[ ARC forum 2 ]
Written by Stef at 07 Jul 2005 17:04:06: The first 2 weeks post-op.
I'd had the op, & was told to keep the bandages on until day 3. It all felt very comfortable & pain free during those first 3 days, apart from a few nocturnal erections. A 1p sized bruise had appeared on the upperside of the shaft on Day 2, probably caused by the clamps applied during the op.
In the evening of Day 3 , the bandages came off surprisingly easy, without sticking to the wound, or any need for soaking. It looked a bit of a mess with scabbing, redness & swelling, but that was as I expected, & there were no problems. Incidentally, one doctor said to me that circs always look very bad after they have been done, but always heal very well. That may not be entirely 100% true, but is surely not far from it, & is a good comment to remember if you are having it, or have recently had it done.
After I had removed the bandages, & the wound was now open, I took to wrapping loosely round & taping on a woman's panty liner to protect the area. These were the small type which women wear between their periods, rather than the larger & thicker type they use during the periods. They worked really well, they were just the right size, prevented the stitches or scabs from catching, & soaked up any blood or seeping fluid without sticking to the wound. I wore these round it until day 9, day & night, although I had hardly any bleeding, & then nothing more than a few spots, never any drops or flowing blood. I made sure they were never tight, so that air would get to it to help the healing. Also during that time I wore track-suit bottoms & no underpants. I did also try wearing a cricketer's protection box around it, but found that a little too tight.
For the first few days after removing the bandages, I bathed in salt water, hoping the salt would aid the healing process, then changed to daily showers. I think the showers were best, and probably would have been better taken every 2-3 days, to allow the wound to dry out more, although it can become a bit smelly if not cleaned daily. In the shower, I kept the pressure of the water flow minimal, & the heat of the water minimal also. The swelling went down quite quickly, by Day 5, with just a ridge along the upper stitch line remaining. I like to think that the salt baths helped that swelling go down quickly.
Late in Day 6, I began to get some pain along the stitch line, which had got a little worse by the time I went to bed at 11pm. During the early hours of Day 7, this pain became quite extreme. At 3am I took a full dose of painkillers which knocked me out rather than dulled the pain, but I still felt it when I was awoken by erections. The pain remained until about 7.30am, when it suddenly & completely disappeared, with just a few twinges over the next few hours. I don't know the cause of this severe pain, but as it was always 'tingly', possibly it was to do with nerve ends re-attaching? This was the only time that I needed any painkillers throughout the whole healing process.
From Day 7 onwards, the whole wound seemed to settle down somewhat, although on Day 9 I visited my GP, as I had seen deep yellow fluid coming from the wound the previous evening. This may have been lymph fluid, as I understand it can be yellowish as well as clear. But I got a course of antibiotics just in case it was an infection. I didn't see anymore yellowy fluid during the course of taking the antibiotics. The Doctor told me that around a week after an op is the typical time that an infection would be most likely to occur.
On Day 10 I tried masturbating for the first time. It wasn't entirely successful, & was a little painful. However on Day 14 I masturbated twice. They were certainly successful! I'm quite sure that the sensations were nicer than they were pre-op.
From then on, or perhaps from Day 9 really, I had no problems apart from with the stitches. I'll post about them soon....