2 years post-op

[Sandra]

POST-OP ONLY TO REPLY PLEASE

Hello folks :)

This time 2 years ago I hadn't long been home after leaving Nigella after she'd had her surgery. I cried most of the way home, for me it was a great relief that she'd come through the op ok and that she was at last complete. During the week that Nigella was in hospital there was no emotion from her no tears or happiness she was just herself, the only thing she did was sing happy birthday to herself when she was coming out of the anaesthetic quite funny really :D
This did worry me a bit as I thought she would show at least some emotion, anyways she did explain that everything was ok and that because she had prepared herself for this and not built up any expectation she didn't really feel anything, there was tears when she got home when she saw herself in the mirror for the first time.

How did you feel after surgery, what was your emotions and reaction ?

[Angela Campbell]

Hmmm. Kinda like what I experienced. Expectations were so high for so long that once I was there it was kinda like. ..ok, what now? Really no big high or low of emotions, kinda like coming home from the dentist. Whew, that's over with. I really expected more. Over the next few months there were some strange feelings, but very subtle.

I probably got more joy from the pain subsiding, than the fact that I now have a vagina.

[Frances]

I too had no major expectations. I did not feel different afterwards nor expected to. My recovery was hard, however, and there was some emotion tied to that, but not to the surgery itself. I was in therapy for 5 years prior to SRS, so I was well prepared for the good and the bad. Still, the enduring physical pain (2 months of agony) and the work involved was overwhelming.

I was an emotional person prior to transition (and SRS). I did not see SRS as a licence to "let it go" or a legitimisation of an emotional version of myself. It was already there. I also had not invested my masculinity much prior to transition. I had not started a family or married, and did not have to deal with the disapointement of others, or their own transitional process as a partner.

[Deborah_UK]

I was pleased that my knickers now fitted properly!!! :D

Seriously though, it wasn't a massive overwhelming feeling, I think the RLE procedure and the fact of living my life as I should have made it an affirmation of my true self.

[Nigella]

I am pleased to see that my reaction seems to be normal :D Deborah, I think I said the same about my knickers :) I think that the process we all follow to get to SRS is so all encompasing that it is not such a shock as we would expect

[emma5410]

I thought it would be a big emotional thing but it was not. For some reason I expected the surgeon to say something before he started. He just asked me how I was, they put a mask on my face and seconds later (actually five hours) I woke up in the recovery room.
I felt very little pain and, so far, I have had a very smooth recovery.

[Kaitlyn Michele]

I was lucky and had a mostly good recovery

At first I described this euphoric feeling but that lasted for only a short while..

Years later it doesn't hold any meaning to me and I can't imagine being any other way... I think that's the real difference..

in the past, I imagined being another way all the time... now I never think of it..

[emma5410]

in the past, I imagined being another way all the time... now I never think of it..

I think this sums it up perfectly. For the first time in my life I feel comfortable in my skin

[Nigella]

Even the intervening two years have been a non event, it really is life as normal :)

[arbon]

I did not really have much emotion about it after. I was surprised how little really.

Recovery has been brutal though, I'd still do it again even knowing how bad it would be because eventually it will pass.

[Sandra]

I wish I had asked about this at the time, as I did think that something wasn't quite right, thank you for all your replies :)