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This is after a whole lot of dehiscence around week 2. Given that, I'm really impressed by how much I've healed and the entire medical team was too. In my last update around week 3, bluebond had just removed a whole bunch of clots prior to me heading home from NYC. Things were looking pretty gnarly. The last two weeks things have improved quite a bit. I (and everyone else) expected it to take longer.
I had my "six week" in person follow up this week and they were ecstatic at how much I've healed. I also had all my remaining stitches removed. A lot had already dissolved into some lovely stringy goop, but a decent amount remained.
Since I've been home I've been using thinx full time rather than pads. I'm a big fan. I wish I had gotten some in advance so I could have used them once I was discharged, but didn't think I'd be able to measure the fit right. I think everything is so swollen afterwards though you can figure out the fit even pre surgery.
I've also been going to the weekly, NYU hosted vaginoplasty support groups (hi friends). I've found this pretty helpful and not something I knew about beforehand.
I'm definitely still in "one foot in front of the other" mode. Really just kind of numb and exhausted all the time. I have enough energy to do one or two tasks a day, otherwise it's basically just dilating and laying down.
The team recommended I keep up my protein intake. I've been trying to do that and a little more. My full stack is as follows:
- 2 scoops ON gold protein powder
- 2 scoops vital proteins collagen peptides
- 4 caps vital proteins cartilage collagen
- Probiotic
- Costco multivitamin
- A fistful of Costco fish oil
- D3
- Scar away gel for the port scars on my abdomen (and for the rest of the scars once they've closed).
This is obviously a lot, but I had a lot of this already and checked that it made sense with the medical team. I'm also putting a strip of aquacel on each side, and a piece on the inside that needs a little extra healing as well. They also recommended that as the aquacel stops adhering as much to add medihoney, which I'll start doing in the next few days.
For quick trips to the city I can recommend staying at citizen m in the Bowery. It's right next to the j train which runs right to JFK, and very close to the 6 which gets you close to the office. Rooms are nice and relatively inexpensive for the area, and it's really hard to beat the food options in the immediate area. Ceci cela patisserie next door is almost enough reason to go to NYC on its own.
Hehe told you! You actually healed way faster, nice!
Yessss
Super big improvement! I’m glad it’s healing so well.
I’m curious what the docs would say about microneedling on that area to help blend/fade the scar. It certainly wouldn’t be possible until at least 9 months out, maybe even a year. But I had that done on my forehead scar and it worked really well.
Congrats btw!!
I didn't ask but we did talk about using scar away on it. Their paperwork also recommends regular massage
Yooo tyy for the update. Lessens a ton of anxiety I had about separation of my stitches. Seeing yours heal up so nicely give me confidence. Ty for keeping us updated! ☺☺
Scary! Informative. Glad it resolved! 🥰
This is why l love NYU Langone team, they almost always handle difficult situations without gaslighting the patient! It’s not always about the results but about how the team around the patient respond to the complications and trauma surrounding such a delicate surgery! I am not scheduled for surgery until sometime next year, but this post is telling me that NYU is worth the extremely long wait!
Congratulations on your recovery so far! You are so brave and beautiful ❤️
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Yeah you're in good hands, she asked me to send pictures every week and she just messaged me this morning cheering me on
looks so good! glad ur recovering from what sounds like an ordeal! keep it up!
Thanks friend, glad to see you're doing well too
she's healing beautifully. congratulations!
Thank you for keeping us up to date! Glad to see the healing is going well.
Also, I’m totally fucking jealous of your Advanced Dilation techniques. My feet are too stubby lol
What causes dehiscence like this? Is there any way to prevent it?
I asked Dr Zhao if there was anything I could have done to have caused it, or if there was anything I should maybe not be doing to make it worse, and he told me straight up there was nothing he could think of that I could have done to cause it. So I think it's just I got unlucky
One thing I'd add is that Dr Google says obesity elevates your risk of dehiscence. As you can see in the pics I'm just above the obese cutoff, so I guess that's one thing you can do to reduce your risk. I do think that being relatively active (pretty frequently climbing and biking, cross training, and yoga) helped my recovery quite a bit. Prior to surgery ofc, since then I've mostly just gone on walks since I'm not allowed to lift anything.
That's really pretty!
Such an amazing difference from the last update. Trust the process!!!
Amazing healing!
How have your pain levels been throughout those weeks?
I think medium? I got a refill of gabapentin because I was still having some nerve pain, and I'm on a pretty regular Tylenol and ibuprofen rotation. With all that it's pretty well managed I think. I don't set alarms to wake myself up, but do try to take them on schedule if I'm awake (to mixed success).
No opiates the whole time even in the hospital for me (see first post)
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