I made an appointment with the psycologist the doctor is comfortable with. This will be a new experience for me as I will be spilling my guts to a woman. I guess I'm getting less sensitive because I told her a lot on the phone and it didn't bother me to do so. This hole thing is very difficult on my wife. She is very supportive and has made most of the phone calls to get me help but she still gets very upset about it all. I want to thank those of you who have given me your support, It helps a lot and I am grateful. Steve

Steve,

I think your wife will be pleased with the results. Not only does castration have its own benefits, but it is so much better than losing a spouse to SRS. Glad she's been supportive.

Praying for you.

May not get up to PA anytime soon, so would still consider a cutter on east central coast of Florida. Very discreet here.

kimmel is very discrete

My wife and I made the long trek to Los Angeles to see the psycologist the surgeon recommended. I don't like driving in LA. It took us 5.5 hrs for our 180 mi. round trip plus the 1.5 hr. talk. I really think it was a good idea to see this psycologist, she was very good at helping my wife understand what's going on. She did say I'm the first one who said they wanted to stay on testosterone after my castration. I am gender dysphoric, but I don't think it's as strong as those who actively seek SRS.Maybe I'm more body dysphoric. I'm going to have to go back one more time in a couple weeks. She wants to confer with my other two therapists and talk to us more before rendering her recommendation. I do get the feeling it will all work out fine. All of the therapists I've talked to have been wonderful. I'm glad I've gone this route. It has been quite a hassle, but worth it for my wifes peace of mind. The saga will continue after my next visit. Steve

Most of the eunuchs I interact with are on testosterone.

For me I loved testosterone, just did not like my testicles.

Now I have huge silicone ones and much better off.

Bob

Went for my second visit with the nice lady psycologist yesterday. She had talked to the other two Drs. I had seen and it was determined that there was no reason that I shouldn't have the surgery. She, as I, think I an more body dysphotic than gender dysphoric. She is going to talk to the surgeon and confer with her associates. I then have to see her one more time in a month for our final sesson. So it all looks good but I wish it was over. It's better I have the surgery after the first of the year anyway so I can use my vacation time. Slow process. More later. Steve

Hairless (imported) wrote: Tue Oct 18, 2005 6:58 am Went for my second visit with the nice lady psycologist yesterday. She had talked to the other two Drs. I had seen and it was determined that there was no reason that I shouldn't have the surgery. She, as I, think I an more body dysphotic than gender dysphoric. She is going to talk to the surgeon and confer with her associates. I then have to see her one more time in a month for our final sesson. So it all looks good but I wish it was over. It's better I have the surgery after the first of the year anyway so I can use my vacation time. Slow process. More later. Steve

While they don't seem to be on this board, my knowledge is that there are a lot o' ballless guys receiving testosterone even though it doesn't really seem to make a lot o' sense. In my own case, I think testicular pain was a main motivation. One therapist I had distinguished, as you do, between genital dysphoric and gender dysphoric. Either condition could be mitigated by castration, which would be the reason for the recommendation.

I'm receiving testosterone treatment (HRT) and function pretty much as anybody else with a virile set of balls. And I luv being ballless.

JeffEunuch (imported) wrote: Tue Oct 18, 2005 9:33 pm While they don't seem to be on this board, my knowledge is that there are a lot o' ballless guys receiving testosterone even though it doesn't really seem to make a lot o' sense. In my own case, I think testicular pain was a main motivation. One therapist I had distinguished, as you do, between genital dysphoric and gender dysphoric. Either condition could be mitigated by castration, which would be the reason for the recommendation.

I'm receiving testosterone treatment (HRT) and function pretty much as anybody else with a virile set of balls. And I luv being ballless.

This is not just for Jeff, so all thinking of castration please read!

