This will be a quick post just to say that now passed the one week mark things are really feeling a lot better. Aching is to a minimum. It's really only the testicles that ache. Ice takes the pain away for the most part. I'm still taking pain medicine here and there sporadically when I need it. But mostly I'm taking the ibuprofen 800mgs and those really seem to help reduce swelling. I started taking them Friday night and since the swelling took a drastic decrease which is nice. Makes everything much more comfortable. I can walk, I have been walking since day 1, it's just I walk very slowly and with my legs far apart like a cowboy. lol I also hunch forward a little bit because it still feels tight on the pubic lift incision. It doesn't hurt to stand but I just feel it pulling and it's uncomfortable plus I want it to heal well so I don't want to stretch the incisions so early on in the healing. But yes, I walk around doing what I need to do. The last two days (post-op days 7 & 8) I pretty much just been getting lots and lots of rest. Playing video games, watching netflix and Shark Week, eating, taking naps. Man, this is the life! Haha.
Later on today I'm going to my transgender support group. My friend is going to drive me. I'm still not driving yet since I'm still periodically taking the pain medicine. Plus, even if I was off all the meds, sitting straight up with legs together is the one position that is really uncomfortable for me, so I don't feel like I'm ready yet to drive.
Anyways, ya, healing is going well. I did send some pictures to my surgeon of the underside of my penis and a section of the testicles.
On the underside of my penis, the stitches look a little rough. It's probably fine but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Before surgery he had mentioned that sometimes where he sews together the skin on the penis there can be a lack of blood flow causing some "tissue breakdown." He said it's no big deal. He'll just prescribe medicine and have me wrap it in bandages and keep it clean. He said it's never been a big problem for any of his patients, it just can be annoying and extends healing time. So just in case, today I snapped a picture of that area for him to check out to let me know if everything is healing properly or not. I have a feeling he's going to say it's fine and to give it more time. lol But I did ask him to let me know what to look for as far as "tissue breakdown" is concerned so I can at least know what to keep my eyes peeled for.
The section of my testicle that I was concerned with, it's no where near where he made the incision. It just looks and feels raw. It's not bleeding or anything but it seems weird so I figured since I was e-mailing him I might as well take pics of it and send it too.
I'm a wicked hypochondriac by the way!!! lol That first few days in the hotel was rough for my friends. They had to many times convince me that my penis was doing just fine. But now I'm home and so far from my surgeon and constantly worrying about it even though it really feels like it's healing quite well. So I'm doing my best to just breathe and let everything heal without worrying about what things are going to look like and how things are healing etc. I don't have a fever; I don't have infections. Everything looks spectacular so far, considering I'm still swollen and stitched up. So I really have nothing to complain about and probably don't have anything to worry about either. :-]
Showing posts with label icing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label icing. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Healing Experiences (Day 4, 5, & 6 post-op)
Hey All,
I know I said I would update first about my feelings but I decided to do this post on healing days 4,5, & 6 just because I ended up going longer then expected without updating. So I definitely wanted to update about healing experience first but don't worry because a feelings post will be up next. I might even do it tonight after I take my
Healing is going extremely well! ::knock on wood:: lol But I can't complain so far. Everyday things look a little better and feel a little better. I have had achy painful moments but nothing that the meds and ice packs can't take away. Currently at day 6, I've drastically cut back on the percocets and mostly am only taking Motrin (ibuprofen) and icing frequently. So I'd say I'm doing pretty good. Pain seems to be pretty connected to how much I do. If I walk around too much, my balls are quick to let me know that I'm walking to much because they start to ache. The biggest thing I notice is I tire easily, which isn't so surprising since I did just have surgery 6 days ago. But ya, if getting tired easily is my chief complaint I'd say I'm doing fantastic. But anyways let me give you more details of how the last three days have gone and exactly what has happened.
Day 4 post-op (August 2, 2013) - I had my first (and last) post-op appointment. Dr. Medalie wasn't going to be in the office this day and I was scheduled to see him Monday but he told me before surgery he believed it was likely I'd be ready to have the drain out and go home by Friday so he wanted me see his nurse practitioner Andrea. So I saw her Friday morning. Very nice lady by the way! Super nice, let me talk her ear off about my penis, as I love to do these days. She checked it out, said that it is looking great. Since hardly anything was coming out of my drain tube anymore she took it out. She just snipped the stitch and took out the drain. It didn't hurt at all! I was nervous for her to take it out but literally she was like "Are you ready?" and then was like "Okay, it's out." I didn't even feel it. I was in disbelief. lol With the drain out I had the okay to start showering in a real shower and be able to get my whole body wet, yay! She told me that now that I can shower I needed to start washing my penis a little more thoroughly. The biggest thing she stressed was that I was the creases around the base of my penis. There's lots of swelling all around the penis so there's some areas that weren't really being washed by the warm soapy water rinses. She suggest in the shower I take the antibacterial liquid dial and get my hands all soapy and just gently wash the area. And rather then pushing the penis to the side to get around the edges of the base she suggesting pushing gently down on the surrounding tissues of the penis to allow me to clean the base of the penis. I was very scared about washing my penis fully (it turned out fine, you'll read about it on day 5 lol). she also gave me a script for 800 mg ibuprofen every 8 hours and she suggested I cut back on the percocet to just when I feel like I need a pill between the doses of ibuprofen. She said the ibuprofen should help with swelling too which it really has. So drain came out, everything looked good, and I was free to leave Cleveland whenever.
But we stayed one night because after my doctors appointment we went to the Cleveland park zoo!!! I highly recommend it. lol We got me a wheelchair. I put a big comfy pillow on the wheel chair and this wheel chair was way more comfortable then the one they had at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. My friend pushed me around and we had a good time. We stayed for almost 3 hours but then the zoo was closing. Then we grabbed food at CiCi's Pizza. Finally, I went to the hotel and I was exhausted!!!
I was so exhausted that I didn't even take the shower that I had been dying for. lol My friends packed up all my stuff and the plan was for us to leave in the morning.
