**TL;DR at end if you don’t want the long backstory.**
On Friday I had penile plication debulking, testicular implants and scrotal lift. Everything seemed perfect immediately after surgery.
Saturday my swelling was so bad, my scrotum like 3x bigger than it should be, phallus extremely swollen as well. Developed blisters too. I was quite worried about the ridiculous swelling, but PAs I reached out to did not seem concerned, just kept assuring me that swelling was normal, although personally I had never seen swelling to this extent.
Sunday the blisters were popping, overall seemed to be getting better just from not having the blisters. Swelling still the same though.
Monday it started burning like hell to urinate, this intense burning sensation in my scrotum. And I was bleeding from my urethra. Like when I say intense burning, I mean excruciating pain. I have a very high pain tolerance, I went through top surgery and hysterectomy with no painkillers except for standard dose Tylenol and even they didn’t hurt like this. Nothing from my initial phalloplasty hurt like this. It was pain that had me bent over the sink after peeing trying to catch my breath. Just excruciating.
I got very worried that I had a leak in my urethra that was running to my scrotum, causing all that pain with urination and the swelling. Again, The PAs didn’t seem too worried, said it would heal on its own. Just wanted to do a urine culture to test for infection. Because of these issues, I extended my stay in Austin an extra day (was supposed to leave Tuesday after my post op).
Tuesday (yesterday) my surgeon’s team did a urine culture which came back positive for infection, so I finally got antibiotics. I wanted them to drain the fluid in my scrotum, but they didn’t want to do that, wanted it to be left alone to eventually reabsorb on its own. Regardless, I still hoped things would look up from there with the antibiotics. I did have to postpone my stay in the area until Friday per recommendation of the team though, extending again.
I thought things would look up from here, however later that day the bleeding got substantially worse, I quickly developed a fever, and my heart rate was very high. When I told my surgeon’s team, they told me to go to an urgent care to get checked out because of the fever. I went to urgent care, and they sent me to the ER for being at risk of sepsis.
I ended up in the ER for 12 hours undergoing 3 rounds of IV antibiotics (last of which I had a mild allergic reaction to so they had to zonk me with Benadryl through my IV), 3 rounds of IV fluids, a bunch of Tylenol, and a CT scan of my pelvis. I was eventually discharged without much in terms of answers, but feeling better with regards to fever. Continuing prescribed antibiotics now.
Today I have been great in terms of fever, not feverish anymore and just less signs of infection overall so the antibiotics seem to be working. Again, I thought with the infection taken care of, it should only be up from here. But my pain just kept getting worse. It used to be that I only had excruciating pain while I peed and for a little while after, but apart from that I was fine. Now even just standing is very painful, particularly in the region left of my dick.
I noticed earlier today that there’s regions on both sides of my penis that are very hard, like it feels like there’s something underneath them. And when I feel my still unreasonably swollen scrotum, it doesn’t feel much like there’s anything but swelling in there (hard to tell for sure because of the intense swelling, but I don’t think so). So with that, I was left concerned that my testicular implants had migrated upwards close to my penis? And it’s so painful.
Now just a bit ago I got access to my CT scan from yesterday on the portal online, which results read “There is a fluid collection involving the left lateral aspect of the
penis with the most prominent fluid collection at the base measures
2.6 × 2.8 cm. There’s small gas in fluid extending into the left
apical region. No other fluid collections or in flammatory changes are evident.”
That “most prominent fluid collection” on the left 2.6 x 2.8 cm position they described sounds right for the location that’s causing me the most pain, where I feel like an implant could be. I don’t know if that’s the exact size of my implants, but I imagine it would be something like that since I opted for small (because I was told it was less risky, which clearly isn’t working out well). So now I’m quite convinced that my implants have indeed migrated up towards my penis.
I’m seeing my surgeon’s team tomorrow morning so definitely going to discuss this. But my thing is, if I am correct that they have migrated, what’s the normal course of action? I’m assuming correction surgery, correct? Would this be done ASAP - as in, gotta push back my flight more to make room for another surgery possibly Friday? Which would suck like hell especially since my Airbnb is booked Saturday so I’d have to find somewhere new to go. Or is it something more likely to be scheduled out in advance - in which case that would also suck like hell because I walk at the pace of a turtle from the pain where I think the implant might be, while also waddling like a penguin from the extreme swelling from my scrotum, and trying to navigate an airport and fly home would be a nightmare like this.
I know I’m seeing my surgeon’s team tomorrow late morning, but I want to know ASAP so I can work on pushing back my flight and finding another place to stay ASAP - just figure out wth I’m doing overall.
This has just been one issue after another. On top of everything, I haven’t been sleeping. Night before surgery I got like 4 hours max, night after surgery like 1 (broken) hour max, next night maybe 2 or 3, next night about 3, next night maybe 4, so on - always broken hours. Like 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there, etcetera. Last night got 5.5 that wasn’t as broken (only awake twice), but tonight it’s 3:20 am and still not asleep. It’s been a very unpleasant time to say the least.
**TL;DR**
After a long week of swelling, pain, and infection, I now have good reason to believe my testicular implants have migrated up towards my penis. What is the normal action plan for this? Surgery ASAP, as in possibly Friday, meaning I stay longer? Or a scheduled out Surgery, meaning returning home for a while first? I know none of y’all can know what my surgeon specifically will do, but any insight for the most likely line of action? I’ll be seeing my team tomorrow late morning so I’ll find out more then, but am anxious to know anything I can now, especially to help me prepare to find a place to stay if needed.
