Intro to my lower surgery

Heyo all,

So if you read my last post you caught that I recently had bottom or lower surgery. Yeah! I had a full hysterectomy with a metoidioplasty and scrotoplasty surgery without urethral lengthening or vaginectomy  July 14th, 2017 in Greenbrae California with Dr. Chen of Brownstein and Crane Surgical Services, with full coverage under my Kaiser Northwest Plan.

Kaiser NW recently brought on board two plastic/urological surgeons to Portland to start doing the surgeries, but I started the coordination process justtttt as the surgeons were getting onboarded, so I had my choice of flying to San Francisco (Brownstein/Crane) or Arizona (Meltzer) or waiting it out in Portland for the newbie surgeons to arrive (who I have since heard are fantastic both in patient treatment and technique).

I decided to go with Brownstein and Crane because I like their results and technique from what I found by looking at the tiny bit of crappy piecemeal information that exists online. I went down to California in June of 2016 (paid for in full my by insurance coverage – flights, lodging and stipend) and had my consultation with Dr. Chen and the Kaiser Transition Clinic located in Oakland, CA.

Dr. Chen was completely awesome and very friendly. He answered a lot of my questions. The Kaiser Transition Clinic meeting was a few hour-long affair of what I called ‘speed-dating.’ I met with a: social worker, two therapists, a surgeon, a gynecologist and a nurse. I think that’s everyone! It was a little over the top but it felt amazing to have so much support right at my fingertips.

I left and another agonizing 2 months went by after I got home before I received a call from Dr. Chen’s office that my surgery was scheduled for July for the following year: 13 months after my initial consultation. That’s how long the surgeon’s waitlist was.

So, I waited from August ’16 to July ’17 and at first in the beginning of the year the surgery seemed so far away, then my life got really busy and I actually had zero time to think about it and BAM. There it was. July 12th I was on a plane to San Francisco with my best friend and a giant suitcase full of shit because I had no idea what to bring (we were staying for three weeks) and in two days Dr. Chen would be rearranging my bits into something a little more manly so that I could go on with my life.