So you feel you are ready to get Male-to-Female Transsexual Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS), and are considering Dr. Suporn for your surgeon. This assumes you have received an approval letter first from a Gender Therapist or a Gender Clinic Board for your hormones and have been on them for at least a year. Also this assumes you have adapted well and are living and working full time in your new gender role as a woman. Assuming this is all true, be sure that you have a copy of that letter that was written for the endocrinologist approving your hormones (HRT Approval Letter) as Dr. Suporn will want to see that letter if available.

If you have not yet looked at his website and want to learn more first then the internet website address of Dr. Suporn's Clinic is : http://www.supornclinic.com . There you will find out a lot about his surgical methods and many other details not included in this document.

Now that the above items have been met you are ready to approach (or have approached) the Gender Therapist or the Gender Clinic Board about a letter for SRS. If you have met the International Standards of Care and have gotten your Gender Therapist or Gender Clinic Board to agree to write you a letter or letters of approval for SRS be aware that Dr. Suporn requires you to carry an original copy with you to the meeting you have with him on the day before SRS when first meeting him. So the Gender Therapist or Gender Clinic Board needs to know this when they write the letter that they can not just send it to him directly. If they do insist on sending one copy directly insist they provide you a copy as well. This is acceptable. But before they send that letter of approval you might wish to contact Dr. Suporn's Office or Clinic first. The email contact for this is Sophie from Dr. Suporns staff. She handles general inquiries and patient pre-op admin issues her Email is : admin@supornclinic.com . When you indicate that you are contacting her about possible SRS with Dr. Suporn, she will send you back a rather long reply Email with a patient medical history file for you to fill in. This is a necessity to fill in accurately, and must be sent back filled out entirely in order to proceed. You can send a scanned copy of the hrt approval letter attached to the email which you have filled in your medical history file on if you have a scanned copy. When you have this sent in to Sophie, then you are ready to work on getting an extra copy of the SRS letter sent in. A scanned copy is acceptable. But if you do send it as a scan save it to a JPG or GIF format which they can read or print out for your patient file at the clinic. If the Gender Therapist or the Gender Clinic want to do a mailing of a copy of the SRS approval letter via International Postal Service delivery (snail mail) the mailing address to send it to is :

The Dr. Suporn Clinic
938 Sukhumvit Road
Bangplasoi, Muang District
Chonburi, 20000 Thailand

If the Gender Clinic or Gender Therapist snail mails it via International Postal Service .. be aware it may take 3 to 4 weeks to arrive at Dr Suporns Clinic in Thailand so scanning a copy and sending that copy via email attach to Sophie will speed things up immensely for you.

Be aware also that Email replies may take up to 3 days from Sophie due to sheer volume of incoming mail there at the clinic. Also for example .. if your email is sent on a Friday from the USA it wont be read till Sunday as Sunday is Monday in Thailand. They are about 12 hours ahead of the USA over in Thailand. So over the weekend when they are closed no mail is read or replied to till Monday morning their time. So if your email is received there in her incoming mail on a Monday AM you might expect a reply by late Wednesday night or Thursday night. Thailand's time zone is GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) +7hours, and does not use Daylight Saving. This puts the Clinic 6-7 hours ahead of Europe, 12-17 hours ahead of the USA, and 5 hours behind New Zealand.

Alternatively there is a Fax number to reach the Dr. Suporn Clinic. This Fax transfer number is as follows :
+66 38 780569 (replace the "+" with the International Dialing Code appropriate to your country)

As of the writing of this document in November of 2007 The price for SRS with Dr. Suporn is 495,000 Thai Baht. Using the Currency Converter Program Online one can get conversion rates at the Current Rates for the day to get cost in your own countries currency.

I should mention here that Dr. Suporn has a weight limit of 205 Pounds max weight for SRS. So if you weigh more than this you will want to get the weight down. On this matter there is one detail of good news .. on average you have about 6 months of wait from scheduling for SRS to the day you have to be that weight in his office. So it averages that you have time to lose slowly as long as you do in fact get the weight down.

Once you have submitted your medical information and your scans or a duplicate of letters to the clinic and they have acknowledged receipt, you then can ask Sophie about scheduling SRS if the letters sent in are accepted by Dr. Suporn.

When ready to schedule through Sophie for your SRS you should consider the following guidelines .. you will be staying in the hospital for a week (7 days). After that you will need to stay for a minimum of three weeks to four weeks at the hotel you choose to stay at. This is to ensure you have fully recovered from your surgery before returning home. You will be able to after that time feel pretty confident that any risk of complication arising has been minimized. Dr. Suporn's record of freedom from post-operative complications in his patients is second-to-none as a result of the special care and attention that he and his staff provide even while you are at the motel. I'll cover motel stays more in a later segment below.

