Pre-op appointment for phalloplasty
Being that the hospital I’m going in is a private hospital - I needed to have a pre-op with them personally to cover all bases.
St Peters Andrology Centre: June 3rd, 2019.
This was a very brief mainly because I was dealing with a family emergency which ended up being a family death but also due to that, I didn’t really focus and write too much down.
I was asked general questions about whether I had any allergies or not; this was to both medications and food that I would be provided. I was given a quick rundown of what surgery I would be having and was told to bring the information for District Nurses and for my GP’s surgery too to give to the nurses on the ward. I was told that I would have a 4 weeks post op appointment at Harley Street in London, date to be given either whilst in the hospital or shortly afterwards. I was told that I can travel internationally at 4 - 5 weeks post-op.
Spire Thames Valley Hospital: June 10th, 2019.
This pre-op assessment was much more in depth because I was able to ask questions and not be focused on my family emergency, still emotional as I am; I was able to make decent notes.
The same thing happened where I was told to bring my District Nurses information and my GP’s surgery information (as well as any medication that I am on which isn’t testosterone).
I spoke to a woman named Kris (or Chris) and she was very nice and easy to talk to especially about something so personal. Like St Peters, she ran through my procedure and what I should expect. I’m having left radial forearm flap phalloplasty with upper buttocks grafts. She told me that I’ll be there in the hospital for 6 nights. In regards to instructions before surgery, I cannot eat anything after midnight but can drink tea, coffee and water. The morning of surgery, I cannot have any tea or coffee after 6am.
When I get to the hospital at 7am, I will be taken to my own private room with a bathroom attached and will get my general obs taken by the nurse (blood pressure etc). I will have swaps taken from my nose (like I did with my chest surgery). I will be given some antibacterial surgery scrub to shower with before the actual surgery. My surgery time will be around 9am. She said that for the first two days post op, I will be treated as if I have MRSA due to having not been able to check pre-surgery.
The surgery will take 6 - 8 hours if all goes well. The visitors that I have will be allowed to stay in my room whilst I’m in surgery. The person who is on my contact information will be called once I am out of surgery. The visiting times are fairly open, they just expect visitors to be out by 10pm. There is a water cooler as well as tea and coffee. After surgery, I will be taken in the HDU (High Dependency Unit) for the night. For up to 24 hours and maybe more - the nurses will check the blood supply of my phallus (even if I am asleep).
In terms of pain relief, I will have access to regular pain medication via a button and line into my hand/arm and I can ask the nurses for additional pain relief if I need to. I will have one drain and one catheter and they will both come out once I am up and walking about which the nurse said is usually 3 - 4 days post op.
A couple of days before I would be due to be discharged from the hospital; the nurses will shower me and show me to how to do so because it will be rather difficult to do once home and I need another person besides me.
She told me that I will be given dressings to go home with and can arrange with my District Nurse which dressings I will need, too. She mentioned that I will be able to bring my laptop for entertainment being that there is decent WiFi there.
I asked about the travelling internationally to confirm if the previous pre-op was accurate and she said that with me planning to travel at 6 weeks and 4 days post op, I should be fine to do so.
If anyone has any questions about the pre-op assessment or if you feel I’ve missed anything out, feel free to message me