Day 5 post-op (August 3, 2013) - Woke up bright and early and finally took that much needed shower. Washing my penis was really not bad. There was nothing to be scared of. Gently washing with warm soapy hands in the shower was fine and actually made everything feel a lot better. That hot shower on my pubic lift incision was helpful too. I feel liek it just relaxed all of my tense muscles. It was beyond refreshing.Also this was the first time I really got to touch my penis and testicles. I mean I you know would dab it with a wet wipe after peeing and my hand would sometimes graze it while adjusting my jockstrap after using the bathroom. But this was the first time really touching it. I had to touch it very gently obviously. But it was awesome, feeling this little package in my hand. It was just another one of those "whoa, this is real moments" where I was overflowing with joy. And I just felt so good after that shower. While I showered my friends packed the car. No heavy lifting for a couple weeks for me. Then I went to the front desk and told them I was checking out a couple nights early. I wanted to see if I could get any money back. I had been receiving a special rate for staying a full week so I wasn't sure if they were going to be able to refund me anything but I figured I'd give it a try. And they were able to refund me one night back! I had to pay for the full 7 days since I recieved the special weekly rate of $56 a night but they were able to refund me the 8th night so they credited the $56 plus taxes back onto my card. Woot woot!
Then we embarked on your journey back to Massachusetts. Only one of my friends with me has a license so Lauren had to drive the whole way home while Kendra kept her company. I on the other hand made myself comfortable in the back seat. I had 3 big comfy pillows. I laid down on my back with one pillow under my butt and two behind my neck and head. I kept the middle seat belt on loosely around my stomach just in case. I left my legs either bent, criss-crossed, or occasionally put them up one on the back of the back seat and the other on top of the door's window edge. and I was actually very very comfy! I was nervous it was going to be a terrible ride but it was actually great. I had a cooler on the side of me with ice packs and drinks. Plus I had some snacks so that I could eat every time I needed to take my pain meds and anti-biotics. I also had my phone and my friend's Nintendo 3DS with a bunch of games. So I kept myself entertained and also took a lot of naps. It was very nice in the car actually. I found it very soothing.
We did decide to stop at Niagara Fall while we were in upstate New York. We just made a short stop, checked out the fall (They were beautiful!), took a bunch of pictures, hit up the gift shop, and went home. They were all out of wheelchairs for rent at the visitors center so I had to do some walking. A little more then I would have liked to because the closest parking lot was full so I would say we had to walk roughly 2-3 blocks to get to the visitors center and then the falls viewing area wasn't too far from there. But it was still tough. It was hot out and I was walking slow. I was uncomfortable. My testicles started to ache and my body started to feel weak. As I mentioned, I get tired very fast since surgery. So once we got back to the car it was time to take more pain meds, I put an ice pack on my genitals, and then once it was time to take the ice off I knocked out for a while. My friends said I slept well, I was snoring loudly. I believe it because I'm not kidding when I say I was really comfortable. lol But anyways, Niagara was totally worth the stop.
We finally got home about 13 hours later. My parents greeted us outside. My friends and parents unloaded the car. I said my good byes to my friends and came inside. Another friend came over and spent the night. She helped me out. When I was applying my last antibiotic ointment treatment for the night she pointed out that a spot was a lot darker than the rest. And I, who am ridiculously paranoid became really scared so I took pictures and e-mailed them to Dr. Medalie. I didn't think it was life threatening so I decided to let the poor guy sleep and I'd call the office in the morning. Then I got comfortable in my bed and relaxed for a few hours watching TV and talking to my friend. Although the hotel was super nice, it's always much better being home. :-]
***Edited: I can't believe I forgot to mention my Mom decorated my room with "It's a boy" decorations and balloons! lol So I had that when I walked into my room. I got a kick out of it! lol
Day 6 post-op (August 4, 2013) - Woke up early. I was not in any pain which is good because I'd gone a long time without any of the percocets. Currently I'm doing like my nurse said, I take the Ibuprofen 800 mg every 8 hours and I don't take the percocets until I start getting pain bad enough that ice for 20 minutes can't fix.
After about an hour of being awake I gave Dr. Medalie's office a call. It's a Sunday so the office is closed but I spoke with the on-call doctor. Described what was going on with my penis, the spot that seemed really dark, and he asked me if I was having fever, chills, or any signs of infection. I was not, so he said there probably wasn't anything he could do over the phone but that Dr. Medalie was coming in soon and would tell him to take a look at the e-mail. Dr. Medalie e-mailed me very promptly letting me know that everything looks like it's healing just fine. He also said not to focus on any specific spots. He said there was going to be lots of swelling and bruising for several weeks. So he put my mind at ease. It also made me feel really comfortable knowing that even on a Sunday if I needed to talk to someone about concerns I could. And to have him check out the pictures as soon as he got to the work was also reassuring I really do feel like I'm in good hands with Dr. Medalie and all of his staff.
Since then I've just been hanging around relaxing in bed. On the computer and watching tv. also eating and i'm about to either play some video games or take a nap when I'm done with my blog. The pain is even better today. Every day it really does look and feel better.
Mom is buying a cheap shower matt for the shower floor so I don't slip. When she gets home I'm going to take a shower. I'm looking forward to that. Showers are so nice. Mmmm. They really make all the surgery sites feel so much better. Plus they relax me.
I'm still taking antibiotics 4 times a day. Still applying antibiotic ointment 3 times a day. And washing with antibacterial liquid soap once a day. Percocets only as needed trying to use it as less as possible. And ibuprofen every 8 hours.
So far that's it for today. If anything worth mentioning comes up in the rest of the day, I'll update the end of this post. As usual, feel free to shoot me any questions!
I know I said I would update first about my feelings but I decided to do this post on healing days 4,5, & 6 just because I ended up going longer then expected without updating. So I definitely wanted to update about healing experience first but don't worry because a feelings post will be up next. I might even do it tonight after I take my
Healing is going extremely well! ::knock on wood:: lol But I can't complain so far. Everyday things look a little better and feel a little better. I have had achy painful moments but nothing that the meds and ice packs can't take away. Currently at day 6, I've drastically cut back on the percocets and mostly am only taking Motrin (ibuprofen) and icing frequently. So I'd say I'm doing pretty good. Pain seems to be pretty connected to how much I do. If I walk around too much, my balls are quick to let me know that I'm walking to much because they start to ache. The biggest thing I notice is I tire easily, which isn't so surprising since I did just have surgery 6 days ago. But ya, if getting tired easily is my chief complaint I'd say I'm doing fantastic. But anyways let me give you more details of how the last three days have gone and exactly what has happened.
