Thanksgiving: Reasons to be Thankful

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, 2005 and I have so many reasons to be thankful!

• I'm thankful that the fates brought Michele to me, and thankful that she arrived into my life at a time when I was open and ready to receive her;
  
• I'm thankful for the love and support of my family;
  
• I'm thankful for the love and support of my friends;
  
• I'm thankful for a workplace, employers, and coworkers who made my transition easy, even in the absence of gender identity or gender expression being mentioned in our EEO statement;
  
• I'm thankful for the strong housing market that gave me the means to pay for my SRS;
  
• I'm thankful for the skill and compassion of Dr. Toby Meltzer and the warmth and compassion of everyone associated with him;
  
• I'm thankful that the Transgender Education Association was there when I needed it and I'm glad that I've been able to give back to the community.

For this, and so much more, I am thankful. Holiday wishes to you all!

Post-op Endocrinology Exam

Last Wednesday I had my first post-op checkup with my endocrinologist. One of the first things he asked me was "What's new?" I responded "I had my surgery." Obviously, he did not remember or note it on my chart. He asked about my breast growth; I responded "non-existent and the breast tenderness went away during the pre-op withdrawal from hormones and hasn't returned." During the physical exam he concurred and confirmed my suspicion that I may have lost some size. We talked about my hormone dosage: 1.25 mg Premarin taken in two doses; no spironolactone.

I switched medical insurance back in June, due to an employer change, and my endo is the one doctor who's not on the new plan. I knew I'd have to pay upfront and then submit a receipt for partial reimbursement. I opted to have him draw my blood, as usual, since I was already fasting and didn't want to prolong this for a trip to the lab or have to repeat it another day (I hate fasting!) Tests ordered:
80053, Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, $74
80061, Lipid Panel, $56
84403, Testosterone, $90
82670, Estradiol, $90.
The final bill: $440! Hopefully I'll get back like 80%.

Test Results:
Testosterone: 46; shouldn't this be near zero?
Estradiol: 36; too low, I'm ordered to increase the Premarin to 1.875mg
Cholesterol: Total, 225; LDL, 132; HDL, 76; my cholesterol has been steadily increasing for 2 years. It has me concerned
Blood Sugar: 108; he didn't believe me that this was a fasting value and now wants a 2hr glucose tolerance test. I need to talk to him again and find out what my target testosterone and estradiol are and find out when I should be retested. Also, he never tells me my triglycerides result; need to get that, too.

Heart disease, diabetes, and high cholesterol run on both sides of my family so I'm a bit concerned. I see my GP on the 29th to discuss all this and have my first pelvic exam. I'll keep you informed.

The Price, but not the Worth

I've made an effort to total up the cost of my vaginoplasty. I've included everything from the surgery itself, to the travel costs, to the various extras that needed to be picked in AZ, including gifts for the nurses and for my kids. I realize now that I've failed to record the cost of the prescription drugs, OTCs, and equipment I bought before we left. The food costs, below, are likely to be an understatement as I'm sure there are meals and that haven't gotten added in. Obviously, if you travel this adventure alone you'll halve the airfare, only need lodging at each end of your stay, and likely be able to avoid the rental car. Having Michele with me was priceless, worth every cent; I just can't imagine going through this alone.



So, that covers the price, but what about the worth? How can you put a price on being comfortable in your own body? Priceless. Still, I must admit that I'm not yet at this place. I still have healing to do: nerves to regenerate and granulation tissue still needing to heal. I still have the labiaplasty and the breast augmentation (and the healing that goes along with that). Lastly, I still have annoying body hair that I want gone. This will end up being my final frontier. After the surgeries are behind me I'll still be dealing with hair!

A week in the life...

Every week that passes I feel better, more like me. On Wednesday I went back to rock climbing for the first time since before the surgery. It was a good night and I felt no lingering effects from the surgery, no pains or strains, only the effects of a 10 week break from climbing. I was out of gas after about 6 climbs and my hands and forearms are still sore today. Now I need to restart my biking!

Over the last several days I've been feeling increasingly horny. Last night we took my vagina for a test drive. Unfortunately, many areas are still numb and I didn't achieve "ignition". Still, what I could feel felt good and it's only bound to get better. No, I wasn't really expecting anything more but I needed to know what's what. It's been 2 months since surgery and for most of it I've felt like a no-fly zone, off limits, a toxic waste site. I needed a preview of things to come, I needed to know that Michele could be comfortable with me, I needed Michele to know that I'm ready to start exploring. She said it was like coming home ;-)

Michele just figured out last night that after my next surgery both my breasts and my vagina will become off limits for a few weeks. I've understood this all along. I'm commited to the surgeries so we'll have to deal with this downside.

I just finished going through the presurgery paperwork for January. In reading through the post-op care for the breast augmentation I was surprised to find out that I'm supposed to go 3 months without wearing a bra. I had expected that proper support would be a requirement. I can't help but think that this will be painful and uncomfortable.

Dr Meltzer prefers a periareolar approach for the breast implant insertion. I've read that this requires an incision of about 1 1/2 inches. He also prefers to insert a prefilled implant. I'm amazed that a filled implant can be passed through such a small opening but I'm concerned because my areola are rather small. I don't have room for an incision this size. I guess I have to wait until January to know how it will go.