A few days ago I had my hysterectomy. I’m doing well, but let me start at the beginning of the whole process.
I first tried to have a hysterectomy done about a year ago, around the time of my top-surgery. I had a consult scheduled with one of the doctors at a hospital that is pretty prominent here in Central PA. I’ve been going to this hospital since I was born and have my insurance with them as well because my mother has worked there for a long time.
Now the day before my consult I got a call saying that my appointment was canceled, the reason being that the doctor felt I needed someone “more qualified.” I didn’t reschedule right away. I was actually kinda pissed. It doesn’t take much research to learn that a transgender man’s vagina is not really any different than a cis woman’s. But I suppose that doctor couldn’t be bothered to do the research. I did send them an email telling them basically that, that my vagina needed care like anyone else’s, and that I was still interested in an appointment if another doctor would be willing to see me. I didn’t hear back for a long time, but when I did they invited me to call and schedule again. I let it go seeing as how I wasn’t really looking forward to having surgery again anyway. But as my 26th birthday in March approached, I knew I’d have to do it before I aged out of my mom’s insurance. I don’t fully know how testosterone might affect my sexual organs long term. But I do know there are some risks, such as ovarian cysts, and I didn’t want to go through that, especially if I ended up on a new insurance that doesn’t cover the surgery.
So I called, explained that I am trans and what had happened last time I tried to make an appointment. To my surprise, the woman on the phone, Mary, was very empathetic and, even better, very helpful. She went out of her way to track down a specific doctor who, as it turns out, has another transguy as a patient. She asked him while she still had me on the phone if he would see me and had me scheduled right away.
At my appointment, I brought my mother and boyfriend as support. It was a long consultation. He wanted to get to know me and my health, what I wanted out of this, why I wanted this surgery done, etc. What he said surprised me a little, and what he said is the reason I won’t give the name of the hospital or the doctor on here. He told me he thinks that I should have the surgery, and he was worried that my insurance would not cover it because I am transgender. And he basically said that he would be willing to lie about symptoms to get my insurance to cover the hysterectomy.
He said, “you’re my patient and my allegiance is to you.”
Which I thought was great. But it turns out that he didn’t need to lie. Thankfully, my insurance policy does cover transgender surgeries. (If only I had known that when I was getting top surgery. But that’s a different story and I am happy with the results I had with Dr. McGinn anyway.)
So after the second appointment where we discussed my insurance, I then had a third appointment and got a pap smear and scheduled the surgery. The next time I returned, I had a pre-op, which included blood work and instructions, and an ultrasound.
The ultrasound was interesting because the woman performing it asked me if I minded her asking me questions about being trans, which I didn’t. She apparently has a coworker friend who has a child who is possibly trans as well. The kid is 9 years old and wants to start hormone blockers. I told her I wish I had been able to do that as a kid. And I answered a few other questions. But I heard from this lady later on (because I had to return for additional scans) that she had called her friend and told her about me, and I guess what I said helped her decide to let her kid take hormone blockers. I felt pretty good about it.
So my surgery was on Sept. 26. It was a total laparoscopic hysterectomy, which I guess means they used little cameras inside to aid the surgeon. I have two little incisions on both sides near my hips. And there are stitches in my belly button. Went very well and I am healing fine I think. I don’t feel any real pain. Some stabby pains in my stomach but they aren’t so bad. I am on diclofenac (which I like to call “the dick”), acetaminophen, and oxycodone. But even when I skip them I don’t feel any terrible pain, just discomfort mostly. Actually, the worst part was the urine retention I experienced in post-op. That only lasted a few hours though and I got to go home the same day once I was able to pee again. Constipation from the meds I’m on is actually the worst part.
This surgery is actually much less painful/uncomfortable than top-surgery was. By a lot actually. I hated healing from top-surgery.
Oh, and I heard a transguy friend of mine is having an appointment with my surgeon now too for his hysterectomy. I didn’t even refer him, he just ended up with the same doctor.
And I have to say, as far as dealing with hospital staff as a transman getting a hysto, it wasn’t so bad. I got only a few strange/confused looks when I would tell people that I was there to see the gyno, or that I was a having a hysterectomy, but other than it was fine. Everyone was very nice and polite to me. A lot of people didn’t even bat an eye, didn’t treat me any different, and they all took very good care of me.
So I gotta say thanks to my surgeon, and all the staff who helped me through this, plus my dad for driving me to my pre-op appointment, and my mom for taking me to my surgery and being there for about 9 hours, and my boyfriend who wanted to be there but couldn’t because he had back surgery two weeks before my operation, and who is here for me now. We’re taking care of each other. 🙂
So all is well for now. I’m off work for a few weeks and enjoying it. Very glad that this all turned out good despite the bad start.
Thanks for reading. If anyone has questions for me regarding having a hysterectomy done, feel free to leave a comment.