Yep, viral damage here as well. Just a different type and put up with the aches and pains and low to no T just a tad longer. Pretty dumb to not have put my foot down long ago but... What can I say.
Welcome to the Flatbaggers Club. Don't worry. You already paid your dues!
Officially a eunuch 11/2008
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mrt (imported)
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bfleish (imported)
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Re: Officially a eunuch 11/2008
I did a little test this Thanksgiving weekend out of total curiosity.
First the doc took out the drain last Tuesday and I had hoped that the draining would stop soon after. Boy was I wrong. It still drains a few tablespoons of blood/lymph daily. The open skin drain requires a full roll of gauze which get saturated every day. I was using an elastic brief gizmo that the hospital gave me but after almost 2 weeks of usage and washing it in the sink it started to fall apart. Regular briefs and boxer briefs wouldn't hold the gauze in the right place so blood would run down my leg and get on my socks and shoes. So yesterday I purchased some jockstraps. The jockstraps are a perfect fit, holds the gauze right were it should be and oh so sexy (at least for some of you).
On to my experiment.
Since it was Thanksgiving Weekend and I knew that everyone would think I would be an invalid from having surgery and they wouldn't let me do anything. I decided to see how long I could go without taking the Androgel.
The last time I used the Androgel was Tuesday 11/25/08. Wed, Thur, Fri, & Sat I noticed nothing.
Sunday was completely different. I woke up feeling like i had the flu but had no fever. I woke up around 8:00am but felt so bad I rolled over and slept until 12:00. At noon I CRAWLED out of bed and barely had the energy to go down the stairs to feed the cats and my self. After a bowl of Raisin Bran I crawled back up the stairs and went back to bed. I slept until 4:00pm At 4:00pm I realized that the lack of testosterone was the reason for having no energy and that I needed to end this experiment and get back on the Androgel.
I decided to take a shower first. Washing my hair was pure hell. I would scrub for a few seconds and then rest by leaning against the wall. The shower took so long that I ran out of hot water. Once the shower was done I applied the Androgel and rested for about an hour.
After an hour I felt pretty good. I did laundry, cleaned up the house, worked on a computer problem etc. and now I feel just fine.
So the experiment taught this eunuch the following:
After 5 days without Androgel I've got a problem.
After 5 days without Androgel my energy levels plummet extremely fast.
Once I take the Androgel again it only takes about an hour for my body to get working again.
I don't think I will ever be able to stop the Androgel completely. I think it will take quite a bit of experimenting to find the dose that is low enough to my liking yet keeps my energy levels at an acceptable level.
While I am glad I did this experiment I don't need to do it again. I really felt awful Sunday and I have no need to get there again.
I find it interesting that I took spiro/androcur for 4 years back when I had one testicle and I never felt as bad as I felt this morning. I guess it did not block everything.
First the doc took out the drain last Tuesday and I had hoped that the draining would stop soon after. Boy was I wrong. It still drains a few tablespoons of blood/lymph daily. The open skin drain requires a full roll of gauze which get saturated every day. I was using an elastic brief gizmo that the hospital gave me but after almost 2 weeks of usage and washing it in the sink it started to fall apart. Regular briefs and boxer briefs wouldn't hold the gauze in the right place so blood would run down my leg and get on my socks and shoes. So yesterday I purchased some jockstraps. The jockstraps are a perfect fit, holds the gauze right were it should be and oh so sexy (at least for some of you).
On to my experiment.
Since it was Thanksgiving Weekend and I knew that everyone would think I would be an invalid from having surgery and they wouldn't let me do anything. I decided to see how long I could go without taking the Androgel.
The last time I used the Androgel was Tuesday 11/25/08. Wed, Thur, Fri, & Sat I noticed nothing.