If you are a person who smokes you MUST quit smoking before going to Dr. Suporn for SRS. A person who smokes heals slower. Having your body free of nicotine addiction is a requirement of the Clinic for SRS. You might want to consider taking a multivitamin and espescially optimizing Vitamin C intake, or eating a lot of citrus fruit to encourage ideal tissue healing. Speak with your endocrinologist or the doctor who prescribes your hormones about 3 weeks to a month before your SRS to inform him or her that you are about to undergo your SRS surgery, and that you are about to cease taking your medications, such as Estrogen and or Progesterone, and any Anti-Androgens. If you take Aspirin or Motrin you need to cease these as well, because Asprin based products are blood thinners. You need to discuss with the endocrinologist your post-surgical hormone regimen. A after return home physical is recommended for post-surgical checkup by your doctor as well. So scheduling this as well is recommended. Also if you are HIV positive Dr. Suporn will not accept you as a patient so you might want to check that detail before even getting around to submitting your deposit or your full cost for SRS to the clinic. Be aware that Dr. Suporn will do an HIV/AIDS test prior to admitting a patient in the hospital. If the rapid test finds a positive it will cause your scheduled SRS to be cancelled and will result in a partial loss of your submitted SRS cost as the hospital operating theatre was already scheduled for you for the day of SRS and the fee cant be refunded that late in the course of events.

(I wish to mention here that a good portion of the information below is taken from Sophie's words in Emails to me about being a patient with the Clinic myself.) Dr. Suporn wishes his SRS patients to arrive 2 calendar days before their admission date to hospital. This allows you time to rest and relax after your plane trip to Thailand. Also you will have some essential medical tests, and a pre-operative consultation with Dr. Suporn. during those two days. On the night before you are scheduled for SRS you will be admitted to the hospital. The following day you will have SRS and then spend 7 more nights in the hospital totaling 8 nights. There is a special Deluxe Suite in the hospital used for Dr. Suporn's patients. I'll cover more about After SRS in the section refering to in the hotel later on. You need to be aware that if you wish to schedule SRS on a Monday this will mean you need to arrive in Thailand on Thursday by Thailand time as you will need to meet for a pre-Operative consult with Dr. Suporn on Friday afternoon, since there is no one at the clinic on the weekends. However in this situation you will be admitted to the hospital on Sunday evening. Sophie sent me a day schedule to help out with figuring how your schedule would go. I am including it here below :

An ideal schedule, based on Thailand time, would be:
Day (-3) Arrival, Collection from Airport, Hotel Check In.
Day (-2) Rest, Visit Clinic, Clinic Administration, Pre-op Consultation with Dr Suporn
Day (-1) Hospital Patient Admin, medical tests, X-Rays, meet Anesthesiologist, Check In.
Day (0) SRS Operation.
Day (+7) Discharged from hospital to Hotel.
Days (8)-(23) Recovery, Examination, Rest.
Day (24)-(30**) Departure as desired.
Note **Day (28) onwards will require a visa in advance.

Sophie has told me that the Dr. Suporn clinic makes it clear to any prospective patient that:

1. They can not accept a reservation for a date under any circumstances until the patient profile has been fully completed and returned to enable the Clinic to be sure of your eligibility to undergo surgery with Dr Suporn.

2. Do not reserve a date for an operation unless you are sure you will be able to pay your deposit within 30 calendar days of requesting that date.

3. If you are requesting a scheduling date for SRS, ensure that you will be able to meet
all the requirements of the SRS protocol. If you are unsure, please contact Sophie at the clinic to clarify what might need to be done.

4. If you wish to undergo an operation in the very near future, because only few dates
are available please be aware that other patients will also be requesting those dates.
They will only allocate a given date on a "first pay first reserved" basis.

