I wanted to share my experience with Dr. Arnkoff so others will know what to expect. I scheduled my surgery about 8 weeks in advance. This gave me plenty of time to make sure I wanted to go through with it. Of course, I did and my surgery was a couple of days ago (July 23rd).

The Holiday Inn express he recommends is fairly new and only about a mile from his office. There are plenty of restaurants in the area although I highly recommend you fly in and rent a car to get food. You will need to get a prescription filled. I used CVS (one of two in the area that thankfully had the meds in stock). The pharmacy does not open until 9AM so I had to wait around to get the prescriptions filled.

My appointment was at 6AM (Saturday). Very nice medical office building. Dr. A is one of several urologists working out of the office. He and his assistant had to open the place up so there was some waiting around time. I had to complete a medical questionnaire and sign an "informed consent" form. Dr. A spent a good amount of time explaining what was going to happen and after care. Numbing, about a 10 minute wait after application, was excellent and I didn't feel a thing during surgery. The actual surgery was about 30 minutes. With paperwork, numbing and surgery, expect the process to take up to two hours total from the time you walk in the door. Then it's off to get your meds.

He told me the numbing would likely wear off in 4 to 8 hours. It was 4 for me. Additionally, he warned me about swelling which, in my case seemed considerable. I'm taking pain meds every 4 hours, antibiotics, applying neosporin, and using two bags of frozen peas for the swelling. Dr. A also invited me to text him or text pics if I had any concerns. I did just that last night (about 36 hours after the surgery) just to reassure myself everything was okay. He replied that I was normal and keep applying the frozen peas.

I fly home tonight. I feel up to the flight. I am glad I stayed for a couple of days just to make sure I was ready to fly home.

I'll add more later.

Marcus (I know, it's different from my user name).

Thank you for sharing.

What surgery did he do to you? It sounds like it was more than just castration. Also how much did it cost you excluding travel/food/hotel?

This question is more for anyone on the forum, however if SRS is on the radar a few years down the road would it be wise to only get a reroute from the surgeon one plans to get SRS from, or does it not matter? If not, I'd end up going with arnkoff as I like his work and how open he is. He's also near my state and would be cheap to fly there. I plan to ask the surgeon this later this year though am getting opinions from other perspectives until then as more than likely she'll say it is only good to stick with her for everything.

..

WinstonBrown (imported) wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2016 3:36 am . Of course, I did and my surgery was a couple of days ago (July 23rd).

Good luck with your recovery and welcome to our special family. I hope that everything goes well for you. Thanks for the commentary about your surgery.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.I feel sure it has answered a few questions of those thinking of paying a visit to Dr A.

Hope the swelling goes down and you are happy with the outcome.

krone1000 (imported) wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2016 6:34 am Also how much did it cost you excluding travel/food/hotel?

I'm not Marcus but I'll tell you that I flew into Detroit from Utah. I made the flight reservations three months in advance for the best price on the tickets, made the hotel reservation a month in advance and the rental car at the same time, both offered discounts. Other than breakfast at a nearby eatery following the procedure while I waited for the pharmacy to open, I got all my other meals at the hotel as it had a restaurant and room service which I also used. I flew in the night before as requested by Dr. A, flew out the day after which if I'd had the time/resources, I wish I'd stayed a day to two extra as the flight home and waiting in airports for 12 hours total was a real ordeal.

These expenses added almost exactly $1000.00 to the total on top of Dr. A's fee.

Update:

I flew home last night. That gave me all day Saturday, Sunday and most of Monday to heal enough for the flight. This was a good enough amount of time as I got through the 4 hour flight just fine. I wore depends underwear the whole time. When the Doc talked about "drainage" I was thinking small amounts. Nope. Lots of blood draining all day Saturday and in to Sunday. You need to be prepared for this. By Sunday night and in to Monday, blood flow dropped off to just spotting. Last night and this morning, no more blood so I have stopped using the depends (happy about this).

The big initial concern is insufficient drainage which would result in blood filling the testicle sack. Not a problem for me. The other concern for the next few weeks is blood clots. So far, no issue for me and I am taking the rest of this week off. Working and especially heavy lifting may cause the blood clots. Give yourself time to heal.

The cost for the procedure was $3,000. At my stage of life, I did not cheap out on the experience. We rented a nice car, found several excellent restaurants, and flew first class so I had lots of room and minimal human contact (hahaha). Your cost will vary. But, I will say again, give yourself at least a couple of days to heal before travelling back home. I needed every minute before boarding the plane to come back home.

For the fantasy folks: Dr. A treats this procedure in the utmost professional manor. While he allows photos, you cannot have another person in the surgery room with you. Taking photos while undergoing the procedure is almost impossible (and I didn't want photos of the procedure anyway). I did take a photo of my testicles on the tray. Also, you cannot take them with you under any circumstances. This is strictly a medical procedure and normal protocols are followed.

My purpose was M to E. My focus right now is reducing the swelling. Ice packs are my best friend. The pain killers are very helpful. It's not a sharp pain. More like a dull ache. The pain killers really help and let me focus on reducing the swelling.

Marcus

Congratulations and welcome to the group and speedy recovery!

Nice followup and is good to hear everything's going well. Are you taking pictures as it heals up to show the before/after? I'm very curious what the before and after looks like once it's healed up to see what a typical outcome would be from him and not a cherry picked outcome from Arnkoff is. I'm jealous your price was lower than my adams apple shave which was done local. The price of the surgeon alone was almost what you paid altogether.

Another update: I took this week off from work and I am glad I did. Swelling is now down more than 2/3rds and I hope is almost gone by the time I head to work Monday. Bruises has gone from black to a light shade of purple. It seems I am indeed healing. The incision is not healed and the stitches are still visible. I suspect another week or two for the stitches to dissolve (I don't really know how long, just a guess). I am applying neosporin several times a day. Still using ice packs to reduce the remaining swelling.

No hot flashes yet but it's only been a week. No thoughts of sex (lol) because I am entirely focused on healing and pain reduction. I will consider HRT in a few weeks (likely low dose estrogen as I want to prevent hot flashes and have a low sex drive).

Dr. A is a great choice if you can't get it done through a local urologist.