Sunday was completely different. I woke up feeling like i had the flu but had no fever. I woke up around 8:00am but felt so bad I rolled over and slept until 12:00. At noon I CRAWLED out of bed and barely had the energy to go down the stairs to feed the cats and my self. After a bowl of Raisin Bran I crawled back up the stairs and went back to bed. I slept until 4:00pm At 4:00pm I realized that the lack of testosterone was the reason for having no energy and that I needed to end this experiment and get back on the Androgel.
I decided to take a shower first. Washing my hair was pure hell. I would scrub for a few seconds and then rest by leaning against the wall. The shower took so long that I ran out of hot water. Once the shower was done I applied the Androgel and rested for about an hour.
After an hour I felt pretty good. I did laundry, cleaned up the house, worked on a computer problem etc. and now I feel just fine.
So the experiment taught this eunuch the following:
After 5 days without Androgel I've got a problem.
After 5 days without Androgel my energy levels plummet extremely fast.
Once I take the Androgel again it only takes about an hour for my body to get working again.
I don't think I will ever be able to stop the Androgel completely. I think it will take quite a bit of experimenting to find the dose that is low enough to my liking yet keeps my energy levels at an acceptable level.
While I am glad I did this experiment I don't need to do it again. I really felt awful Sunday and I have no need to get there again.
I find it interesting that I took spiro/androcur for 4 years back when I had one testicle and I never felt as bad as I felt this morning. I guess it did not block everything.
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mrt (imported)
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Re: Officially a eunuch 11/2008
For me there was subtle changes earlier then 5 days. My mood started going bad in a couple of days. I was "snippy" and no fun to be around. My mental clarity also took a hike pretty fast. Not fun...
It all seemed normal at first but others clued me in "Whats wrong with you ASS&^%$!?" Subtle huh? But I think its difficult for us to see ourselves.
Well as my doctor told me. I have to tell you that you are probably going to need this for the rest of your life. To me? RELIEF! It just sucked without it....
It all seemed normal at first but others clued me in "Whats wrong with you ASS&^%$!?" Subtle huh? But I think its difficult for us to see ourselves.
Well as my doctor told me. I have to tell you that you are probably going to need this for the rest of your life. To me? RELIEF! It just sucked without it....
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bfleish (imported)
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Re: Officially a eunuch 11/2008
Two week followup:
After two weeks post orchiectomy the pain is mostly gone. If I have been sitting in a chair for a long time it gets sore but a couple Advil takes care of it.
I saw the doc today and he said everything looks good. There still is a hard part inside the scrotum that is the size of a medium but kind of flat testicle. The doc said it was a hematoma and it would eventually shrink up and go away. I expressed my frustration with the drainage hole draining 2-3 tablespoons of blood/lymph every day and needing to use lots of gauze and wearing a jockstrap to hold the gauze in place is a pain to deal with.
He told me that if he sealed up the hole all the blood and lymph would have nowhere to go and my scrotum would swell up to a huge size. Then he would have to use a syringe to drain it all away. He said when it stops draining the hole will seal up on its own.
I hate it when doctors are right.
I am still very happy to be a eunuch and I absolutely know I did right thing. I am not sure what I am going to do with the Androgel. Right now I am taking 10gm's a day. I really enjoy the energy it gives me. Also my mind/memory seems so much sharper than when I was taking Spiro & Androcur. I think I'm going to keep taking the same dose for a while and when it feels right I will experiment with taking lower doses. I definately know that I will never
On a strange side note my wonderful health insurance turned down paying the Anesthesiology bill stating that an orchiectomy does not require anesthesia. What do you think?
After two weeks post orchiectomy the pain is mostly gone. If I have been sitting in a chair for a long time it gets sore but a couple Advil takes care of it.
I saw the doc today and he said everything looks good. There still is a hard part inside the scrotum that is the size of a medium but kind of flat testicle. The doc said it was a hematoma and it would eventually shrink up and go away. I expressed my frustration with the drainage hole draining 2-3 tablespoons of blood/lymph every day and needing to use lots of gauze and wearing a jockstrap to hold the gauze in place is a pain to deal with.
