My Next Surgery - May 13
And a favor to ask
Well, here we go. This surgery goes by many names: Gender Confirmation Surgery (my fav), Gender Reassignment Surgery (fine, I suppose), Sex Reassignment Surgery (antiquated), Bottom Surgery (euphemistic but less confusing than the others), or Vaginoplasty (accurate!). No matter what you call it, I’ll be getting it done on May 13th, less than two months from now!
Before I forget, and if you read nothing else: I’m making a paper chain to count down the days, and if you want to send a supportive message for me to write on the chain, you can do that via a Google Form here.
This surgery is one I’ve been working towards for almost three years now, with well over a hundred hours of electrolysis hair removal1 as preparation for it. Typically it’s about 9-hours under anesthesia, with two main plastic surgeons and of course a whole surgical team assisting. Recovery takes months to a year, depending on how you want to count, but it sure sounds like the first month will see me pretty much doing nothing, then I’ll slowly start doing more as the second and third month progress. This surgery also has a higher rate of needing revision surgeries, just due to the complexity, but serious complications are still rare, so I’m confident we’ll get to a good final result.
I’m so excited at the ultimate result of this surgery. Even just being able to wear whatever I want (bikini season!) will be so freeing.
There’s not much else to say here. I’m very happy with the medical team that I’ll be working with, and the support that a number of people have already offered for my recovery. As we get closer, I’ll share more opportunities to support (e.g. meal trains, or visiting me while I’m watching Doctor Who and Star Trek and playing video games).
Thank you all for being with me on this journey — absolutely couldn’t do it without so many of you! Sending love to you all and hoping you are each doing well this spring.
-Celeste
Look it up if you don’t know what this is and don’t know that this sentence is the most understated way to name the pain I’ve endured.