So, i had an orchiectomy on 2009-01-09, it's been about 2 months now. I posted up a little surgical report on another site i frequent, i just figured i'd share with everyone here for the curious. I'm trans, the surgery was performed in NYC (manhattan), by a urologist my endocrinologist referred me to. (i'm refraining from disclosing their name, as i never obtained their consent to do such)

I'm not really a regular here, but if you ask questions i'll do my best to answer them.

The day after surgery:

Ramped down spiro from 200mg/day to 100mg/day, and estro from 6mg/day to 4mg/day about a week before sugery; stopped spiro altogether 2 days before. no food or drink since midnight before; had to wear loose clothes, no makeup, no jewellery. (blegh...)

check-in was at 6:30, waited around in the waiting room for about an hour or so.

Then a nurse took me back to get changed into those awesome hospital robes (and they gave me the women's changing room and somehow i actually managed to look like a girl in that ugly maroon gown and hairnet; that made me happy) and then had me sit down in a big comfy chair and took my vitals. Had to wait around for what felt like a long time, sitting there by myself with no clock, in funny "clothes" without my phone or any of my stuff, and not being able to see, talk to, or hug my friend was pretty damn nerve-racking; especially given the sort of "point of no return" moment rapidly approaching. It felt like an hour; but i'm assuming was probably more like 20 minutes or so.

Then the surgeon came, went over the procedure one more time; and got me to sign a consent form. Then the anaesthesiologist came by, said that i would be going under "light general" (i would be breathing on my own, but i'd have a thingy in my throat to keep my airway open, they'd put an IV in, then they'd give me an anti-anxiety, then i'd be out.) i signed another consent form and she went ahead and put the IV in my arm hooked up to a saline bag and left.

It was maybe a minute or so, and another (very cute male) nurse came in, "You ready, rockstar?" ) and walked me to the operating room holding my IV bag over his head. Oh and as an aside, all the nurses were really nice; although most of them did use "he" throughout, one of the nurses ended up catching herself when she said something like "well there you go mister...er..missus?" and apologized. The surgeon apparently used "she" when talking to my friend though.

The operating room itself was a little scary; big lights, lots of machines, 4 people (plus the cute nurse) with the doctors masks and all. Laid down on the table, which had a semi scary little black armrest off it. But it also had this awesome little heater thing called a "bair hugger" blowing hot air under the sheets; i am totally buying one for my bed...

Anyhow, i semi-flirted with the cute nurse, asking him what was going on; he put a big sticky pad on my thigh that was a ground for the electro-cautery, and i said i liked the heater and he said "yeah... everyone wants to take home the bair hugger...", put some more sticky pads for an ekg, and one of those little pulse/ox meters on my finger.

Somewhere during this (my memory for this part is a little fuzzy... i think it was just before the sticky pad?) the anesthesiologist said she was giving me an anti-anxiety, and that i should feel better right away. And certainly, within a few seconds all my nervousness went away and i actually got a little giggly.

The last thing i remember was looking over to see somebody strap my arm down on the armrest, and then put another strap over my waist. Now, given my anxiety about all of this just a few minutes prior, i probably would have totally freaked out when this happened. But as it was, with the drugs and all, i just sort of chuckled and smiled at being bound, and enjoyed the usual comfort of restriction. Not at all a bad thing to turn out the lights to, so to speak.

Anyhow, apparently the surgery took a little under an hour (i think i looked at the clock right after and it was 9:30?), no complications; but i remember waking up with uncontrollable shivers, which sort of freaked me out. It was just a side-effect of coming off the anasthetic though, and they gave me something else down the IV that got rid of them in a few seconds. I was pretty miserable for that first hour or so; my lower back was killing me, i felt nauseous, and it felt like i got a kick in the balls that would last me the rest of my life, that sort of testicular pain that radiates up into your abdomen. I drank a little water; and then the nurse tried to be all sneaky and set it out of reach, but i was thirsty and got it anyways; my mistake, i ended up throwing it up. I also got this super cool little jockstrap/diaper "scrotal support" that doesn't like to stay in one place. wee. under that is just a tegaderm bandage; i'm not sure if there are stitches underneath, but i assume there are. It doesn't look all that bad, no serious bruising or bleeding.

I ended up leaving around 10:30 or 10:45, walking was a little difficult, and i threw up halfway through the cab ride (and the cabbie was a dick; all making fun of me for drinking too much until my friend snapped at him that i had surgery). They sent me home with antibiotics and some tylonol#3 (300mg acetamenaphin, 30mg codiene) I was still pretty nausous and in pain for most of the rest of the day; i had a bit of chicken noodle soup, and some sips of water and ginger ale. I threw up again once, and had a few dry heaves occasionally. I was crampy and gassy and kinda constipated too, which sucked, because i couldn't really "push" without making the pain in my groin worse. The pain meds did help a lot with the pain though. For the most part i slept through the rest of the day in 1-4 hour naps.

