I also absolutely DO NOT want her medical students observing my post op exams. The thought of being on display for a group of students freaks me out. Can I refuse to allow them to observe? I guess this is just normal presurgical jitters. Has anyone had GCS with Bluebond-Langner? If so, was it a good experience overall?

Dr Bluebond operates out of NYU Medical Center. Its a MAJOR teaching hospital with a worldwide reputation. You WANT to do any major surgery at a teaching hospital where absolutely everything is state of the art.

The young doctors who trail in after Dr Bluebond and Dr Zhao are scary bright young men and women; some of the best and brightest in the nation/world. They always ask about viewing, and its all normally from a distance. They ensure that nothing gets missed!!

This all works in your favor and was a MAJOR reason I had my surgery there last August!!! It may sound foreign now, but if you're at all like me, after you've been poked and prodded for a couple days and excited about any professional reporting on how the healing is going, you just wont care who looks at you . . .

Quote from: AliyahL on January 10, 2018, 11:54:47 PM
...

My husband has booked us a hotel room in Paramus for the three weeks we'll be in the area, so everything looks like it's working out.

Paramus us about 10 min from our house. Paramus is great and cheaper to stay for when you get out of the hospital, but your husband may be better off staying in Manhattan while you are in the hospital and even the days before so you can enjoy NYC between pre-op appointments (you will have two, one with Dr Bluebond-Langner and the other with ambulatory care few blocks away from the hospital where you will have surgery.) From NJ, it costs $15 in tolls (you pay going in but not out) and up to $45/day to park in Manhattan near the hospital. (That why a lot of people take public transportation.) To Uber it will be $75-$100 round trip. However, the trip from the hospital back to the hotel room you will want to take Uber or a car as that is the most unpleasant ride your will ever experience and you want it to be as quick and comfortable as possible. If you decide to stay in Paramus, the hotel may have shuttle service to a NJ Transit Train station or Park & Ride bus terminal and it's only $6-$8 round trip by train and it's walkable from Penn Station to the hospital or a 10 min Uber ride for $12 or less. Buses take you to Port Authority Bus Terminal and you'll want an Uber or cab ride from there. Check with the hotel.

Unfortunately the closest subway stop is about 7 or 8 blocks from the hospital. The East Side of Manhattan stinks for Subway service.

Quote from: AliyahL on January 10, 2018, 11:54:47 PM
I'll be taking my last dose of Estradiol tomorrow, and I'm concerned I'll lose my facial feminization and end up with a masculine face (I've had a lot of facial femininzation from the HRT. Like you, I also have passing privilege), but Dr. Bluebond-Langner said I won't. Still, I have a bit of worry about it. This is all moving so quickly, my head is spinning. Still, I'm glad to be so close to my goal.

She is correct, your face will not change at all. I had the same worry and you can still take Spiro up to your pre-op appointment so your T levels are going to stay relatively low.

You will be fine and yes the head spinning thing is normal, and I was was a nervous wreck leading up to the surgery. Once it's done you will be so relieved.

Quote from: Gail20 on January 11, 2018, 05:50:49 PM
Dr Bluebond operates out of NYU Medical Center. Its a MAJOR teaching hospital with a worldwide reputation. You WANT to do any major surgery at a teaching hospital where absolutely everything is state of the art.

The young doctors who trail in after Dr Bluebond and Dr Zhao are scary bright young men and women; some of the best and brightest in the nation/world. They always ask about viewing, and its all normally from a distance. They ensure that nothing gets missed!!

This all works in your favor and was a MAJOR reason I had my surgery there last August!!! It may sound foreign now, but if you're at all like me, after you've been poked and prodded for a couple days and excited about any professional reporting on how the healing is going, you just wont care who looks at you . . .

You made some good points. It makes me feel a lot better that they ask before viewing. That's much more respectful.

I dropped my pants for half the med students in Boston...you'll live! 