Day 4 post-op (August 2, 2013) - I had my first (and last) post-op appointment. Dr. Medalie wasn't going to be in the office this day and I was scheduled to see him Monday but he told me before surgery he believed it was likely I'd be ready to have the drain out and go home by Friday so he wanted me see his nurse practitioner Andrea. So I saw her Friday morning. Very nice lady by the way! Super nice, let me talk her ear off about my penis, as I love to do these days. She checked it out, said that it is looking great. Since hardly anything was coming out of my drain tube anymore she took it out. She just snipped the stitch and took out the drain. It didn't hurt at all! I was nervous for her to take it out but literally she was like "Are you ready?" and then was like "Okay, it's out." I didn't even feel it. I was in disbelief. lol With the drain out I had the okay to start showering in a real shower and be able to get my whole body wet, yay! She told me that now that I can shower I needed to start washing my penis a little more thoroughly. The biggest thing she stressed was that I was the creases around the base of my penis. There's lots of swelling all around the penis so there's some areas that weren't really being washed by the warm soapy water rinses. She suggest in the shower I take the antibacterial liquid dial and get my hands all soapy and just gently wash the area. And rather then pushing the penis to the side to get around the edges of the base she suggesting pushing gently down on the surrounding tissues of the penis to allow me to clean the base of the penis. I was very scared about washing my penis fully (it turned out fine, you'll read about it on day 5 lol). she also gave me a script for 800 mg ibuprofen every 8 hours and she suggested I cut back on the percocet to just when I feel like I need a pill between the doses of ibuprofen. She said the ibuprofen should help with swelling too which it really has. So drain came out, everything looked good, and I was free to leave Cleveland whenever.
But we stayed one night because after my doctors appointment we went to the Cleveland park zoo!!! I highly recommend it. lol We got me a wheelchair. I put a big comfy pillow on the wheel chair and this wheel chair was way more comfortable then the one they had at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. My friend pushed me around and we had a good time. We stayed for almost 3 hours but then the zoo was closing. Then we grabbed food at CiCi's Pizza. Finally, I went to the hotel and I was exhausted!!!
I was so exhausted that I didn't even take the shower that I had been dying for. lol My friends packed up all my stuff and the plan was for us to leave in the morning.
Day 5 post-op (August 3, 2013) - Woke up bright and early and finally took that much needed shower. Washing my penis was really not bad. There was nothing to be scared of. Gently washing with warm soapy hands in the shower was fine and actually made everything feel a lot better. That hot shower on my pubic lift incision was helpful too. I feel liek it just relaxed all of my tense muscles. It was beyond refreshing.Also this was the first time I really got to touch my penis and testicles. I mean I you know would dab it with a wet wipe after peeing and my hand would sometimes graze it while adjusting my jockstrap after using the bathroom. But this was the first time really touching it. I had to touch it very gently obviously. But it was awesome, feeling this little package in my hand. It was just another one of those "whoa, this is real moments" where I was overflowing with joy. And I just felt so good after that shower. While I showered my friends packed the car. No heavy lifting for a couple weeks for me. Then I went to the front desk and told them I was checking out a couple nights early. I wanted to see if I could get any money back. I had been receiving a special rate for staying a full week so I wasn't sure if they were going to be able to refund me anything but I figured I'd give it a try. And they were able to refund me one night back! I had to pay for the full 7 days since I recieved the special weekly rate of $56 a night but they were able to refund me the 8th night so they credited the $56 plus taxes back onto my card. Woot woot!
Then we embarked on your journey back to Massachusetts. Only one of my friends with me has a license so Lauren had to drive the whole way home while Kendra kept her company. I on the other hand made myself comfortable in the back seat. I had 3 big comfy pillows. I laid down on my back with one pillow under my butt and two behind my neck and head. I kept the middle seat belt on loosely around my stomach just in case. I left my legs either bent, criss-crossed, or occasionally put them up one on the back of the back seat and the other on top of the door's window edge. and I was actually very very comfy! I was nervous it was going to be a terrible ride but it was actually great. I had a cooler on the side of me with ice packs and drinks. Plus I had some snacks so that I could eat every time I needed to take my pain meds and anti-biotics. I also had my phone and my friend's Nintendo 3DS with a bunch of games. So I kept myself entertained and also took a lot of naps. It was very nice in the car actually. I found it very soothing.
We did decide to stop at Niagara Fall while we were in upstate New York. We just made a short stop, checked out the fall (They were beautiful!), took a bunch of pictures, hit up the gift shop, and went home. They were all out of wheelchairs for rent at the visitors center so I had to do some walking. A little more then I would have liked to because the closest parking lot was full so I would say we had to walk roughly 2-3 blocks to get to the visitors center and then the falls viewing area wasn't too far from there. But it was still tough. It was hot out and I was walking slow. I was uncomfortable. My testicles started to ache and my body started to feel weak. As I mentioned, I get tired very fast since surgery. So once we got back to the car it was time to take more pain meds, I put an ice pack on my genitals, and then once it was time to take the ice off I knocked out for a while. My friends said I slept well, I was snoring loudly. I believe it because I'm not kidding when I say I was really comfortable. lol But anyways, Niagara was totally worth the stop.
We finally got home about 13 hours later. My parents greeted us outside. My friends and parents unloaded the car. I said my good byes to my friends and came inside. Another friend came over and spent the night. She helped me out. When I was applying my last antibiotic ointment treatment for the night she pointed out that a spot was a lot darker than the rest. And I, who am ridiculously paranoid became really scared so I took pictures and e-mailed them to Dr. Medalie. I didn't think it was life threatening so I decided to let the poor guy sleep and I'd call the office in the morning. Then I got comfortable in my bed and relaxed for a few hours watching TV and talking to my friend. Although the hotel was super nice, it's always much better being home. :-]
***Edited: I can't believe I forgot to mention my Mom decorated my room with "It's a boy" decorations and balloons! lol So I had that when I walked into my room. I got a kick out of it! lol
Day 6 post-op (August 4, 2013) - Woke up early. I was not in any pain which is good because I'd gone a long time without any of the percocets. Currently I'm doing like my nurse said, I take the Ibuprofen 800 mg every 8 hours and I don't take the percocets until I start getting pain bad enough that ice for 20 minutes can't fix.
