GSM IV

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Re: GSM IV

Post by Snowfire (?) » Mon Jul 09, 2018 5:13 am

Hope everything goes well Erica! :yay:
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Re: GSM IV

Post by CorvusCaw (?) » Mon Jul 09, 2018 10:59 pm

Made it to Idaho... we're sitting in the tiny hotel room that will be home for most of the next 3 weeks. Tomorrow I cannot eat any solids, and I think I'm dreading that more than anything else that's to come. I'm not a big fan of straight-up broth.
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Re: GSM IV

Post by theGECK (?) » Tue Jul 10, 2018 10:56 am

:-D I hope it goes well for you! Make sure to get up and walk as soon as possible, and when you get the ability to eat food, FIBER FIBER FIBER and no fatty foods.

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Re: GSM IV

Post by Snowfire (?) » Tue Jul 10, 2018 3:46 pm

theGECK wrote:
Tue Jul 10, 2018 10:56 am
:-D I hope it goes well for you! Make sure to get up and walk as soon as possible, and when you get the ability to eat food, FIBER FIBER FIBER and no fatty foods.
Worth noting that "fiber fiber fiber" isn't always good for you depending on the surgery. For mine all fiber would do is complicate things. Just make sure to listen to what the doctor and nurses tell you.

The walking thing is important though. :flutterunsmith:
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Re: GSM IV

Post by Madeline (?) » Tue Jul 10, 2018 3:56 pm

Yeah, walk as much as you can.

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Re: GSM IV

Post by Princess Flufflebutt (?) » Tue Jul 10, 2018 7:11 pm

Heck yeah, Erica! Rooting for you!

Also I went to another transmeet. This time I even talked to someone. I even got her Facebook :yay:
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Re: GSM IV

Post by CorvusCaw (?) » Tue Jul 10, 2018 8:54 pm

My pre-op appointments went fine today. I'm good to go tomorrow morning... Thanks for the positive vibes.

I'm actually on a low-fiber diet for the first week after because they want to keep me constipated as long as possible so there's no feces near the packing.

They won't let me walk for three days, because of the packing, catheter, etc.

I'm about to drink a gallon of lemon-flavored bowel cleanser. Exciting, right? May warrant a PPPP thread.
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Re: GSM IV

Post by Perrydotto (?) » Wed Jul 11, 2018 3:08 pm

So exciting!! Rooting that everything goes well, Erica :yay:

And nice job, Fluffle :yay:
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Re: GSM IV

Post by CorvusCaw (?) » Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:02 pm

I'm alive and the curse has been lifted!
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Re: GSM IV

Post by Perrydotto (?) » Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:16 pm

:awesomedash: !!
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Re: GSM IV

Post by Octavia (?) » Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:26 pm

Woop woop! :yay:
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Re: GSM IV

Post by Snowfire (?) » Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:32 pm

CorvusCaw wrote:
Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:02 pm
I'm alive and the curse has been lifted!
BEGONE FOUL DEMON!!!

I'm so happy for you Erica. :awesomedash:
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Re: GSM IV

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:42 pm

Woot! :party:

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Re: GSM IV

Post by BeautifulShy (?) » Wed Jul 11, 2018 9:08 pm

CorvusCaw wrote:
Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:02 pm
I'm alive and the curse has been lifted!
Squeee!!!! I am so happy for you!! :-D
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Re: GSM IV

Post by Jill (?) » Wed Jul 11, 2018 9:13 pm

wonderful :yay:

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Re: GSM IV

Post by Princess Flufflebutt (?) » Wed Jul 11, 2018 10:28 pm

Sweet! :yay:
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Re: GSM IV

Post by Mir (?) » Wed Jul 11, 2018 10:34 pm

So happy for you Erica!

