I've had some amount of pain in my testicular area for a couple of weeks, and today I finally saw a doctor about it. He thinks its just a benign cyst, but he sent me for an ultrasound just to be sure. I should get the results tomorrow, and I'm sort of embarrassed to admit I kind of want bad news... at least bad enough to justify removing my testicles (not bad enough that I'm gonna die).

I know that if you want SRS someday, it's a bad idea to get rid of your balls.. But I'd have no problem getting rid of those little testosterone factories.

Am I bug-nutty, or can anyone else relate?

I can relate. I know it sounds horrible but when I was a teenager, my only girl friend had breast cancer and a masectomy. So, when I went to the gyno and had breast exams, I always thought it would be kind of cool to to be forced to have a masectomy. Course, that was seriously downplaying what my friend went through but it is a thought that can go through your head when you really hate a body part. Forced and 'justified' removal is a fantasy.

I can relate.  I have an ultrasound tomorrow on my reproductive parts.  The doctor suspects endometriosis (causes scar tissue on uterus and other internal organs and just generally wreaks havoc), and I hope it's serious enough to require a hysterectomy.  It's unlikely, of course, that it's *that* bad; doctors tend to assume that their patients don't want their reproductive organs removed and will therefore try other less invasive treatments first.

A hysterectomy is usually the 'worst case scenario' for many women.  Sometimes I think I should feel terrible for wanting the 'worst case' to happen to me, because I know of a few young women who needed a hysterectomy and took the news rather hard.  But me?  Hell, I'd celebrate.

Forgive me if I'm not 100% educated on MtF bottom surgery, but it seems to me that the only thing that would be required for SRS is the tissue of the scrotum (to form the labia), not the actual testes.  The testosterone factories could probably be removed, but the skin encasing them should remain in place...  I do know that if an orchi is performed in the event of testicular cancer, the patient can elect to have prosthetic testes placed in their scrotum for a more normal appearance post-op.

Johnnie I can't think of a fantasy I haven't had with regard to transition.

But yes, "that" particular though has gone through my mind a number of times, particularly at my age....

..and they do say prevention is better than cure..      *slaps back of hand*

...so with with a bit of luck and wishful thinking, we can get all the op's out of the way, then we will have no choice but to start HRT or risk osteoporosis...and we wouldn't want to do that would we?

...and no need to worry about heathcover costs as it was all either accidental or to reduce health risk...

When do we start?....

Sorry, I'm getting carried away.... I hope your tests say you are OK...



Chrissty

I think that consensus from other posts, is that shrinkage is minimal.....

.....if you have no scrotum tissue removed (ie "keyhole" op)
......do regular stretching exercises to minimise atrophy
......and don't leave it an excessive number of years before SRS.

Just chiming in here: It's totally normal for you to hope for removal due to factors beyond your control.

The shrinkage thing is a myth. Any shrinkage from orchietomy is totally minimal. Think of people who have lap bands installed (weight loss surgery), or of mothers who birth multiples. When your skin stretches out to accommodate something, be it weight or babies or icky testosterone factories or whatever, it doesn't instantly snap back once that something is removed. Surgery is required to fix up the excess skin.

That said, I hope you are healthy! The range of conditions that require orchiectomy as treatment are ... ungood.

Not to discourage you but from what i have read at another site, the Dr.'s always try to treat the condition if it's not life threatening, and do an Orkie as a last resort which could include anything from nerve blocks to pain killers to removing just one. I hope it's nothing serious.

Paula.

I have Kaiser and they will only preform an Orchie is it is a health risk.  i.e Testicular Cancer or damage due to accident. Darn it.

Janet

Kaiser Permanente has had a terrible reputation for cutting corners and providing ->-bleeped-<-ty service to the Bay for as long as I or my parents can remember.

In Oregon, They have a good rep. here, but it could be the administrators.  But they are managed care.


Janet

I'd far rather maintain my good health than have an opportunistic surgery... I don't have health insurance, anyway, and if I have top surgery any time soon, I want it completely on my own terms.

SD

Quote from: chrysalis on February 24, 2009, 11:01:18 PM
Kaiser Permanente has had a terrible reputation for cutting corners and providing ->-bleeped-<-ty service to the Bay for as long as I or my parents can remember.

Kaiser was founded on it.

Quote from: Nero on February 24, 2009, 04:06:35 PMCourse, that was seriously downplaying what my friend went through but it is a thought that can go through your head when you really hate a body part. Forced and 'justified' removal is a fantasy.

Yeah I get like that too.  Not cancer, but I sometimes find myself fantasising about an accident or an assault that alters my body that way.