After about an hour of being awake I gave Dr. Medalie's office a call. It's a Sunday so the office is closed but I spoke with the on-call doctor. Described what was going on with my penis, the spot that seemed really dark, and he asked me if I was having fever, chills, or any signs of infection. I was not, so he said there probably wasn't anything he could do over the phone but that Dr. Medalie was coming in soon and would tell him to take a look at the e-mail. Dr. Medalie e-mailed me very promptly letting me know that everything looks like it's healing just fine. He also said not to focus on any specific spots. He said there was going to be lots of swelling and bruising for several weeks. So he put my mind at ease. It also made me feel really comfortable knowing that even on a Sunday if I needed to talk to someone about concerns I could. And to have him check out the pictures as soon as he got to the work was also reassuring I really do feel like I'm in good hands with Dr. Medalie and all of his staff.
Since then I've just been hanging around relaxing in bed. On the computer and watching tv. also eating and i'm about to either play some video games or take a nap when I'm done with my blog. The pain is even better today. Every day it really does look and feel better.
Mom is buying a cheap shower matt for the shower floor so I don't slip. When she gets home I'm going to take a shower. I'm looking forward to that. Showers are so nice. Mmmm. They really make all the surgery sites feel so much better. Plus they relax me.
I'm still taking antibiotics 4 times a day. Still applying antibiotic ointment 3 times a day. And washing with antibacterial liquid soap once a day. Percocets only as needed trying to use it as less as possible. And ibuprofen every 8 hours.
So far that's it for today. If anything worth mentioning comes up in the rest of the day, I'll update the end of this post. As usual, feel free to shoot me any questions!
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Healing Experience (The First 3 days Post-Op)
Hey Everyone,
So I'm writing this post a little past 3 days post-op. Here I'm going to talk about what healing has been like over these first 3 days.
Let me start by saying, healing has been WAY better than I expected. I thought I would be in way more pain, but overall it really hasn't been half bad. I was expecting to be in so much pain. I was super scared of how much pain I'd be in and the pain I have is way less then I thought it would be. I had spoke with a man who had the same procedure with the same surgeon last year and how he described his healing is what I thought it would be like for me. He had a very very rough and painful healing. It just goes to show you that everyone's body is different. So I'm describing what I would call a piece-of-cake healing process but other guys having the same procedure might have a very very different healing process. This is just my personal experience.
Day 1 -
I was pretty out of it coming home from the hospital. Reminder that this was an outpatient procedure, so I was in surgery for 4 hours, the recovery room for about 2.5 hours and then was released. We went to Walmart to fill my scripts and buy an extra pillow. I was walking around very slowly (and like a cowboy) with my friend holding my hand only a few hours after surgery which is kind of amazing when you think about it. But once the Novocaine down there fully wore off walking was less comfortable. lol Still not terrible. With this surgery there was never a time when I could not walk. I just need to take it easy and rest so I'm not doing a ton of walking. The surgeon and his nurses did encourage that I continue to do my normal walking, for example get up to go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, get my food, etc. They wanted me to keep doing normal things but also to make sure I do a lot of resting. So resting I did!
That first 24 hours I was really busy texting everyone, updating my facebook, and calling people. lol Everyone of course wanted to know how I was doing and I was super excited to let everyone know. Pain was extremely well managed. As I mentioned on another post, when I woke up in recovery, they offered to give me pain medication through the IV but I was in no pain so I said "No." And from that point on I just took the prescribed one or two 5mg percocet every 4 hours. Mostly I just take one pill. Occasionally if after 30-60 minutes after taking it I feel like I need a 2nd then I take the 2nd pill. Ice has been really nice at taking away any aches too.
One thing that I want to make note of during the first 24 hours that I was NOT expecting was the bleeding! There was blood and I'm such worrier so that was scary. To me if something is bleeding there is something wrong! But my friends as well as my surgeon's nurses reassured me I was fine. They had me in a jockstrap stuffed with gauze and yes that gauze ended up with a lot of blood in it. I was grossed out. And scared but apparently there was no reason to be. The scariest and grossest thing was whenever I peed. I lowered the jock strap to go pee and every single time I did during the first day I could actually see blood dripping. It wasn't a ton but it was dribbling and dripping from here and there out of the various stitched up areas. By the end of the first 24 hours the blood had almost entirely stopped. At day 3 right now I actually still have one spot under my penis that every so often still lets a little tiny blood drip. I'm not even sure if it's blood or just you know various fluid because it isn't bright red so it might be just a mixture of blood and fluid. But it seems to be fine. And all the other places that were dripping blood that first day are all fine too. The nurse, that I talked to multiple times that poor woman, said it was only a concern if there was a ton of blood to the point that you were bleeding through lots of gauze. I mean don't get me wrong I can show you a picture of that friggin jock strap from day one and it ended up quite red by the end of it in spite of all the gauze in there but it was still fine.
But overall the first 24 hours was a piece of cake. I would just say it was annoying because the drains needed to be emptied every 4 hours so that was annoying but pain was very minimal. Another annoying thing was that after surgery they encouraged me to slowly transition to solid food again. So the night after surgery all I had was yogurt, crackers, and nutritional shakes. The morning after surgery I got up with my friends and they brought me to the wicked awesome continental breakfast at our hotel. I are solid food for the first time and ate probably way too much. lol But it was soo good! But then my stomach hurt a little after that. I took a nap and I was fine. Oh and at the continental breakfast, I tried bringing a pillow and sitting on a pillow down there. The chair and pillow were comfortable enough but because of my pubic lift incision there was no way I could learn forward to use a table while sitting. So I gave up on that. There were some high tables with stools so Lauren and Kendra saw on the stools and I stood and ate my breakfast. I was more than happy with that! Oh and a nurse from my surgeon's office called me this morning to check on me and make sure I was doing okay.