Knowing all the above if you've met the requirements then ask Sophie about days that are available for scheduling a SRS operation for you. After she sends you a list of days available (normally at least 6 months away from present date) you can select a date andor (optional dates) from her list of open days. Then send Sophie a Email to tell her your selections. As soon as she receives that email, if any of the dates you chose is available, she will provisionally reserve it for you and let you know by a reply Email that she has done so. Once she has scheduled a date for your operation, the clinic will hold it provisionally for you for a period of 30 days to allow for your payment of the deposit. During that period it will not be offered to any other patient. If the clinic has not received notification that you have sent the deposit within the 30 days of scheduling the operation, the date you have chosen will freely be made available to other patients without further notification. However, the deposit payment period can be extended beyond 30 days by discussion between Clinic and patient. Payment must be received to confirm a surgery no later than 60 days before the date of the operation. All dates that are not scheduled to any patient are freely available on a “first pay first reserved” basis within 60 days of the SRS date. Once your deposit has been paid, no other patient can choose the date reserved for you unless you elect to cancel or postpone your surgery. You may of course pay them more than the deposit if you wish, and may choose to pay in full. This will obviously be of some benefit to some patients in that only one set of bank charges will therefore be payable. Patients who schedule late (close to their chosen date) might be wise to pay in full to avoid additional bank charges in close succession. Final Payment: Final payment covering the price of all surgery must be received by the Clinic no later than 30 days before the date of surgery. In the event that any patient does not meet this criterion, they reserve the right to reschedule the otherwise reserved surgery day to another patient to cover the eventuality that the Clinic has to pay for operating theatre cancellation costs. No operation will proceed unless the full price of the operation has been paid in full. On request, an alternative schedule for payments or payment terms may be made by prior agreement by the Clinic.

Cancellation and or Rescheduling

Rescheduling by Clinic : After a date has been agreed, the Clinic reserves the right to make minor adjustments to the final surgery date to meet local circumstances. No such changes made will in any way affect any flight reservations already made by the patient.
Rescheduling by Patient : Late cancellations or reschedules adversely affect the Clinic, the hospital, and other patients awaiting surgery. Patients wishing to cancel or reschedule surgery after a schedule has been agreed upon may be asked to forfeit some or all of their payments made to cover the Clinic's costs of doing so, even when they intend to commit to surgery at a later date. The clinic will refund any money paid only on the following basis, relative to the agreed surgery date: Cancellation :

· Cancellation with more than 60 days notice: Full refund of all money paid.
· Cancellation with between 59 days and 30 days notice: Patient forfeits 70% of deposit. Balance of payments made refunded to patient.
· Cancellation with between 29 days and 7 days notice: Patient forfeits deposit. Balance of payments made refunded to patient.
· Cancellation with less than 7 days notice: Patient forfeits 50% of price of operation.

Reschedule :

· Rescheduling with greater than 60 days notice. No effect; all payments made are transferred to preferred reschedule date.
· Reschedule with between 60 and 30 days notice: 30% of deposit retained by Clinic. Balance of payments made are transferred to preferred reschedule date.
· Reschedule with between 29 and 7 days notice: 50% of deposit retained by Clinic. Balance of payments made are transferred to preferred reschedule date.
· Reschedule with less than 7 days notice: Deposit retained by Clinic. Balance of payments made are transferred to preferred reschedule date.

In the event that a patient has been found on examination that she is suffering from an undisclosed medical or psychological complaint that gives rise to the need for cancellation, and about which she could reasonably have been aware, the patient will be deemed to have cancelled the surgery on her own volition.

In personal circumstances of a proven extremely urgent nature, the Clinic may give individual consideration to applying a different rate. Late illness prior to the operation accompanied by a doctor’s certificate of illness would not attract any late-cancellation or reschedule penalty.

Please do not consider sending any money until both you and the Clinic Staff have agreed upon a date for your SRS operation.

When you have set a date with Sophie via Email for SRS with Dr. Suporn then you are ready for payment and I urge that you read all of the following very carefully before sending any money to the clinic. Sophie makes it clear why to each patient but this is what she will tell you at that time :

Payment Method

The Clinic normally only accepts payment by inter-bank transfer of funds. They do not accept international cashier's cheques (bank drafts) or credit cards, nor do they operate a credit payment scheme. They can accept cash payment in Chonburi, but patients considering this are advised to familiarize themselves with the regulations concerning transfer of cash amounts into and out of another country. Inter-bank transfer is the safest and most reliable method (for both parties) to transfer funds overseas to other countries.

