I arrived in Portland, Oregon on Tuesday, May 15 around 11AM. Christie from Dr. Meltzer's office was there to greet me, along with another patient who was there for the same surgery. The other patient was heading for Esprit, a transgender conference, right after her surgery. Christie told me that Dr. Meltzer had relatively few patients at Eastmoreland Hospital just then because he, too, was about to go to Esprit.

We first made a brief stop at Walgreen's pharmacy for us to pick up our prescriptions. Mine was for painkillers (propoxiphene-N) and Cipro 500mg, an antibiotic. I was a bit shocked because I had been told they would cost about US$30 and they actually cost about US$87. [Hint: if you are Canadian, get your prescriptions before heading south--they cost about a quarter of the US price up here.] Christie then dropped me off at the Motel 6 on SE Powell Boulevard. I had chosen this place because it was cheap and within walking distance of Eastmoreland Hospital. I planned to stay a few extra days to get a cheaper airfare, and wanted to be able to visit Dr. Meltzer's patients as one way of passing the time. I had also brought along a big stack of books on Buddhism to read. [Note: by staying over the Saturday night I was able to reduce my airfare from well over C$1100 to a little over C$400.]

I phoned someone I had corresponded with by e-mail and we got together for coffee. Her time was limited because she, too, was headed for Esprit. It seemed like everyone was going there except me! (I have never attended any of those TG conferences, nor had any great desire to do so, except for one year (1996?) when the Triess convention was held in Kananaskis, an hour's drive west of Calgary, and was organized by some friends of mine.)

I took a bus into downtown Portland and spent the rest of the afternoon visiting Powell's, a great used bookstore that is a Portland landmark, and then the New Renaissance bookstore, which has an excellent selection of books on spirituality. They have everything from Buddhism and New Thought to Wicca and tarot cards. I topped off the evening with a big meal at Kornblatt's deli, since I didn't expect to eat again until the next evening.

The next morning, Wednesday, May 16, started early. I erred on the side of conservatism and ate and drank nothing. I also wore a loose skirt to avoid any pressure on the surgical site. Christie picked me up at 8:15AM and took me into Dr. Meltzer's office in Crown Plaza in downtown Portland. Cheryl, one of his nurses, prepped me, including shaving my pubic hair. Later I realized how odd this looked, as she left a one-inch strip across the top of the pubic region. She also gave me a small shopping bag of supplies, including an ice pack and some pads.

Around 10AM Cheryl gave me three little orange Valiums. Dr. Meltzer came in around 10:30AM to check me out. I mentioned that I wanted a minor urethral revision to reduce spraying during urination and direct the stream downward instead of forward and to the left.

By around 11AM I was in the surgical suite. I was positioned on one of those tables with the stirrups that keep your legs spread apart and elevated. A blue sheet was erected as a partition above my mid-section so I couldn't see what was going on.

I was unconscious for the first part of the surgery, but awoke for the last twenty minutes or so and chatted with Dr. Meltzer. He noted that there had been a flap of excess skin below the vagina. He removed this to facilitate penetration for dilation or intercourse. He said the urethral opening had actually healed together in the centre, leaving, in effect, two small openings, which was the cause of my spraying. He corrected this, of course. The insertion of the catheter was rather uncomfortable, but otherwise there was no pain to speak of, just a slight discomfort.

By 12:40PM I was done. I got dressed and was taken in a wheelchair down to street level. Paul picked me up and took me to Eastmoreland. I arrived around 1:40PM and filled out some forms to check in. To my surprise I was put in a double room. Here is a picture of my side.

I felt very little pain from the surgery, more like the kind of mild discomfort one feels from a sprained muscle. Nevertheless, during the first 24 hours they want you to stay in bed with an ice-pack on, so I just laid there and napped and read. The catheter is inserted so you won't have to get up to use the washroom; I asked and they will let you get up if nature's call exceeds the catheter's capacity to cope. Fortunately I did not need to do this.