Day 2 -
Things were easier, we only had to empty my drain twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, so that was nice. And my stomach was all ready well acclimated to solid food so I could eat whatever I wanted, and that was great! I was feeling quite well so we decided to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum! The walk from the car to the museum was a little too long for my liking. We realized later I could have gotten dropped off closer but oh well. The walking to the door, ya it kinda sucked. I was going really slow so it took forever and it made me achy. But once I got inside, my friends grabbed me a wheel chair. Rental was free. I brought a big soft pillow to sit on so I sat on it fairly comfortably with some minor fidgeting and adjusting lol and my friends pushed me around through the whole museum. I loved the museum by the way and it was awesome to be out of the hotel room. But by the time we got back to the car my testicles were definitely quite achy. I took a pain pill and we got stuck in a lot of traffic but I leaned the seat back and I was okay. When I got to my hotel room I made sure I laid down right away and did lots of icing!!! Pain went away pretty quickly once I laid down and got ice on the area. I think the act of sitting up was what made me achy. I was learning and slouching as much as possible in the wheel chair and was using the pillow but no matter what, if you're not laying down flat on your back, you're going to put some type of pressure on the testicles and they just were not happy about that! lol You have to figure, that was skin that previously had nothing in there and was much smaller, suddenly it was hollowed out, stretched, and stuffed with balls then sewn up. They've been through a whole lot, so they're not at all happy unless you're just laying down. Even then sometimes they kind of get aches.
Day 3 -
Kendra didn't wanna go to breakfast so me and Lauren decided to just go down, grab some food and come back up. Today was an achier then usual day. Maybe it was from the sitting around in the wheel chair yesterday that did it to me but def a little more pain. It was still nothing excruciating. It had it's very achy moments but nothing insane. Today I really spent the day relaxing. My friends went to check out Lake Erie and get food but I just laid low in the hotel. I did lots of icing and staying off my feet. I have a laptop tray for bed that I use for eating or using my laptop and the hotel has free wifi so the time really goes by. With the internet at your finger tips you manage to pass the time. It takes your mind off of any aches and pains you might have too so that's nice. I also have my xbox360 set up to the TV so I have netflix and can watch a ton of different things. I also am borrowing my friends Nintendo 3DS with a bunch of games.
So ya, not too much happened today it was pretty low key. The one big event today was my first post-op bowel movement this evening. Now I normally do not have bowel movements very often so I wasn't concerned much about it but since I know sometimes doctors really want to make sure you're movements are good after surgery I figured I'd call and ask them about that. The nurse said it was fine that I haven't had one yet since I normally don't go every day and since I'm on pain medication but she did say it would be good to take some Milk of Magnesia to encourage a bowel movement sooner rather than later that way if there was something blocked we'd find out about it now rather then waiting. So I took the Milk of Mag (over the counter stuff by the way) and all day I could feel you know my body preparing for it. I was scared. lol Because I thought pushing might hurt. Finally around like 11pm I sat there for a long long time and finally went to the bathroom but honestly it took a lot out of me. My body felt physically exhausted afterwards. It didn't hurt to push at all but sitting on the toilet is not comfortable so I couldn't really just sit relaxed like I normally would. I was very tense and on top of that trying to hard to push so by the end my stomach, lower back, butt, and upper leg muscles felt weak like jello. My stomach felt great after the BM but my body felt like it had been through the ringer! And it was late and I still had to empty my drain, let my friend wash my penis and balls and put on the medicated ointment and all that. Oh and I needed to take my testosterone shot so I was very frustrated and feeling irritable and sick of healing at this point.
But once that stuff was all done, I heated up my bath clothes, wiped myself down. washed my face really good. had a snack, took my meds and I was in a much better mood. And now that I've updated my blog I feel very accomplished! So everything is good.
I have my first (possibly last) post-op appointment tomorrow at 1:15pm. Then me and my friends are going to go to the Cleveland Zoo. I hope I get this drain out because that means we'll be able to head home sooner. It also means I'll be able to take a real shower which will be soooo nice. But I don't want to jinx it so we'll see! Either way I'll update soon.
So I'm writing this post a little past 3 days post-op. Here I'm going to talk about what healing has been like over these first 3 days.
Let me start by saying, healing has been WAY better than I expected. I thought I would be in way more pain, but overall it really hasn't been half bad. I was expecting to be in so much pain. I was super scared of how much pain I'd be in and the pain I have is way less then I thought it would be. I had spoke with a man who had the same procedure with the same surgeon last year and how he described his healing is what I thought it would be like for me. He had a very very rough and painful healing. It just goes to show you that everyone's body is different. So I'm describing what I would call a piece-of-cake healing process but other guys having the same procedure might have a very very different healing process. This is just my personal experience.
Day 1 -
I was pretty out of it coming home from the hospital. Reminder that this was an outpatient procedure, so I was in surgery for 4 hours, the recovery room for about 2.5 hours and then was released. We went to Walmart to fill my scripts and buy an extra pillow. I was walking around very slowly (and like a cowboy) with my friend holding my hand only a few hours after surgery which is kind of amazing when you think about it. But once the Novocaine down there fully wore off walking was less comfortable. lol Still not terrible. With this surgery there was never a time when I could not walk. I just need to take it easy and rest so I'm not doing a ton of walking. The surgeon and his nurses did encourage that I continue to do my normal walking, for example get up to go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, get my food, etc. They wanted me to keep doing normal things but also to make sure I do a lot of resting. So resting I did!
That first 24 hours I was really busy texting everyone, updating my facebook, and calling people. lol Everyone of course wanted to know how I was doing and I was super excited to let everyone know. Pain was extremely well managed. As I mentioned on another post, when I woke up in recovery, they offered to give me pain medication through the IV but I was in no pain so I said "No." And from that point on I just took the prescribed one or two 5mg percocet every 4 hours. Mostly I just take one pill. Occasionally if after 30-60 minutes after taking it I feel like I need a 2nd then I take the 2nd pill. Ice has been really nice at taking away any aches too.