Currency

VERY IMPORTANT! Please read this paragraph very carefully because it can cost you a lot of money if you ignore this advice. If you are able to pay with a generally recognized strong currency (for example, US dollars, Pounds Sterling, Euros, Canadian Dollars, Australian dollars etc) the Clinic strongly advises that generally the most beneficial way for you to transfer funds is by insisting your bank sends that currency to Thailand (NOT Thai Baht). Please ask your bank to do that because it will ensure the lowest bank costs involved, and give you a much more favourable exchange rate. If you send Thai Baht from your own bank, it could cost you a lot more money than necessary. So please be very careful to check that the right currency will be sent. Sophie very strongly recommends you read this page for more on this. There you will find the absolute exchange rate that their bank in Thailand will give you at any given time. Check the rates for your own preferred currency under the column marked “Bank Buying Rates.... TT”. To calculate an approximate price in your local currency, divide the quoted price of your operation in Baht by the appropriate rate given.

Their bank will charge approximately 500 Baht (depending on the amount sent) to exchange your own currency. To allow for currency fluctuations and bank charges, and ensure the full balance is paid, they suggest you plan to make a small overpayment on your full invoiced price. They will adjust any overpayments received after currency conversion in the form of a cash refund when you arrive in Thailand. That can be useful afterward when you are in the hotel or if you go to any of their local shops.

Bank Details

Below are the bank details to send the deposit to schedule surgery (it is confirmed when they additionally receive the complete flight itinerary by e-mail, fax, or mail/post). The information given here is sufficient to transfer money from any bank in the world to their account. If your bank asks for further information, you can be almost sure that the answer to their question is contained within the following guidelines.

To transfer funds from your bank to their bank in Thailand by interbank transfer you will need these Bank Account details.
Please make payment to the following bank account:
SWIFT or BIC code : BKKBTHBK
Beneficiary Account Name: Pakatorn Watanyusakul
Beneficiary Account Number: 385- 4- 40664- 6
Bank branch number: 385

Beneficiary’s Bank name and address:
Bangkok Bank Bangplasoi Branch
Sukhumvit Road
Muang District
Chonburi
20000
THAILAND

Bank branch tel: +66 38 285839 and 285837

Intermediate Bank (Only USA citizens)
Some banks in the USA require the transaction to go through an intermediate bank or Automated Clearing House before being sent to Thailand. If your bank asks for this, in the USA the intermediate bank to use is as follows:

BANGKOK BANK PUBLIC CO., LTD
29 Broadway Fl 20
New York, NY 10006

ABA Routing Number 026008691
Tel: (212) 422-8200

For further Information only, the Bangkok Bank’s Registered Head Office is:

Bangkok Bank Public Company Ltd Head Office. Thailand
333 Silom Road
Bangkok
10500
Thailand
Bank tel: +66 2 0 2234 3333
Telex:.82638 BK BANK TH
...........82670 BK BANK TH

Notes:
1. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you put on the transfer remarks the name of the patient for whom the funds are being transferred. Often the Clinic finds funds are transferred from an account that has no reference to the patient's name on behalf of a patient, and it is very difficult sometimes to relate the payment made with the patient concerned. They only need, for example: "Patient: Joan de Vries", but please INSIST with the bank to attach your name with the bank wire transfer.

Nationwide Building Society (UK) For ONLY those patients sending funds by Nationwide Building Society in the U.K.: you must inform the Clinic by e-mail, fax, or mail/post when you send the money. Nationwide Building Society transfers rarely come with the name of the sender of funds.

2. If the name on the account is different from the name you normally use when contacting the Clinic, it is essential that you advise the Clinic in advance what name will be on the sending account, to help them to link the payment to you.

3. Please note the account name is “Pakatorn Watanyusakul”. Please DO NOT send the funds to “The Suporn Clinic” or any similar name, or the transfer will be rejected, but you will incur bank charges for the incorrect transaction. Please see Frequently Asked Question #7 and #8 further below in the section labeled "SOME FAQs ON BANK WIRES" for an explanation.

Bank Charges: Bank service charges will be levied by the sender bank, intermediary bank(s), and the recipient bank before the funds are deposited to The Clinics account in Thailand. They have no control over these charges, but please be aware that as a result, the amount deposited is usually something less than the amount sent. They will advise you of the amount which has been deposited into their account in Thailand. Please note that a patient is responsible for absorbing the cost of all bank charges incurred throughout all transactions.

Additional Information:

(1) Bank account holder name and address:
Pakatorn Watanyusakul,
938 Sukhumvit Road,
Bangplasoi,
Muang District,
Chonburi
20000
Thailand

Please:
(2) State the name of the sender bank (though this will normally be done automatically).
(3) E-mail the clinic soon as the funds are sent so that they can watch for the arrival in the bank.
(4) Ask your bank for a copy of the bank transfer document so that you can send a copy of it to the Clinic to help them trace the whereabouts in the unlikely event of it being mis-routed. This has never yet been necessary.
(5) Please allow 10 calendar days from the date of sending for the funds to be cleared (received), though it will normally take much less than this.