Above is a picture of what I first saw after the surgery. My first look at the results underneath the gauze panty, ice pack and absorbent pad using a hand mirror was a bit of a surprise. Above the clitoris, which was now completely concealed by its freshly constructed hood, was a row of stitches going straight up about one and a quarter inches. I hadn't realized an incision would be necessary there. The two large, thick folds of skin which had formed loose outer labia after my GRS (vaginoplasty) had swollen quite a lot and were black and blue due to aggressive scraping of the inside of the skin in order to thin them. The edges were sewn into a sort of thin, irregularly scalloped edge and had brown, fishing line-like stitches to hold these thin edges together. The left labia covered the right one, which was folded back over on itself near the edge. There was a lot of redness near the edges of the labia and some blackness--the latter a mixture of clotted blood and some dead skin (not all the thinned skin typically survives). There were also a few thick, white cotton-string-like stitches at the bottom where the flap of skin at the entrance to the vagina had been removed.

The patient who was with Christie at the airport stopped by around 4PM and shortly thereafter they brought in my room-mate, a pretty young pre-op TS from New York who had come for a trachea shave and to check out Dr. Meltzer's operation (pardon the pun). She seemed as impressed as I have been.

Around 5PM they brought in dinner. It was fine, but since I hadn't eaten since the previous night I ended up ordering a pizza from Papa John's around 9 or 10PM that night. At 5:40PM I had the ice pack and pad changed (heavy duty obstetrical or menstrual-type pads are used to absorb the blood and other discharges). Between 8PM and 10PM I noticed a lot more blood loss. The male nurse indicated this was typical: about 8-10 hours after the surgery the muscles which had tensed to prevent hemorrhaging relax and release the excess blood. While it looked like a lot on the pad to me, he said it was probably not more than a couple of spoonsful. By 4AM I noticed a lot less blood on the pad as that brief surge had stopped. I took a pain pill and fell asleep until around 7AM.

When I awoke I realized I had no serious pain, so I stopped taking the pain pills even though I had enough for several more days. Of course, I continued with the antibiotic until they were all gone several days later.

At 8AM on Thursday, the first day after surgery, Dr. Meltzer came in. He gave me a short examination and said all looked fine. Around 10AM Sue, one of Dr. Meltzer's nurses, came in. She removed the catheter and then two drains which had been so low down I hadn't even seen them. Around 11AM they took me back to the Motel 6.

That afternoon I mostly just took it easy, laying around reading with ice on the surgical site. I did go over to the Safeway nearby and buy a few things. (The Safeway was just under construction the previous year but was now complete and open 24 hours--it's a 10-15 minute walkeast of the Motel 6 on SE Powell Blvd.)

Friday afternoon I walked into Eastmoreland Hospital and visited with three of Dr. Meltzer's patients who had just had GRS. One was almost ready to leave, but the others were still "fresh", with lots of tubes and stuff sticking out. I looped past Walgreen's on the way home and then laid down with another ice pack. By the time it had had an effect the labial swelling was down to the point that the labia were easily separated.

When I awoke Saturday morning, May 19, the swelling was noticeably reduced and I was able to see part of the clitoris when I separated the labia with my fingers. It was reassuring to see it was still there! I also switched to Kotex Light Days mini pads as I had used all the heavy duty ones they had given me. The flow of blood and stuff was quite minor, but I still changed the pad every time I urinated.

I felt more ambitious by that time. I headed towards Eastmoreland, stopping briefly at the classic car place on the way to admire the old cars and then heading past the hospital and down to the rhododendron garden. A lot more flowers were still in bloom than when I had been there in June the previous year, but still I enjoyed the birds even more. The ducks were so tame that I almost stepped on one that was snoozing in the middle of the foot path, and I got a kick out of watching the Canada geese land on the pond (graceful is not a word that comes to mind in this regard). The star of the show, however, was a "punk" rooster. He had an unusually loose coat of fathers that shook when he walked, but his crowning glory was a big mop of long, loose feathers on top of his head that flopped about like a jester's hat.