He told me that if he sealed up the hole all the blood and lymph would have nowhere to go and my scrotum would swell up to a huge size. Then he would have to use a syringe to drain it all away. He said when it stops draining the hole will seal up on its own.
I hate it when doctors are right.
I am still very happy to be a eunuch and I absolutely know I did right thing. I am not sure what I am going to do with the Androgel. Right now I am taking 10gm's a day. I really enjoy the energy it gives me. Also my mind/memory seems so much sharper than when I was taking Spiro & Androcur. I think I'm going to keep taking the same dose for a while and when it feels right I will experiment with taking lower doses. I definately know that I will never
When my T-level was at 30 life was impossible.
On a strange side note my wonderful health insurance turned down paying the Anesthesiology bill stating that an orchiectomy does not require anesthesia. What do you think?
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AshleyFox (imported)
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Re: Officially a eunuch 11/2008
All I can say is... Umm, What?!? Btw, congrats on the healing!
Ash
Two week followup:
Ash
Two week followup:
bfleish (imported) wrote: Wed Dec 03, 2008 10:15 pm On a strange side note my wonderful health insurance turned down paying the Anesthesiology bill stating that an orchiectomy does not require anesthesia. What do you think?
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mrt (imported)
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Re: Officially a eunuch 11/2008
bfleish (imported) wrote: Wed Dec 03, 2008 10:15 pm On a strange side note my wonderful health insurance turned down paying the Anesthesiology bill stating that an orchiectomy does not require anesthesia. What do you think?
Your surgeon needs to write them a Doctors override but WHY? I'm not sure. I had a General and was out like a light. The Doctor talked to me about doing other forms but he said that he needed me to be "out"
Maybe I talk too much?
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jlc9292 (imported)
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Re: Officially a eunuch 11/2008
bfleish,
Sorry to hear about your post-op problems but the Doc is right, they will disappear and the swelling will go down. Fortunately, I had no swelling or drainage from my orchiectomy. The Doc did both sides through the scrotum and there was very little swelling and no drainage. I kept it iced down pretty good for a while tho.
My insurance did not have a problem with paying for the anesthesia and as others said, the doc wanted me out even tho I requested to be awake for the operation. He said that the local would only deaden the area from the inguinal canal down to the scrotum and when he pulled on the cords to remove as much as possible, the pain would radiate up in to the abdomen and may cause me to "heave" during the operation. He did not want to deal with the possibility.
I am sure your doctor had similar valid reasons. A letter from him to the insurance company should resolve the issue.
Good luck on the healing process and in dealing with the insurance company.
JLC9292
Sorry to hear about your post-op problems but the Doc is right, they will disappear and the swelling will go down. Fortunately, I had no swelling or drainage from my orchiectomy. The Doc did both sides through the scrotum and there was very little swelling and no drainage. I kept it iced down pretty good for a while tho.
My insurance did not have a problem with paying for the anesthesia and as others said, the doc wanted me out even tho I requested to be awake for the operation. He said that the local would only deaden the area from the inguinal canal down to the scrotum and when he pulled on the cords to remove as much as possible, the pain would radiate up in to the abdomen and may cause me to "heave" during the operation. He did not want to deal with the possibility.
I am sure your doctor had similar valid reasons. A letter from him to the insurance company should resolve the issue.
Good luck on the healing process and in dealing with the insurance company.
JLC9292
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bfleish (imported)
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Re: Officially a eunuch 11/2008
I spoke to the surgeon today about the insurance company turning down the anesthesia part of the bill. His quote was "I HATE (Insert Insurance Company Name Here)". It seems that they turn down anesthesia for lots of urological procedures. He transferred me to his insurance person who sounded like she knew exactly what to do because she's done it lots of times. I am really hopeful that things will get straightened out.
