My story

It started with a severe case of kidney stones years ago. That was painful already.
After a while a BIG stone came out while peeing. That was very painful again.
This stone ripped my manhood apart, leaving it useless.
Not only could I no longer aim when peeing so I had to sit down like a woman, but the stone had also damaged my prostate, so that I could no longer be a father, which was less of a disaster than you think because I didn't want to be a father anyway, but an orgasm also became less intense because of that.

The ripped part stopped hurting badly after a while. But it felt... irritating... I don't know a better word for it.
And on top of that (or rather underneath it) my right ball often hurt terribly. Later I concluded that the nerve leading to that ball was damaged.

Medication didn't help. Therapy didn't help.
So what option was left? Only one: amputation.

I visited several urologists. One said he was willing to do it but the hospital where he works doesn't have the facilities for it.
One said he would do it if I ran some tests first. By the time the tests were finished (months later) I found out that he no longer worked there. The doctor that replaced him refused to do the surgery.

All other urologists said they wouldn't do it "because the pain might stay".
Well, guess what: without this surgery the pain would CERTAINLY stay!!!
And when I lie on my death bed some day in the (far) future I prefer to say "at least I tried" rather than "I wish I had tried".

Then someone told me a certain plastic surgeon would do it. The only condition was: I needed a letter from a psychiatrist saying I'm mentally capable of such a decision.
I got such a letter and made an appointment with this doctor.

I talked about the whole story with the man who directed me to this doctor... on the day before my consultation. He told me not to say anything about pain or the doctor wouldn't do it.

Now I had a problem, didn't I?
But I solved it. Before the consultation I had a fake story ready: about being non-binary, so I wanted MtF bottom surgery, but no top surgery. The doctor believed it.

And so did the hospital where he works.
But the hospital demanded that I would take estrogen for a year before they'd allow for such an operation.
Since the hospital had allowed it initially, I went to see a lawyer about forcing them to keep their promise.
This lawyer told me that such a court case would take 5 years, so I would better go along and take estrogen for a year.

I mailed to the hospital:
Congratulations! You win. I lose. I'll take estrogen for a year. My body, your choice!

The answer from the hospital came in a registered letter: they wouldn't allow me as a patient any longer, because there couldn't be any trust between us.

Well, WHO CAUSED THAT BY BREAKING A PROMISE???

I was told that no other hospital in Belgium has the facilities (later I found out that there are 2 more, but then it was too late), so I could only have my surgery outside Belgium.
I found a private clinic in Spain, specialized in gender reassignment.

I didn't want to risk being rejected, so I repeated my story about being non-binary.
It worked. I had my surgery 4 months after our first contact. Now I look female below the belt. And the pain is gone.

And now some doctors believe they operated on a non-binary person when in reality I'm just another amputee. And I'm the happiest man on earth because I got rid of the pain and I don't have phantom pain... well, hardly ever, that is.