Follow-up from this update . Not going to bring up issues from that time period (like some of the shitty experiences in the hospital during the week-long recovery there).

It's been a bit over half a year figured I'd give an update. Not going to post any pictures right now (resisting the urge to delete the old pics is hard enough, but trying to keep them up for resource's sake).

The Good

Things healed up great. By about 2 months I felt pretty much back to normal. Not 100% but very close. Peeing is fine. Getting off has been fine/great (via fingering can take a really long time, but with toys or whatever it's pretty great. No complaints).

Dilation is okay. My partner and I use that time to unwind and watch sitcoms at night. Dr. Roth's schedule had me dilating twice a day for the entire first year, but this point I feel fine doing it once a day. I get about 3.5 dots deep on the large orange one. I upsized a lot since the 3 month mark. One of my only recovery regrets was not dilating more aggressively at the start.

The Bad

Penetrative sex isn't the easiest. We've been able to do it a couple times, but the angles are awkward and the process of figuring out angles and such usually results in my tightening up. It's getting better but slow.

Not an issue now, but despite feeling recovered about 2 months in, riding a bike was too much for a while. Took close to 5 months before that felt doable without regretting it.

Around the 3 month mark I had some issues with peeing myself. Usually while in the process of walking to the bathroom. I messaged one of the NPs about it, and she gave some advice. It seems to have worked out (leakage still happens a little occasionally, as is normal for vaginas, but very rare compared to multiple times a week needing to change).

I still don't love the appearance, but I've come to acceptance with it. I think it looks like a cis vagina just not the "platonic ideal" or whatever. One minor issue is hair growing just barely inside the entrance. Not the end of the world and easy to remove but might have been worth getting some hair removal down there. This also might be an issue with my weight (I'm on the heavier side and I've always had a very large mons pubis).

Follow-Up Appointments

Not an issue with care, but because of the screwed up networks around here, the follow-ups happen at Eskenazi. This is not part of my tier 1 network. I've tried to work with my insurance (ironically, working with coworkers), to get it treated as Tier 1, since there's no other options really and it's a continuance of care from an IUH surgery. Unfortunately, no dice. So I've made the decision to not have any more follow-ups as they were costing me about $800 out of pocket per, and that's more than I can justify for what I'm getting.

The follow-ups themselves were fine. They don't tell you ahead of time to come with a full bladder, so do that or they'll make you chug water basically. The follow-ups themselves were fine . Amanda Townsend is the assigned doctor/NP. She answers my questions well enough. Both visits she examined my canal (which is a weird feeling). My only issue is the follow-ups felt more like a consultation. My advice would be come with any questions you might have or anything you might have noticed, it seems more on the patient to bring up issues.

I have not seen or heard from Dr. Roth himself, since leaving the hospital. But that might be because I haven't really had any issues.

I'll note, another user recently has been citing some pretty bad experiences (both with results and follow-ups). The experiences do not entirely mirror my own, but I think it's good people go into things with as much info as possible.

The Summary

I'm very happy with my surgery. The results are not perfect but they're quite fine. Recovery went well. I have 0 regrets around doing it, and I don't regret using Dr. Roth (I'm sure enough surgeon could have given even better results but everyone can't use the exact best surgeon). If I had to do it over again, I would, and I likely wouldn't change much.