Question. Insurance paid the surgeon $350.00 for the scrotal orchiectomy. It took him over 2 hours to do the orchiectomy because there was quite a bit of work separating the testicle from the scrotum due to the infection. He told me it was very difficult due to the vascular and nerve supply in the scrotum. If I had been conscious when he discovered how difficult it was to separate them I would have voted for removing the scrotum at the same time. But I never got to vote (although I did vote in the last election). For the first time ever I feel as though the surgeon didn't get paid enough. What do you think?
On a humorous note when the anesthesiologist injected the happy juice and then I was wheeled off to the OR the anesthesiologist started telling the most outrageous, hilarious, fall on the floor laughing castration jokes. Everyone including myself was laughing out loud. Then the anesthesiologist said to me "Good thing you won't remember any of these jokes because the drugs will make you forget them". I guess the Versed didn't work. "What did the penis say to the empty scrotum? Hey Buzz where did Woody go? I seemed to have lost him"
Question. Insurance paid the surgeon $350.00 for the scrotal orchiectomy. It took him over 2 hours to do the orchiectomy because there was quite a bit of work separating the testicle from the scrotum due to the infection. He told me it was very difficult due to the vascular and nerve supply in the scrotum. If I had been conscious when he discovered how difficult it was to separate them I would have voted for removing the scrotum at the same time. But I never got to vote (although I did vote in the last election). For the first time ever I feel as though the surgeon didn't get paid enough. What do you think?
On a humorous note when the anesthesiologist injected the happy juice and then I was wheeled off to the OR the anesthesiologist started telling the most outrageous, hilarious, fall on the floor laughing castration jokes. Everyone including myself was laughing out loud. Then the anesthesiologist said to me "Good thing you won't remember any of these jokes because the drugs will make you forget them". I guess the Versed didn't work. "What did the penis say to the empty scrotum? Hey Buzz where did Woody go? I seemed to have lost him"
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bfleish (imported)
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Re: Officially a eunuch 11/2008
Almost 3 week post orchichiectomy followup:
I'm not doing so well right now. I seek your help. In the last few days my energy has plummeted and I feel like I'm crashing.
I am currently on 10grams of Androgel and am taking it at the same time every day. I am also taking 400mg of Ibuprophen 2 or 3 times a day for pain and swelling which is really is not so bad. The drain hole from the penrose drain has sealed up almost completely and drains maybe 5-6 drops of lymph a day on a 1x1 guaze pad taped to my scrotum with paper tape. I have no fever that I know of (I guess there might be a little but I don't feel cold or fevery). My scrotum is still a swollen a little but nothing out of the ordinary and I am still wearing a jockstrap which really helps with the swelling and the pain. (For those who get an Inguinal or Scrotal orchiectomy I strongly recommend wearing a jockstrap. Not comfortable at all but it definately helps with swelling and pain. Well worth it.)
My problem is extreme fatigue. For example last night I went to sleep around 11:00pm and slept very deeply until almost noon today. When I awoke I was totally out of it and ate a light breakfast while watching the Football game. During half time I fell asleep in the chair and slept until the game was over. I got up and changed the sheets on the bed and began laundry. After changing the sheets I was exhausted. I crawled into bed and slept hard until 6:00pm. I managed to finish laundry and sat down to eat a diner (I thought protein might help so I ate a steak). Yep, sound asleep in the chair until 8:00pm Right now all I can think about is crawling back in bed and sleeping.
This is pretty much a repeat of what happened yesterday. I was so frustrated because I really needed to solve a problem on a Server (SBS 2008 for you geeks) and I kept nodding off while sitting at my desk and then I would crawl into bed and sleep for hours.
My theories:
My body is still healing from the orchiectomy. But it has been almost 3 weeks and it was was just a scrotal orchiectomy.
My body is still healing from the massive infection that fused the testicle and scrotum together and created a nightmare for the surgeon to remove the testicle. As a result the scrotum is still healing and my body is wearing me out attempting to clear out the infection (I found out from the urologist that while I was in the hospital for 2 days they gave me 14 different IV antibiotics to try and clear up the infection.)
