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The Big O day: my orchiectomy by Robyn Browning Today I took shower when I woke and scrubbed my genitals with Betadine scrub
as Dr. Barham asked me to. Then I got dressed wearing a pair of pants I
knew would be easily removed and comfy to wear after my family jewels were removed.
I piddled around at work until about 10:30. I read the book I got from a friend
"Urologic Surgery" and found that the section that covered the radical
orchiectomy was just one page long. My fiancée, Georgiana, messaged me about 10:30 and asked how I was doing
(emotionally/psychologically). Instead of sending a return message on the computer
I called her on the phone and told her that I was doing really badly, and started
to huff like I was about to break down and cry and I acted as though I wasn't
sure that I could go through with the procedure. She replied to hearing this with "Oh, baby..." in a tone of sympathy.
I abruptly interrupted and said "Nah, just kidding." I followed explaining
that as the last couple hours counted down that I was really fine with the procedure
and ready to get it over with. We talked and finalized our plans for lunch.
I had expected to be nervous, but as the time approached I felt ready and sure. Karen from downstairs came up for a rest break and gave me a hug wishing me
good luck on the orchi. That was really sweet of her I thought and I wished
her luck on her upcoming IUD procedure. Georgiana and I met at 12:00 for lunch. I carried down a bunch of stuff from
the office I thought I could work on while I would be recovering. We went to
Big Town Hero and grabbed lunch. We walked over the two blocks from my office
to the water front and sat down to eat under the large shade trees. We then drove over to Dr. Barham's office. It was only twenty mintues from
my office. I told the receptionist my name and that I had an appointment.
She knew instantly what I was there for. I also said that on the phone when
I made the apointment to remind the nurse 'something about a pill before hand'.
I knew it was another Valium.. hey the more the merrier, I thought. G and I sat down and a couple minutes later a blonde nurse came into the waiting
room with a pinkish pill and a glass of water. I swallowed it down too. Yum...
Valium. By this point I don't think passing tornado would have phased me. I
was feeling really mellow. It wasn't even ten minutes and the nurse poked her head out the door and called
for "Robyn". Hmmm, that must be me.. the old guy to the left
with the urine bag doesn't look like a "Robyn". I asked if Georgiana
could accompany me and she said it was Ok. So George and I walked down the hall to the room where it would be done holding
hands all the way. We sat in the two chairs that were in the tiny room. We were
left alone for a few minutes. There was a window, a table and drawers in front
of the window, a medical table with stirrups and white towels wrapped around
the knee part of the leg stirrups, two chairs in which we sat. To the left was
"the table", a surgical pack wrapped in blue fabric fresh from
the autoclave sat on small stand at the foot and to the side of the table. I got up after a minute feeling a bit fidgety and peaked into the drawers...
seeing if there were any cool medical toys to play with. G verbally shunned
me for being curious. About the time that I shut the drawers and sat down Dr.
Barham came in followed by a nurse. He greeted Georgiana, sat down on the stool
at the end of the table and asked if 'I was ready to do this'. I replied to
him that I would not be sitting here if I was not ready and smiled broadly to
him. Honestly, I almost felt like his question was a joke. I had stewed
on this decision for weeks. Yes, by the gods, I was wholly ready to do this. After doing this G moved her chair to the head of the table and I had climbed
up on it. Dr. Barham asked me to place my butt on the metal plate on the table
at the foot of it with white lines of goo on it then to place my legs in the
stirrups. Now that boys and girls was a new, frightening and yet interesting
experience for someone who has never placed their legs on medical table stirrups.
I tried to ease back. My butt slid on the metal plate that was covered with
it's white conductive jelly goo. I was scrubed thoroughly with more Betadine. They didn't need to shave as I
had done a great job of shaving that area that morning. Doc reach out and took
my scrotum in his hand and started to feel out the cord of my right teste and
found a point high up... above the top edge of the scrotum and but still able
to feel the cord. There he made a couple injections deep into tissues and into
the cord and injected Lidocaine. The injection, to my surprise, didn't hurt.
There was a tiny prick but that was it. It hurt I tiny bit, but not even enough
to say "ouch". I never really noticed my testes getting numbed. He
repeated the procedure on the left side. Next he told me he was going to inject
the scrotum where the incision would be. I had heard in previous accounts that
this hurt the most. For me, however, it was no more or less discomforting than
the cord injections. I had expected much worse. I had Georgiana's hand as he
began the incision to remove my "manhood". After the initial scrotal
incision he used the cautery tool to cut and cauterize through the tissues that
held the teste inside the end of the course, a thin, yet strong fibrous tissue
and muscle on the distal end of the teste. I heard accounts from other people who had orchies saying the room stank of
burning flesh, however, I could really only smell a faint odor from the cautery
and I would not have called it burnt flesh or any such thing. Organic yes,
but not vile. As I realized that I couldn't really feel a damn thing, I just had to sit up
and watch what he was doing. I was surprised to see the cord and all was as
thick as it was. From what I could feel all my life through my own scrotum the
cord didn't seem so large and thick. As I had read the book ,Urologic Surgery,
the night before I asked Doc a few questions about what he was doing like "Are
you doing to suture the primary teste artery to the ligament so you don't end
up with advanced arterial retraction that could lead to hematoma post op?"
