Thanks for the support, gals. I definitely hope that my experience will be helpful to you.
The ride to Toronto was early, and long, and generally terrible. I was a bundle of nerves, and I guess you could say I slightly disassociated. Having an orchiectomy was something I wanted to have done, not something I wanted to do, if you catch my meaning.
I arrived at the hospital about 2 hours early and had to wait. By the time they called me in to the back waiting area, I REALLY had to pee. Being in a wheelchair, peeing in public is problematic. It's reasonably easy for one person (my mother in this case) to pull my pants down, but impossible to pull them back up. So, after having what I'm sure is a record long pee, I just got back in my chair naked from the waste down and cover myself with towels.
After about 20 minutes I was called into the operating room. I got changed into a gown, which would have been useful 20 minutes earlier, and my mother lifts me onto the table. Because my hips and knees are contracted, the nurse spread my legs as far as they would go and then taped them to the bed. Honestly, the most sore thing immediately after the surgery was my knees, hips, and butt.
I had a lot of questions, and the nurse was able to answer most of them. The doctor came in and proceeded to freeze the scrotum. I didn't count the number of needles, but it was more than 5. After the first few went in relatively painlessly, I commented that the hype about the pain of the local injections was overblown. Boy, did I ever regret saying that when he stuck a needle into what I believe was my right testicle. It was quite literally the worst pain I have ever experienced. That I had let my guard down after the first few needles probably made it worse. I screamed an yelled for them to stop, but luckily it was over in a few seconds.
The doctor left for what was supposed to be 10 minutes, to let the freezing set in. That turned into 25, because he got called into an emergency surgery. As the freezing settled, I could feel discomfort on the left side. This lead me to worry that because I didn't experience the same pain on the left as I did on the right, the left side wasn't frozen enough. I told the doctor this when he returned, and he put in a few more shots that I didn't feel at all.
The surgery in proper then began. It's hard for me to provide exact details, because I couldn't really see anything. I didn't feel the incision, and I didn't even feel the testicles being taken out. I could feel a lot of tugging during the procedure, which was sometimes painful but never unbearable. There was a lot of clamping and cauterizing, which I could sometimes feel as a light sting. It didn't smell that strong to me, but my mother said she could smell it in the waiting area. If you've ever had laser on your face, it doesn't smell that bad.
I was closed with dissolving sutures. After being stitched, I had one stubborn bleed. The nurse pinched the bleed between her thumb and forefinger for about 10 minutes while the doctor ran to do other things. The bleeding stopped, and the doctor came back to apply an adhesive bandage. I was told to leave the bandage on until Monday. Sponge baths until the bandage comes off, showers for a few weeks, baths after the incision is fully healed. I was instructed to ice the area in fifteen minute intervals, and to watch for excessive bleeding, excessive swelling, puss around the incision, and fever.
I was prescribed an antibiotic and Dilaudid for pain. The night at the hotel was the roughest part. I was very swollen, and had to stay in bed for the most part. The Dilaudid made me jittery and paranoid, so I didn't really sleep. In the morning, most of the swelling had lessened, except for one area that was painful to touch. I iced a few more times before I left the hotel, which helped a lot.
Now, two days later, the swelling is minor but noticeable. I'm not in pain per say, but I'm sore and crampy. I took Codeine last night, which worked better than the Dilaudid. I don't think I'll need to take anything for pain today. My scrotum is noticeably smaller and flatter now. If you're planning to have GRS this may be a problem for you, but I'm not so I'm very pleased with the results.
Overall, it's not a pleasant experience but well worth it in my opinion. I'm SO happy now that it's done. That's all the gritty details I can think of, but I'm happy to answer questions!