Hugs, Devlyn

Quote from: Sydney_NYC on January 11, 2018, 07:47:29 PM
Paramus us about 10 min from our house. Paramus is great and cheaper to stay for when you get out of the hospital, but your husband may be better off staying in Manhattan while you are in the hospital and even the days before so you can enjoy NYC between pre-op appointments (you will have two, one with Dr Bluebond-Langner and the other with ambulatory care few blocks away from the hospital where you will have surgery.) From NJ, it costs $15 in tolls (you pay going in but not out) and up to $45/day to park in Manhattan near the hospital. (That why a lot of people take public transportation.) To Uber it will be $75-$100 round trip. However, the trip from the hospital back to the hotel room you will want to take Uber or a car as that is the most unpleasant ride your will ever experience and you want it to be as quick and comfortable as possible. If you decide to stay in Paramus, the hotel may have shuttle service to a NJ Transit Train station or Park & Ride bus terminal and it's only $6-$8 round trip by train and it's walkable from Penn Station to the hospital or a 10 min Uber ride for $12 or less. Buses take you to Port Authority Bus Terminal and you'll want an Uber or cab ride from there. Check with the hotel.

Unfortunately the closest subway stop is about 7 or 8 blocks from the hospital. The East Side of Manhattan stinks for Subway service.



She is correct, your face will not change at all. I had the same worry and you can still take Spiro up to your pre-op appointment so your T levels are going to stay relatively low.

You will be fine and yes the head spinning thing is normal, and I was was a nervous wreck leading up to the surgery. Once it's done you will be so relieved.

Thank you so much for all the information about transportation and costs. I'll tell my husband so we can look into all this thoroughly. Because my surgery date is so unexpectedly soon, we hadn't saved up as much as we'd intended for travel, food, and lodging. We thought we'd have another 8-12 months, but I'm not complaining.

I'm so relieved. I was so worried that I would lose my cheekbones and roundness that the HRT gave me. My entire face softened and feminized from the HRT, and I love it.

I'm so very much looking forward to waking up from the anesthesia and seeing the results of the surgery. Even with the packing and the catheter, I'm know I'm going to be ecstatic.

Quote from: Devlyn Marie on January 11, 2018, 08:10:54 PM
I dropped my pants for half the med students in Boston...you'll live! 

Hugs, Devlyn

Thank you for the reassurance, Devlyn! 😄

Sydney is a local and so right about staying in NYC during the surgery. The hardest part about NYC is getting in and out of it. My friends and I stayed at either The Stewart or New Yorker Wyndham hotels when we needed to be in the city.  They are right next to Penn Station where you can get back and forth easily to NJ. There are also all sorts of inexpensive places around them to eat or buy stuff you dint bring. There's even a Kmart.  They are also just a cab ride directly across town via 34th Street from NYU Medical Center I got good rates at these hotels by combining them with Flights.(I'm not sure why but cabs never take 34th street back and forth, go figure) You may have to search around a bit to get their best hotel rates if you're not flying in.  I settled on them because of the location, value, reasonable rooms and prices.

Quote from: Gail20 on January 12, 2018, 11:09:07 AM
Sydney is a local and so right about staying in NYC during the surgery. The hardest part about NYC is getting in and out of it. My friends and I stayed at either The Stewart or New Yorker Wyndham hotels when we needed to be in the city.  They are right next to Penn Station where you can get back and forth easily to NJ. There are also all sorts of inexpensive places around them to eat or buy stuff you dint bring. There's even a Kmart.  They are also just a cab ride directly across town via 34th Street from NYU Medical Center I got good rates at these hotels by combining them with Flights.(I'm not sure why but cabs never take 34th street back and forth, go figure) You may have to search around a bit to get their best hotel rates if you're not flying in.  I settled on them because of the location, value, reasonable rooms and prices.

Sounds good, thank you!

  I have an 11am appointment on the 6th and will be with Sydney , my 2cd revision is scheduled for 2/12 with DR Bluebond.  My original GCS was done by Saldado at University of Miami and was a disaster. Moral of the story ,stay away from south Florida.

Quote from: justpat on February 04, 2018, 06:40:33 PM
  I have an 11am appointment on the 6th and will be with Sydney , my 2cd revision is scheduled for 2/12 with DR Bluebond.  My original GCS was done by Saldado at University of Miami and was a disaster. Moral of the story ,stay away from south Florida.

I have my pre op appointment today, the 6th. My surgery is Thursday. I'm supposed to be in the hospital until the 13th. Salgado accepts my insurance, and I almost scheduled a consult with him. After reading so many negative articles about him and so many horrible pieces of feedback from post op patients of his, I changed my mind. I'm sorry your surgery with him was so bad.