Catheter came out and now I pee in a spray that goes everywhere. Is this normal after vaginoplasty or is something wrong?

Surgery was end of August, vaginoplasty, and I am home now with the catheter out since day seven. Everything else is roughly what the leaflets said. Sore, swollen, tired, dilating on schedule, fine.

What nobody said is that when I pee it does not come out in a stream. It comes out in a SPRAY. Sideways, sometimes in two directions at once, all over the seat and my legs and once, memorably, the floor. I sit, obviously, and I have started lining the seat with tissue like I am defusing something. It also feels weak, like it takes a while to start, and I am half convinced I am not emptying properly.

I did not ask about this at discharge because I did not know it was a thing to ask about. I have a follow-up call on Monday and I will raise it, but it is Saturday night and I am spiralling a bit. Is this just swelling? Does it settle? How long did it take for you? And at what point is a spray "the opening is swollen" versus "something has gone wrong in there"? I know that last one is a question for the team, I just want to know whether anyone else had this and did not end up back in theatre.

Oh, the spray. Yes. Mine was almost comically bad for the first month and I also did the tissue lining thing. It is so much better now at four months, nearly normal, and I did not need anything doing. Mention it Monday, but please stop spiralling about theatre tonight.

Last summer's vaginoplasty here, so a year and a bit out, and I can tell you this is the single most common "why did nobody warn me" in my circle, right up there with the constipation thread.

Mine sprayed for about six weeks, then slowly narrowed into something directional over the next couple of months. The sitting-and-leaning-slightly-forward posture helped more than anything, and a small hand mirror once, just once, to see where the opening actually was now, because it is not where your brain thinks it is. After that I stopped fighting it and it stopped being upsetting.

The weak, slow start also improved for me as the swelling went down. What I would say for Monday is to give them specifics rather than "it's weird": how long it takes to start, whether it burns, whether you feel empty afterwards, whether there is any leaking from anywhere it should not be. That list gets you a proper answer instead of a "that's normal, bye".

Kerry-Anne, I am so glad you asked this out loud, because I did not, and I spent about a month quietly convinced I had broken something. I am not a clinician and your team's answer on Monday is the one that counts, but I can tell you what happened to me and what I later understood about why.

The short version: a spraying, slow, sometimes two-directional stream in the first weeks is very common after vaginoplasty, and for most people it settles as the swelling does. The urethra has been shortened and its opening moved to a new position during the surgery, and in the early weeks that opening is sitting in a lot of swollen tissue, which changes the shape of it and the angle it points. Swelling is why it sprays, and swelling is why it takes a while to start. My own team told me to expect the stream to become more directional over the first 6 to 12 weeks and to keep improving for about 3 to 6 months, and that is what happened, though the first month felt like it would never change.

The things it depends on, from what I was told and have read since. How much swelling you have, which is worst in the first 2 to 3 weeks. Your posture, which is why Mara's leaning forward tip works for so many people. And, for a small minority, the final position or shape of the opening once everything has settled, which is where the one exception lives: if a stream is still spraying badly or pointing somewhere unhelpful well after the swelling has gone, some surgeons offer a small revision of the opening. That is a minor, planned procedure months down the line, not the emergency you were picturing on Saturday night, and most people never need it. The site's guide to vaginoplasty recovery week by week puts this alongside the rest of what the early weeks look like, and long-term care after vaginoplasty covers what your team keeps an eye on in the months after.

What I would ring about before Monday rather than waiting: not being able to pass urine at all, or only a dribble with a full uncomfortable bladder; burning with a fever or feeling generally unwell, which can mean an infection; heavy fresh bleeding; or urine appearing from anywhere other than the opening. None of those is what you are describing, but they are the lines I wish someone had drawn for me so I could stop guessing. Everything you have written sounds like a swollen opening doing exactly what swollen openings do. Be kind to yourself, and to the bathroom floor.

Jessica Tran said:

Swelling is why it sprays, and swelling is why it takes a while to start

Thank you, all three of you. I have read that line about four times. The list of "ring now" things is exactly what I needed, because none of them apply and that has done more for my Saturday-night brain than anything.

Mirror acquired. Will report back after the call.

Update. The nurse on the call was completely unbothered, said almost word for word what Jessica said, and asked the same specifics Mara listed, so I had my answers ready and it took two minutes. Swelling, expected, keep sitting, keep an eye on emptying, review at the six week appointment.

Eleven days on from the original post the spray is still there but it has gone from "two directions" to "one wrong direction", which I am counting as progress. The slow start is nearly gone. Leaving this here for the next person lining the seat with tissue at midnight.