Jeff, I think my therapist is of the same mind set. She said I am not crazy, my wording, and I should be able to have the surgery I want. She said she has recommended many for Orchi. and knows several doctors that do it. She said the doctor I have chosen is one of the best. I think if there were more therapists like her guys wouldn't need to make the long trip to Philly. For those wanting to be castrated, if you can afford it, seek out a gender therapy center. They can help in many ways and maybe give you some peace of mind in what you want to do. Jeff, your final statement is what I hope for. Thanks for your input. Steve

Since everything after 10/18/05 was lost, I'll try to bring my thread up to date.

After my third visit to the LA Gender Clinic, the theropist gave me a letter of recommendation for sugery and called Dr. Alter and discussed my situation. We made an appointment for a pre-sugery conciltation and delivered the third letter at that time. Dr. Alter took the letter and said," three shrinks should be enough". Now it was the time for me to drop my pants so he could decide his best approach. Since my scrotum went about 1/3 of the way up my penis, he said he was going to do what he called a Z-plasty because a straight scar would pull my penis down. I don't know if that would have mattered, my penis has never stood up and said houdy any way. I figured he new what he was doing since he does a lot of genital surgerys. I asked him if there were other wackos that he has removed scrotums on and he said I was his first wacko. I was still not worried. This guy does MTF, FTM and reconstructive surgerys so I fugured I was in good hands, and I was right. While I was there, I asked him if he could get rid of my PA piercing, since it won't grow back together like I read it would. Thank you contributers to BME. He told me it was a big deal and would have a 15% chance of failure. My wife was not happy about this as she wanted me to get rid of it. She thinks my PA is the reason I get bladder infections. Oh well I guess I'll live with my stupidity. Any way, I was all set for the big day.

Jan 12, 2006:

We left the house way to early but I didn't want to be late for the surgery. So the time I'm early, the doctor was late. In the Summit Sugery Center that is attached to Dr. Alters office, I was told to put on the emphamus hospital gown, I have a heck of a time tying those strings that hold it on, and leave on my briefs. Maby she didn't know whae an orchiectomy was. After climbing on the gurney they inserted a IV and covered me with a nice warm blanket. When the anesthesiologist looked down my throat, he started worring about placing the breathing tube because of reflux. After a second opinion and rolling eyes from Dr. Alter, we were a go. Dr. Alter wondered why I still had my briefs on and they had to go.I was wheeled into the surgical suite and a shot of go juice was put into my IV. They asked me if I felt it working and I said it felt a warm. The next thing I heard was the nurse telling me to wake up. Dr. Alter came by to see I was all right and I thanked him. Now I had to pee before they would let me go home and I couldn't. So the cute nurse grabbed my little buddy and shoved a catheter down his throat until he gave up his juices. I was then dressed in my sweat pants and put in a wheel chair for the trip to the pick up area. It was lunch time so the wife had trouble getting out of the parking structure and then there was a wreak blocking the entrance to the pick up area. So I had to be picked up in front of the building on the main drag.

The 2 hr. drive home went well and I was back in my favorite chair. I did the cold pack thing, the wife found a real nifty one at Right Aid, for a couple days. I had very little brusing and no pain. I did have a little discomfort where the chords were cut. The worst thing about the whole thing was the drain. It was rather uncomfortable, but I'm glad I had it as I think it spead up the healing. After 4 days we went back to see Dr. Alter to have the drain removed. That was fun, It felt about like a catheter being removed and was about as long. It took a couple weeks before I didn't feel it any more.

I was back to work 12 days post-op and have had no problems at all. Dr. Alter was able to remove all of the chords so I wouldn't have any adheasions and said that any doctor that couldn't do the same was a hack.

I am now about 5 weeks post-op and feeling great. I'm still on 300mg testosterone IM once a month on the 25th. We'll see how this holds up, I might need more or change to twice a month.

Last night I was watching Dr.90210 and got to see Dr. Alter as he fixed a guys hidden penis. I guess there are some here who would like to have that problem. This guy had the same scrotum problem I had and the Z-plasty was performed on him also, so I guess it's fairly common. Dr. Alter said it was caused by an over aggressive circumcision. It seems to me that Dr. Alter is the one doctor on the show that is more interested in his patients than the hoopla. He really Is an excellent surgeon. Steve