Reddit helped me a lot to choose the right surgeon for me so I thought I'd give back to the community and share my journey and results so far after getting SRS with Dr. Chettawut.
First I'd like to start off by saying I always knew I wanted to travel to Thailand to get my bottom surgery. Initially Dr Suporn was the biggest name, unfortunately due to covid and all the crazy restrictions that came with it, I couldn't go through with it and soon after, he retired and the Suporn Clinic was only scheduling surgeries with Dr Banks. Although his results are good I didn't feel like he was worth the hefty price tag of Dr. Supporn, because even though it wasn't the same price, it was still pretty high and I didn't think (from the photos I had seen) the results compared.
I often saw Dr. Chettawut's name on forums but had never paid it enough attention since I was always so convinced I was going to go to Dr. Supporn, so when that was no longer an option I started to look for other alternatives and looked up his reviews, results, etc.
I was pretty amazed by his results and how they had photos on their website (unlike Dr. Supporn whose results were very hard to find). I instantly wanted to know what other patients of his said and what the cost of SRS was with him. So I reached out to the clinic and was redirected to the WIH Hospital email, turns out he closed his private clinic and co-founded this massive international hospital with another doctor who also has a very good reputation. That gave me even more confidence.
His price at the time of my consultation was 400,000 B which is around 11500 USD. That was way cheaper than what they were asking for at the Suporn Clinic but still not too cheap to be sketchy. I had to wait some time and when I asked again the price had been raised to 420,000 B, around 12000 USD. Not too bad, I knew I needed to do this soon because life was becoming unbearable so I asked them if they had my birth date available for scheduling, they said yes and I immediately took it and made the 20% deposit that same weekend. I had to wait about 8 months for the day that I finally flew to Thailand. I was so happy.
It was a long trip, 3 flights and lots of hours at different airports but I arrived. An employee of the hospital was waiting for me with my name on a piece of paper.
The following day I had my consultation with Dr Chettauwt, they picked me up at the hotel and took me to the hospital. The new hospital is very modern and looks very new, the staff and everyone were super nice and treated me very nicely.
I was first taken to a consultation with a different doctor who explained the bowel cleansing process I needed to go through in preparation for the surgery and then I was taken to meet Dr. Chettawut.
He was very nice, very professional and the first thing he asked me was if I had had FFS, he was surprised when I said I hadn't and complimented me and said that "I definitely pass". I thought that was nice of him given that he also performs FFS and I was not there for that type of consultation.
He evaluated my neck for the trachea shave and then took a look at my genitals, took some pictures and then I was asked to put my clothes back on, it was only a couple minutes of being uncomfortable for something I knew was going to change my life.
He went on to explain his 2 different techniques (even though I was already set on the skin graft technique and not the colon vaginoplasty). I listened and asked a few basic questions and that was it.
The bowel cleansing process is definitely not fun although it isn't that bad, there's definitely a point where it hurts to wipe and I'm pretty sure I saw blood a couple times from how chaffed everything was.
The morning of the surgery I could barely sleep, took one last shower with my old body and then was on my way to the hospital. The entire drive there I couldn't stop thinking how lucky I felt and how much I had dreamed of that moment, over 10 years wanting and manifesting something that was finally happening.
They take you into the room you'll be staying at after surgery and 2 nurses come in to shave the area of the surgery. They give you a robe and leave you there waiting for what felt like an eternity.
I was lucky enough to have my mom and my step dad come with me, they accompanied me in the room while we waited for the nurses to take me to the OR. Finally one of them came in and said "Are you ready?" and I couldn't have responded faster with "Yes, I am ready". I'll never forget the look on my mom's face, I know she was trying to act strong in front of me but I knew she was terrified. I hugged her and said my goodbyes, they put me in the bed and rolled me to the elevator to go to the OR. I have to admit at this point my knees were shaking a little bit only because I'm not a fan of waking up from anesthesia and I knew I was about to be under for a long time.
Some nurses came in to check on me while we waited for the anesthesiologist and for Dr. Chettawut. I was then taken to the OR and got my IV put in. Dr. Chettawut showed up and he told me I was going to be going night night, I said night night back and look at the light that was right above my head and then was out.
Waking up from anesthesia is never fun but I had never been under for that many hours, I couldn't really focus my eyes on anything and felt like I had drank at least 2 bottles of Vodka but even during the drunkness of it all I remembered what I was there for so I immediately lifted my robe and saw all the gauze that was covering my genitals, I was so happy, I had finally done it. My dream had finally come true, I was so relieved. The next 3 days are kind of blurry, you're on morphine and pain killers and are only allowed to drink soups which don't really taste of much. The morphine can make you hallucinate a little bit which got annoying after a while. The pain is mild but it feels like your genitals have gone through a meat grinder.
After they took out my IV and was only on pain killers I immediately started feeling more like myself and I was so happy to be awake. I couldn't be more excited to go back to the hotel and be with my mom.
The first week is probably the hardest, you're stuffed like a thanksgiving turkey with gauze which makes it very uncomfortable to sit (even when using the pillow the hospital gives you). Once the gauze came out I immediately felt so much better. That's also the day you get to see yourself for the first time. My experience seeing myself for the first could probably be a post of its own. I cried for an entire hour after the nurses left. To say that I was happy is an understatement. She looked so good for only being a week old, I was over the moon.
The most painful part of the entire process was getting the catheter removed. I have a pretty good pain threshold and I'm not one to complain often when in pain but when the nurse was taking it out I let out a couple screams and nearly broke the other nurse's arm who was holding me.
After they've taken the catheter out they tell you to drink lots of water and to wait 4 hrs to pee. Well, I drank the water and then took a nap, I woke up with the biggest need to pee and quickly remembered I no longer had the catheter which meant I was going to have to pee on my own with my new vagina for the very first time. I was so nervous, I ran in circle across the room trying to figure out a way to get the pee out without having to pee. I know how it sounds but when you're in that situation you're willing to do the impossible.
I couldn't really hold it much longer, I had drank too much water so I had no choice but to go to the bathroom and pee, on my own. No nurses, no mom, no nobody. So I did it, I covered myself with my hand after sitting down and closed my eyes. I wasn't sure if it was going to sprinkle all over me so I had to be safe. Next thing I knew I was peeing, I didn't even realize. It didn't hurt and it didn't sprinkle, everything was working. I was so happy.
I've always known I'm a fast healer, but my body has really outdone itself this time. I showed my new vagina to my cis girlfriends and they were amazed at how good it looked to only be 2 weeks old. I'm now almost on week 3, still in Bangkok and she looks better every day. Dilation has been very easy for me thankfully and I no longer need any pain medication.
My follow up appointment with Dr. Chettawut is on June 11th, I'm very excited to hear what he has to say about it since the nurses always tell me how well I'm healing.
I'll update this post after I've had my follow up appointment. Feel free to ask me any questions about the surgery/recovery and I'll answer as honestly as possible.
Thank you for reading.
Photos:
10 Days Post Op:
18 Days Post Op
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