Quote from: Cruelladeville on September 01, 2010, 07:50:21 AM


And determination to get through no matter what is defo what sets women like us apart from mainstream society....

Good point!

You had srs 18 years ago.  What did you just have done?

Hi Kristyn,

In 92' I had my original GRS surgery in Brighton, UK with Mr Royle... a one stage procedure, but he was one of the early adopter Dr' for sensate clitoris creation, a new procedure at that time, Dr M informed me yesterday that this had worked well for me as the tissues had developed and settled in well, over the years.

Which is why I guess even 18 years in things kept improving for me.

However, vanity and the fact that I noticed a lump increasing slowly in size over the last three years within one side of my vaginal wall, made me realise a 2nd stage revision would probably be prudent.

So when I finally got the funds together (march this year) I started once more on the journey of seeking out the best help and care I could get.

Which in my case has brought me from England on a 10'5hr flight to Scottsdale.

As Dr M does oh so many of these procedures 4 this week alone....he's a fair-bet choice in my opinion....

But its early days... so I will not really know what's what till at least 6 weeks or so.... but so far all the nurses checking ma girlie bits say he's done an neat, pretty and tidy ab-fab job....

I'm also booked in for some lip and hip buttock contouring, so this is next on the 14th.... special thanks also go to Dr. Best Toby's anesthetist a lovely chap.... and the best I felt ever waking up post GA, but then 4 litres of fluid went in to keep me uber-hydrated with no sickly hang-over...

So the whole care team here are very special.... and would explain the high fees, good people cost....but are worth it!

Other top tip, a hospital with open Wi-fi and allowing me my laptop, while bed-bound are keeping me well focused... and mentally distracted as I while away the hours....getting better bit, by bit....lol

Quote from: Cruelladeville on September 01, 2010, 09:16:06 AM


Which in my case has brought me from England on a 10'5hr flight to Scottsdale.

Wow!  Talk about culture shock!   

Good luck and heal well!

thanks hon....

And not really too much of a culture shock...lol as we gave you Yanks the gift of our language.....English!

And Scottsdale fashion centre has all all the brands we love in the UK, so feel right at home there....

I was just reading an account of a MtF who had srs with Dr Bieber a long time ago and he told her that the joining ring would get tight and would bleed during dilation but not to worry even if a few stitches popped. 
So what would be interesting to know is which surgeons use a technique that sews bits of inverted penis or scrotum skin onto the opening they make and who uses other techniques with less of a risk of this tight ring business.
I am reminded also of  a relative who got a bad case of piles and surgery for that left him with a glass tube inserted in his rectum for a few days to make sure everything healed.
Who is brave enough to ask a srs surgeon about inserting such a thing as an alternative to the op recovery packing ?

It seems to me if wise you don't tell a surgeon what to do...

As its highly unlikely unless you're a working/practising/lecturing medic yourself that you'd have access to the medical books, papers and clinical data that they have..

Any surgeon of note in their field looks to publish papers as it raises their academic standing.... there usually a highly competitive bunch.... which brings better results for us patients...long-term

However I've alluded to clinical papers or results if I feel it will help in a procedure for myself...

Why keep a dog and bark yourself...eh?

I haven't had any hands on experience with this yet, but I always thought the tightness came from the muscle? They slice the muscle down the middle and as it is all healing the muscle tightens up and tries to heal? Stretching the muscle and skin everyday teaches it to stay open? Is it the muscle and/or the skin that is creating the tightness?

So glad to hear you may have found a solution to your problem. I hope they can not only get the infection under control, but also dilate you enough where you can start stretching things out again. Keeping you in my thoughts.

Kat

Quote from: Dàwkbua on September 01, 2010, 03:04:03 AM
Thank you Kristyn & Jessica. *hugs* I went to an emergency care clinic yesterday (Tuesday) and the doc gave me a whole bunch of antibiotics and some more pain meds. Thank goodness!!!! I think (and hope) this will finally do it.

