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[DavidB (imported)]

Let the healing begin. Swollen to the size of a grapefruit even with a drain tube in. This is going to be a long night. More stories to come.

I saw Dr. A back in march, the first couple of days are the hardest. Keep the ice pack on as long as you can. Don't try to push it to much and take the pain meds. You can't heal if you are in pain. Swelling reduces dramatically over the next few days.

Best wishes and welcome to the club

Dave

[unencumbered (imported)]

I saw Dr. A back in march, the first couple of days are the hardest. Keep the ice pack on as long as you can. Don't try to push it to much and take the pain meds. You can't heal if you are in pain. Swelling reduces dramatically over the next few days.

Best wishes and welcome to the club

DaveI agree with Dave's advice and best wishes but try to take as few meds as possible because, for me anyway, the constipation was the worse part of the recovery. Have some prune juice on hand just in case.

[hoosierdad (imported)]

Just got back from a follow up visit and Dr. said everything looks good to him. Glad he thinks so! My scrotum is still the size of a grapefruit and is starting to bruise significantly.

The surgery was more difficult that expected because both testicles were stuck to the scrotum and he had to cut and scrape to get them out of there. I expect it was due to the alcohol injections. He said he usually can just pop them out and cut the cords, but not mine. He said he could have not even removed them from the inguinal approach due to the testicle fused to the scrotum. He said it will probably be 2 weeks before the swelling goes down. Now for the drive home. Should be fun.

[zeebster (imported)]

Just got back from a follow up visit and Dr. said everything looks good to him. Glad he thinks so! My scrotum is still the size of a grapefruit and is starting to bruise significantly.

The surgery was more difficult that expected because both testicles were stuck to the scrotum and he had to cut and scrape to get them out of there. I expect it was due to the alcohol injections. He said he usually can just pop them out and cut the cords, but not mine. He said he could have not even removed them from the inguinal approach due to the testicle fused to the scrotum. He said it will probably be 2 weeks before the swelling goes down. Now for the drive home. Should be fun.

Congrats on getting your procedure done!

Man, I feel for 'ya but if it were me and I had to do it again I'd do the same thing DavidB did and postpone my departure for another day. I spent about 12 hours sitting in airports and on airplanes the next day and I'd have been much better off staying at the hotel and doing the ice packs. They only work for about the first 48 hours.

I'd try to do a bit of walking to keep the possible nasty post surgical blood clots away, yeah the constipation is a concern but I wouldn't cut back on the pain pills. I tried that and DavidB convinced me it was possibly an unwise (is that a word??? lol) decision to do that and.... the bruising is going to get a lot worse before it starts getting better.

[hoosierdad (imported)]

1 week post op and the swelling and bruising are still bad. I can not stand or walk for more than about 1 minute. Hopefully things will start to get better this week. Still can not work, and the thought of 2 weeks off is starting to worry me. Dr. said it might be several weeks before things return to normal. I am also getting bored watching tv all day. Still bleeding from the drain hole in my scrotum which means another week wearing depends. Sorry to be a bummer but my recovery has not been fun yet.

[SplitDik (imported)]

Sorry to hear of the tough recovery. This is one reason people considering do it yourself surgical castration --even when done by professional it is a serious operation. I realize your case was more difficult, but even standard castration takes minimum a week for swelling to subside.keep us posted. How is your wife dealing with it all.

[hoosierdad (imported)]

The wife seems to be doing ok, thanks for the concern. She is obviously concerned about my health and does not like to see me in pain but she is handling it like a trooper. We both miss being able to just hold each other in bed and cuddle but we know it will get better.

[zeebster (imported)]

1 week post op and the swelling and bruising are still bad. I can not stand or walk for more than about 1 minute. Hopefully things will start to get better this week. Still can not work, and the thought of 2 weeks off is starting to worry me. Dr. said it might be several weeks before things return to normal. I am also getting bored watching tv all day. Still bleeding from the drain hole in my scrotum which means another week wearing depends. Sorry to be a bummer but my recovery has not been fun yet.

Sorry to hear about the issues but they are not uncommon so don't feel like you've been singled out....

Bruising normally doesn't really start to show up for several days afterward while the swelling will begin almost immediately. How long it takes to heal is an individual thing and all you can do ride it out. My experience is pretty well documented in this thread but I'll offer a couple of ideas again; as I was cautioned by one of the members about the pain meds "don't be a hero". Some guys don't need 'em as much but it's silly to be hurting more than necessary, just pay attention to the fact that there will be some constipation associated with the use of the pain meds and act accordingly. I'd say this is really important to you being able to get up and move around, mostly some walking. The medical professionals are really concerned about blood clots these days and they take measures to help make sure they don't occur. I've had a long summer including several trips to the hospital and they are very serious about getting you up and walking as soon as possible. Had a trip through the cardiac cath lab and after the six hour wait to make sure the catheter holes are not going to leak, they've got you up and walking around the floor you're on. I had another trip that involved a craniotomy and I got those sequential compression devices (SCD) put on my calfs as soon as I came out of surgery to the ICU. Spent a day and a half in the ICU but when they moved me out, two big guys from the physical thereapy department had me up walking around with one of 'em under each arm to make sure I didn't tip over.... lol

Point is, blood clots are a very real concern and if you're hurting you're much less likely to do any walking.

As for the suture line healing; Mine took longer than most possible due to my age of 61, I smoked at that time and those I'm sure extened the healing time but I was a month getting all the stitches out and the only way I got the bleeding to stop was to quit getting the area wet for about three days. Kind of a hassle to do the "bed bath" type clean up and possibly somewhat... uh... odor causing but it worked for me to finally get the incision to stop bleeding. I also kept the neopsporin on the incision, putting it on every day until it closed off any open areas.

Hope some of that helps.

[hoosierdad (imported)]

Thanks for the input guys. This is not my first time in the surgery rodeo so I am very aware of many of the complications that can occur. I have been taking the pain meds usually only when I can't take it any more, about 2-3 times daily. I have been taking a laxative every day and have had no problems so far. I have been getting around as much as possible and even went to work for a few hours yesterday, though I spent most of my time in a chair. Per docs orders I have started putting warm compresses on my scrotum and it seems to be helping even though it has only been 48 hours. Hopefully I have started to round the corner and things will only get better from here.

[kristoff]

Thanks for the input guys. This is not my first time in the surgery rodeo so I am very aware of many of the complications that can occur. I have been taking the pain meds usually only when I can't take it any more, about 2-3 times daily. I have been taking a laxative every day and have had no problems so far. I have been getting around as much as possible and even went to work for a few hours yesterday, though I spent most of my time in a chair. Per docs orders I have started putting warm compresses on my scrotum and it seems to be helping even though it has only been 48 hours. Hopefully I have started to round the corner and things will only get better from here.

How extensive is the bruising - can be an indication of bleeding? If it is very extensive, it can be a very serious issue. If swelling does not start going down after about 5 days, have it checked out. You could have clotting in the scrotum from bleeding post-surgery.

My surgeon fucked up bad, so I endured the extremes of this (350cc clot removed from scrotum, bruising from chest to knees, serious threat to kidneys, as well as life). Not saying this is what happened, but it is an extreme example of what can happen. 'Tis nothing to mess with.