Immediately upon my return home, I knew that I had to take pictures of my progress, and decided that a weekly facial photo would show the progress of my final results. These I have placed on my web site for your viewing, if you are so inclined. I went about living my life as I had before, as if nothing had happened to my face. I had envisioned that I would have a lot of explaining to do pending my return from San Francisco, and that at that point it would be necessary for me to “come out” to those that know me. As it turned out, the changes that occurred were subtle enough as to not require I do that yet. The only comment I got was from my ex-wife, and she said, “You look weird.” I let that pass without comment at this time. During the intervening time, I became more confident in my appearance as a woman, and it was amazing to watch the progress that occurred during the months that followed. Each week my face seemed to visually change and begin to look more feminine. The first thing that I needed to address was the stitches removal from my jaw line. My tongue had been playing with the thread in my mouth for days. I tried to pull them out myself from inside my mouth with tweezers, but all I managed to do was to damage the inside of my mouth, which was still very swollen. I was still unable to open my mouth very much. I had to settle on a local clinic to have them remove my stitches. They weren’t too excited to do it, and suggested that I return to the doctor that originally put them in to remove them, as they didn’t want the liability. After explaining that the surgery had been done a thousand miles away, they relented.
After two weeks I saw that my lips had lost their fullness, rats. When the doctor did my lip lift, I thought that he was going to make them fuller. I didn’t ask him to do that, but I had assumed that it was a natural by product of the procedure. I hadn’t had a lot of pain from the surgery, and was only taking hydrocodone for pain, and an antibiotic to fight infection. I was very conscientious in taking my medications, after the $17,000.00 I had spent so far to reach this point, I was not going to do anything to mess up the work that I had spent so much money on. I was chatting with a girl friend and asked if hydrocodone was addictive, and learned that it was. (Figures. Anything that I like is unhealthy, bad for you, or illegal.) So I immediately stopped taking my pain pills, and was able to switch to Ibuprofen. After the third week, I was able to stop all pain medication. My lip and mouth were still numb. My vocal range was still very limited from the tracheal shave procedure; both the volume and the upper range were severely limited. I began remembering what Dr. Ousterhout had told me about that procedure, some may have a longer wait to regain their voice, and some may not. I went to Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta, and while there, I was to attend a seminar presented by Dr. Ousterhout. But as a result of the events of 9/11/2001, he was unable attend, and in his place were four “graduates” of his, and during the question and answer session I asked how long it had taken them to get their voice back, only to learn that they got it back immediately. Uh oh, that didn’t sound wonderful, I began to worry about that portion of my surgery. It was suggested that since he may have had to cut so deeply to remove my Adam’s apple, that he may have modified my voice box, and that I should check with an ENT.
The remaining weeks of recovery were uneventful, merely the gradual lessening of swollen features, and a gradual return of feeling to both my upper lip, mouth, chin and jaw. Today, over four months have passed since my surgery. All of my swelling has subsided. My upper lip is still a little numb, my lower lip, and inside my lower mouth, where the cut was made to work on my chin and jaw, is a little more numb than the upper, and the feeling has returned along my jaw line and chin. As the swelling has subsided, I have noticed that there is extra loose skin under my chin, which is from the tapering of my jaw, and the setting back of my chin. But, there has been NO improvement in my voice. As it is my goal to be as feminine as possible, and given the importance of the voice in attaining that goal, I am unhappy with this phase of my surgery. The rest of the post op recovery is proceeding according to plan. Dr. Ousterhout said that one in a thousand may lose their high notes, and dang it, I won that lottery, but all in all, the entire process has attained the results that I feel make me appear more feminine than when I started. I would recommend Dr. Ousterhout to any that are considering having facial feminization. He is the best when it comes to maxio-facial work. I am looking forward to the next phase of my facial feminization; all I need now is the means to pay for it. The next step for me will be nose feminizing, forehead work to remove the male brow bump, scalp advancement, and eyebrow, face, and neck lifts. Soon.
Thanks for listening!
