u/earthlighter

pre-op, asking out of curiosity and i guess for reference later--how do you position a catheter in underwear so that it isn't uncomfortable/pulling on anything? ive tried to imagine it but i just cant picture any way to make it work short of literally cutting a hole in the underwear, which surely most people arent doing?? are they way more flexible than i think and its just easy to bend it however?

my urethral opening is going to end up between my penis and scrotum and im just like.. the tube has to go some direction after it comes out of my body.... where could it possibly go......

im not asking how severe the constipation usually is, im asking about the consequences of it.

ive had chronic constipation basically my entire life and i actually kind of prefer it to stay that way because its cleaner. ive very rarely experienced significant discomfort as a result of it and i almost never use any kind of stool softener or laxative because as far as im concerned that would just be inviting unnecessary mess. as a result i generally struggle to get myself to take stool softeners after surgery even when ive gone several days without a bowel movement. this has actually been fine for me and ive had no problems other than minor discomfort but i feel like that probably won't be the case for meta since the area being operated on is so close.

im kind of just worried that even if i try my best to take the stool softeners some level of constipation is going to be unavoidable, and im concerned that bowel movements after meta are going to cause genuine issues with healing if theyre anything like what ive had after other surgeries.

is this a reasonable concern to have or will i probably be fine? im not super worried about things being painful, (though obviously i dont want that either), more about ripping open incisions and stuff like that.

this is a weird question, and ill definitely ask my surgeon about it, but how likely is it that they would let me remove my own (foley) catheter when it's time to take it out? i dont mean like on my own at home, i would want it to be basically the same as if they were doing it, except im the one who actually pulls it out.

i ask because i have a really serious fear of sudden pain and i'm worried that im not going to be able to let someone else remove it. (knowing that it will be over quickly does not help with this fear in the slightest, so please dont just comment that itll be quick and i dont need to worry lol) i dont really know how removing a catheter works, but if it's something i could reasonably do, i think it would help me a lot to be able to do it myself instead of having a nurse or my surgeon do it.

my urethra will be lengthened a little bit because it will need to be moved (vaginectomy + scrotoplasty), but im not having UL.

ive had top surgery twice and a hysto and after each surgery i've found recovery to be easier than most other people describe. after my first top surgery i did have recurrent infections and other superficial issues that made my recovery much longer (also why i had to have a second surgery) but even with the infections i was in basically no pain and i was back to my normal energy levels within just a couple weeks of surgery. with my hysto i basically felt as if i hadnt had surgery at all by like day 5 post-op.

im having meta with vaginectomy, scrotoplasty, and no UL in about two months.

i am already fully expecting to have some issues with healing my incisions because i know that my body doesnt react well to dissolvable sutures. i even had spitting stitches in my teeny tiny 1/2 inch hysterectomy incisions 😭. so im not asking about whether ill heal well, just about pain.

i really dont cope well with pain, so the way other people talk about meta makes me super scared. i think being able to tell myself that it won't be as bad for me will help with the anxiety leading up to surgery, even if i turn out to be wrong afterwards.

i know that theres no way to really predict how things will go, but given my history, would it be reasonable to think that recovery might be easier for me than it tends to be for other people?