Decision

The decision to have a hysterectomy was a complex one. I personally have never had an issue with having a womb and ovaries and it definitely did not impede my ability to pass in the community as male so I did not have the same drive and desire to have a hysterectomy as I did for my mastectomy. It also meant sterilization which posed issues, I do have a personal desire for children and although I have no issues with my child not been biologically my own it meant that I would have to rely on others to make me a parent. It also carried with it all of the traditional risks  of surgery. However having a hysterectomy offered three appealing outcomes: The removal of the risk of ovarian and cervical complications and the need to be regularly tested, legal recognition of my gender and it is also a necessary procedure before most lower surgery.

Initial Consult

I initially booked a consult with Dr Elbeani for April of 2009. I had chosen Dr Elbeani for three reasons, lots of other trans guys had seen him and were happy with their results, he was relativity close (Liverpool, Sydney) and he was very talented with performing laproscopically assisted hysterectomy. However I had to cancel my initial consult as I felt I was being rushed I also did not want to make the same mistake that I had made with my chest surgery of trying to balance my university schedule with recovery and follow up consults. Around the beginning of August of 2009 I re booked my initial consult for September the 19th.

I arrived at Dr Elbeani's rooms on time. As a gynecological surgeon he works as part of a larger  gynecology practice and I entered a sitting room full of women. Like all specialists he was running 45 minutes late and so I sat in that waiting room as the lone man with several eyes boring into me silently questioning my reasons for being there. I really wished I had brought along a female friend to sit in that waiting room to legitimize my being there. It was the first time since I transitioned that I wished I looked like a woman again. After enduring the wait I was called in for my consult. I had been half expecting some form of physical exam but he just went through what I should expect in terms of risks and recovery and gave me a very poorly worded  leaflet with a lot of “shes”, “the woman” and “getting a husband or loved one to assist” he then went through some possible surgery dates as early as two weeks after my consult gave me an anesthetists number and admission papers for Campbelltown private and told me to book with reception. The initial consult ended up costing $150 and Medicare gave me about $80 back.  

Organizing Surgery

Private surgery in Australia is a messy affair. As the patient you get to choose which surgeon you go with however the surgeon then dictates which hospital and anesthetist you use. However it is up to you to book the hospital and anesthetist. Then theres the added complication of health funds the hospital fees may or may not be covered depending on the hospital and rates will vary. Then in the case of the surgeons and anesthetists health funds will automatically pay up to the Medicare rebate however the payment of the gap in between the surgeons price and the rebate may have to be paid by the individual or the health fund.

After I had set a date for the surgery of November 25th I contacted my parents health fund Medibank private to check my cover. Amazingly it turned out that everything was covered completely apart from the anesthetists gap fee. I would only have to pay $250 out of pocket. I then contacted the anesthetists to book in and sent my admission forms in to Campbelltown private. The day before surgery I was required to call Campbelltown admissions to get my admission time and pre admission fasting details.

Day Before Surgery

After a stressful trip for my chest surgery my mother and I decided to head up to Sydney the day before so that we could settle in. We ended up staying at this motel just past the train station. It was very nice and well priced but the surrounding area was quite seedy. I was extremely glad that we had decided to head up the night before as admission time was set for 7am. I was required to stop eating at midnight and to stop drinking water at 5 am.

Surgery day

Woke up at 6.30 showered and headed off to the hospital it was only a 5 minute drive but it was in an entirely redeveloped area. I was admitted and taken to the third floor and shown to my room. The entire hospital is very new and the room was a private room with a private bathroom. I was given a gown and some “lovely” surgery stockings unfortunately I wasn't allowed to keep anything on  I changed and and waited those gowns cover nothing and literally were falling apart due to a poor design of clasps I highly recommend taking a bathrobe. At around 9.40 the orderly came to collect me and wheeled me away to the surgery area. There I had to sign some forms before they wheeled me into the prep area. The anesthetist came and gave me something to relax me and set up the intravenous port (needle thing in hand to administer fluids) this stayed in for four days and being left handed I was a bit annoyed as it limited my function of my left hand. They put some leg massager's on my legs and wheeled me into the operating room where I had to try and move from one bed to the tiny operating table. Then the anesthetist knocked me out.

