keyman419 (imported) wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 1:35 pm Congrats. Usually 2 weeks is plenty of time. Glad you are doing well.

Thanks! And yes 2 weeks seemed about right. I initially took half the stitches out, then waited a couple of days before I removed the remaining ones. A few of them had pulled through my skin (which is now the area which is last to heal and close up) but other than that, it's all going well!

Well, my stitches are out. They were getting fragile, so would have probably released soon anyway, but they were still pretty much intact. I was very surprised how long a couple were. Way longer than it would have taken just for the skin layers. Like it went well down inside somehow. I don't know. They were just simple individual loop stitches.

Now for time to see how things even out and resolve down there. It's sure not what I was expecting. My balls are gone, without much trouble, so that's good. However, the cosmetic and functional result so far sure isn't aesthetically pleasing; the stitching that closed it all up seems bewildering to me. The term "quick and dirty" seems appropriate, lashed together. Nothing like some of the nice-looking closures I saw on the few online videos I found before this.

Maybe it will eventually be ok, probably. Maybe it will need some minor touch up to release things inside. If so, I'll be looking for a different surgeon. I know of a group that does SRS work based out of our local university hospital, so if I decide to do that I'll contact them. They should be good at things like that.

Another update, over 6 weeks post-op now. The cord swelling has gone down a lot, about half or less of what they were. The cords are still attached to the wound site, with some modest discomfort on the scar area itself when manipulated. But most of the time there's no discomfort whatsoever, and I'm starting to enjoy the empty scrotum I now have! It's just amazing to move around, to sit down in jeans squeezing the privates area and feeling NO NUTS at all. This is indeed a pleasure.

My DIY low-dose HRT of 0.5mg of estradiol buccally twice a day is working well, with only rare hot flashes, good energy and so on. I'm seeking asexuality, and at this point I have no morning "wood", no libido, no interest at all, and even with some experimental stimulation can only get a very limited firmness (not enough to dignify as an "erection"). So things are really working out as desired, with only some limited physical issues from the surgery.

I had the same type of swelling. I had severe hydrocele testis both sides along with and a real rats nest of Testicular varicose veins. The left was the worse of the two and my urologist said he had to really do a lot of pulling and digging to clear that up which of course triggers swelling etc., etc. He also suggested using a Bellevue bridge to lift the scrotum (basicly a cloth wrapped around your thighs and slung under the scrotum) helps a lot with swelling of the residual cords. Also a warm pack as the goal is to increase circulation to get those fluids moving out. A cold pack constricts and in this case makes them worse.

Thanks, Never2Late. I had very very little guidance about the recovery phase. Very little. I only found out a couple weeks later that the recommendation is ice packs for 2 days, then warm packs. Cold only helps in the first 48 hours or so, then you want more circulation as you point out.

Also, I could maybe have minimized the cords attaching to the wound if I would have gently manipulated things during the healing. I didn't do that, and now the cord ends are stuck firmly to each other and/or to the wound from the inside. The cord lumps continue to reduce, the left being about marble size, and the right smaller in diameter than a pencil, and a little over an inch long. I suppose in another month or so they should be down to just residual cords, though they'll quite likely still be attached. I'm quite unhappy about that, but nothing to do about it right now.