| Hanging On The days I spent before my surgery with the other girls who just had their surgeries gave me some great insight into what was in store for me. They definitely struggled the most with their pain in the last few days prior to having the stents removed from their newly formed vaginas. They hung to their rubbers donuts like children clutching their teddy bears for comfort. The look on the faces of these post-op gals was unforgetable. Noticable strain appeared every time they walked around the residence and most certainly every time they attempted to sit down. They were told by the girls before them that relief was on the way once the stent was removed. There was little doubt that was true after I witnessed the alleviation present in their faces once the stents were finally removed. I found myself in the same circumstance going into the weekend. I would have given anything to fast forward to Monday, the day when the nurse was going to remove my stent. For me the pain was intense, especially the area between the newly formed vagina and the anus. The stent was sutured in place in that tiny little space and it was extremely sore. I winced whenever I had to touch that area. Sitting down was a major struggle, let alone just moving about the residence for my daily rounds. Saturday morning I asked Dr. M�nard to take a peek at my newly formed labia minora. I noticed that a portion of the labia was very black in color. It seemed to me the discoloration was definitely different from the rest of the new tissue and I doubted it was normal. Dr. M�nard seemed unfazed after he took a look at the tissue. He simply told me the discoloration was due to blood in the tissue. I was told to just let it heal normally and hopefully it would clear up in the process. I was sure Dr. M�nard had seen this a few times before by the way he reacted, though it still made me uneasy. This incident was the beginning of my education in the healing process. Certainly the good doctors had seen all of the things that could go wrong, time and time again. I learned to trust his opinion on specific concerns I had brought to his attention. The healing process would present me with a myriad of concerns that I would have to eventually resolve on my own. The bloody appearance of that segment of my labia would cause me a great deal of angst once I returned home. I spent most of the weekend resting and sleeping whenever I could. Lying flat on my back brought me the most relief from the pain and pressure between my legs. Meeting for the meals gave us a chance to give each other progress reports on our conditions. I remember how most of us would revel in Eva�s pain. There was little compassion for her after all of her crude behavior, besides that, she was a real slob which no one could tolerate. On Saturday night I stayed up for the Syracuse basketball game against Texas in the final four. I was comforted by the fact they won, and by my continued enthusiasm for something that always meant a great deal to me: sports and competition. I went to bed about 1:00 in the morning. For some odd reason I really enjoyed the stillness of the night after everyone had retired to their rooms. It was very peaceful and I felt truly as if this was my own home. I just needed to make it through one more day before Monday would dawn and I could look forward to some well deserved relief. <<BACK<< >>NEXT>> |