Wanted to describe my experience for the community as this was a great place for me to see other stories. I was on HRT for 3y 5 months prior to surgery. Timeline was Jan 2021 Call for consult March 22 Consult which was pulled in to Oct 21 with a Aug 11th Surgery. Started Surgery electrolysis in Jan 21 and was clear by June 22. I had a good amount of hair but did not want to rush the process and be stressed.
I needed to get the dates on my letters updated as I had all 3 submitted which triggered my consult to get pulled in so just asked for date updates once I got to 6 months out from surgery.
I live in NYC so did not need to travel. They called me Aug 10th at 11am with my surgery time 7:30am and arrival at 6am. Left my apartment and was in NYU in 8 mins due to no traffic on the FDR.
Admittance, and surgery was amazingly smooth. I dont remember much other than the give your name and birthdate a lot and then the walk to the or. Once in the OR it was a blur and i dont remember anything other than getting on the table and then it was lights out.
I was out of surgery by 10am and spent about 4 hours in where the nurse was amazing and kind and kept me comfortable. This was a blur. But was wheeled up to 11th floor. Wife and kid came to visit and while they were there the holistic nurse came in and i highly recommend the service. She put me to sleep 3 times. really helped relax me.
The schedule was as published day 0 in bed, day 1 in chair. I hated the chair it was uncomfortable. day 3/4 walking. On day 2 i did 5 laps 2 times one in the morning and afternoon. Day 3 i walked shorter laps but more often about a mile. this really wore me out.
Day 2 Meghan came in and we spent 30-40 minutes on the dilation powerpoint which was fantastic. Protip Ask her to pack it up if your getting visitors who you dont want to know about dilation. My mother in law came to visit on Saturday and picked up the document and reviewed which lead to a lot of awkward questions.
Day 4 at 6:30am 4 doctors stormed the room to take out the wound vac. I got a lot of laughs out of these early morning visits to just look at my stomach. No bed side manner no good morning. So when you are not getting good sleep the exp could be a bit chaotic. 2 people on either side of me took off the dressing while the other 2 acted as spotters. (trying to be humorous here). once the bandage was off they just kinda mic dropped their way out of the room. I was left with my new found creation but was unsure do I look right away wait etc. I waited about 45 minutes before using the phone/selfie mirror (pictures are from day 4
The biggest stress i had was the pee test/catheter coming out on day the evening of day 4. They were clear about the 1 in 7 stat for people who need to go home with the cath. My cath really irritated me and I was worried about having it for 7 more days. They did not remove the cath until 10pm it did not hurt just a bit uncomfortable. After that you had to pee in the hat and then get bladder scans right after. was not a big deal but you def dont sleep well and was up 3 times to pee that night.
Day 5 discharge day started with Dr zhao who removed my packing. This also did not hurt and the only way to describe it was like having a tuning fork vibrating ever so slightly inside of you. was quick.
Dilation with Meghan followed 1 dilation then 1 douche then the 2nd dilation. First dilations where a bit surreal. not painful just surreal. After 2nd dilation i was discharged. and home by 10:15am
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Nurses are amazing - I did not have a single bad nurse and had lots of fun with them, joking, talking getting to know them was such a great way to pass the time. Also watched a ton of soccer on the saturday/sunday so always fun when the staff stops in and stays a bit extra to watch whatever game is on.
The hospital food was terrible. Have visitors bring you real food!
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Apologies for the quality of the pictures it was the best I could do.
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Recovery at home is ok - very swollen and dilation is been ok but need to get into a flow which the first 4 i was not.
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