One thing that I want to make note of during the first 24 hours that I was NOT expecting was the bleeding! There was blood and I'm such worrier so that was scary. To me if something is bleeding there is something wrong! But my friends as well as my surgeon's nurses reassured me I was fine. They had me in a jockstrap stuffed with gauze and yes that gauze ended up with a lot of blood in it. I was grossed out. And scared but apparently there was no reason to be. The scariest and grossest thing was whenever I peed. I lowered the jock strap to go pee and every single time I did during the first day I could actually see blood dripping. It wasn't a ton but it was dribbling and dripping from here and there out of the various stitched up areas. By the end of the first 24 hours the blood had almost entirely stopped. At day 3 right now I actually still have one spot under my penis that every so often still lets a little tiny blood drip. I'm not even sure if it's blood or just you know various fluid because it isn't bright red so it might be just a mixture of blood and fluid. But it seems to be fine. And all the other places that were dripping blood that first day are all fine too. The nurse, that I talked to multiple times that poor woman, said it was only a concern if there was a ton of blood to the point that you were bleeding through lots of gauze. I mean don't get me wrong I can show you a picture of that friggin jock strap from day one and it ended up quite red by the end of it in spite of all the gauze in there but it was still fine.
But overall the first 24 hours was a piece of cake. I would just say it was annoying because the drains needed to be emptied every 4 hours so that was annoying but pain was very minimal. Another annoying thing was that after surgery they encouraged me to slowly transition to solid food again. So the night after surgery all I had was yogurt, crackers, and nutritional shakes. The morning after surgery I got up with my friends and they brought me to the wicked awesome continental breakfast at our hotel. I are solid food for the first time and ate probably way too much. lol But it was soo good! But then my stomach hurt a little after that. I took a nap and I was fine. Oh and at the continental breakfast, I tried bringing a pillow and sitting on a pillow down there. The chair and pillow were comfortable enough but because of my pubic lift incision there was no way I could learn forward to use a table while sitting. So I gave up on that. There were some high tables with stools so Lauren and Kendra saw on the stools and I stood and ate my breakfast. I was more than happy with that! Oh and a nurse from my surgeon's office called me this morning to check on me and make sure I was doing okay.
Day 2 -
Things were easier, we only had to empty my drain twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, so that was nice. And my stomach was all ready well acclimated to solid food so I could eat whatever I wanted, and that was great! I was feeling quite well so we decided to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum! The walk from the car to the museum was a little too long for my liking. We realized later I could have gotten dropped off closer but oh well. The walking to the door, ya it kinda sucked. I was going really slow so it took forever and it made me achy. But once I got inside, my friends grabbed me a wheel chair. Rental was free. I brought a big soft pillow to sit on so I sat on it fairly comfortably with some minor fidgeting and adjusting lol and my friends pushed me around through the whole museum. I loved the museum by the way and it was awesome to be out of the hotel room. But by the time we got back to the car my testicles were definitely quite achy. I took a pain pill and we got stuck in a lot of traffic but I leaned the seat back and I was okay. When I got to my hotel room I made sure I laid down right away and did lots of icing!!! Pain went away pretty quickly once I laid down and got ice on the area. I think the act of sitting up was what made me achy. I was learning and slouching as much as possible in the wheel chair and was using the pillow but no matter what, if you're not laying down flat on your back, you're going to put some type of pressure on the testicles and they just were not happy about that! lol You have to figure, that was skin that previously had nothing in there and was much smaller, suddenly it was hollowed out, stretched, and stuffed with balls then sewn up. They've been through a whole lot, so they're not at all happy unless you're just laying down. Even then sometimes they kind of get aches.
Day 3 -
Kendra didn't wanna go to breakfast so me and Lauren decided to just go down, grab some food and come back up. Today was an achier then usual day. Maybe it was from the sitting around in the wheel chair yesterday that did it to me but def a little more pain. It was still nothing excruciating. It had it's very achy moments but nothing insane. Today I really spent the day relaxing. My friends went to check out Lake Erie and get food but I just laid low in the hotel. I did lots of icing and staying off my feet. I have a laptop tray for bed that I use for eating or using my laptop and the hotel has free wifi so the time really goes by. With the internet at your finger tips you manage to pass the time. It takes your mind off of any aches and pains you might have too so that's nice. I also have my xbox360 set up to the TV so I have netflix and can watch a ton of different things. I also am borrowing my friends Nintendo 3DS with a bunch of games.
So ya, not too much happened today it was pretty low key. The one big event today was my first post-op bowel movement this evening. Now I normally do not have bowel movements very often so I wasn't concerned much about it but since I know sometimes doctors really want to make sure you're movements are good after surgery I figured I'd call and ask them about that. The nurse said it was fine that I haven't had one yet since I normally don't go every day and since I'm on pain medication but she did say it would be good to take some Milk of Magnesia to encourage a bowel movement sooner rather than later that way if there was something blocked we'd find out about it now rather then waiting. So I took the Milk of Mag (over the counter stuff by the way) and all day I could feel you know my body preparing for it. I was scared. lol Because I thought pushing might hurt. Finally around like 11pm I sat there for a long long time and finally went to the bathroom but honestly it took a lot out of me. My body felt physically exhausted afterwards. It didn't hurt to push at all but sitting on the toilet is not comfortable so I couldn't really just sit relaxed like I normally would. I was very tense and on top of that trying to hard to push so by the end my stomach, lower back, butt, and upper leg muscles felt weak like jello. My stomach felt great after the BM but my body felt like it had been through the ringer! And it was late and I still had to empty my drain, let my friend wash my penis and balls and put on the medicated ointment and all that. Oh and I needed to take my testosterone shot so I was very frustrated and feeling irritable and sick of healing at this point.
But once that stuff was all done, I heated up my bath clothes, wiped myself down. washed my face really good. had a snack, took my meds and I was in a much better mood. And now that I've updated my blog I feel very accomplished! So everything is good.
I have my first (possibly last) post-op appointment tomorrow at 1:15pm. Then me and my friends are going to go to the Cleveland Zoo. I hope I get this drain out because that means we'll be able to head home sooner. It also means I'll be able to take a real shower which will be soooo nice. But I don't want to jinx it so we'll see! Either way I'll update soon.