He said that he would. Turns out he was using 2-0 SAS instead of the 3-0 SAS
suture I had anticipated. Personal choice I suppose, I would have gone with
3-0 I think.. but then I wasn't looking at the cord at the time so tissue friability
would matter. The doc finally had to ask me to lay down as I kept myself propped up on my
elbows trying to see what he was doing. Years studying and working in medicine
will do that too you. I have such a deep scientific curiosity. I was propped
up so much and so fascinated that I hardly held G's hand during the procedure.
The same removal and cautery process was used on the left side. This time as
he was about to ligate and cut the cord I could actually feel the cord being
pulled on deep with in my lower abdomen. The tugging could be felt someplace
deep in the center and toward the back. It was not painful, but not a wholly
comfortable experience either. Nothing to be scared of that is for sure. Before I knew it the last teste was removed. This experience ended up being more like a science field trip than the deeply
emotional process and surgical amputation I had expected. I was more curious
than anxious, scared or in pain. Dr. Barham made subcu SAS sutures which was really nice. It means it will not
be necessary to return to have the suture removed. Also they tend to hold better,
cause less scaring and are less likely to get infected. They take a little more
time to do than regular mattress sutures and tiny bit more patience and skill
but are the best in the long run. I was pleased to see him use that suture.
Dr. Barham had placed both testes into a small glass container that looked
very much like a shot glass on would take tequila shots with. When he had finished
the procedure I asked him if he could put "those" in 10% formalin
for me to take home. I thought that was a long shot request... but he was like
"Sure" and the nurse got a specimen jar for me and he placed them
in there. Pics Dr. Barham wiped up the mess on me that had been made and placed some cotton
on my incision line. I stood up, took a paper towel from the Dr. and wiped the
conductive goo from my buttocks and put my panties and pants back on. I was
surprisingly pain free immediately after the procedure. I could no more tell
if I had testes or not. When we left to pay the receptionist she asked if I could would like a brown
bag for "them". I told her I would very much like a brown bag. The
idea of walking around with my testes in a clear jar visible to the public is
simply really bad form. We left and walked down the hall remarking that I was
in fact, in reality, was this very moment, holding my own testicles in my right
hand. I was really tripping on that concept. We drove from the Dr.'s office my work to print off some invoices. I was surprisingly
mobile still but starting to feel pain. Then we drove to the pharmacy to get
my meds. But his time.. some 40 minutes later I was really quite needing my
pain medication. I went in with Georgiana thinking that they may want to verify
who I am before giving out the script and I didn't want any delay caused simply
because I sat in the car and didn't come in. The woman was quite prompt as I think she could read the expression of pain
on my face. I took a pill as soon as I could. We drove home and I immediately hit the sack to lay down. I stayed that way
until late the next day. I got up to pee a couple times and found that pushing
when I had to go number two only caused greater pain than before. So potty had
to come slowly and naturally. 48 hours post op:
72 hours post op:
96 hours post op:
120 hours post op:
142 hours post op:
11 days post op:
14 days post op:
Emotional state: All in all feeling wonderful that I had it done. They are gone. I fell them
gone. I can feel the absence of T in my body. No more Spiro than the gods. Wonderful
procedure. I should have been less active for one week.. my fault for the later
swelling. Highly recommend procedure for suitable candidates. I expected to
have a decrease in sex drive but have experienced none. In fact feeling more
sexual now. Having had the procedure has taken a lot off my mind and feel freed
to think about other things. I can still be become erect when stimulated and
that discovery surprised me. It’s interesting to see that sexual function
and sex drive are not both uniformly controlled by the amount of testosterone
in the body. In just one week I have seen a slight increase in breast fullness
and overall size. I’m 110% pleased about having the orchiectomy. Cost $750.00 Total. Procedure time under 1 hour. Recovery really, one week for 60% reliable ability, mobile but not with great exertion, i.e.... no running, lifting, etc. Robyn Browning I am still not able to tuck things out of the way due to the swelling that
remains in the sac at the in end of the cord. All my pants and slacks fit snuggly
in the groin and not being able to tuck is really limiting my options. I have
only minor pain now... and it is brief. The middle and lower back part of the
scrotum hangs down in a funny fasion. More accurately it hangs in an empty fassion.
A word of advice is to STAY INACTIVE for at least a week after the procedure.
I a small hematoma internally due to the fact that I was feeling better after
a few days and got up and was doing all kinds of stuff. DON'T. I'm lucky my
sac didn't fill up like a purple orange. I feel great though. Sex drive is still
intact.. adjusting to high dose spiro long term really helped me I think. I
can even get erect manual and orgasm. That was a big surprise that I could still
do that. Though there is zero fluid coming out. I expect over time even manual
stimulation will fail. Addendum: October 21, 2001 That tucking issue has long be put behind me. As the internal swelling has gone and the scrotum has contracted I can now *cough* put things away much easier. Jeans fit better and there doesn't seem to be much to hide. I'm so please to have had it done. Interestingly, my sex drive has dramatically increased after stopping anti-androgen therapy and having the orchiectomy. 
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