Confirmation of Receipt: Sophie will write and advise you when the funds are received into their account, but please allow 10 days after you have sent the money before “chasing” her via Email for an acknowledgement of receipt. Please see Frequently Asked Question #4 below for more about this.

SOME FAQs ON BANK WIRES

There is sufficient information in these bank payment guidelines to enable anyone to send the Clinic a payment. There is no need for your bank to ask for any additional information from the Clinic. This is a tried and tested system which has never failed with over 1500 patients. However, the Clinic does understand that you might have some further concerns:

Q1: Where can I do inter-bank transfers?
A1: From your own bank where you have your bank account(s). Most individuals with on-line banking facilities will not be able to do international bank transfers themselves because of “money laundering” regulations, though in a few countries (Germany and Switzerland, for example), on line transfers are still permitted.

Q2: Are Inter-bank transfers safe? Can my funds ever be lost?
A2: It is impossible for funds to be lost due to their electronic traces. Inter-bank transfers are the safest method to transfer funds across countries. Your bank underwrites the value of the transaction until such time as it is acknowledged by the receiving bank (The Clinics Account) that it has been correctly delivered.

Q3: My bank says that inter-bank transfers are instantaneous. Why does it take 4 to 10 days for you to receive the funds?
A3: The bank sending the money has no knowledge of the intermediary banks which handle the funds before they are finally received by the destination bank. There is also sometimes a 'validation date' attached to bank transfer which prevents access to the funds until the event of this date. In practical terms, inter-bank transfers are not instantaneous. Even the quickest transfers take at least a few days.

Q4: I sent the funds already, but there has been no acknowledgement that the funds were received.
A4: If it has been less than 10 days, the funds may not have cleared yet. In addition to that, money is delivered to the Clinics bank account, not their email box. They have a system whereby their bank automatically notifies them by email that a payment has arrived, but even after that has been sent and received sending out an acknowledgement to you involves creating and writing an email to you. The whole chain of events of course takes some time. Please do not worry at all during this process; everything will happen as you expect once you have sent the money.

Q5: It has been over 10 days, and still no acknowledgement that the funds were received.
A5: This is unusual. The most common reason might be that they may have already received the funds, but they did not know that they came from you. This is why it is so important that you send the name you are using as a patient in the “Additional Information” field of the transfer document - because many patients have accounts held in a different name from that the Clinic will normally recognise. Similarly, if you have sent the bank wire in someone else's name (e.g. spouse, family member, or friend) - you must tell the Clinic the name of this person otherwise they will not know who that the bank wire came from.
If the funds were sent by Nationwide Building Society in U.K. or Community Bank in U.S.A., this may have occurred because bank wires from these banks usually do not come with your name attached to them. In these cases, please send either a faxed or e-mailed scanned document of your inter-bank transfer document to the Clinic to help them to verify your payment.

Q6: My bank said that I would pay all service charges. Why were there additional deductions when you received the funds?
A6: If you send non-Thai currency to the Clinic their bank will make a small charge for exchanging it into Baht. However they normally recommend you send non-Thai currency because it will attract a better exchange rate for you if changed into Baht by their Thai bank than it will if your non-Thai bank does the currency exchange for you. The total deductions made by their bank are small and average under 20 United States Dollars, which is normally far less than you will “lose” by allowing your own bank to exchange the money into Baht for you.

Q7: Why is the account beneficiary apparently a private bank account name, and not “The Suporn Clinic”?
A7: They do not have a bank account called “The Suporn Clinic” (or similar). Dr Suporn’s Clinic is a private Clinic and - unlike in many Western Countries, is not registered as a commercial limited company (and does not need to be). Dr Suporn’s full name is Dr. Suporn Watanyusakul. (see their Website) His family name is “Watanyusakul”. The beneficiary account is in the name of one of his immediate family.

Q8: How do I know that I am not sending money to a “scam” organization?
A8. The Suporn Clinic is an internationally renowned Clinic and arguably the most famous in the world for SRS operations. Their web site is quite famous, and is patently open and legitimate. They are known by thousands of patients and surgeons world-wide. In realistic terms, it would be impossible to operate a “scam” quite as openly as they conduct their business without the scam being exposed by its very first victim. With the power of the internet, a scam would be “instantly” reported around the world within days. It is easy to find hundreds of patients (who include bankers, accountants and lawyers) who have been through exactly the same procedure as you are going through, all of whom can easily verify their legitimacy. By the time Sophie sends you these FAQ's and Answers, you will have already written to the Clinic several times. It will be very clear by then from the responses you will have had to the questions you have asked over a significant period of time that you are dealing with a legitimate and professional organisation.

