GCS surgery draws closer: I'm now "top of the waiting list"

[RachelBk]

Good morning ladies.

Well in my absence from this forum for a few months everything started accelerating at an amazing pace. I've had various phone calls, online appointments, and a face-to-face clinic appointment with full medical check-up.

And: I'm booked in at the end of this month (August) for my vaginoplasty. I'm so thrilled.

xx

p.s. I increasingly like to call it Sex Confirming Surgery. Hopefully the phrase passes the censors as I feel it's the one which resonates most for me. My sex and gender are female. The surgery confirms it (even better than affirms which seems to place the power more in the hands of others).

Hi Tills

Can you let us know how you have found Parkside?

I am going with Tina Rashid next month. Private and so pricey but worth it

[Stottie Girl]

Hi Tills

Can you let us know how you have found Parkside?

I am going with Tina Rashid next month. Private and so pricey but worth it

I am very interested too as private with Tina Rashid would be my route too. No idea how I'll fund it yet though ha ha! I would personally be interested in any feedback you yourself might be able to provide Rachel. If you are willing to share of course.

You must be getting very excited, I'm not at all jealous!

[Petunia]

Hi Tills, somehow I lost track of how you are going.

I guess you may already be in by now, but I wish you all the best for a speedy recovery.

[Tills]

Hi everyone: I've just posted a mini update on that 'Things to Buy / Get for GRS' thread.

More here soon I promise. Quite zapped out and very sore still but I'm okay. Had a really nasty infection and walked a very lonely road for a time.

But I have a vagina: yay!!!

Xx

[Tills]

Hi ladies,

Well my first relatively pain-free night in nearly 3 weeks. I have dehiscence and possibly also granulation in just about the most sensitive area and, my god, it has been painful. I'm supposed to have a high pain threshold and nothing prepared me for how much this spiked hurt: just constant pain with nothing touching it. Or at least, not the ibuprofen and paracetamol that they advised.

None of this was helped by a really nasty hospital-acquired infection that landed me in A&E.

Anyway I don't want to tempt fate but I do feel a lot less pain ridden now and more like doing things again.

I'll post a proper review of the process but I want to do it when I'm out of the pain zone.

The result aesthetically looks amazing with super depth. It just feels fantastic to have a vagina. My friend sneaked a peek and just said,

'Wow. You would never ever know that that wasn't the cis female vagina you were born with.' She went on, 'It's just incredible.'

[Rochelle]

It's very good to hear from you and are feeling better and happy about your results. 💚

[Charlotte Kitty ✅]

Sorry to hear you had complications, but I believe some complications are extremely common and hard to avoid.  Glad the result is what you expected and hoped for. I can't begin to imagine how it feels.

What technique did you have if you dont mind me asking? Im getting mine in February but worried about depth. You mention yours is good 🙂

[Jillian-TG]

Sorry to hear you had complications, but I believe some complications are extremely common and hard to avoid.  Glad the result is what you expected and hoped for. I can't begin to imagine how it feels.

What technique did you have if you dont mind me asking? Im getting mine in February but worried about depth. You mention yours is good 🙂

You mentioned that complications are common. Is that more driven by the doctor and their surgical method or more by the patient?

I'm wondering if some Drs have a higher rate of post op problems or if some patients would have problems no matter where in the world they go.

[Tills]

You mentioned that complications are common. Is that more driven by the doctor and their surgical method or more by the patient?

I'm wondering if some Drs have a higher rate of post op problems or if some patients would have problems no matter where in the world they go.

Neither probably. I mean I don't get infections often and I went into the hospItal without one and came out with one, as did the only other patient I met in an adjoining room. That doesn't mean one should blame 'the surgeon and their surgical methods' either.

Hospital acquired infections occur for a whole variety of reasons outwith the two you state, from theatres to catheters and everything in between. The area of surgery is also incredibly prone to infection.

So it's quite common, just that mine turned a bit nasty.

Xx

[Stottie Girl]

Dehissence sounds pretty painful Tills. Sorry you are having a bit of a rough time of it right now. Hopefully the difficulties will pass soon enough and leave you to admire your new "aesthetically amazing" vagina. The pain will be worth it long term.

[Lori Dee ✅]

One reason that I try to avoid hospitals is that there are too many sick people in there!

Heal up soon, Tills.

[Tills]

One reason that I try to avoid hospitals is that there are too many sick people in there!

Heal up soon, Tills.

Haha so true 😀

Hospitals are notorious places for germs and bugs, as you say. It doesn't seem to matter how pristine they are, and Nuffield Parkside is way way cleaner to the naked eye than any NHS hospital I've ever seen. The only other hospital I've seen that looked even cleaner was the world class Bumrungrad in Bangkok but I bet they get hospital-acquired infections there too. It's just the nature of it.

I do have some thoughts about the overall experience at Parkside, many of which have been positive, but I just want to give a little time and distance. As much as anything else, it's hard to be objective when you're in pain.

Dehiscence in the most sensitive place: right down where the vagina and perineum meet is so painful. And I've also got some granulation down there too. So it has been an ouch.

But, look, some of this is the way of it. You're not going to get Gender Affirming Surgery down below without some discomfort. It's major surgery.

The main things as far as I'm concerned are that 1. It looks and functions fantastically (so far, so good) and 2. There are no serious complications (tentatively okay now I think).

Xx