#fear about urethraplasty

[answersfromzestual]

I'm so terrified of sepsis after surgery. Or a UTI from the catheter that leads to sepsis. My mom nearly died from sepsis caused by uti and I have horrific trauma now and I'm worried it'll put me off getting my surgeries I need to become stealth

That is a scary, and I understand your drawbacks to surgery because of it.

I want to try to calm your fears.

Surgeons want the best results. With the amount of gender affirmation surgeries happening, doctors have gotten very good at their jobs. There is also a bit on you though, you would need to let your clinic know about anything unusual. Surgeon and clinic help are available after-hours, or at very least a nurse will talk to you. When I had my bladder infection it was extremely noticeable, I could not get comfortable, I could not stop wanting to take the catheter out.

But you do not have to get Urethra Lengthening (urethraplasty), if you do not want to either. You would just have to remain sitting while urinating, but you'd still have a functioning phallus.

I think about your mother, she got sick because she let the infection get out of control, she was too busy living life to either notice or care about the slight discomfort at first. It's not her fault, she has a family and to mom's they always come first. She may have been so busy she didn't even notice it until it got bad.

I just want you to know there are many signs before a Urinary Tract Infection can cause sepsis.

I have issues with my kidneys and bladder. It was very common pre phallo for me to get UTIs. For them to cause real damage they have to develop into infections further in the body, usually the kidneys. I'm saying this because I want you to know that generally having a UTI is not dangerous. There is a lot of discomfort involved however can easily be cured at early stages (even many later stages) by simple antibiotics.

I do not want you to feel that I am trying to say your fears aren't valid, because they are. But I think your mother was an extreme circumstance. Not all situations will lead from UTI to sepsis.

An indwelling catheter is very safe as long as you take the proper precautions. They do not require them to be in for nearly as long as when I had urethraplasty as well.

This is why I stress the importance during the healing period to ask questions to, be cautious, and be mindful of how your body feels. You will also have a surgical team at your beck and call, they want and need to know if anything is going on, such as: feeling feverish, the area around your urethra is hot to the touch, general discomfort, difficulty sleeping, vomiting, diarrhea, not being able to eat, and pain. These are all things you need to take really seriously. It's better to contact the clinic or your health care provider with a false alarm, then to not check in, and have some kind of infection develop.

A clinic will make sure that you are taken care of, so that you will have the best results you can have.

[answersfromzestual]

Hi sorry this is so random! But I hope you can help me...

I want abdominal phallo, it has the most pros for me, I really want it but there's a few questions I have...

1. Is it possible to have your skene's glands hooked to the phallus to be able to ejaculate still?

2. Is an ed possible with this phallo? A lot say it isn't possible because "it is placed up too high-", an ed is absolutely vital to me and I need one so the fear I may not be able to have it worries me. I really do not want to have to go with another type of phallo when I'm so set on this one.

3. Is this one less surgery time and a faster recovery? Or is that a myth?

4. Is picking your size possible?

Thanks so much, I genuinely need advice from anyone who has had this phallo..I really want this one but I have worries

Okay, so from what I've read and what I have previously researched it seems that the only difference between radical free flap (which is a donor site) and using your abdomen as a donor site are:

Typically Abdominal Phalloplasty (also called birdwing procedure) does not include the connection of nerves which means the loss of some tactile function (feeling / sensitivity so if that is important to you look for a surgeon who can or consider using a skin flap/ donor site) however there is one exception to this issues with Abdominal Phalloplasty and that is getting a procedure called Radial Artery Urethroplasty. This is when a small section of the forearm is used to create the urethra and a nerve is harvested with the flap so you can urinate standing and have more pleasurable sensations. Without nerve connection (radial artery urethroplasty), some tactile sensation can be expected but not all the way to the tip of the phallus. Sensation from your clitoris/ pre surgical phallus (whether buried or unburied) since it is preserved and can be directly stimulated. From the sources and images I have seen, they look in the correct placement to me, also having a higher phallus is not mentioned in anything I remotely found.

Some surgical teams offer Urethroplasty (aka urethra lengthening procedure) as a secondary procedure for Abdominal Phalloplasty, using tissue from the forearm, mouth, clitoris, labia or vagina. This procedure does not require a vagenectomy(for those interested in keeping their vagina).

The abdominal flap is a type of procedure procedure called "pedicle" which means that part of the skin/ tissue graft is left attached to the original site—versus a free flap that requires microsurgery (surgery that is small and time consuming eg.connecting the nerves). This makes the AF procedure shorter.

So now let me answer your questions,

1. From what I have read it seems to be a very similar procedure, from my research I would say it is possible (this is not stated in any of the information I am finding, but given the similarities I would assume so, but this is not a 100% solid answer. I will look into it deeper and see if I can get anything to come up about it. So this is not a solid answer, but it a conclusion I have come up with.I apologize I can't give you a rock solid answer. And about ejaculation, I want to mention that the amount varies person to person. And to ejaculate from the tip would require a urethraplasty.

Edit(2): the glands also important for urination and biological hygiene. to have the fluid (ejaculate) the scenes glands produce, to lubricate the urethra for the passing of urine and helping "push bacteria out", with that said it makes me feel more confident with my yes, but that may be a question I may need to reach out for to be 100% sure.

2. Yes, you can get an erectile device :D!

3. Every source I found said that it would be three procedures if you wanted: radial artery (to urinate standing), and for erectile devices. One surgery per step is typical, you need to heal between each surgery. If you didn't want to urinate standing, it looks to be still two procedures if you want an erectile device. Recovery for the initial surgery is less time by half at least.

4. Yes, from what I have read most surgeons let you pick your size (given there is only so much tissue they can work with).

EDIT: Also I believe the first source has images of how the procedure is done, and after images! So you can see what one looks like!

I hope I covered all of your questions.

Stay Golden ✌🏽💙❤️

**Note: to urinate standing you would need to have the radial artery urethroplasty procedure.**

Main sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3687145/

https://www.phallo.net/procedures/abdominal-phalloplasty.htm

https://tau.amegroups.org/article/view/26419/24265#:~:text=The%20urethra%20can%20either%20be,phallus%20using%20labia%20minora%20tissue.

Educational image of a person with abdominal phalloplasty.

Credit for image to source: https://www.phallo.net/procedures/abdominal-phalloplasty.htm