Most of the pain has been coming from that "inguinal canal" that people push their testes into when they tuck; there's been swelling there and it's still pretty tender. The nausea is essentially gone today, my appetite came back and i kept breakfast and lunch down, although i'm still a bit crampy and gassy for some reason. I've been taking a pain pill more or less every 3-6 hours, and it still hurts, but it's pretty managable.

1 week post surgery:

So, the achy pain has steadily been getting better; by the 3rd or 4th day i was up and walking around (slowly); now the pain is barely noticeable, and i can wear tight jeans, cross my legs, even jog a bit. Every once in a while i'll do something funny and i get a shooting pain like somebody tugged on one of my nuts, but it goes away within a minute or so. Also the steri-strip "stitches" have started to itch somewhat.

There was also some pretty gnarly bruising that showed up around the 2nd day, all around the right side at the base of my penis, and up onto my lower abdomen a few inches above, as well as below my scrotum on my 'taint' and even around my anus a bit. I basically looked like a sexual assault victim. The doctor assured me that this was normal, however, and should go away over the next few weeks; basically since the whole area is just sort of 'empty space' blood will pool and the whole thing tends to bruise at once, looking a lot worse than it actually is. He took off the tegaderm bandage, but i still have some steri-strip skin closures (in turns out there are no 'actual' stitches in the needle&thread sense).

As far as the hormonal/mental side of things goes, i've felt wonderful; i've felt calm, happy, and not an ounce of depression. I haven't had even a single moment of regret so far (even though i anticipated that i might have an "oh shit! i fucked up; put 'em back!" moment), and overall i've felt a tremendous sense of relief. I have felt slightly "testosteroney" over the past few days; i think this is because i've stopped my anti-androgens, and even though my overall production levels are lower, i'm actually responding to the low levels of adrenal testosterone. I've been able to get erections, and i even had a wet dream a few days ago (for the first time since i was 16!), granted, it wasn't very 'wet' actually, but you get the idea. I'll be discussing this more with my endocrinologist when i see her in a few days.

Three weeks post surgery:

So it turns out there actually are 'real' stitches underneath the steri-strips (one fell off in the shower); but the dr informs me they're dissolvable and don't need to be removed.

Also, the endo said regarding the wet dream: "huh, wierd. Well i'll do another hormone screen of your blood levels, but it's not something i would worry about; probably just the excitement and relief of having a big step of your transition over with.

Oh, also there is some numbness around the inguinal canal area, where the bruising is (or was, they're going away now). Again, the surgeon says this is normal, probably just a pinched nerve due to swelling, and should go away after a while.

Now (2 months post surgery):

Nothing much to report really, the numbness is gone, there is no pain or soreness, there is a small (~1cm) scar and it is still a little more tender than the rest of the scrotum if you pinch it. The overall size of the scrotum has definitely reduced; as far as "packing volume" goes (for lack of better terms...), my whole package/bulge is probably a third or a fourth of it's bulk pre-op. *Much* easier to 'tuck' in tight jeans now. I am still able to achieve and maintain erections.

I'm still looking to get the rest of the scrotum removed eventually and leave things nice and smooth, but i'd like to wait until any tissue shrinkage levels off. At the moment it looks like things are still gradually shrinking. The urologist that performed the original orchiectomy seems unwilling to perform such a procedure, so i'll likely be looking for somebody more along the lines of a plastic surgeon that deals with SRS. Dr. Christine McGinn is somebody i'm looking into.

ok wtf.

What's the best way to get pictures up for yall?

genderhack (imported) wrote: Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:31 pm ok wtf.

What's the best way to get pictures up for yall?

You would have to post them somewhere and supply a link. There are no pictures posted on the EA.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36307578@N06/

hopefully they don't take them down for being all adult and whatnot...

Congratulations! A very successful operation. Unfortunately, not being registered with flickr, I can't see the pics but as long as it is all good with you I'm happy. --FLO--

