Now it's My Turn!

[YodaNell (imported)]

Don't know of you guys over the pond, but my doctor left some medication inside the sack to help with the pain and swelling. Just don't ask me what it is because I don't know. It's like lignocaine in gel form I guess.

I did not experience any pain or discomfort at all the days following my castration.

On a side note: 12 castrations but I got two brothers this year...Hash and Losethem (two new nullo's)!

PS. Oh wait...brothers and sisters has genitals. Uhm!...I gained two ???Barbie dolls????? this year?

[nvrgag44 (imported)]

Congrats and welcome, brother! Curious about your scrotectomy -- was it big before? So your doctor suggested it? Did you end up with a big incision? Mine cut the cords where right where they met the nuts, so there was much swelling at the end of the cords in the middle of my sac. You said your incision was high? Mine made a small incision over the front of each nut to remove them, and the swelling was right at the incision points.

Yes, the doctor is the one who asked about scrotum reduction and no, my scrotum was not large, about average. As we were discussing the castration he asked me if I wanted implants. I responded with an emphatic NO and made a comment about how I wished my scrotum could be smaller so I didn't have to deal with loose, useless skin. That's when he asked about reducing its size. The incision looks like an upper case "I". A vertical incision in the middle, about 1 1/2" long, and 2 horizontal incisions, each about 1" long, on either end of the vertical leg of the "I". It's quite swollen and bruised right now so it's impossible to tell what it will look like after the healing process is completed. I'm sure it will take quite some time, but I am making progress.

[nvrgag44 (imported)]

My specialist told me that a person gets enough calcium in the food one eats. She told me to stop taking the supplements and just take 2000iu of D3, which increases the absorption rate of the natural calcium. You can get calcification of the blood that could lead to heart disease if there's too much calcium in your blood.

Thanks, you make good points. I have a follow up scheduled with the urologist in 2 weeks. My PCP also wants me to come in about the same time. I'll add this to the list of questions I have for him.

[monkey50 (imported)]

Don't know of you guys over the pond, but my doctor left some medication inside the sack to help with the pain and swelling.

That's a great idea, I haven't heard of that and wouldn't mind a bit of it at the moment!

[nvrgag44 (imported)]

I posted a progress report for this morning in a response to Monkey50's "seeing Dr. Arnkoff next week" thread. It seems redundant to repeat it here.

[monkey50 (imported)]

Two questions, NVR:

1. Do you have any sense of how much skin was removed in your scrotal reduction? I see where you described the incision and, I guess it will be hard to say how much skin was removed since scrotal skin is so... pliable? Just curious if you have a sense of there being less skin yet or if it's too hard to tell in bruised/swollen mode.

2. How are you getting along? I think you said you would have to return to work and some heavy lifting soon and wondered what you were doing/planning.

[nvrgag44 (imported)]

Good morning M50,

It's far too early to tell how much the doc removed because of the swelling. It doesn't feel much different right now than it did before surgery and it's still too tender for a "curiosity squeeze". For all I know my balls are still in there and I'm the victim of a cruel joke.

I suppose I'm getting along as well as can be expected but I feel complete recovery will take a very long time. The good part is each day seems a little better than the one before. There's no way I plan on doing any heavy lifting in the near future. My post-op instructions said no more than 10# for 2 weeks. There's plenty of other things I can do in the shop and I've arranged for temporary help when I need it.

[nvrgag44 (imported)]

I spent most of the holiday weekend in bed or in my recliner. After 4 days of that I was restless and spent WAAAY too much time on my feet yesterday. By 4PM I was really sore, more swollen and uncomfortable. A relaxing hot shower, a couple adult beverages and dinner followed by a good night's sleep was a big help but I won't make that mistake again.

[nvrgag44 (imported)]

Not much to report today. Finished the antibiotics, now just taking Tylenol on an as needed basis. Went to a trade show yesterday but only stayed about 3 hours. Didn't want to overdo the "on my feet" time. Took a short nap in the afternoon. This swelling is going to take a long time to disappear but each day is a little better than the one before. A week to go before my follow up visit with the urologist.

Thanks to all for your informative comments and support. A shout out to Monkey 50 and my 2 new EA friends.

[monkey50 (imported)]

Good update and thanks for the details. I'm going to do an errand tonight that involves about an hour of standing, so I'm going to rest up for that tonight. Contemplating securing an ice pack saddle for myself, but we'll see. Lol re: curiosity squeeze. I lightly poked my scrotum and felt the hard cords but that's all I can manage at the moment.

Curious about the hot vs. cold. Ice pack feels good but after a hot shower today I felt GREAT too. I've been quick in the shower but I could see the appeal of getting things nice and warm -- my soreness/pain is like an epic case of "blue balls," or like my body is trying to retract my testicles. Could also just be the severed nerves, right? I dunno.

Feeling that same restlessness, though, of laying around, now 5 days after surgery for me.