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Re: GSM IV

Post by Madeline (?) » Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:03 pm

Awesome :yay:

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Re: GSM IV

Post by Perpetual Motion (?) » Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:26 pm

You kick ass, Erica! :yay:

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Re: GSM IV

Post by CorvusCaw (?) » Thu Jul 12, 2018 11:06 pm

Thanks for the good vibes y'all. Doctor says it went well. I might be able to stand up tomorrow
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Re: GSM IV

Post by Madeline (?) » Fri Jul 13, 2018 12:44 am

You’ll be up and moving in no time, I’m sure of it :)

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Re: GSM IV

Post by PhoolCat (?) » Fri Jul 13, 2018 6:14 am

Flipping awesome! :allears:
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Re: GSM IV

Post by West Filly (?) » Fri Jul 13, 2018 9:29 am

This is amazing.
👉👉🥜🏠

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Re: GSM IV

Post by Angry Critter (?) » Fri Jul 13, 2018 1:59 pm

I had an appointment to meet with a team of doctors and a surgeon to see if I can be put on the waiting list for surgery, but that has been postponed by three months because I was too anxious to leave the house.

Going through this alone in a hostile environment is awesome and not horrifying or agonizing in the slightest. I swear... :yikes:

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Re: GSM IV

Post by Perrydotto (?) » Fri Jul 13, 2018 5:22 pm

For all it's worth, I have faith in you, Lynn. Society does some awful goddamn bullshit but I believe that won't stop you, not forever.
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Re: GSM IV

Post by CorvusCaw (?) » Sat Jul 14, 2018 8:06 pm

I walked today. Still mostly on bedrest; don't get to see it until Monday.
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Re: GSM IV

Post by BeautifulShy (?) » Sat Jul 14, 2018 9:10 pm

One step at a time. Literally and figuratively.
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Re: GSM IV

Post by CorvusCaw (?) » Sun Jul 15, 2018 11:41 pm

I got to walk around outside of my room today! Twice! Turns out there's a couple hallways and a bunch of other rooms on this floor. And the floor is carpet, not tile. For some reason I had envisioned it as some sort of tiled central plaza area out there.

Tomorrow I'll be discharged and I'll be able to see it and touch it and go back to my hotel room for 10 more days. Wulfe has been a very caring and supportive partner, generally staying with me at the hospital from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., with a short trip downstairs for lunch.
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Re: GSM IV

Post by Madeline (?) » Mon Jul 16, 2018 11:50 pm

Getting up and around so soon is great, hope everything has been going well :)

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Re: GSM IV

Post by CorvusCaw (?) » Tue Jul 17, 2018 2:52 am

I'm out of the hospital and back in the hotel room. All the bandages and packing were removed this morning. I've been able to see it, dilate it, douche it, etc. The swelling is insane right now; a bag of ice is going to be my best friend for the next month or so.
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Re: GSM IV

Post by theGECK (?) » Wed Jul 18, 2018 2:51 pm

Yay! I'm so excited for you! It's a big deal, and things are going to be really hard over the next few weeks, but everybody I've talked to has been happy they went through with the surgery so I'm hoping for the same thing for you. :)

:yay:

I've had an up/down 24 hours. Called my dad for his birthday. It used to be a joke that I could never get off the phone with any of my parents in under 40 minutes. He tried to end the call at minute 4 and I drew it out to minute 9. I'm not going to try anymore, it's just taking too much effort. At least he confirmed that the letters I sent out to family actually made it there, so that's good. Up side, talked to my supervisors at work along with HR and they're aware now that I'll be transitioning. So that's one step closer to being out in the world.

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Re: GSM IV

Post by Perpetual Motion (?) » Fri Jul 20, 2018 2:32 am

I'm at a loss as to what to do about myself. My mental health is so poor that I'm buckling under even the smallest bit of strain, and coming out to people and trying to transition is one hell of a strain. On the other hand, gender dysphoria is also a huge strain on me, and it's probably contributing to my current problems. I wish I was as strong or brave as everyone else here, but I'm just a coward who will probably never get my life in order.

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Re: GSM IV

Post by Madeline (?) » Fri Jul 20, 2018 5:10 am

You need to give yourself some time. Other people’s successes and failures are independent of whatever is going on your life. So you have to take it slow? So what? Your identity is your own business, and nobody else should be setting milestones for you. It’s your life. Not ours, not your parents’ life, nor your coworkers’ life. Your life. If you aren’t able to do anything right now, that’s fine. It’s okay. It doesn’t say anything about you other than that you’re hurting and that you need to take care of yourself, and part of taking care of yourself is knowing when to go easy on yourself.

