Ok, I know posts have been very few and far between lately! Although I have had a number of things which I could have talked about, nothing has quite given me the urge to put it in a post until today. As we are going to William Bay for a couple of days tomorrow I have spent much of the day getting stuff ready for that and generally making the place tidy. I always planned to go into town at some point as I had a sprinkler to replace which I needed to buy and a couple of things from Coles. Before leaving I checked my phone and saw I had a number of emails so I had a quick look and saw one from someone I haven’t received emails from before, a local business whom I have done business with before and been very satisfied with the product and the way the business was conducted so I read it. It was from a local printing business who have done business cards and graphics for me in the past and I am in need of some business cards so when I saw they had a special on them I decided to call in. I must say I have been going to call in for a couple of weeks but this was the perfect reason. I parked in the car park at the front of the shop and went inside, the young lady behind the counter recognising me straight away even though she didn’t know I had transitioned said “wow, you look amazing” and seriously that is all I want or need, we had a brief conversation about the reason I have transitioned and at the end of it she asked me if I was happy and said she was proud of me for having the courage to do it. It absolutely made my day, I don’t want any special treatment, I just want people to be happy for me and to get on with my life being the person I know I should always have been, it was just the perfect experience and needless to say I ordered some business cards!
The second part of today’s post concerns my psychologist, apart from my usual monthly visit I felt I needed to see her earlier this month. I think the whole enormity of going back to Philadelphia hit me and I was lucky enough to get a cancellation earlier in the month after which I felt a good deal better. My scheduled appointment was on Monday and I must say, much like the appointment earlier in the month I came out feeling so much better in fact I would say it was the most productive appointment I have had since starting to see her in September last year. Having counselling was never something I thought I would ever need or get any benefit from but I can’t tell you how much she has helped me through the last 14 months, without being hard on me she is able to extract how I feel about things and somehow get me to look at things in a different way but on Monday I came away with a plan and strategy to get me through the horrible moments in store for me having surgery again which is a real bonus as anyone who knows me will know how much I dislike needles etc and I know there will be some pretty uncomfortable moments ahead.
With that in mind I am ok with going back to Philadelphia, I’m not excited about the thought of 55 hours traveling either way but it’s a necessary evil and at least we are traveling business class both ways so we should be able to get some sleep (and copious amounts of champagne!) and the hotel which we will be using for the twenty hour stopover should be ok. I am looking forward to seeing the surgeon and her team, they have been really lovely with me getting all the information they need for the hospital etc and hopefully Philadelphia will be pretty in the run up to Christmas, hopefully not too cold, not that I will be venturing far from my room after the surgery! So I am in a good place in terms of my mindset for the impending trip, looking forward to getting fixed most of all but not looking forward to having to dilate again, 4 times a day for the first month!!! Anyway, it has to be done and it will soon pass, hopefully it will not be as uncomfortable as last time!