Post surgery Day 1

Woke up in the post op observation room was in a bit of pain but still very groggy kind of rolled in and out of consciousness but thankfully wasn't nauseous in any way. The surgery had taken about two hours. They wheeled me back to my room. I had a catheter, drain and was on a self administered pain button. I ended up sleeping for most of the afternoon but woke up to really bad pain kind of like period cramping but twenty times worse than any I'd experienced however the morphine drip to the edge of it. Someone had brought in jelly which I tried to eat however I couldn't manage to get myself at an angle to reach it without being in immense pain so I gave up and tried to sleep some more. I woke up again really hot, I had several blankets on and the blind was up letting in a very hot western sun. I tried to push them off but I couldn't get to them as I was very restricted in my movement. The nurse came and removed one but wouldn't take the others as she was worried about hypothermia, heat stroke apparently was not a concern. However it was now tolerable enough to sleep. Around 9 my mum came by and fed me my jelly and gave me a couple of pop top water bottles which are the best thing much easier to manage than a glass. She left half an hour later. The night nurse showed up and decided to ask me a whole pile of transition related questions to which I gave monosyllable non answers I was still in pain and tired and here was this woman asking loaded questions like did I find life hard?If I knew her name I would have reported her. I didn't get much sleep that night between the heat, the pain and hourly observations by the nurses.

Despite the lack of sleep I was feeling much better the next morning. At 8 I was given my first real food of oat meal, the lesson here is regardless of how ill you are fill in the menu order other wise they give you crap. I managed to eat a bit but my appetite had not come back. Around 10 the nurse came in and I was allowed a shower I still had everything in and was really weak so I had to sit on a chair to shower however felt a lot better after that. Dr Elbeani popped in at noon to see me. After he left the nurse came back and removed my drain, my catheter ( thats an awful feeling) and a vaginal pack which is basically like a shit load of gauze shoved up there. I was then allowed to put my underwear back on and had to wear a pad. Stayed in bed for the rest of the day. I felt a bit woozy. I think I may have been suffering slightly from the loss of blood. Had another really restless night.

Post surgery day 2

Got to watch the sun rise. Feeling much better this morning I actually had a breakfast I sort of liked, the yogurt was good but I really must remember not to order toast it was completely cold by the time I got it. However I felt a bit nauseous afterwards. Got up and had a proper standing up shower. Yay!! Got dressed into my own lounge clothes. Much nicer than the gowns. At lunch Mum came to see me and brought some noodles from the local take away. I never have enjoyed a meal as much. It was amazing the affect some proper food had on my mood. Up until that point I had been getting kind of depressed about things as my back was starting to hurt from lying on it so much and I was bored and kind of lonely but good food fixed all. After mum left I spent the afternoon watching movies on my laptop. Late in the afternoon some nurses came to check on me and I heard them chatting outside and one of them said something about going to just check up on her and then came into my room. I would have just dismissed it as it was out of context and it may have been a coincidence but it was the fourth time I'd heard a similar statement followed by a nurse visit to my room. I was slightly annoyed and paid more attention to the issue for the rest of the time I was there and they never she'd me in my room but they also never he'd me either. That night however I slept very well I guess I was making up for the other nights.

Post surgery Day 3

Saturday. Going home day. Woke up to breakfast being served. I went with the cornflakes this time, big improvement, I don't think you can mess up with cornflakes. Had a shower around 9 and got dressed into going home clothes. I had thankfully thought ahead and brought really loose non elastic shorts. Dr Elbeani showed up around 10 and told me I could get the stitches out and be on my way. Rang my mum who said she would be in by 11 thinking that was more than enough time to get the stitches out. Mum turned up before the nurse. Nurse didn't show up until 12.30. The nurse removed all my stitches although with great difficulty as Dr Elbeani had done the stitches extremely tight. She then put some steristrips on the scars and told me to simply wait until they fell off. And gave me some more pads. Supposedly its meant to bleed for the next 4 to 6 weeks post surgery but mine stopped bleeding by the time I got home, I'm definitely not complaining about that! Got all the papers signed and went out for the first time since early Wednesday morning. My mum drove me the three hours drive back to Canberra and carried my bags. It was some what embarrassing to have my mum carrying all my bags back as I didn't look unwell but I was struggling to simply carry my laptop and couldn't have managed my bags as well. We went via the chemist to get the prescription filled for some panadene forte and anti inflammatory.

Recovery

I'd overdone it with the traveling and slept for most of Sunday. Monday I spent some time with friends but didn't stray too far from home. By Tuesday I had no need for any form of pain killers. Tuesday, Wednesday I stayed at my parents place and then Thursday I caught the bus back to my own place. I would say that by Friday I could do anything I used to but I couldn't do lots. By the following Friday so 2 and a half weeks after I was completely fine and the scabs had healed over. Although I haven't resumed working out.

The new scars are already starting to fade and have healed up really well I've been using Bio Oil to try to help with the scar healing and it seems to be very effective. I'm really satisfied with the result and just have a final check up at the 6 week mark