Today, I'm on bed rest. Remembering my first time at Greenbaum, I had booty blisters after less than 2 days. I think it was due to the absorbent pad they put under you in combination with the coarse fabric of the hospital's disposable underwear. My body would get hot in those areas and start to sweat, and with constant pressure on the skin, blisters would form. I guess I just have sensitive skin.
I made sure to push the absorbent pad to the side with the catheter connection and hopped into the nicer disposable underwear in Dr. Meltzer's goody bag.
For breakfast, I ate a bunch of fruit, but I wasn't that hungry. For lunch, I had a salad. When I was here with Amber when she had her SRS in 2004, she started back on fruits and salads. I think it's a good way to get the system going again, plus they also give me stool softener. I was almost going to ask for prune juice today, but I realized that I didn't want to have to shit in my bed, so I'll hold off.
Dr. Meltzer came in to check on me and said that the surgery went well. He was able to open up the hole and removed a cyst about 5cm size which I think he said unfolded into the skin that was originally up there. He said he removed as much skin from beyond the hole, except for a patch that was attached to my bladder. He said he hit that patch with the cauterizer instead of risking cutting my bladder. After that, he used the skin graft to reline the reopened portion of my vagina.
I asked him what happened to cause this...did I not dilate deep enough or what...because I dilated like crazy the first 6 months and on schedule for the first 5 years. He figured that it took years for the vaginal skin to take hold and that it probably gradually closed up. While he has performed vaginal deepening on numerous people who had their original SRS in Thailand, he said he has had to perform very few vaginal deepening procedures on his own patients. He said I was around the 4th. Out of several thousand, that's pretty good. I just happened to be one of the unlucky ones.
Remembering back to that early gynecologist visit where she dug out the excess surgilube, probably from the same cavity, I wonder if I just jumped up too early in dilator sizes and didn't get the dilator past that little constricted area. Years later, I bet this is also what caused the half day of funky discharge from my vagina after dilating. Eventually, I bet it closed off until the cyst started producing discharge that I noticed.
Dr. Meltzer was off to San Francisco to perform surgeries for Kaiser on Thursday and Friday. He said Meg would be in to check on me while he was away.
My wife is not an early riser, so she made it in around midday. Around that same time, they took me off the PCA pump. No more deliciousness. Fortunately, they put me on oral pain pills, which I guess are better for the body.
Otherwise, today was kinda boring. I haven't done much. We watched a movie on the hospital TV system and that's been about it. My wife got me a local paper to read and some chocolate covered oreos from Godiva. They are the manifestation of decadence, and quite delicious, but not quite as delicious as the pain pump.
Well, I'm about to shut down again. It's late and I need to get some rest. I figure tonight will be more difficult than last night since the PCA is not there to keep me asleep.
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| Back in Greenbaum, about to sign off for the night. |
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