Post-Op Care
Hey Everyone,
So I'm at a little past 3 days post-op! In this blog post I'm going to talk about what I (and my friends) needed to do for post-op care these first three days.
The things I need to do are not really that hard...in theory. lol It's a short pretty simple list but you're about to read what it's like to actually carry these things out. lol
Medications -
Pills
I have my pain medication which I take every 4 hours. Then I have antibiotics that I need to take with food 4 times a day for the first 7 days post-op. Luckily, no problems with nausea from the pain meds or diarrhea from the antibiotics which are two symptoms I was told were very possible. The pain meds have however given me some serious constipation. I took over the counter Milk of Magnesia and that helped things along some but it still was not easy. lol Remembering to take the pills I needed a lot of help with the first day because I had such terrible memory from the anesthesia. After that first day I set timers in my phone for when to take my pills but my friends still made sure to remind me, especially about the antibiotic.
Ointments
They asked me to get Bacitracin and apply it to all the stitched areas 3 times a day. I can't even fully see the stitched areas without a mirror so my friend Lauren had to help me with that. I would sort of sit (mostly leaning back) on the edge of my bed and she'd use gloves and apply the medicated ointment to all the areas that have stitches showing. These areas were each testicle and the underside of my penis from the base to the tip. There are stitches up across the incision where the pubic lift was but this area is covered with steri-strips and does not need to have medication placed on it. I was pretty scared about letting her touch my stitches but she went gentle and honestly it didn't hurt at all.
Cleaning -
Mandatory Cleaning (doctors orders)
After I urinate I have to take an UNSCENTED baby wipe and dab the area; no wiping! just dabbing. And because of swelling when I pee urine just goes like everywhere lol (thighs, butt cheeks, all over the testicles and sometimes the top of the toilet seat) so I usually have to wipe my thighs and butt with the baby wipes after dabbing the genital area gently. After any bowl movement I also need to clean it with a baby wipe very carefully not to get any germs on my genital area.
My one a day cleaning I was told to start 24 hours after surgery. So after I was 24 hours post-op we had our first washing. I was very scared of this. lol I was dreading it the whole first day. But it wasn't bad. He wanted me to basically just wash the area with warm antibacterial soapy water. They recommended liquid dial gentle antibacterial soap. They said realistically I probably wasn't going to be able to get off all the dried blood and what not right away and they told me not to worry about that. Basically my friend Lauren took over and cleaned me each time. I really didn't realize how much I was going to need help after surgery and I'm not sure my friends knew what they were in for either. lol I knew they were gonna end up seeing me naked but I didn't realize how up close and personal things were going to get. lol But thank god, Lauren took over because I was too scared to do much down there. Basically I would stand in the shower and she would run the tub water warm, take a cup, fill it with the warm water, add the dial mix it up and make it all sudsy. Then she'd take that water and pour it all over my penis and testicles careful not to get my drain incision wet because that can't get wet at all. So she'd fill the cup a few times with soap and water pouring it over me genital area. Then she'd do it a few times just with warm water to get the soap off and that was it. all done! Nothing to be scared of. But I was scared every single time. lol Then I'd get out of the tub and use a towel to kinda carefully dry my thighs and use a guaze pad to very gently pat try my penis and balls.
Non-Mandatory Cleaning (stuff I did just to not feel gross)
I didn't "need" to do the following things but I did them because they made me feel not so gross. I am unable to shower until the drain is out so I wanted to at least clean up. I bought CVS brand cloths to sponge bathe myself. You throw the whole package in the microwave and it warms them up. You wipe your body down with it and let it dry. It leaves you feeling clean and soft and smelling kind of like baby powder. It's not necessary but honestly they're cheap and it just makes me feel better. Comfort is nice when you're healing.
I also had my friend Kendra wash my hair in the sink on Wednesday. lol We were going out and I didn't want my hair to look greasy so I had her wash it for me. I had to get in a very strange position to get my head in the sink since leaning forward at the waste is hard/painful right now but we managed and I looked nice and felt nice.
Emptying Drain -
There is one drain. I'm pretty sure he only uses a drain on his metoidioplasties if you have a pubic lift which I had therefore I have a drain. The drain is off the right directly on the side of the horizontal incision from the pubic lift. During the first 24 hours post-op the drain needed to be emptied and recorded every 4 hours minimum. You have to do it more often I think if it becomes half full. Mine never became more than half full so Lauren emptied my drain every 4 hours during that first night and day. To empty a drain you basically have to "milk" the tube pushing all of the fluid from the tube into the end receptacle which looks like one of those children's juice's "Teeny Drinks." It's the same type of drain that most top surgeons use. One all the fluid is pushed into the receptacle then you have to squeeze all the fluids/blood into a measuring cup, then you record how much was in there. Lauren did this for me the first two days. Third day (today) I was doing it on my own. After the first 24 hours it only needs to be done twice a day (more if you reach 1/3 full I believe is the rule) but after the first 24 hours I had an extremely small amount of fluid coming out so we've only had to empty it twice a day. By the way, I'm going to my first post-op appointment tomorrow (Friday, 4 days post-op) and my surgeon's nurse is going to check if the drain is ready to come out. Once the drain is out I can technically go home. But I have a really long drive so even if it comes out tomorrow we're not going to leave just yet. If the drain stays in, then I have another appointment Monday and he said by Monday it will definitely be ready to come out. He was pretty confident that it'd be out by Friday though and with such little stuff coming out I'm thinking it will be out by then. That will be super nice because that means I'll be able to take a real shower yay!!!
Ice -
They didn't say it was mandatory but they encouraged it (20 minutes on and 20 minutes off, as often as needed and always make sure there is cloths between the ice pack and the skin) and let me tell you, god it helps so much! I usually hate to use ice packs on any sort of injuries but I'm tell you ice packs have been tremendously amazing. If I'm aching, I put an ice pack on and in a few minutes the pain is gone. Mmmm ice packs! If you have this surgery get lots of soft flexible ice packs. I have two plus one they gave me at the hospital. I keep them in the little freezer of the hotel's mini fridge and I switch them out as I need them.
