You've been twinfool'd

Hey there! The last video we made was about 3 years ago. To be frank, a few things are the reason for this:

-high effort: it’s a lot of time energy and even money to make the videos we want to make, and currently we are all navigating lives, responsibilities and careers that just leave less free time and resources to do this.

-reception: though views and response to content should matter, it does. It felt like the stuff we put a lot of time into weren’t received well. It can become hard to find motivation and I think that’s what contributed a bit to burnout

There definitely are still videos I would love to make… keep waiting for that elusive “calm down” of my woke and life schedule but that hasn’t come up yet lol maybe soon 😭

Appreciate you checking in and super appreciate your continued care for the content we produce, it means a lot!

Hey there! That’s such wonderful news! It’s great to see more and more countries adopting this practice :)

Congrats!! You must be really excited and probably have a lot of questions :)

I think what I’d pass along is to keep track of the questions you have and bring that to your provider. If you’re like me, exciting or scary appointments make me distracted and sometimes I leave wishing I had asked a question or had written something down!

Another thing is to not expect changes right away! This may be a no brainer but ultimately you will likely be the last person to notice changes as they happen. Documenting things like your voice/hair etc can help you see changes a bit clearer! Like any medication, T effects folks differently and does so over time. Some folks get a beard super fast for example, and for others facial hair may be sparse and/or take years. It can be reassuring to consider how the cis boys you may have been friends with during puberty expected changes at different rates and to varying degrees— hormone therapy is kinda like a second puberty!

Wish you the best :)

Hello!

In terms of pain, I wouldn’t describe most of what I experienced as pain. More discomfort and ache. There is some pain for sure, but the surgical area is pretty numb so the “pain” was from stuff like walking (as my donor leg wouldn’t take much) and peeing (due to the catheter). I hope that clarifies! I’m not underplaying the discomfort… I was not easy to deal with but a different sensation than pain imo.

I couldn’t walk for about 5 weeks. As in I used a Walker and took about 10 minutes to shuffle down a hallway. Early days if I stood or walked too long I’d experience a lot of pain but this was better by about 3 weeks. The loss of mobility was probably worst for me as I’m a very active person and this limitation really impacted my mental health.

As an example, I would go to a mall in Austin to just get out of the aftercare center I was at and I would use my Walker to get into the mall and need to quickly take a rest at the Starbucks that was just inside the mall. After a rest I would visit a store or two nearby but I needed to be in sight of a bench or chairs to safely go any distance because my body couldn’t bear more than short stints. My baseline is walking several miles for fun with workouts 2 times a day so the reduction in mobility and stamina was really sharp for me.

I was back to work in 6 weeks but I work a desk job. I will say that once I started going to physio my mobility came back pretty quick.

I will also say that, though the first bit of recovery was hard and I continuously asked myself “why did I do this, this is terrible, will life ever be the same” I did get through it. Another thing is that I didn’t have complications, so didn’t need any long term catheterization or additional corrective surgery outside of optional ones which greatly impacted my experience of recovery.

Hello!

I think, to start, it’s important to consider how you will be finding your surgery. If you are going through insurance (I am assuming you are American?) your insurance likely has surgeons who are in network and available to you. That would give you a set number of choices from the start. If you are finding your own surgery, there wouldn’t be that restriction.

Considering distance is important. Are you able/wanting to travel for surgery? That question May whittle down your list considerably.

Many surgeons have outcomes photos on their websites. This can be helpful, same with Facebook or Instagram networks of folks who may be sharing their results online from those surgeons. Good to note that, though surgeons have variability in technique there is far more variability in human bodies so your results are a combination of your surgeon as well as your body/healing/genetics (sure as predisposition to scarring) etc.

Reading reviews of surgeons online can be helpful, but again note that one person can have a terrible experience with a surgeon that another patient absolutely loves.

When you are ready to book consults with surgeons know that the first surgeon you see is not the surgeon you have to go with. You can consult with more than one surgeon (though there will be additional waiting time with that as well as possibly cost). You can bring a list of questions you have for your surgeon to consult to make sure that you get the info you need from that appointment.

I hope this helps! I hope they you’re faring okay— I know that things in Florida in terms of gender-affirming care are not good right now not there are still people fighting in that state to make things better. You may be aware but this resource may be of help if you are looking for supports: https://www.transgendermap.com/resources/usa/florida/

Hey there,

I’ve never been suicidal around interactions with my original lower parts, so I can’t identify with that experience of dysphoria. I thought that was helpful to note from the start. I was, however, extremely uncomfortable and prior to my hysto a genital screening was recommended. I tried but could not go through the exam/screening because it was too upsetting and uncomfortable. My surgeon made the call that, because I was so low risk (no penetrative sex) the screening could be foregone.

Prior to phalloplasty there was no genital exam. There was an exam of my donor site (thigh) but that was it. Depending on the person and their intended surgery an exam may be required— however I’d suggest telling your surgeon what you do and do not want in terms of exam and working with them to create a care plan… there may be some things that can be done in a different way, for example.

For the actual surgery I was unconscious… obviously my genitals were interacted with surgically during this time but that didn’t bother me because I knew things were being changed/“taken apart” in that process. When I woke up I had a penis and actually felt really comfortable with the many post op exams needed after surgery.

The surgery is a lot to handle. I feel this is important to know. But related to what you are talking about, from my experience, I didn’t need to deal with my birth genitals directly for the vast majority of my surgical journey. This is only my own experience and again is predicated on my anatomy, clinical needs etc.