*excited*

My thoughts are with you Dàwkbua.  I know I was of absolutely no help in this, but I still keep thinking about you, and hope you get through this with a satisfactory result.

We were so close together in our dates, with the same surgeon.  I'm so sorry you got the "unlucky straw", and just know there's one other out there rooting for you as you battle through this.

*huggs*,
Melan

Quote from: Muffin on September 01, 2010, 08:24:29 PM
I haven't had any hands on experience with this yet, but I always thought the tightness came from the muscle? They slice the muscle down the middle and as it is all healing the muscle tightens up and tries to heal? Stretching the muscle and skin everyday teaches it to stay open? Is it the muscle and/or the skin that is creating the tightness?

That's what I thought at first, well more specificlly I thought the muscle was the major obstacle tp be overcome & that's why we have to relax for dilation. So I thought I was good to go beause I could relax the muscle just fine but then I started to where I couldn't reach it at all & that's when they told me about the scar tissue.    Well they still said just relax, just relax, and I thought what gives you can't relax scar tissue.

Quote from: Melan on September 01, 2010, 11:31:27 PMWe were so close together in our dates, with the same surgeon.  I'm so sorry you got the "unlucky straw", and just know there's one other out there rooting for you as you battle through this.

*huggs*,
Melan

Thank you. I know plenty of his patients do just fine... I'm envious... like wanting to ask how do you all manage it. Was dilation ever super painful? Did you ever have to step down a size, after having already returned home? Did it get easier after the 3 month mark, like they told me it would? (For me that's when it first started getting more difficult.)

Tomorrow I go back to the doc to get a set of smaller dilators. She says that will be my best bet.

Quote from: Dàwkbua on September 08, 2010, 07:28:23 PM
Thank you. I know plenty of his patients do just fine... I'm envious... like wanting to ask how do you all manage it. Was dilation ever super painful? Did you ever have to step down a size, after having already returned home? Did it get easier after the 3 month mark, like they told me it would? (For me that's when it first started getting more difficult.)

Sorry I missed your note last week, something about notifications on Susan's doesn't work like it did before the upgrade, or I would have replied faster.

When I got back home from Thailand, every dilation seemed to be a tough one.  If I pushed it, I bled more.  But the bleeding always stopped.  The first month back (2nd month post-op) hurt, but nothing that one (or two) of the green/yellow pills before a dilation couldn't fix.   I never had pain post dilation, and nothing to the degree you described. (I can't fathom how you even took it!)  The act of dilation was painful.  There were times when dilation hurt so bad that I stopped early, but that was usually pain coming from the back wall, like pushing into the intestines.    But I was able to pick it back up on the next session.

I did step it down to the smallest dilator that we get, twice.   But I was always reluctant to, and lucky enough, that with enough working it, to get the medium 'boy' in most every time,  though it took up to 15 minutes regularly the 2nd month.  The third month sucked as much, but got easier towards the end of it.  But I also had to return to work in the 3rd month, and dilations dropped to morning and night, which proved to be ok for the for 4th and 5th months. 

I hope the infection is cured, if that is what it was?   If you no longer have pain, I would do everything to get the cavity reformed through your own dilation efforts, but with doctors advice.  I know you think you burned your bridge with Sophie, I can't imagine that would be the case.   But I think you can salvage some loss, by going forth with what you have... I know that I've lost over an inch or more in depth at my worst point, but 'dug it back out' when I got a better handle on how dilation worked for me.  The width shouldn't be so much an issue, once and if, you can get a foothold into it.

I'm just blabbering, I really hope you can get past the pain,  find a solution for it.

*huggs*,
Melan

I'm wondering if maybe my rush to get a session accomplished each morning & noon might have made those sessions inadequate. As it was I was constantly late for work.

The pain is still here though I've not been stretching regularly. (Bad Dawkbua!) I suspect it will be with me throughout the process of working back up to the medium dilator. I still aspire to use the large one someday....

How did you "dig out" that last inch? Was it just inward pressure that did it, or maybe the motion from the stirring?

