So I'm on day 6 post-op from having a bilateral orchiectomy and I'm surprised at just how well it's going. I live in Las Vegas, but I booked to have it done down in Miami at Restore Medical Center by Dr. Whitehead. Here's a recap of the trip down and back and how I'm feeling now.

Tuesday 2/8/2022 I flew down on American Airlines from Las Vegas to Miami international airport. First-class tickets round trip. After landing I collected my one checked bag and made my way to the rideshare pickup area outside of door #2. It took probably 15-20 standing out there before my uber showed up. By the time it did was sweating in the Florida heat and humidity. That was probably the worst part of my transportation experience for the whole trip. My uber driver didn't speak any English so it was a quiet ride to the hotel, just like I prefer actually.

I chose to stay at the Landon Hotel due to its close proximity to the surgery clinic. The Landon is like a middle-of-the-road 3-star hotel. No frills, but I wasn't looking at this trip as a vacation I was there strictly to have surgery and get back to Vegas as soon as possible so it worked for me. My room was...ok. It was clean. the AC didn't work the best but it was cool enough to not be uncomfortable and once you turned on the ceiling fan above the bed it was more than enough for me to sleep at night (I like it absolutely freezing when I sleep). The mini-fridge to cool but not cold. There was no microwave in the room and no iron or ironing board in room but I have a feeling that they could have supplied one if I had called the front desk.

The surgery center is one block over from the hotel so it was a total of 5 minutes walking distance from the hotel. The very small mom and pops pharmacy that they use is in between the hotel and the. surgery center so a 2-3 minute walk will get you there.

Wednesday 2/9/2022 was a free day for me. I originally booked to fly in on the 8th because my surgery date was supposed to be the 9th, but they called and said there was a conflict with the Dr's schedule and asked if I would be ok moving to the 10th instead and I was, but the cost to change the flight was more than the cost of the hotel room for an extra night so I opted to just leave the flight and book an extra night in the hotel instead.

On this day I went and picked up my prescription from the pharmacy. There was one for an antibiotic and one for hydrocodone + acetaminophen for pain management. I just hung out in the room, ordered uber eats, and did some work on my laptop. I was told to stop all eating and drinking at midnight and to take a really good show the following morning before arriving at the clinic. My appointment time was 8:30 am.

Thursday 2/20/2022 I work up super early at like 3 am because I was sooooo nervous and couldn't sleep. Around 7 am I started getting ready. Took a really thorough shower. Picked out a dress to wear over and some sandals. Took all but the essentials out of my bag and at 8:15ish I headed over to the surgery center. I got there before 8:25 am and waited until 8:30 am before going in. There were no other patients there. I was the only one in the whole place. A nice and friendly black woman nurse came out with paperwork and sat next to me and walked me through filling out everything. That probably took 15 minutes, then she took me in the back to a bathroom that had lockers in it. She instructed me to strip and to put all my belongings in the locker. She then gave me a gown, some compression stockings, and non-slip socks to put on. She weighed me and then I told her to empty my blatter and then follow her out to the recovery room. I climbed up on the bed and she took my blood pressure and put me on the blood oxygen monitor. Ashley from the front desk was there as well and she was the one that really got me to calm down. She has a great spirit about her and you can really feel that she care about your well-being.

I laid there for about 10-15 mins and then Dr. Whitehead and his cute ass husband Dr. Ramierz (also the anesthesiologist) showed up. Dr. Whitechead chatted with me and confirmed that we are just doing a scrotal incision orchiectomy and leaving the scrotal skin for future vaginoplasty. Then he disappeared and Dr. Ramierz came and sat on the bed next to me and chatted with me about my medical history and told me that he would be doing deep sedation instead of general anesthesia (which I actually ended up preferring). He put in an IV line inside my left elbow area and then I was led into the surgery room.

I claimed up on the table spread my arms so they could strap them down and put an oxygen mask on me. Ashley (the girl that will probably answer the phone if you call them) was scrubbed out and was leaning over me chatting with me and then.....out like a light switch. There was now "count backward from 100", or "I'm about to give you something to make you sleepy"...nothing lol. Next thing I know I'm waking up back in that recovery room with the little black lady nurse rubbing my shoulder. I have absolutely no memory of the surgery whatsoever. I wasn't really in much pain. Maybe a 2 out of ten. I was pretty groggy still. I waited there for the caretaker that I had hired to arrive.

Oh, I didn't mention that I traveled down there alone. I don't have a big circle, or to be honest, anybody that I hang with outside of my ex and she had to stay home with kids so it was a solo trip for me. I paid $250 for a day's worth of time from a caretaker recommended by the clinic. She showed up and now thinking back on it, I don't remember ever getting back into my dress. It was all a little fuzzy. Ether they helped me get dressed after waking up and I totally don't remember or they dressed me prior to waking up and I don't remember but somehow I ended up back in my dress.

