Finally got my button surge appointment in a few months :3

I got some questions for all of this:

I’ve been tasked by my surgeon to buy a dialator set, a vaginal douche (I think that’s it translated), water based lube and a good donut shaped pillow.

The lube and pillow I can see myself finding locally but where the hell so I get dialators and a douche from… Ideally I would want to avoid amazon. Do you have any EU based recommendations? Do pharmacies maybe even stock them???

Also from what I know, walking will suck. Is there anything to help? Like crutches?

I probably won’t respond but still thank you for all the advice you have :3

  • als@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

    The dilators my hospital provided me are Soul Source brand but I believe that they’re an American county. I imagine pharmacies, at least online ones, may stock vagnial douches as they are sometimes used by cis women too.

    Walking will be impossible for a week and difficult for weeks after. You shouldn’t need any specialised walking aid once you’re discharged, but someone to support you will go a long way.

    You will want to spend most of your time horizontal immediately after hospital, so a reclining sofa or entertainment setup in bed could be helpful.

  • Jorunn (she/her)@lemmy.blahaj.zoneM
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    2 months ago

    I’m having surgery in less than a week! I think I’m being provided dilators but not sure about what else I will receive.

    I’ve done and bought the following in preperation

    • Donut pillow
    • I’m gonna move my bed so it’s easy to get in and out without bending
    • non-slip mat and stuff so I can comfortably use my laptop in bed since I’ll be stuck there a lot
    • Sandals that I can easily put on without bending over
    • Sanitary pads to soak any blood or liquids
    • Large black underwear (black so any blood or whatever is harder to see, large so it doesn’t rub against me and can fit the sanitary pads and whatever else I might be wearing)
    • Mattress protectors
    • High fibre food to combat constipation

    Different surgery techniques have different recovery times etc so I dunno how applicable this will all be for you.

    I’ve been using this guide/diary to help me out: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Joped/Suporn2015.pdf

    Good luck with the surgery <3

  • theresa (she/her)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

    The hospital I was at provided Vagiwell dilators. They gave me the set with sizes 1-5 but I only ever used 3-5. I think you can buy them in a pharmacy. And a douche as well, probably. I’d say go ask and even if they don’t have them they can point you in the right direction.

  • Jul@piefed.blahaj.zone
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    11 days ago

    I got this peri bottle with douche attachment. I have a bidet so after returning home after traveling for the surgery I don’t use the spritzing attachment, but I do still use the douching attachment a year later and I’m going for revision surgery in a couple of weeks, so I’ll use the spritzing attachment again. I mix a tablespoon of plain white vinegar with water for douching and just plain water for spritzing, but right after surgery they had me use a tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide for both. Your surgeon can tell you what mixture they recommend.

    https://a.co/d/00J4ANpw

    The dilators were provided by my surgeon and included in the surgery cost, but they’re the ones most commonly used from Soul Source. You’ll want the ones marketed for GRS not flexible silicone ones, they need to be rigid. This is the set I have, though it’s an older set that’s polyurethane, now they make them out of a rigid silicone blend and before that they were ceramic.

    https://www.soulsource.com/products/soul-source-grs-pelvic-trainers-intermediate-set

    • Squished Fly (she/they)@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
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      9 days ago

      I went for vagiwell brand dialators and sme random douche that the shop had also stocked. Absolutely refused to buy those things from amazon.

      I couldn’t really find anything else from a European store other than vagiwell and some random brand I’ve never heard of. Soul source also really wouldn’t have been an option because I don’t wanna pay an arm and a leg just for shipping and import taxes.

      The only thing my surgeon provided was a list of stuff I should get . _. Maybe i’ll be able to get the cost back from my insurance but at least the surgery is free.

      Is there anything bad about them being flexible? The ones I got also say that they can be used for aftercare of grs.

      • Jul@piefed.blahaj.zone
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        9 days ago

        Flexible will be more difficult to insert when you’re tight. And they can’t push on the sides deeper inside to force things to spread open in the back when the muscles are tight. I have issues with relaxing the muscles, so before using a flexible dildo for sex with my cis girlfriend, I often use the rigid dilator to get things nice and opened up if it’s been a few hours since I dialated. Otherwise the flexible ones just get stuck and can’t push past the muscle blockages. Not sure if a penis would have the same issues, I don’t date men very often and haven’t dated anyone with a penis at all since I had my surgery.

        But probably depends on what issues you have. I’ve been working with a pelvic floor physical therapist off and on for a while, but it’s hard to find any medical professionals who have good knowledge of neovaginas rather than cis ones even in the major US city I live in. So many provider shortages here, and especially in those areas of narrow specialty. So, it’s slow going.