The Androgel is either not being absorbed correctly or is not enough. I plan on geting this checked ASAP.
I've got some other bug in me that is making me tired. Since I've not "participated" since the surgery I doubt it would be mononeucleosis.
I'm just getting old and tired.
Someone switched the Advil with some really powerful downers.
Any other suggestions? I seek your wisdom. I really hate this feeling and I've got to get working again.
I'm not doing so well right now. I seek your help. In the last few days my energy has plummeted and I feel like I'm crashing.
I am currently on 10grams of Androgel and am taking it at the same time every day. I am also taking 400mg of Ibuprophen 2 or 3 times a day for pain and swelling which is really is not so bad. The drain hole from the penrose drain has sealed up almost completely and drains maybe 5-6 drops of lymph a day on a 1x1 guaze pad taped to my scrotum with paper tape. I have no fever that I know of (I guess there might be a little but I don't feel cold or fevery). My scrotum is still a swollen a little but nothing out of the ordinary and I am still wearing a jockstrap which really helps with the swelling and the pain. (For those who get an Inguinal or Scrotal orchiectomy I strongly recommend wearing a jockstrap. Not comfortable at all but it definately helps with swelling and pain. Well worth it.)
My problem is extreme fatigue. For example last night I went to sleep around 11:00pm and slept very deeply until almost noon today. When I awoke I was totally out of it and ate a light breakfast while watching the Football game. During half time I fell asleep in the chair and slept until the game was over. I got up and changed the sheets on the bed and began laundry. After changing the sheets I was exhausted. I crawled into bed and slept hard until 6:00pm. I managed to finish laundry and sat down to eat a diner (I thought protein might help so I ate a steak). Yep, sound asleep in the chair until 8:00pm Right now all I can think about is crawling back in bed and sleeping.
This is pretty much a repeat of what happened yesterday. I was so frustrated because I really needed to solve a problem on a Server (SBS 2008 for you geeks) and I kept nodding off while sitting at my desk and then I would crawl into bed and sleep for hours.
My theories:
My body is still healing from the orchiectomy. But it has been almost 3 weeks and it was was just a scrotal orchiectomy.
My body is still healing from the massive infection that fused the testicle and scrotum together and created a nightmare for the surgeon to remove the testicle. As a result the scrotum is still healing and my body is wearing me out attempting to clear out the infection (I found out from the urologist that while I was in the hospital for 2 days they gave me 14 different IV antibiotics to try and clear up the infection.)
The Androgel is either not being absorbed correctly or is not enough. I plan on geting this checked ASAP.
I've got some other bug in me that is making me tired. Since I've not "participated" since the surgery I doubt it would be mononeucleosis.
I'm just getting old and tired.
Someone switched the Advil with some really powerful downers.
Any other suggestions? I seek your wisdom. I really hate this feeling and I've got to get working again.
Re: Officially a eunuch 11/2008
Infection still going on? Perhaps an MSRA infection? Especially after 14 antibiotics - something was hard core. Blood test time. MSRA's can be very virulent, stubborn, difficult to cure, long-lasting, and can get deadly if not controlled. Worth checking out.
Androgel does not work for everyone. Perhaps your body is not accepting it. Maybe try injectable. T-tests will help tell.
Consider the notion of depression. You've gone through a great trauma, regardless of need, intention, or desire. Depression IS a common concern post castration. Consider it. Massive sleeping is a classic indication of depression.
Anything else, consult your doctors....
Androgel does not work for everyone. Perhaps your body is not accepting it. Maybe try injectable. T-tests will help tell.
Consider the notion of depression. You've gone through a great trauma, regardless of need, intention, or desire. Depression IS a common concern post castration. Consider it. Massive sleeping is a classic indication of depression.
Anything else, consult your doctors....