Post-op recovery

[Guest sophia.gentry58]

All things being equal I know that each person is unique when it comes to recovering from GRS, especially when you talk about the recovery of someone who is 18 as compare to someone who is 50. That being said, what would you say on average can one expect to have full recovery or at least recover enough that they can return to work without significant complications following GRS?

Sophia

[Guest LizMarie]

I have not yet gone down that road, Sophia, but extensive reading suggests planning on at least 12 weeks of recovery time. Some people report less but most feel like things are manageable at the 3 month mark. This is what I've read from numerous transwomen here and at other websites. Occasionally it is more, sometimes it is less, but there seems to be a lot of agreement that 12 weeks is the sweet spot for planning purposes. Also, recovery time seems less about age than about overall health.

Again, I am not post-op so this is second hand info that I've gathered from reading.

[Guest sophia.gentry58]

Thank you Megan and Liz for your information, they are insightful. And Megan, I will take you up on PMing you regarding GRS operation, post-op and the like as I get closer to that time to have my operation. (((hugs)))

Sophia

[VickySGV]

Don't forget me Sophia!! I am a week 0.5 from being 6 months post. I had no physical restrictions placed on my walking, or other physical exercise the day I left the hospital. They made me put on my underpants by myself to leave the hospital, just to be sure I could do it.

With my special little chair pillow, I was good for an hour and a half in a chair, and did some of my mod work here during my days right out of the hospital. I developed a yeast infection at 15 days which did make life miserable for one weekend until I could see one of my health plan's Ob/Gyn's who had been trained in SRS Post Op issues. It made my dilator feel like I was dipping it in sand after putting on the lube!! I was using my donut pillow on upholstered chairs for about 4 weeks (for some reason the driver seat on my truck was not a problem) and on thinly padded and wooden bottom chairs until about 6 weeks. At 7 weeks I quit using the pillow but did sit down carefully wherever I sat. I hit close to my present level as soon as the external sutures had dissolved and fallen out. My last one was near my clitorus, and what a relief,

Some of the recovery time is going to depend on the surgical technique. The real complicated surgeries in Thailand will take longer than the simpler ones done here in the U.S. to get to a new normalcy for you. Dissolveable sutures outside your body get out of the way sooner I hear. One very complex surgery in Thailand has a bunch inside the external parts which do not fully dissolve for many months.

As Megan and I both found out, "opportunistic" yeast and other mild infections also slow down the approach of your comfort time and healing period. Do have an OB/GYN on your phone list that knows you are post op. It makes life very nice.

Another place it will vary from surgeon to surgeon, is what they recommend as far as dilating. I have heard regimens from 6+ times 20 minutes apiece and my own start of 3 x 15 minutes per day to begin with. Figure an hour and a half per dilation for prep, dilation, clean up of you and clean up of your dilator. At 90 days I was down to twice a day, and on the 21 of July I can go to once a day.

[Guest N. Jane]

It was a long time ago, I was 24 and in good shape. I had surgery on a Monday, was up and around by Wednesday, and out shopping on Friday. I was off work for about 5 weeks and was bored stiff so I went back to work. The first couple of weeks were tiring but by 6 weeks I was pretty much back to (ab)normal

[Guest NatashaJade]

I went back to work after around 8-9 weeks and while I was moving somewhat slowly, as long as I remembered to take it easy, all was well. For the first few weeks back, I was still dilating three times a day. Fortunately, I had a very private place at work and a free hour where I could take care of things.

It really comes down to your recovery. The most important thing is to focus on getting healthy. Trust me, you'll know when you're ready to get up and do things.

[Guest sophia.gentry58]

Don't forget me Sophia!! I am a week 0.5 from being 6 months post. I had no physical restrictions placed on my walking, or other physical exercise the day I left the hospital. They made me put on my underpants by myself to leave the hospital, just to be sure I could do it.

With my special little chair pillow, I was good for an hour and a half in a chair, and did some of my mod work here during my days right out of the hospital. I developed a yeast infection at 15 days which did make life miserable for one weekend until I could see one of my health plan's Ob/Gyn's who had been trained in SRS Post Op issues. It made my dilator feel like I was dipping it in sand after putting on the lube!! I was using my donut pillow on upholstered chairs for about 4 weeks (for some reason the driver seat on my truck was not a problem) and on thinly padded and wooden bottom chairs until about 6 weeks. At 7 weeks I quit using the pillow but did sit down carefully wherever I sat. I hit close to my present level as soon as the external sutures had dissolved and fallen out. My last one was near my clitorus, and what a relief,

Some of the recovery time is going to depend on the surgical technique. The real complicated surgeries in Thailand will take longer than the simpler ones done here in the U.S. to get to a new normalcy for you. Dissolveable sutures outside your body get out of the way sooner I hear. One very complex surgery in Thailand has a bunch inside the external parts which do not fully dissolve for many months.

