I had my surgery last Wednesday, and I'm currently recovering. Here's how it's gone so far:
The nurses and surgical team were fantastic, very warm and understanding. I was extremely nervous so I appreciated their kindness and jokes. I went under general anesthesia, and woke up to the surgery completed! I live alone so I had previously scheduled a ride home with a non-emergency medical transportation service.
As for the surgery, the incision location was from the base of my penis to partway down my scrotum. It was stitched up and it's been healing well, and my surgeon said that location is very good for scar tissue healing, so I imagine any scars won't be too large. After showers, I've been using sterile single issue drying pads on the incision location to make sure there's no moisture.
That said, my scrotum is quite swollen and had a couple dark purple spots that are now red/blue. It's healing but sensitive. The pain meds are definitely needed. To my surprise, my surgeon recommended compression underwear. Apparently this helps with recovery - I would have thought the opposite.
The first night, I did have swelling in my penis that felt like an erection. My surgeon said this is part of the healing process, and it should stop in 4-6 weeks. This has only happened again once since that first night, so we'll see how that goes.
"Erections" are interesting now. The penis is made up of 3 main tissue tubes, the corpora cavernosa and the corpus spongiosum. The spongiosum is the tissue that surrounds the urethra and provides blood flow to the glans (head). Ligating the spongiosum isn't possible without removing the head, which I didn't want to do. Since my corpora cavernosa are ligated, when I get "erect", the spongiosum and glans are the only parts that swell with blood, and there's no firmness at all.
Lastly, the biggest thing to note is that my dysphoria is gone! Yay! :)
More FAQ:
Q: Surgeon?
A: Dr. Prayful Ramineni
Q: Hospital?
A: George Washington University Hospital
Q: Can you orgasm?
A: Haven't tried yet. My surgeon recommended waiting a couple weeks after surgery to make sure everything is healed up first (when I asked him about this, I did tell him that I'm happy to wait a while as healing is my primary focus).
Q: Any nerve changes?
A: I'm not sure if it's just because I'm not used to simulation without being erect, but the nerves in my glans feel a tiny bit different. I'll follow up in part 3.
Like before, feel free to AMA!
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