Q9: My bank has asked for your bank account’s IBAN Code. What is your IBAN Code?
A9.. Almost certainly your own bank account is in Europe if it is asking this question. The Clinics bank does not have an IBAN number, which despite its name (International Bank Account Number) is not yet an internationally recognized system, and in any event is only currently applicable within Europe. For further official information on IBAN: "The IBAN was developed to help improve the payments system within the European Union. Customers - especially individuals and Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) - are frequently confused by differing national standards for bank account numbers. While the system is capable of being used for routing purposes, it cannot at present be used to do so since the IBAN has not been widely adopted outside of Europe. The ECBS expects that the process of adoption may take 5 to 10 years. Until then, it is necessary to continue to use the current ISO 9362 Bank Identifier Code or BIC system in conjunction with the IBAN in order to ensure proper routing."

Patient pre-operative care : Patients who have committed (by paying a deposit) to undertake surgery, should use the following address prior to arriving in Thailand for surgery with the Clinic : preopcare@supornclinic.com

Ok .. now that the major part of the information from Sophie at the Suporn Clinic has been listed we go on to discuss airplane flights to Thailand. The fact that Dr. Suporn is in Thailand means that unless you live in that area of the world you will most definitely need an airplane to get there. Here again Sophie has given guidance on this. Plan your journey from your own location, to Bangkok airport. They will collect you from either Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport or Bangkok Don Muang airport (as appropriate to your flight), and bring you to Chonburi. The journey time from Bangkok airport is about one hour. Alternatively if you wish, you can travel earlier to enjoy some sight seeing prior to your operation, and they will collect you from your hotel in Bangkok.

You may wish to choose the "Mercure Hotel" in Chonburi for your pre and post operative stay in Chonburi. I have contacted the Mercure Hotel General Manager a Mr. Arnaud Rouchon in regard to information on a stay with their establishment in conjunction with a stay in the hospital for Sex Reassignment Surgery. He tells me there are special rates for patients of Dr. Suporn. I will quote here some of the details his Very Informative Email to me revealed. First their contact information including Mr. Arnaud Rouchon's contact Email.
Mercure Hotel Chonburi
934 Sukhumvit Road,
Bangplasio, Muang,
Chonburi 200000, THAILAND
Tel :+ 66 (0) 3828 3111
Fax : +66 (0) 3828 9123
Direct Email is : gm@mercurechonburi.com

The Mercure Hotel is an international 3 star standard, located at only 150m from Dr Suporn Clinic. Most of their staff speak English and all managers can communicate in English as they are trained to answer to the needs of any international customers. They offer in the Hotel 2 Food Outlets i.e. an international restaurant with French, Italian, Thai, German, American and Japanese cooking. The second restaurant offers high quality Chinese food from Canton Province. You can find a big variety of cooking with different types of ingredients such as Beef, Pork, Chicken, and even Vegetarian. They can arrange any special dishes you may require, as their Executive Chef is used to international food. They can create a menu or adapt foods for any special diet or wishes.

Concerning Hotel Rates: They offer different kinds of special packages for customers going to Thailand for Doctor Suporn's clinic based on either daily or monthly basis. They offer 2 different kinds of rooms. The superior room is fully furnished with all facilities, and then the Deluxe room fully renovated including Home Cinema TV, free DVD, access free of Charge to the deluxe lounge and deluxe amenities. They have fitted 15 room's in their Hotel reserved for Doctor Suporn's clinic patients, according the wishs and feedback of other patients during their stays in the Hotel in order to be more comfortable and more practicle.

For contact with your friends or your family they have a business center which provides free computer use even fitted with a webcam. Their Hotel also provides packages for unlimited High speed internet connection inside their property.

They do not request any pre-payment or bank transfers before your arrival in Chonburi as they trust the customers of the clinic to pay upon arrival.

While their Website prices are what is called the rack rate and the best promotion of the day for general customers, be aware that they offer other discounted rates not mentionned on the Website which are reserved only for the guests of Doctor Suporn's Clinic. They are now working on their new 2008 rates.

For information purposes only, in 2007 the Superior Room has been : 1400 Thai Baht per night with American Breakfast, and 32000 Thai Baht for American Breakfast for 30 nights consecutly.

