In this episode, I interview our first guest about the experience of preparing for phalloplasty and metoidioplasty. While talking about the results from the survey about the process of preparing, the guest and I share our thoughts about what helped us and what can change in the future to better prepare folks planning to have surgery. My guest and I both had phallo is 2016, but about half of the PROGRESS participants had surgery in the last two years. Tune in to hear how my guests and my experience differ from and are similar to those who took the PROGRESS survey! Please note we use anatomic language to describe body parts in the episode and cover some aspects of preparation and recovery from surgery that may be challenging to think about.

Through an interview with one of my research supervisors, Dr. Ayden Scheim, this episode shares information about how to understand research as it relates to phalloplasty and metoidioplasty. We discuss the ways in which characteristics of research participants bias or confound research - don't worry we'll explain what that means! The overall goal is for you to walk away from this episode understanding that research results vary and do not always represent the experience of everyone who has phallo or meta. After listening, you'll have a better understanding of how to interpret research about these surgeries; specifically you'll gain more knowledge about how data can't predict what will happen for any given individual but how research results can be useful when thinking about or preparing for surgery.

This episode of the PROGRESS podcast will give you an overview of our research project, including who our team is, our research methods, what topics were included in our survey and how we plan to use the results. After that overview, I interview Logan Berrian, RN and Director of the San Francisco Transgender Institute for a phalloplasty/metoidioplasty 101 and FAQ. Join us to learn the basics of these surgeries and the answers to a few frequently asked questions. You can check out more about our research, see community-focused content and more on our website, progresscolab.net or follow us on social media @progresscolab.

Music by ispeakwaves from freesound.org
Tape recorder sound by Pogotron from freesound.org