Stage 2?!

Believe it or not, I still think about writing on this blog sometimes! Even though I haven't in... almost eight months. There really hasn't been too much to say. After about ~3-4 months of healing I felt totally back to normal and had no residual swelling, so I have just been enjoying life post- stage 1. If I'm dehydrated I will sometimes feel a little bit of what I imagine to be a dull burning sensation when I pee, though it has never been bothersome or consistent enough to warrant any sort of action. I still have anxiety about developing a fistula or stricture even at this point post-op. I'm curious when that feeling will go away.

Anyway, I have stage 2 coming up in three weeks! I'm heading back to Michigan for upper scrotoplasty, testicular implants, and some minor aesthetic tweaks (mostly removing a few small skin tags) with Dr. Miriam Hadj-Moussa on Wednesday, October 5th. I have pre-op lab work (urinalysis) the week prior with my primary care provider, then a Covid test at the hospital on Monday, October 3rd - planning to drive to Ann Arbor to get there right before the Covid test, then check into my AirBnB (same one as last time!) afterwards. It is an outpatient surgery (as long as I don't have any sort of weird anesthesia reaction like last time) and I'm only staying until that Saturday afternoon/maybe Sunday morning if I absolutely have to. The goal is to get back home by Sunday early evening and it's quite a drive, but I'm hoping that I'll be in decent shape to sit reclined in the passenger seat the whole time. 

My biggest concern for this surgery is the possibility of my surgeon nicking my urethra while completing the scrotoplasty. That would really suck. It would mean having a suprapubic catheter again, and a fistula to heal. Really hoping that doesn't happen, while also preparing myself for the possibility. Other more minor worries are that my balls will hang between my legs rather than to the front of my body, and the possibility of losing an implant (or both) to infection. While this is certainly a lesser surgery than stage 1, I am a little leery of that expectation given the fact that there are still possible complications that would be a real bummer.

I am so excited about the aesthetic changes that this stage will bring. My scrotum isn't much of a scrotum at the moment since it's only half finished, and part of my dick is buried in the upper folds of my labia majora at the moment. One of my biggest goals of surgery is to have genitals that I can cup in my hand, and I'm super hopeful that implants will do just that. I'm curious to see what it will be like to pee after surgery - right now my "milking" technique after I pee is really just taking my pointer and middle finger on each side of my dick and pushing in/up. This will look very different after implants, so that will be interesting!

I'm getting extra small Coloplast saline implants. During my stage 2 consult it wasn't really a question what size I would have - I'm pretty small and thin so don't have a ton of tissue to work with, and xs nuts should look proportional to my body. If I happen to want to size up at some point in the future (I don't think I will, but I'm open to the possibility) then I can figure that out then. I have no qualms with having extra small balls.

Before stage 1 I stopped drinking alcohol and anything with caffeine a month prior to surgery. This time I'm doing so for two weeks prior to surgery. I have also been sporadically using the topical estrogen tablets on my own volition, mostly for some peace of mind that the tissue is strong. This isn't something that my surgeon asked me to do before this stage. I'm planning to start cranberry pill supplements a few weeks before surgery as well, and have been trying to drink more water and stay hydrated (not doing very well right now.... working on it) - I want to do everything I can to keep my urethra happy and free of any infection! 

As far as supplies goes, I'm not stocking up as much as I did for stage 1. So far the only new things I've purchased are some David Archy pouch underwear briefs (of which I bought one 4-pack and got sent two lol; now I definitely don't feel bad about ruining any of them post-op) and a between-the-knees memory foam pillow. I already have some mesh underwear, a reusable pee pad (PeaPod Mat), long phone charger, probiotics, multivitamins, Miralax, peri bottle, and plenty of entertainment. I still plan on buying some new wet wipes and a pack of gauze, but that's about it. I'll do a last-call CVS trip when I do my grocery shopping on the Tuesday before surgery.

Just got in touch with the surgeon's office about a prior authorization - they don't fill them out unless you request it specifically (maybe this is always the case). Hoping to get that moved through next week, though before stage 1 I don't think they had it sent to my insurance company until a few days before surgery. I have everything I need to file for paid medical leave with my state, which I plan to work on this week as well. AirBnB is set, farmsitter is set, post-op at 3.5 weeks with a local urologist is set. A few other logistical things are still working their way through, but I'm not worried (yet). I'm really excited to be done with surgery and not have to think through all of this planning anymore. It's hard to live life normally with these things going on. I'm also a little nervous about the void of no longer looking forward to/planning surgery, but I'm confident that I'll have the space to work through that after surgery (and I certainly have plenty else to put my energy into). 

All for now! I'll plan to do an update once I'm in MI and getting ready for surgery day. Whew! Wild!