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In the days leading up to my operation, my biggest concern was shaving my scrotum. I shave my chin as infrequently as possible; it's uncomfortable, and I don't like it. I could only imagine how much more difficult the uneven, amorphous, delicate-skinned pouch holding my family jewels would be. A friend who'd had the operation before encouraged me to snip around with scissors first, rather than diving right in with a razor. But, after cutting myself with the scissors (on my inner thigh--whew!) on just my third or fourth snip, I quickly went at the hair with just my Schick. It wasn't as bad as I thought, and I was all shaved within just twenty minutes or so.
Once I was smooth and hairless--which brought back troublesome memories of junior high (I was a late bloomer and my lack of pubes was quite traumatic for some years)--I then had only twelve hours to dread the actualy cutting. The next morning, I woke up and was immediately quite nervous. I did some dishes and read a little to try to keep my mind off the impending proceedure, before finally heading to meet my frind, St. Lynn, who drove me to the hospital. Once there, I was very nervous...thankfully, St. Lynn--like the dear friend she is--sat with me in the waiting room and helped me keep my mind off the coming ordeal for as long as she could.
The proceedure went very quickly, and I was only aware of a few minutes of it. A pre-op sedative, given to me intravenously by a wonderful nurse, had me doped up within a minute of its injection into my blood. I didn't even feel the local anestesia poked into each testicle (the part of the operation I'd feared most). Really, the only painful part of the operation was having my testicles roughly handled, (no worse than if you've ever accidently squeezed your nuts too hard when scratching them or drying them off...certainly not as painful as being racked). There was never the sharp pain I'd anxiously feared, just dull aches. And the post-op pain wasn't nearly as bad as what I experienced after my wisdom teeth were dug out of my jaw.
It is now three and a half days after the operation, and I've still got a dull ache from time to time. There's still some swelling, so I can't run and have to be careful when I sit or stand up. The worst part for me is that I can't run for a week or so; I'm a major health nut (pun intended) and run three to four times a week normally. After four days of a sedentary life, I feel like a fat couch potato! But, all in all, the experience wasn't NEARLY as bad as I'd feared. My nuts itch like crazy now, as the hair starts to grow back, but it's a small price to pay for the piece of mind.
UPDATE:Nearly four months after the operation, I have only one residual effect of my surgery. There are two small nodules in my scrotum, one on each side. They're about the size of a marble, and they're hard. This, I assume, is scar tissue. It does not hurt, but I must be careful when scatching my nuts, because it does hurt if I accidentally press the scar tissue into my testicles. On rare occasion, when crossing one leg over the other, I'll nudge one of the nodules into my testicle, and it's tender. But I'm completely back to my origional life style, and have been for some time. Indeed, I was back out and running a week after the surgery. So the piece of mind I now have is DEFINITELY worth any occasional discomfort; I may have to be slightly more careful with my package, but it's not like it wasn't tender and delicate to begin with.
Overall, the experience was FAR LESS traumatic than I was fearing it would be. I'd read reports about how excruciating the injections were, but--as you can read above--I didn't even feel them. The pre-op sedative was a miracle drug. I was in far less post-op pain than I expected as well.
UPDATE # 2It is now eight months after the operation, and I no longer feel ANY effects of the surgery...other than the piece of mind from knowing I'm no longer a carrier. If I palpate my testicles, I can still feel the scar tissue (and I got official word from a doctor that that's what it is and that it's normal), but it's not tender or intrusive. I should add that I had the "incisionless" proceedure. This involves a puncture into each side of the scrotum, instead of an incision. The tubes are pulled out, tied off, and stuffed back in. I know, when I heard the words "puncture" and "stuffed back in" in discussion of my own nuts, I thought it sounded horribly painful, but it wasn't. And no incisions means no stitches, and that means a quicker recovery. Some doctors still prefer the incision method, so experiences with that will be different from mine. I know someone who had it done that way, and I'll try to see if I can get him to jot down his experience, and I'll post it here.