As Megan and I both found out, "opportunistic" yeast and other mild infections also slow down the approach of your comfort time and healing period. Do have an OB/GYN on your phone list that knows you are post op. It makes life very nice.

Another place it will vary from surgeon to surgeon, is what they recommend as far as dilating. I have heard regimens from 6+ times 20 minutes apiece and my own start of 3 x 15 minutes per day to begin with. Figure an hour and a half per dilation for prep, dilation, clean up of you and clean up of your dilator. At 90 days I was down to twice a day, and on the 21 of July I can go to once a day.

Thank you Vicky! Btw, what exactly are more complicate surgeries when it comes to SRS and why must they be done in Thailand rather than here in America? Do they have better surgeons?

Sophia

[Guest sophia.gentry58]

Thanks all! your information has been most helpful. I'm not close to having GRS yet, but I've been curious about what was involved in recovery post-op. I'm grateful to you all.

Sophia

[Guest LizMarie]

Thank you Vicky! Btw, what exactly are more complicate surgeries when it comes to SRS and why must they be done in Thailand rather than here in America? Do they have better surgeons?

Sophia

Sophia, some of the Thai surgeons use a different technique than is common here in the US. The most famous of these is Dr. Suporn who has both positive and negative reviews from transwomen. His technique is reported to produce some of the highest levels of sexual sensitivity compared to other surgeons.

The two major surgical techniques (there are many but they all appear to be based off two general approaches) just use different tissues for certain reconstructions. As I understand it (and someone please correct me if I have details wrong) In the US the penile inversion technique is popular and uses the scrotal skin to construct the labia. In Thailand some of the surgeons use variations of Dr. Suporn's technique which basically uses the scrotal skin for the vaginal canal and uses the penile skin (and nerve structures) for the labia. The other difference is in the amount of erectile tissue removed. Different surgeons remove different quantities of erectile tissue. Suporn is known for leaving the most erectile tissue (since a woman's clitoris can also become engorged naturally) but Suporn has also had the problem with some women reporting he left too much and sexual arousal became painful for them, requiring additional surgery. And a final difference is that Suporn perforates the skin forming the vaginal wall, allowing it to stretch further, thus achieving greater depth. However, this (plus other factors) means the healing time is much longer with Suporn's technique and requires more dilation initially than other techniques.

The word I read about Suporn that many people seem to agree upon is when his results are good, they are very, very good. But when they are bad, they can be very troublesome. Other Thai surgeons, such as Dr. Chettawut, appear to use variations of Suporn's technique but not quite as radical as his.

Suporn's technique is (from what I've read thus far) what spawned the "non-penile inversion" methods used by many Thai surgeons. Please see attached referenced from Suporn's clinic.

http://www.supornclinic.com/restricted/SRS/srstechnique.aspx

[VickySGV]

I was trying to avoid naming surgeons, which Liz Marie did, but she got my meaning and sources perfectly. Dr. Suporn's surgery takes about 6 hours and the number of sutures he has under the skin is huge. I don't know that the Thai surgeons are better, but they are more complicated in what they use and how. I had thought about going to Suporn, but they turned me down for medical reasons. Like Liz said though, when he is good, he is fantastic, but there are more things to go wrong too.

My surgery with Dr, Bowers did use my penile skin for the construction of some of the labia majora, and used the urethral lining tissue for my labia minora, but there was very little suturing that was left under the outer skin surface. My vagina has mostly scrotal skin lining it. My surgery took about 3.5 hours, of which, about a half hour was because I was over a certain weight and pieces needed to be sewn up differently.

[Paula ult]

I was off work for 6 weeks, Dr. Mcginns dilation schedule was brutal, 5 times a day for the first 8 weeks, i worked from home and was given the time during work to dilate, i starting to feel pretty good at about 8 week mark and competed in an animal rescue charity golf outing at 9 weeks and stopped using my doughnut about the same time, was riding my bike at 12 weeks, i am diabetic and was 59 years young when i had surgery.

It is important to keep on your surgeons recommended Dilation schedule especially early on so the neo vagina does not close up,, you will need to be able to have time during work to do this.

Paula