Genderhack,

Your experience is pretty close to mine. I was castrated two weeks ago but chose only a spinal block anesthesia so I could be alert during the procedure and see my testes before they got shipped off to pathology. I had a biopsy done previously with a general anesthetic and Versed. I didn't like the nausea I felt afterwords nor being able to remember anything after I was in the pre-op room. The spinal block had absolutely no discomfort administering it and had no nausea at allafterwords- they even made me eat some soup before I left. I wanted something to drink right after I got back to the recovery area but they would only give me ice chips so I don't know if nausea is possible with the spinal block. The only downside is that it takes a while to wear off. But it was fun trying to move my leg or foot or even a toe and nothing happened. My IV went in the back of my hand. I was somewhat surprised at how narrow the operating table was. Like you, I was strapped down over my waist and outspread arms. My legs were in stirrups so the doctor could sit on a chair and do everything. I didn't have a heater but was covered with warm blankets. They used a cautery on me as well but I have no idea where I was grounded to it. There was a big corregated tube that they used to suck out most of the smoke and unpleasant smells from it. During the procedure, my anestheologist asked how I was doing, and I told him my back was bothering me, too. Must be from laying on the flat table. He gave me some fentynal- don't hold me to the spelling- in the IV and in seconds the discomfort was gone. My left testicle was somewhat degenerated so it gave the doctor some problem to sew that side up. He also put a drain in another hole at the bottom on my scrotum. I asked him while he was doing that because most of the pics I have seen of orchiectomies don't have one. He said it would eliminate or lessen bruising and swelling. And he wa absolutely right. I haven't had any bruising or swelling. I did have the same discomfort in the inguinal area. The only real sensation I felt during the surgery was that he was really pulling and tugging. I figured he was trying to get some additional slack so he could have more accessability to work on each testicle. At a followup, I asked him about that and the discomfort in the inguinal area, and he said he had to pull quite a bit to get some freedom. They sent me home with a jock and a big wad of gauze. I used ice but the gauze insulated things a lot. From my biopsy experience, I traded the jock for one of my wife's control briefs. It was far more comfortable and held the gauze better. We then traded the gauze for an ADB or ABD pad and those issues were fixed. The doctor wanted to give me vicodan for pain but I said Tylenol 3 would be fine. The vicodan just makes me too sleepy. I took 14 of the 25 he gave me over 2-3 days. I got up the next morning and drove my wife to work. I couldn't move fast but was up and about I went to a playoff hockey game that night and must have looked like an old fart trying to get to the top of the bleachers. My discomfort seemed to get slightly worse for the first three days and then decreased but it wasn't bad at all. The doctor removed the drain on the third day but stuff kept draining out of that hole for several more days. Like you, I have no depression. I guess after 2 1/2 years of chemical castration it really wasn't a bit deal to have my two non-functioning balls removed. My dissolvable stitches itch now at 2 weeks and you say yours are still there at three weeks. Maybe I'll have to help them along a bit.

Thanks a lot for relaying you story.

i remember general everytime..i think it makes everyone up..chuck..rough way to go

i think doctors still have a lot to learn about castrated men

i was extremely horney the days following my castration

the same thing happens now if i forget my androgel for a day

the next day i want sex bad

this 15 years after the fact

you can post your pictures at this site without problems

you will have to register tho

http://burdizzocastration.com/

Yeah, even though the doctor told me not to; i sort of helped the stiches out after a few weeks or so. The steri strips had mostly fallen off by the middle of the second week; i *very gently* peeled them the rest of the way off. The dissolvable stitches hung around for the next couple of days, but i sort of (again, *very gently*) scrubbed them out just after that "3 weeks later" entry.

And yeah, still not sure which anaesthetic method i would choose if i had to go through it again. Needles and scalpels make me squeamish, so i doubt i would have wanted to watch or be aware of what was going on. Nonetheless though, that nausea was pretty killer...

And yeah, the first week or two after surgery, i swear i had more erections than ever; especially compared to after hormones. It's been slowly levelling back off and returning to more like it was pre-op on hormones. It's getting harder to maintain an erection; i'm hoping my erections don't go away entirely; even though i do like them reduced.

i have been on many forms of t for 15 years

all patches or topicals

never a problem getting a erection..some minor problems keeping up for a long time lately

one thing the androgel does nothing for labido...no matter how much i use..stopping it for a day does make me interested..i always find that curious

My stitches weren't just individaul stitches but a long, contiuous thread with a single knot at one end so once the knot is cut off or dissolved by steel, the rest can unravel over a day or two. While I was awake during the surgery, they had me draped so I couldn't see a scalpel or needle or smoke from the cautery or any of the procedure. I could occasionally smell the cautery and could feel the tugging and pulling to get slack in the connecting stuff so he could work easier but that was about it. I did have a great conversation with the anestheologist thruout the surgey so I certainly wasn't laying there bored. I would recommend the spinal block any day. My wife is a nurse and told me I was crazy when the anestheologist and I were talking about a spinal block anesthesia before we started. I didn't want a general and I certainly didn't want any Versed. He said an ordinary local would work but there would be some pain with the initial injections. He assurred me he would choose the spinal for himself. And the discomfort with that was less than a single mosquito bite. I had to wait around for maybe an extra hour before I could walk good enough to satisfy the nurse but there was no nausea at all. It did take another couple of hours before I could control the higher muscles so I could pee, but I wasn't drinking much to really need to go anyway.