They use or request a credit card number at your arrival for opening of credit during your stay in the Hotel. They need the payment of the checks to be done every week or after every check out of the hotel.

During your stay at the Hospital you can decide to keep the Hotel room occupied if you have a guest. Or paid for with no one in it. In this case they will need to charge you the cost of the 7 nights because the room can not be rented to another customer. Or alternatively (better deal here) you can check out from the room and their team of staff can take care to leave your luggage that you do not need with you at the hospital .. at the safety luggages room which is at the Reception Desk. When you are returning from the hospital the Clinic Staff or Hospital Staff can be asked to call the Hotel and then the Hotel Staff will put all your luggage in your new room already by the time you arrive at the Hotel.

Their team of staff at the Hotel is at your service for any information on the city of Chonburi in case of you desiring to get up and take some short walks during your stay at the Hotel, or in case of you desiring any information you may require on anything else during your stay there.

Post-operatively (even in your hotel) you will receive daily nursing visits and medication as necessary, and will undergo 2 or 3 post-hospital weekly check-ups with Dr. Suporn. Although preferable, it is not essential that you stay in Thailand any longer than 30 days total. If you prefer to stay longer than 30 days a visa would be required in advance of travel.

After returning home from Thailand where you have undergone Sex Reassignment Surgery with Dr. Suporn, if you require patient post-operative care or support from the Clinic, please use the following Email contact : postopcare@supornclinic.com

Phone Contact

Due to the number of enquiries the Dr. Suporn Clinic receives, and the difficulty in maintaining a service that corresponds with the time zones of their world-wide patient clientele, they do not generally take messages by telephone. Post-operative patients, however, are given some contact telephone numbers on departure to use for any follow-up care they may require.

What you will learn in the hospital

After you have undergone SRS and awake in your hospital bed you will not be getting up much, and will most likely wish to sleep more than be awake. This is actually a good thing at first cause it will speed your healing the more you sleep. There will come a point where you will not wish to sleep. So during these times you will desire to have things to read or watch or listen to. Or, if you have a laptop computer you may desire to use that to amuse yourself. You may not wish to bring a novel as you will be in and out of consciousness at least during the first few days and may not find a novel appealing as you may not be able to concentrate on it long enough to enjoy it. However a magazine or two with shorter articles of interest in it may just fit the awake time for you.

During this time you will be visited by nurses often and Dr. Suporn will see you daily. If you are in excessive pain the nurses and Dr. Suporn will ask you to tell them, so they can adjust your pain medicine. Don't try to be over brave if you feel excessive pain tell them as it may get worse before it gets better.

To speed your healing you will want to drink as much water as you can. If your water container is empty ask a nurse to refill it for you. They will be glad to get you more water or perhaps even juice.

You will feel for a while like you have to urinate constantly but the reality is that your bladder will be draining via catheter into a collection bag. So you need not be overly concerned with the feeling of a full bladder. The nurses will be sure to change or drain your drainage bag often enough so you will be fine.

At one point you will feel the need to use the toilet to empty your bowels, but will find that you can not go. The nurses will tell you not to try to force it, as you could injure yourself by trying to force. You will have this problem because the packing in your neo-vagina is pressing against the rectum wall. Eventually a day or so later you will find that you will indeed empty your bowels.

When you do eventually manage to empty your bowels the nurse who is in attendance to you will instruct you on something that many newly Post-Op ladies do not know about. You will be told to be sure you wipe yourself from front to back rather than the other direction. The reason for this is to keep fecal matter as far from the neo-vagina as possible. This is imparitive as should any fecal matter reach the neo-vagina it could cause an infection.

Eventually the day comes where your packing is removed and you are taught by either Dr. Suporn or one of the nurses how to dialate. This will be painful at first for most, but it is necessary. You will be instructed on properly lubricating for this. The first time they may do the dialation for you. But you should watch closely as you will be doing it many times a day from then on. They will instruct you on the schedule to use for dialating. You will have to adhere as closely as possible to the dialating schedule if you want to maintain your depth, and, I believe most of you will indeed want to maintain the depth to your neo-vagina. There is a interesting thing to note here. While in the beginning it is painful or uncomfortable, later it is pleasurable to many after enough time has passed and enough healing has occurred.

Things to buy to prepare for the trip

When you are getting ready for the trip to Thailand you need to consider the things to buy that will be necessary to either have with you in Thailand or that you will need to store at home for your return from Thailand.

