This is a record of the general experience someone had while having MTF SRS with Brassard sometime in 2011. What is intended to show here are the procedural parts of the process, and things one might expect. Personal references and details have been omitted.

Brassard runs two facilities: the surgical hospital and the convalescent home called Asclépiade. The usual time frame is to first arrive at Asclépiade, then check into the surgical hospital the night before surgery, then back to Asclépiade after two nights in the surgery hospital recovery.

Surgeries are scheduled for Mondays, Tuesdays, and some Wednesdays. This is so the patients can be moved back to the convalescent home before the weekend, as the surgery center is closed on weekends. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays are typically used for out-patient procedures.

Surgery Day Minus Two

• Arrive at Asclépiade
• Meals at Asclépiade are at 8:00 AM, 12:00 PM and 5:30 PM. You are called to meals via an intercom in each room. (This is the case for both days prior to surgery and the days following surgery.)
  • The food is quite good, not typical hospital at all. They have a chef on staff. It is very good food to eat and is different every meal. It is in a homemade style, basically large portions of everything served in the centre of the table.
  • They offer things like salmon, cabbage rolls, meatloaf, pasta with a nice sauce, salad with several kinds of dressings available, and a large container of juices. Popular juices are cranberry and prune.
  • There is also serve-yourself coffee, several types of tea, tea biscuits, ritz crackers, and soft drinks available.
  • Fresh fruit is available, including prunes, at all times
• There is an iMac available downstairs, as well as Television. Each room is also equipped with television and headphones. Both the surgery center and Asclépiade are equipped with WiFi.

Surgery Day Minus One

• Presurgery consultation with Brassard
• Two fleet enemas are administered. One before the last meal before surgery at the convalescent hospital, and one after, at the hospital.
  • One around 4pm, dinner about 5:30pm, admission to surgical hospital around 8pm, another enema at 10pm.
• No food by mouth after midnight.
• Shave your own genital and perineal area.
• They will offer a sleeping pill for the night before surgery.

Surgery Day

• Received some meds at 8am, was wheeled into the operating theatre around 9am.
• you get on the elevator, then get on a stretcher, then you wait
• the anesthesiologist and Brassard do their last minute checks (they see you the night before as well) and then you wait for about 10 minutes under a heated blanket and then they wheel you in and ask you to shift onto an operating table
  • Anesthesia is spinal block for vaginoplasty, with sedation. Some experience no consciousness, others some.
• they extend the right arm to do blood pressure
• they extend the left arm to put in the IV
• you wake up with a stent in the vagina sutured in, a bunch of gauze sutured on the area, a Jackson-Pratt blood drain, a foley catheter attached to the catheter bag, a bunch of gauze dressing that is laid on, and two ice packs, all in a pair of white mesh panties
  • Vaginal stent is hard plastic covered with a condom.
• "I wasn't actually feeling groggy, but I didn't have the energy to move"
• No breakfast or lunch on surgery day. You may be nauseous afterwards, and you can have water and ritz crackers. You may be able to have a regular meal if you can stomach it.

Surgery Date Plus One and Two

• "There's so much stuff around your genitals it's not even really clear you had surgery"
• Remain in surgical hospital recovery.
• Resume normal eating, 3 meals a day.
• Every so often during the two days they'll change the dressing and the ice packs.
• On first day, asked to stand.
• On second day, asked to walk.
• Three regular meals as served at Asclépiade, but in surgery recovery. They take your order and bring it to you.

Surgery Day Plus Three

• Drains and IV removed.
• Urine collection bag is replaced with a cap, so to urinate you must remove the cap, and sterilized it with alcohol.
• Transfer to Asclépiade.
• Walking all over at Asclépiade.
• Much checking for GI systems return to normal after surgery. "Have you had a bowel movement yet?"

Surgery Day Plus Four

• Dressings and ice packs removed. Continue to apply ice for remainder, but it is applied manually rather than affixed. Ice is applied often at first and less commonly after.
• Shower and polysporin starts.

Surgery Day Plus Six

• Vaginal stent removed.
• Dilation and douche begins.

Surgery Day Plus Seven

• Catheter removed.

Surgery Day Plus Eight

• Discharge from Asclépiade if you live locally.

Surgery Day Plus Nine

• Discharge from Asclépiade for non-local patients.

Pain management:

• "The first couple of days aren't that painful"
• "Brassard is great with pain management"
• The nurses perform frequent pain ratings, and pain killers (Tylenol with Codeine in this case) are scheduled accordingly.
• However, a great deal of pain was reported at various times.

Categories: Surgery