They brought over a wheelchair and I got into it and one of the staff members actually wheeled me all the way back over to my hotel, inside, up the wheelchair left, and all the way into my room and ensured I got into bed ok. At that point, it was just me and the caretaker. I wasn't sure exactly how long she would stay but she ended up staying with me the whole surgery day and slept with me and got me breakfast in bed the next morning from the hotel's continental breakfast. Then we got dressed and walked by over my 11 am follow-up appointment.

Friday 2/11/2022 at the follow-up appointment Ashley took me back to an examination room and had me strip out of clothes and undies and hop up on the table. She removed the very well-secured dressing that they had over the area and inspected the incision. She let me know what to look out for and showed me the small amount of blood on the gauze that would be typical for the first week or two while the wound is healing. She said to just wear a panty liner and very snuggle undies.

I would highly suggest very tight/snug undies. This makes a HUGE difference in comfort level. What I didn't think about was that the muscles that normally engulf the inside of the scrotal sac are cut to gain access to the testicles and without that muscle, there's nothing to keep the scrotum tucked up nicely where it normally resides until those muscles have the time to heals back together. So every time I take off my undies to pee, the pain comes back because the scrotum is now unsupported. I have special undies made for tucking that are really hugging and have found them to be the most comfortable during this recovery.

We walked back to the hotel afterward and after making sure I had everything I needed and calling her Lyft the caretaker left.

Saturday 2.12.2022 I arranged for late 3:30 pm checkout. I had an 8:20 pm return flight on American Airlines. I checked out and called uber. I opted for the Uber comfort level ride because it was only a few dollars more. This typically gets you an SUV or a minivan which is easier to get into than a compact car. At the airport, I was able to check my bag at one of the outside check-in counters as soon as I got out of the uber. The first class TSA entrance had absolutely no line, so I didn't even bother finding the Clear terminal to skip the line because there was no need. A quick scan of the passport and pulling down of the mask to verify your face and then off to breeze through security. Both Clear and TSA Precheck have been a godsend for getting through the worst parts of airport traveling.

I arrived at the AMEX Centurian lounge at 4:30 pm but being that they now have a strict 3 hour prior to departure time check-in rule, I had to go back downstairs to one of the nearby gates and wait the 50 minutes for my 3-hour window to begin. Once I got in, I'll be honest, I was actually more comfortable sitting down at the gate than in the lounge. I have social anxiety...very badly. I don't like crowds, and the Centurian lounge was absolutely packed. To the point that was hard to find a place to sit down. I did end up finding a quiet corner in the business room to set up shop until it was time to head to my gate.

I was able to walk right up to my gate at the perfect time. They were doing preboarding so I jumped in the first-class line and was boarded in less than 3 minutes. The wider seat was good for keeping the legs open and less pressure on the surgery site. And with that, I made it back home to Vegas, fought an uber with the most kind-hearted uber driver that I've ever had, and got some sleep.

Sleeping on your back is recommended but I'm a side sleeper so a king-sized pillow between the legs did the trick for me. Still do that every night.

Pain from the surgery worked like this for me. The incision site has never been the source of pain. At most, it's always been around a 1 out of 10. Like I can slightly feel that something happened down there but there's pain. The site of the pain, or really more of a kicked in the balls feeling) in the two inguinal canals that your testicles would normally retract into when you push them up there to tuck. My thought is that when they cut the Vas Deferens tubes that connect to each testicle and suture them, those tubes now retract up into each of those canals because there's no longer any testicle connected to them to keep them pulled down inside the scrotum. So that is where the pain actually was, on the two sides of your penis right in that "V" cut. If you know you know.

Day 0 (surgery day) pain wasn't that bad. 3-4 out of 10. Took the regular Tylenol that they gave me prior to discharge and then one hydrocodone at night to sleep. In hindsight, it probably wasn't necessary.

Day 1 post-op was probably the most painful day for me. But still only like a 5 out of 10. Took more Tylenol and one more hydrocodone to make it through the day as comfortable as possible. I'm a big pain baby and I won't sit and suffer through pain until I can't take it anymore. Nope, the first sign of pain I'm taking something so that I can stay comfortable.

Day 2 through today day 6 post-op I have literally not had to take any pain pills at all. not even regular Tylenol. As I sit here typing this I'd say the pain is maybe a 2 out ten at most. It's more of sourness than pain at this point. There was a big improvement in discomfort level between day 3 and day 4 post-op.

All in all, it was the absolute best experience that I could have hoped for this procedure, and highly recommend going to Restore Medial Center if you're looking to have this done. Feel free to ask any questions. In three weeks I'm flying to Korea to have vocal feminization surgery at Yeson voice center as well so stay tuned for the post on that experience as well :-)