Things to Bring

1. For During Trip

1a.) You will want an inflatable or foam donut for the trip home on the plane. Sitting without one for long term like on a plane ride would be almost impossible without one. Carrying a spare is good advice as well in case first one leaks in cases of the inflatable style.

1b.) You will want disposable bed pads to protect sheets at the hotel post operatively. Unless you plan to foot the bill to buy them new sheets for the ones you will stain during dilation, or from if your draining from newly healing neo-vagina gets blood on their sheets.

1c.) You will require a small hand mirror for use while dialating at the hotel after SRS so you can see what you are doing down there. This you will want to store in your luggage that is stored in the cargo area, not your carry in with you bag. Reason for this is many airports will confiscate it at boarding if its in your carry on bag.

1d.) If you are bringing a Laptop PC you will need a power converter to convert your plug to Thai power configuration and voltage.

1e.) While you are in the hotel after you are released from the hospital you may desire to take short walks to see some of the local shops and purchase small gifts for friends or family. Or you may desire to buy some local clothing to take home with you. So for these things you will wish to bring extra money with you to Thailand.

1f.) You will want to bring with you to Thailand your hormones and other medications that you normally take. You may be ordered to begin taking these at a point after you are in the motel or when recommended by both your endocrinologist and by Dr. Suporn. For these you will want to pre check with your local airport as to rules regarding medications you will need as to if you should store in cargo baggage or in your carry on.

1g.) You will want to purchase boxes of thin Maxi Pads to protect your underwear and clothes till you heal. You will actually need between 4 and 6 Maxi Pads per day once you check out of the hospital.

2. For During and After Trip

2a.) You will need flushable moist wipe towelettes to clean yourself both before dilating and after going to the bathroom. Until your new genitals begin to heal you most likely will spray all over your thighs when you urinate. This is when you will be glad for having purchased vast quantities of moist wipe towelettes. Baby wipes work well for this. A thing to be careful of is that you do not want to buy towelettes which contain alcohol. Alcohol based towelettes would dry your skin out.

2b.) For dilating you will need a lubricant. The best lubricant is called 'WET Original Gel.' If you desire a more expensive lubricant there is always 'KY Jelly' or 'Surgilube.' Surgilube however can cause staining. So the best option here which is non staining and latex-friendly not to mention crystal clear is the WET Original Gel. There is a website for this product : http://www.wetlubes.com

2c.) You will also need to purchase Panty Liners to protect your underwear for once you are no longer in need the maxi pads.

3. For Return Home After Trip

3a.) If you live alone, and or have no one to shop for you after you return, then begin to stock up on foods that are nutritious, and which will not spoil while you are in Thailand, like canned meats, canned veggies, canned fruits and frozen foods. You may not be brave enough or feel up to a trip to the supermarket for a while after you get home. Whereas you may have had no problem with lifting heavy bags of groceries prior to your trip to Thailand, you will find that until you are healed, the weight limit for lifting will result in you most likely having twice the number of bags you used to have to carry in. This is because you will have to have groceries spread out through twice the number of bags to have them light enough for the weight limit, resulting in twice the trips to the car to bring the groceries in when you get home. This is something that many forget to consider beforehand. One should remember that after getting home from Thailand it is quite possible that you will be tired out easy from simple tasks. As you heal this will in time go away and you will find your normal energy return to you.

3b.) You will need to get 2 to 3 tubes of Neosporin, Triple Antibiotic, A&D Ointment, or similar, which you will apply to suture areas while you are healing. You will be supplied an antibiotic ointment in Thailand but when you return home you will need the 2 to 3 tubes more.

3c.) You will want to buy Anti-Bacterial Soap for use in cleaning your stents and washing your hands before you begin a dilating session. However for purposes of washing hands almost any soap should do.

3d.) medical latex gloves and Q-tips for use in spreading the Anti- Bacterial Ointment on your sutures. This you will be thankful for later when you are home as it will help to keep your hands clean.

Information Sources this document was compiled from

The majority of the information used to write this document came from 2 major sources in my dealings with them online :
1. Sophie at the Dr. Suporn Clinic via Email contact with her.
2. Mr. Arnaud Rouchon, General Manager Mercure Hotel Chonburi via Email contact with him.

Some details used in this document regarding things to obtain prior to the trip and for use during and after were learned from Dr. Marcie Bowers Website : http://www.marcibowers.com/grs/surgery.html Details that were listed there which are also pertinent to a trip to Dr. Suporn were reworded for the context of this document. However since the research into this document did contain details for planning mentioned on her website I give credit where credit is due.