When I went to the hospital to have surgery I knew that I was to be castrated. Now I know the medical name for the operation. It's called a Bi-lateral Orchiectomy...though it might be of interest to somebody.

"It hurt for six weeks after, I couldn't even get out of bed or walk without help"

Six weeks? I was under the impression that someone who is castrated can generally be up and walking within a few hours.

Not if the castration was performed by the method of making the cuts in the abdomen and raising the testicles, cords and all, out through them with no cuts being made to the scrotum. This is the preferred method in cancer surgery.

For anyone who's ever had a hernia repaired, or even simple surgery on something that requires only a small abdominal cut, the pain is unbelievable - considering the smallness of the wound. A friend of mine had to have the gall bladder out, not in the laproscopic method, and he was down for a good three weeks, afraid to even move.

I think you'll find, as more of our other members post, that a scrotal removal isn't exactly a walk in the park either.

happousai (imported) wrote: Sun Mar 30, 2003 4:44 pm Six weeks? I was under the impression that someone who is castrated can generally be up and walking within a few hours.

Up and walking? Yes, but you may need pain pills for awhile, and it is really best to take it easy and just sit around for awhile to let the stitches heal.

At that, I was back at work one week after my own castration by Dr. Spector.

If it is bi-lateral it just feels like somebody sewed your right nipple to your left kneecap and then sewed your left nipple to your right kneecap.

You walk bent over until everything stretches out.

Just think, it could be worse.

...for example...

You could get fisted by Popeye the Sailor, with those HUMONGOUS forearms...





A-1

Maybe I'm just weird, but...

I drove 400 miles Friday night, then went to see Dr. Spector Saturday morning and was castrated. I walked out of his office/residence about noon. I was determined that we (my wife and I) would walk around Phillie and see the sights, I felt that good!

My wife was equally determined that we would NOT, so she took me back to the hotel and put me back to bed with an ice pack between my legs. I hated it because I had NO PAIN AT ALL!

Sunday morning we got up and had a leisurely breakfast, then we drove (well, I DROVE) the 400 miles back home.

Monday morning I went back to work as usual. I should point out that although my work involves a lot of walking, there is no lifting.

Tuesday morning there was a death in the family (my wife's father) and we drove 1500 miles back to eastern Canada. We had to stop in the middle of the night somewhere in Maine and change a tire... I changed the tire!.

I have had a few surgeries in my life, but I have to say the bilateral orchiectomy (thru the scrotum) was far and away the easiest. Once the local took effect before I was touched by a scalpel, I had NO MORE PAIN, before or after!

Could it be that I was simply THAT committed that pain was not an issue?

Or maybe my wife's insistence that I lay quiet for 18 hours with an ice pack?

It seems we all heal differently. While I was walking about Seattle's Capital Hill within a few hours of being castrated, driving 240 km back home the following day and returning to work on the 2nd day afterward, complete healing nevertheless took 3 weeks. I changed the bandages daily for that long. I know another guy in Seattle that took 8 weeks, and I understand that complete recovery from scrotal removal takes about that long.

My father lost one of his testicles because of complications from prostate surgery. His urologist skipped a procedure with the comment that skipping it caused problems in only a small percentage of patients. My father happened to belong to that small percentage.

Because of post-operative infection, his swollen testicle was enormous. He lost the testicle and suffered the resulting loss of testosterone production.

While his testicle was swollen, I drove my father several hundred miles to his home and to his local physician. He was in intense pain. I suppose that my father was in his late sixties or early seventies when he suffered this loss.

As a proto-type alpha-male, my father did not like the losses associated with the lost of a testicle--the losses that he endured.

I would think that avoiding infection after surgery is the key to avoiding negative consequences and complications. The key would seem to be having a competent surgeon who performs many operations yearly--one who stays in practice.

This might be a key, although every case is individual. When I wanted to be circumcised (still not done) I had a blood test first and it showed I had a slow blood clotting time and that meant the doc could not do it in his office although this was his specialty.

He explained that he had consulted with others and they said if it was major surgery, the slow clotting would NOT be a problem, but because it was just the foreskin, there could be drastic consequences because the blood had nowhere to go to be absorbed. Perhaps because of the outer, localized placement of the scrotum this would be why it is more painful?

Just as a joke Charlieje, maynbe the sightseeing tour of Phily was so easy was because there isn't that much to see? LOL Just kidding, I love Philly.

Hi All

I had both testicles removed on Feb 22, 1999 at age 27- for no medical reason!

It hurt for the next few hours but I was back at work the next day. The scrotum was not sutured to aide drainage, and I wore a female pad for the next seven days. Within 10 days I was able to cycle again and ran 5 kms within 10 days.

The pain was next to nothing and the only nuisance was the constant seeping from the scrotum. Circumcision was much worse and meatotomy was the worst.

In my experience castration was a minor hindrance and the hot flushes and headaches that followed about six weeks later were the worst part of it.

There was no need to have the scrotum removed either as it shrunk away in the next two years.

At age 33 sex is still possible- although it takes a while to get hard.

Write me at [email protected].

ismaree

Editor's Note: After registering and logging in, I found only a block wanting me to post a picture of my penis for the site. I never did make it to the pictures, so as far as I am concerned, the link which I removed was spam.

-P