[ ARC forum 2 ]
Written by Paul M. at 17 Jan 2002 14:35:05: Partial Circumcision Account
Here's the account of my recent procedure on December
20th:I got to the hospital about 12.30 or so; I was pointed to
a waiting room, where I spent about 15 minutes before
being called in for an official admission. This
consisted of giving my VHI details and my religion
(presumably only for the morbid reason in cause of
something going wrong, I hope, and not for any
discriminatory purposes!).After this I was sent to a day ward; nothing fancy,
but a well kept room with 4 beds in it. Here I spent
the next hour, whiling away the time with a book
(I advise you to bring someting to keep your mind off
what is ahead.) About 1.30 or so, the anaesthetist called
in to ask me a few questions, such as my age and
what I had eaten recently. A nurse also called in,
leaving me a gown and telling me to have it on
by 2pm.Shortly after that time, two nurses called with a trolley,
and after that there was no turning back! They got me to
lie on it, then went off for a ride to the operating theatre.
Before I reached the theatre itself, there was an anteroom
where I had a needle placed in my arm for the anaesthetic.
I'm a coward when it comes to anything medical, and I'll
_never_ like needles, but apart from that awful sensation
when it goes in, it was fine afterwards and I couldn't even
feel it.Then I was wheeled into the theatre itself, and moved
onto the table there. The anaesthetist worked quickly;
as my consultant chatted to me, I felt a strange cold
sensation in my arm, which in the back of my head
I figured was the anasthetic being injected. However,
I didn't have long to wonder about it...I woke up later, not feeling too bad; in fact, as if
I'd had a refreshing sleep. Checking the clock,
it was 3.20, so I'd been out for about an hour. Of course,
there was the possibility I'd been awake previously -- I'd
been told that I would only be asleep a half-hour or so --
and just couldn't remember it.Soon afterwards, I was moved back up to the day ward. There
was no pain, just a numbness down there; I'd been told
I would receive some form of local, or pain block, while
knocked out. My girlfriend arrived soon afterwards; rather
than have a look at the damage myself, I got her to take
a look. She was surprised there was no bandage; rather, just
a thick gauze or cotton pad seems to have beem just
lain over the area, but this had fallen off. Apart from
some dried blood, it didn't look too bad, she said.My stay in hospital was longer than it should have been,
only because I wasn't given food and liquids early enough,
and I was told that I had to urinate at least once before I
left -- presumably to make sure everything was OK in that
department. I ended up sitting there knocking back
glass after glass of water. Urinating was the hardest
part; I ended up performing it sitting down, and the
first part of the flow was accompanied by a lot of
water. Eventually I was able to leave the hospital
at 8pm.There was really little or not pain for the first 2
days or so; the local seems to take care of that.
Only after that period was there only pain, usually during
two times; urination, and morning erections. This could
sting quite badly sometimes. There was also some blood;
not much, but enough to cause a stain.I also wished that the consultant had told me
exactly how much bruising and swelling would occur;
after day 2, my penis began turning a deep purple
from the tip back to the base over the course of
two days, and the swelling increased.
At first I was worried, thinking that it couldn't
possibly look this bad if everything was fine. But
reading a few online forums reassured me that, yes,
it would look like this before it got any better.It's now day 21 after the operations -- three weeks --
and someone taking a look might think that absolutely
nothing had happened. The colour and size are the
same as before, and, because it was only a partial, the
difference isn't too much. The foreskin is shorter, with
the tight tip removed, but that's it. Everything still
isn't normal though; where I presume the stitches were
put, inside the foreskin, is a firm ring; this prevents
me pulling the foreskin back, and also hurts if
I press against it, such as when urinating. So at
the moment, I'm even more phimotic than previously. I can
only hope this will eventually go away, and isn't
another problem to deal with! So I'm not yet sure
whether the operation was a success; I guess that
will the subject of another posting in a month or two.January 11, 200204:30:32 PM