My heart goes out to you Dawkbua and I hope you can get through what must be a terribly upsetting time. I had my surgery two months ago with Dr Suporn and am entering the dreaded third month and it is a bit daunting reading what you and Melan have written. Most of my time in getting to depth is spent on the last inch. From the pictures of the sheath and the number of stitches in that last inch I can understand why. I actually found it beneficial to see the photos cause it gave me an idea of what I was battling against. Dont know wether that would help you as well.

Hope all resolves itself.

Krissy

I'm in my 3rd month now but I've noticed it is finally getting better through persistence. It got a lot worse before it got better though, and it is s-l-o-w progress. I am still dilating 4 to 5 times/day for 35-45 minutes each time which I think has helped a whole lot. I've noticed the first one in the morning is the most critical and the longer I go between overnight the harder that one is, but that last inch seems to be hard for everyone. Maintain it with constant pressure yes, and gentle twisting. Once it's reached a little gentle up/down/side/side motion helps too.

I'm glad to hear you are making some progress and hope you continue to get better!

Quote from: Dàwkbua on September 08, 2010, 11:16:35 PM
I'm wondering if maybe my rush to get a session accomplished each morning & noon might have made those sessions inadequate. As it was I was constantly late for work.

The pain is still here though I've not been stretching regularly. (Bad Dawkbua!) I suspect it will be with me throughout the process of working back up to the medium dilator. I still aspire to use the large one someday....

How did you "dig out" that last inch? Was it just inward pressure that did it, or maybe the motion from the stirring?

Oh the dilating on top of a work day is fun.   I would get up at 5am, dilate for an hour.  Be at work by 8, get off at 5, go home relax, then dilate for an hour then.  It was an automatic 12 hours a day spent on dilation and work.  Puts a real dinger on the social life. But after month 5, I could get by with just the one dilation after work, so that was nice, sleeping in an extra hour.  On weekends I would dilate twice a day, to keep up the routine, until month 6.  Now I just dilate once every day to every other day.  BUT.. I ALWAYS dilate for an hour.  And what Sophie calls Active Dilation.. or a Quality dilation session.  I always walk away feeling like I pushed myself, and I literally do, lol.

As far as the getting the depth back, it's the same idea as the active dilation.  Which involves two techniques.  You stir (not twist) the dilator for a period of time (I'm not exact, but 30 seconds is ok) for width, then push straight on the dilator, hard as far in as it will go, for depth.  This is the important part of the exercise.  Do this for 10 seconds.  I sometimes softly move it about when doing this, but mostly just apply pressure into the back of the vaginal wall.  But this is where I "dig" a bit too, when I'm warmed up.    Repeat those two steps.  I do it for an hour.  If I bleed lightly, I just continue, but then stay away from the sore spot.  I've never had to stop from the bleeding, but I used to stop, when it just creeped me out enough.

I think it's important to stir, in order to have success at the push/dig part.  Once I got a feel for it, I really felt like I could plumb the depths  of the cavity that was created for me, and really fight back the scar tissue.

Good luck!
Melan

Dàwkbua,

Not sure if you are a member, and follow, the Dr S yahoo group, but someone very recently posted something there similar to what you describe, in terms of pain and dilation difficulties , and where they are now... it's very hopeful, and ultimately a success story.

If you aren't in that group, you may wish to join it.

*huggs*
Melan

Being persistent through the hard times definitely pays off. There were times I was frustrated by pain and difficulty, and now those days are gone. At four month, even the larger dialtors that uses to initimidate me are easy. Twice this last week, I went 24 hours between dilations, once my alarm did not go off so I had no time in the morning, the other because I spent too much time snuggling with my girlfriend, but when I got to the evening dilation all was good. Now if I had given in to the pain and the difficulty, I would not be where I am today. Keep pushing forward, or in as the case may be, and never ever give up!

katgirl that's gREAT to hear ;')) and Melan I'm takin note both you and Chloe talk about the stir and push  ummmmmmm. Good to know ;'))) looks like I have alot to look forward to