After the garden I went back and visited with the three gals at Eastmoreland, and then took a bus into downtown Portland to visit the Portland Saturday Market (also open on Sunday) near the Burnside Bridge (see photo below). The lady bus driver was very chatty when she found out I was from out of town, and the market itself was very lively. There were lots of craft and food stalls, a blues band, and the inevitable hangers-on present at any "happening" place: buskers, a juggler, the Hare Krishnas, etc.

Sunday morning I arose very early, packed my bags, and checked out, leaving my suitcase at the front desk. I took a bus into Portland to go to church. I got off one stop too late, but in walking back I realized this was a blessing--if I had got off at the right spot I would have taken the right connecting bus, but in the wrong direction! Anyway, I got there early and had a good chat with some of the congregation. The Westside Church of Religious Science is in one room in an office complex, a type of arrangement that is common in smaller Religious Science churches, but was new to me (it was the first RS church I had been to other than my own in Calgary). There were about 25 people there, and afterwards we went for brunch at a restaurant owned by a congregant. The food was great and the owner later treated us to strawberries dipped in cream and chocolate for dessert. Oddly enough, his name was also Terry (my pre-GRS spelling) and he was also the tallest member of his congregation--about 6'5" or 6'6". He was the first person I have hugged in my adult life who was taller than me! I had instant common ground with the congregation. Besides our shared faith, I knew their ex-minister, who had left some eight months previously, and also their incoming minister. Due to arrive in less than two weeks, she had done her ministerial training at my church in Calgary and I had worked with her in our Teen Ministry.

One of the practitioners gave me a lift back to the Motel 6 around 2:15PM, and around 2:45PM Paul, Dr. Meltzer's driver, picked me up to take me to the airport for my 5PM flight. A huge line-up at Immigration Passport Control in Vancouver airport caused me to miss my connecting flight, so I got home around 11:30PM instead of 9:30PM. Fortunately I had been able to reach my boyfriend Stephen and let him know I would be late. He gave me a special welcome at the airport and I fell into his arms.

Most of the swelling was gone within one week of surgery, with a very noticeable reduction on Thursday, May 24, eight days after surgery. That day I also started dilating and douching again. Due to the time that had elapsed since my last dilation, it was a bit painful, but not too bad. There was a small amount of blood on the dilator when I pulled it out, probably from the pressure on the labia, but subsequent dilations quickly got easier and there were no more signs of blood. (Because I had the flap of skin taken off below the vagina Dr. Meltzer had told me to wait a week or so before dilating instead of the usual 2-3 days.)

Friday, May 25 I noticed a lot of dead surface skin sloughing off. It looked like bits of mucous or wet Kleenex. I was also spraying a fair bit when urinating.

I continued to have some minor discomfort on the right labia (the one that was folded back on itself). On June 5 I asked my electrologist, who is also an active registered nurse, to take a look and she indicated there was some inflammation and probably minor infection in a couple of raw spots on the right labia. She recommended sitz baths in warm salty water twice a day for a couple of days, and suggested I again start applying the Bacitracin antibiotic ointment (called Baciguent in Canada). I did so, and also checked with Dr. Meltzer's office. In a couple of days the discomfort had disappeared, and by June 11 the raw spots had healed over. (Bacitracin ointment is applied to the labial incisions for a minimum of two weeks after surgery. Two weeks was just a bit too soon in my case, I guess.)

By June 12, 2001, almost four weeks after the surgery, the labia were starting to soften up, a process that apparently takes several months to completely resolve. Everything looked good, and my clitoris was much more easily accessible. The only signs of the surgery that were very apparent were the now ragged remains of the stitches on the inside of the labia. They looked like bits of frayed butcher string hanging out of my skin. There were fewer of them every day. I continued to wear the Light Days pads as the ointment made a mess on my panties if I didn't. There also the occasional tiny speck of blood when a stitch fell out. My pubic hair was also starting to grow over the incision above the clitoris, and should soon obscure whatever remains of that scar.

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