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Re: GSM IV

Post by Weird Autumn (?) » Sat Jul 21, 2018 9:47 pm

I'm officially on the path to starting hormones. I went to the clinic, talked to a doctor, got blood taken for testing (and passed out during it, whoops), and in a month I have another meeting with the psychiatric staff and the week after if everything goes well I should be able to get a prescription.

I'm gonna have to navigate my parents a bit, my mom is arguing that I'm not thinking this through or taking it seriously enough and how do I know I'm not just depressed or this or that or whatever and it's just really hard to argue this stuff with her or explain how I feel in a way that makes her understand why I "can't just be a homosexual" or a "transvestite" (both things she has asked me). She knows she can't stop me from making my own choices, but I'm in a frustrating place right now because she just...has a skewed, inaccurate idea of who I am, based on the fact that I haven't talked to her much about my gender and so on, entirely because I didn't want to have to have arguments like this.

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Re: GSM IV

Post by Perpetual Motion (?) » Sun Jul 22, 2018 1:40 am

I guess what I wanted to say before was that I'm in the middle of a nasty catch 22. It's not just that I'm in no shape to come out to my family, but that not coming out and just bottling this up constantly is also extremely damaging to me right now. I just feel like I'm stuck in this pit of despair that I have no way of climbing out of except by trusting people who might stab me in the back once they learn why I was in the pit to begin with.

Of course, gender dysphoria isn't the only contributing factor to my depression, but it's constant and I'll never know how nasty the wound is until I rip off the bandage, so to speak.

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Re: GSM IV

Post by Madeline (?) » Sun Jul 22, 2018 5:36 am

My insurance now covers “medically necessary” treatment for gender dysphoria, i.e. I have to put up with some gatekeeping but maybe I could finally get somewhere.

I don’t know how to deal with telling my family, because they tend to not understand either, but maybe I’ll just do whatever and deal with the fallout. I’m old, I shouldn’t have to ask anyone’s permission for anything relating to my own body.

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Re: GSM IV

Post by CorvusCaw (?) » Mon Jul 23, 2018 3:45 pm

I've been out of the hospital for a week. I have a follow-up appointment today.

My recovery is progressing. Some positions are still uncomfortable but I'm able to walk (slowly) much better than before and I drove my car for a bit yesterday. I was even able to lay on my side for a bit this morning.

My new vagina is a little miracle. A very fussy and demanding miracle that discharges blood and dried up chunks of goop. Being able to shower with the lights on is a very good life improvement, though.

I'm fine answering any questions that anyone here has about this whole thing, no matter how awkward they might be.
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Re: GSM IV

Post by BeautifulShy (?) » Thu Jul 26, 2018 3:29 pm

I guess I have a few questions for you Erica... How much out of pocket did the surgery cost you and was there anything you had to do before you were put under the knife?
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Re: GSM IV

Post by Perpetual Motion (?) » Thu Jul 26, 2018 11:25 pm

I've gone ahead and submitted a request for an appointment with a practice specializing in transgender healthcare. In doing this, I'm pretty much setting a hard time limit in which I have to come out to my parents, since the appointment is quite a ways away, and I'd have to tell a pretty big lie to cover for taking such a long trip. So, that's that, I guess. Time to own up to my identity.

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Re: GSM IV

Post by BeautifulShy (?) » Fri Jul 27, 2018 2:34 am

Perpetual Lurker wrote:
Thu Jul 26, 2018 11:25 pm
I've gone ahead and submitted a request for an appointment with a practice specializing in transgender healthcare. In doing this, I'm pretty much setting a hard time limit in which I have to come out to my parents, since the appointment is quite a ways away, and I'd have to tell a pretty big lie to cover for taking such a long trip. So, that's that, I guess. Time to own up to my identity.
There are lots of ways of coming out to your parents. One on one, email, with friends around you, and doing it through Facebook. I personally prefer one on one so things can be managed easier.
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