by “Reba”
I am a transwoman who has been living full time for a year. I take hormones under a doctor’s supervision, but as yet, have not been able to afford the price of sex change surgery. I have had less expensive work done on my face and Adam’s Apple, so that above the waist I am fairly passable.
A few months ago, I had to consult a urologist about a minor problem. After examining me “down there,” she announced that a minor operation on my scrotum would be necessary.
I don’t know what my face Iooked like when the urologist gave me the news – but you can probably guess. The news that someone was going to have to operate down there – and I wasn’t getting SRS out of it – was very upsetting.
The doctor, who turned out to be a good scout, must have seen my upset. Because then she said some words that thrilled me to the core. “Seeing that you are a transsexual, while I am down there, I imagine as long as we are working in that area there is something you would like me to take out,” she remarked.
Did my heart take a leap! “Yes, there is,” I stammered.
“Well,” she said, winking, “you might have a problem that necessitates it. I am going to ask you a series of questions and if your answer to most of them is ‘yes’ I am afraid we will have to perform an orchiectomy. It can be scheduled as day surgery with you checking in to the hospital in the morning and going back home that evening. Most HMO’ approve day surgery without questioning it.”
Needless-to-say, my answers to most of the questions were “yes”!
Two weeks later, accompanied by my wonderful female-to-male partner, I was lying on my back on a hospital gurney with an IV containing nutrients and a tranquilizer taped to my arm. Normally, the idea of going to a hospital for surgery would have scared heck out of me. But the thought of losing my you-know-what’s was so exciting, that I was actually looking forward to it.
I must say the ladies at the hospital were wonderful to me, even though I was dressed as a woman and going in for an orchiectomy. The only rough patch was when the anesthesiologist stuck his head in the door, looked at me and at his clipboard and announced, “I must be in the wrong room.” However, when he realized his error, he was sweet about it and to avoid embarrassing me, said it wasn’t because of my gender but because I looked “so much younger” than he expected.
A bit later, the ceiling was passing by as I was wheeled into the operating room itself. A team of doctors and nurses were bending over me, making reassuring noises, while the anesthesiologist said, “Take a deep breath and count backward.” Everything went black.
When I vaguely begin to resurface to consciousness, I felt pain between my legs, and said something about it. Someone gave me a shot of morphine and I was out like a light again.
The next time I woke up I hardly felt anything. My partner was there and I was back in the room where I had begun my day. It was around 2pm. So the operation took about an hour and a half, and I was unconscious for about four hours.
Someone insisted that I pee before going home. It was in the lavatory that I got my first good look at what the doctor had done. A slightly bloody incision down the front of the scrotal sack had been stitched up, looking somewhat like a zipper. The sack was considerably flatter than before.
I was given some pills for pain, told to avoid lifting or stretching for several months, but otherwise to move around as much as I felt like. My partner and I went home by cab, and by the end of the week I had healed enough that I no longer needed the pain pills.
Sitting was a bit sticky for the first ten days to two weeks. I had to stand or lie down. Sitting made me feel like I was sitting on a hot grill. But eventually, as everything healed, that went away too.
So, six months later, how do I feel about having lightened my load? Do I regret that it is irrevocable and can’t be undone? Not at all! As a halfway step to SRS, and much cheaper even if you have to pay for it yourself, it has made me feel a lot happier about myself. It has also made it easier to “tuck.” And it has made me feel a lot more womanly, too.
And, since I don’t have those things producing testosterane any more, the doctor cut down on the dosage in my hormone prescription. My partner also says my 1-iips have filled out more and my bust. I don’t know, I really can’t tell the difference, but I hope it’s true.