So I'm at a little past 3 days post-op! In this blog post I'm going to talk about what I (and my friends) needed to do for post-op care these first three days.
Post-Op Care
The things I need to do are not really that hard...in theory. lol It's a short pretty simple list but you're about to read what it's like to actually carry these things out. lol
Medications -
Pills
I have my pain medication which I take every 4 hours. Then I have antibiotics that I need to take with food 4 times a day for the first 7 days post-op. Luckily, no problems with nausea from the pain meds or diarrhea from the antibiotics which are two symptoms I was told were very possible. The pain meds have however given me some serious constipation. I took over the counter Milk of Magnesia and that helped things along some but it still was not easy. lol Remembering to take the pills I needed a lot of help with the first day because I had such terrible memory from the anesthesia. After that first day I set timers in my phone for when to take my pills but my friends still made sure to remind me, especially about the antibiotic.
Ointments
They asked me to get Bacitracin and apply it to all the stitched areas 3 times a day. I can't even fully see the stitched areas without a mirror so my friend Lauren had to help me with that. I would sort of sit (mostly leaning back) on the edge of my bed and she'd use gloves and apply the medicated ointment to all the areas that have stitches showing. These areas were each testicle and the underside of my penis from the base to the tip. There are stitches up across the incision where the pubic lift was but this area is covered with steri-strips and does not need to have medication placed on it. I was pretty scared about letting her touch my stitches but she went gentle and honestly it didn't hurt at all.
Cleaning -
Mandatory Cleaning (doctors orders)
After I urinate I have to take an UNSCENTED baby wipe and dab the area; no wiping! just dabbing. And because of swelling when I pee urine just goes like everywhere lol (thighs, butt cheeks, all over the testicles and sometimes the top of the toilet seat) so I usually have to wipe my thighs and butt with the baby wipes after dabbing the genital area gently. After any bowl movement I also need to clean it with a baby wipe very carefully not to get any germs on my genital area.
My one a day cleaning I was told to start 24 hours after surgery. So after I was 24 hours post-op we had our first washing. I was very scared of this. lol I was dreading it the whole first day. But it wasn't bad. He wanted me to basically just wash the area with warm antibacterial soapy water. They recommended liquid dial gentle antibacterial soap. They said realistically I probably wasn't going to be able to get off all the dried blood and what not right away and they told me not to worry about that. Basically my friend Lauren took over and cleaned me each time. I really didn't realize how much I was going to need help after surgery and I'm not sure my friends knew what they were in for either. lol I knew they were gonna end up seeing me naked but I didn't realize how up close and personal things were going to get. lol But thank god, Lauren took over because I was too scared to do much down there. Basically I would stand in the shower and she would run the tub water warm, take a cup, fill it with the warm water, add the dial mix it up and make it all sudsy. Then she'd take that water and pour it all over my penis and testicles careful not to get my drain incision wet because that can't get wet at all. So she'd fill the cup a few times with soap and water pouring it over me genital area. Then she'd do it a few times just with warm water to get the soap off and that was it. all done! Nothing to be scared of. But I was scared every single time. lol Then I'd get out of the tub and use a towel to kinda carefully dry my thighs and use a guaze pad to very gently pat try my penis and balls.
Non-Mandatory Cleaning (stuff I did just to not feel gross)
I didn't "need" to do the following things but I did them because they made me feel not so gross. I am unable to shower until the drain is out so I wanted to at least clean up. I bought CVS brand cloths to sponge bathe myself. You throw the whole package in the microwave and it warms them up. You wipe your body down with it and let it dry. It leaves you feeling clean and soft and smelling kind of like baby powder. It's not necessary but honestly they're cheap and it just makes me feel better. Comfort is nice when you're healing.
I also had my friend Kendra wash my hair in the sink on Wednesday. lol We were going out and I didn't want my hair to look greasy so I had her wash it for me. I had to get in a very strange position to get my head in the sink since leaning forward at the waste is hard/painful right now but we managed and I looked nice and felt nice.
Emptying Drain -
There is one drain. I'm pretty sure he only uses a drain on his metoidioplasties if you have a pubic lift which I had therefore I have a drain. The drain is off the right directly on the side of the horizontal incision from the pubic lift. During the first 24 hours post-op the drain needed to be emptied and recorded every 4 hours minimum. You have to do it more often I think if it becomes half full. Mine never became more than half full so Lauren emptied my drain every 4 hours during that first night and day. To empty a drain you basically have to "milk" the tube pushing all of the fluid from the tube into the end receptacle which looks like one of those children's juice's "Teeny Drinks." It's the same type of drain that most top surgeons use. One all the fluid is pushed into the receptacle then you have to squeeze all the fluids/blood into a measuring cup, then you record how much was in there. Lauren did this for me the first two days. Third day (today) I was doing it on my own. After the first 24 hours it only needs to be done twice a day (more if you reach 1/3 full I believe is the rule) but after the first 24 hours I had an extremely small amount of fluid coming out so we've only had to empty it twice a day. By the way, I'm going to my first post-op appointment tomorrow (Friday, 4 days post-op) and my surgeon's nurse is going to check if the drain is ready to come out. Once the drain is out I can technically go home. But I have a really long drive so even if it comes out tomorrow we're not going to leave just yet. If the drain stays in, then I have another appointment Monday and he said by Monday it will definitely be ready to come out. He was pretty confident that it'd be out by Friday though and with such little stuff coming out I'm thinking it will be out by then. That will be super nice because that means I'll be able to take a real shower yay!!!
Ice -
They didn't say it was mandatory but they encouraged it (20 minutes on and 20 minutes off, as often as needed and always make sure there is cloths between the ice pack and the skin) and let me tell you, god it helps so much! I usually hate to use ice packs on any sort of injuries but I'm tell you ice packs have been tremendously amazing. If I'm aching, I put an ice pack on and in a few minutes the pain is gone. Mmmm ice packs! If you have this surgery get lots of soft flexible ice packs. I have two plus one they gave me at the hospital. I keep them in the little freezer of the hotel's mini fridge and I switch them out as I need them.
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