Tuesday 29 May 2007

Pain in the Hip Pocket Nerve

And other places too.

As I've mentioned, I've had a few complications after my surgery.
Yesterday, my OB/GYN surgeon tried to take a shortcut. If we were lucky, this would have saved me time, expense, and considerable pain. Chances were pretty good, maybe 50/50, but chances were also good that the attempt would have to be abandoned. I'd been kept fully informed, and had given assent to everything so far. If we were just slightly lucky, instilling of local anaesthetic would be successful, and the area could be treated on an outpatient basis, avoiding thousands in hospital and operating theatre bills.

Alas, it didn't work. The injection of the anaesthetic was excruciating - the worst pain I've had since age 20 - and the anaesthesia was almost nonexistant, so the diathermy afterwards was unpleasant too.

Basically, a lot of the skin graft borders have broken down, and are now granulation tissue. This is not the fault of the surgeon, it just happens sometimes. In my case, an area that had been treated by a full-thickness skin burn a month ago was only 1/3 the size that it used to be - but was again granulation tissue. So it's just my peculiar metabolism again. Sometimes an advantage, sometimes not.

Now my Surgeon in Thailand really is probably the best in the world. In order to give, er, full functionality, he re-plumbs a lot of the nervous tissue to the right places. Most female sensor tissue is under the clitoral hood, but there's ancillary nerves at the anterior vaginal vestibule too.

Well, I've found out that I'm fully sensate there, as well as "under the hood". Unfortunately, I've found that out by having needles stuck in there, then an electrode used to burn away part of the area.

Anyway, it was obvious that this technique was never going to work - my OB/GYN tried one of the easier areas first, and it hurt just far too much. I'd had some diathermy before in an area of incomplete anaesthesia - it just wasn't possible to numb that area at all - and although it hurt (A LOT!) it was over very quickly - my OB/GYN completed it in less than 5 seconds - and it was no worse than, say, having a burn on your arm from a hot soldering iron. Or having a cigarette stubbed out on you, an experience I had a few times in my teens. Not wonderful, but with self-hypnosis, you wouldn't scream.

This time I screamed. I couldn't help it. A leather strap to bite on might have worked, nothing less.

So it will require certainly one, probably two, possibly more general anaesthetics. A day or two in hospital. None of it covered by Medicare. $2000 a treatment, maybe a little more. Ouchies.

Going over to Chonburi and getting it "fixed under warranty" might be financially better, perhaps $3000 overall. If I can arrange it. Right now, it's 38 hours after that experience, and only now have I screwed up the courage to dilate - thereby stretching the affected area. Unpleasant, but nowhere near as bad as yesterday. That was truly Torture. Hence my post of yesterday, I know how the victims felt. For only a minute, thank Goodness.

2 comments:

Autumn Sandeen said...

My sympathis for your pains, and warm thoughts for a fully funtional recovery are with you.

Zoe Brain said...

Thanks!
You know, even the pain that day was better than any day before transition.
It was a good job I didn't realise just how awful things were before. Now my biggest problem is not going around with a silly smile on my face all the time.
You think this "gender euporia" would wear off after awhile, but it's not showing any signs of doing.
I'm not complaining :)