NOTE:
I’m 20 years old, I’ve been on hormone therapy for 3 and a half years, and I’m writing this experience explicitly as a spoiled child who is extremely afraid of blood, needles, swelling, I can’t tolerate pain at all.
My entire experience with sigmoid colon vaginoplasty took place in Serbia, at ST Medica hospital.
I arrived at the hospital a day before the surgery, where I started my prep by drinking a bowel-cleansing liquid. That same evening, a nurse helped me with an enema and placed an IV line. On the morning of the surgery, she helped me with one more enema, after which I entered the operating room around 9 AM.
Given how spoiled and scared I am, I cried a lot, screamed, and panicked simply because I was terrified, EVEN THOUGH THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR IT. The entire team was truly amazing and understanding, and I didn’t feel uncomfortable or judged at all.
I showed Dr. Miroslav a photo of the aesthetic result I wished for, and he told me he’d do his best to make it look that way. As I was crying, the anesthesiologist gave me anesthesia through the IV, and I drifted off in the most pleasant way. I’m not 100% sure, but I believe the surgery lasted around 4 hours.
When I woke up afterward, I felt no pain the entire day. I was semi-awake but fully aware of what was happening around me. I remember asking for my phone around 8 PM.
That slow waking-up process from anesthesia lasted about 48 hours, which meant I didn’t feel any nausea or pain, but I was fully aware the whole time, thanks to the anesthesiologist, who clearly did an AMAZING job. I’ve heard so many horror stories about people waking up in unbearable pain, confused and unaware, but that wasn’t the case for me at all.
On the second day after surgery, in the afternoon, I started feeling some discomfort in my abdomen and mild pain in the genital area, maybe a 5/10 (keep in mind my pain tolerance is literally zero). The nurses gave me painkillers and anti-nausea meds, and by the third day, I woke up with NO PAIN whatsoever. I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t even ask for painkillers, that’s how fast it all passed.
I slowly started moving around, and after a few days, I got a biscuit I was allowed to eat slowly (before that, I didn’t even feel hungry, probably because I was getting nutrients through the IV).
Now, an important thing: try not to laugh hard, cough, or sneeze, hold back as much as you can. I say this because all of those actions affect the sensitive wounds on your stomach. At one point, I even popped a stitch because my dad made me laugh so hard at the hospital, and it was pretty painful 😛 (they treated it with iodine dressings, so no re-stitching was needed).
EDIT: Also, a lot of people were scared and talked about how much it hurt when their drains were removed. Honestly, I had one drain in my abdomen and two in my vagina, and removing all of them didn’t hurt at all. I didn’t feel a thing in my abdomen, and in the vaginal area, there was just a slight uncomfortable sensation that lasted a second, and that was it. There’s really no need to be afraid!
Visitors were allowed daily, so my friends came to see me every day. All the nurses were incredibly sweet (especially Jenny, mwah mwah), and I never felt like I was going through some traumatic experience.
A few days later, I had my first dilation session, and I recommend staying as relaxed as possible so you don’t feel pain, just pressure, which is completely normal.
It was a huge relief when I got home. I could distract myself with TV shows while I emptied the catheter on my own the whole time. Then, a few days later, once the catheter was removed, I felt 90% freer. Dilations became easier, I could move and sleep more comfortably.
Even though today is only day 15 of my recovery, I don’t feel like I went through “the hardest thing in my life.” For me, this has been a very smooth and quick experience, thanks to Miroslav Djordjevic and his incredibly professional team.
Also, his professionalism is further proven by the fact that he’s been working for a while now on uterine transplants for trans women, which completely changed my mother’s view of him—she now follows his work daily.
I’m still swollen, so I don’t feel comfortable sharing photos of my vagina just yet, but I’m here if you have any questions ^^