Home Feb. 15th.

February 11, 2005
Post Op Day 10
Our Journey Home

I got a reasonable nights rest and felt just a bit tired when I woke up this morning to a rainy day in Scottsdale. There has been a lot of rain in the area that has not been typical of Scottsdale during this time of the year. Jen had been the process of packing since yesterday night and got most of it done. I started my packing process a bit later that morning. As I was packing my stuff, Jen went down to the lobby for some breakfast of yogurt, muffins, and a few other assorted goodies. We made coffee in our room for the last time. We got all of our stuff packed and ready to go. I took a shower, washed my hair, and etc. got dressed and I was pretty much ready for our journey home. We moved our stuff downstairs and loaded it into the PT curser for our trip to the rental car place.

I took several pictures thru the care window as we drove down the streets of Phoenix. This drive was an emotional one for me. My mind was full of recent events and all that has happened for us here in Scottsdale at the Greenbaum, their staff and Dr. Meltzer’s staff. In many ways, Scottsdale will always hold many memories for the two of us.

We arrived at the Dollar rental car return facility without incident and the car drop off was just the same. The driver of the shuttle loaded our stuff into the van then we headed off to the Phoenix airport, PHX. We arrived at the SWA curbside check in and the driver helped us unload our bags. One little annoyance during our ride to PHX, some guy stepped on my toe as he rushed to get off the van, yes, it was annoying but he did not appeared to care. I don’t think he even realized what happened. Oh well, Stuff happens.

In the world of air travel, SWA has got to be one of the better airlines to fly on. They are prompt with their curbside service, flights are almost always on time and the personnel pretty much appear to be happy. I have a friend in TX who knows a TS woman pilot that works at SWA. She has an all woman crew. It’s one more reason why I think SWA is successful at what they do.

We got our boarding passes and headed for the security check. The security check line was not long at all and we encountered no problems during that process. Jen and I proceeded towards gate C4 where our flight was located. We had well over an hour before our flight was to depart. We shared a quick lunch of cheese pizza as we waited. Jen picked up a news paper and I wrote about day 8 in my journal. It suddenly occurred to me that my CD case was missing. I was more than concerned. Not only did the case have about 40 of my music CDs, it also had cards and notes that were sent to me during our stay at Greenbaum. Those cards and notes are quite precious to me and are part of my memories from Greenbaum. I began to think about where I might have left it. It turns out, I remember leaving it at the security check point. We headed back there. When we arrived at the security check point, I went up to the security officer, Lori and asked her if she might have seen a black CD case. She had it right there on her desk. She discovered the case soon after we left the security check area. Lori looked inside to case and found the cards and notes sent to me and were in the process of having me paged over the PA. Lori had a look at the music CDs in my case and liked the music it held. She told me it was so different than what her co-workers listen to and such a welcome sight.

With CD case in hand, we headed back to gate C4 settled down into a chair and waited for our flight. We got a pre-boarding pass so we won’t need to deal with the rush of passengers trying to board the flight. This idea came to me when we were returning home after Jen’s surgery and it is a good thing to do. The flight arrived pretty much on schedule and we pre-boarded the Boeing 737 with the pass issued to me. We sat near the very front of the plane and waited for the rest of the passengers to board and get ready for take off. Our trips up and down the western skies were a totally uneventful one. I feel far safer flying in a well maintained and engineered airplane such as the Boeing 737 than driving on the road. Modern aircraft and air travel is amazingly safe. It is one of the safest means of transportation today. This is a tribute to the individuals involved with the aircraft industry and airlines like SWA.

Our flight landed at SJC and picked up our baggage without incident. Vicki picked us up on the arrival curb side and we were off to home. She dropped us off in our drive way, I opened up the door and while Vicki and Jen help unload and bring our stuff inside. Gosh! It’s nice to be back home. One of the first things we did was to let our Parrot out of her cage. From what I can tell, Blasé was glad to be out of her cage, but wow, did she look upset at us for leaving her alone for such a long time.

I got into my comfy clothes, got in bed to rest and take a nap after such a long journey. When I was rested enough I did my post-op maintenance while Jen made a dinner of chicken and rice. WE had orange / vanilla ice cream center popsicles for dessert. This was our first meal at home together. Later that evening, I called my ex to tell her that we are back and won’t be back to visit for a while. I told her I was tired, she said, “I bet after that trip.” I spoke to our daughter Camille for a short while and chatted about what has been going on in her life. I miss our kids after being away from them for what appears to be such a long time.

It was a cold and rainy night as Jen and I began to settle back in our home. The rest of that evening was simply quite time for Jen and me.

February 15, 2005
Post Op Day 14
Little Things in Life That Can Be So Easily Taken For Granted.

February 13 & 14^th.

Sunday was a nearly uneventful day for us. I was still tired for all the recent events that I decided to simply take a day of rest and do as little as possible. It was also a day that I needed to figure out how to deal with the Foley Catheter that I came home with. I called our doctor surgeon friend Dr. KRC to discuss the possibilities. I called her in the cell phone at first with and got the voice mail. I left her a message, Then, I called her home number and she answered. Dr. KRC was reading my journal when I called. I explained in detail what happened and she told me that catheterizing yourself is not that difficult a thing to do. Our original plan was to remove the catheter on Monday and see if I could pee, if not the catheter goes back in for a few more days.

My regular primary care doc was on vacation, but I had informed my ob/gyn at Kaiser about my surgery. Dr. KRC told me to call then and discuss this with then. If that does not work out, she will drive down from her home up north to make a house call and show me or Jen how to remove and insert a catheter and take care of what ever other post op care I needed. Now the plan became, call my ob/gyn at KP on Monday to discuss and call Dr. KRC back to see what needs to be done. I had done something that was not very smart when I packed the package we sent home. I put both Foley catheter kits in the package not thinking of the importance of this. Dr. KRC got on my case for doing this as she said, “You should send back your clothes, not something really important like a catheter kit and the ability to relieve yourself if something goes wrong. Catheterization trays are not something you usually find in a doctor office.” All I can say was, “OK you’re right.”

Monday, Valentines day, I called my ob / gyn at KP and left a message for her to call me back.

I waited for the call back. Time passed and I was beginning to wonder. At 11:00 AM or so, I got a call back from my ob / gyn’s nurse Heidi. I discussed the idea of me removing the catheter on our own that day and going the ob/ gyn department later that day I if I needed to be re-catheterized. Heidi said, “No, we don’t want you to do that. Things can happen and you might not be well prepared to deal with what could occur.” So she made an appointment for me to come in first thing Tuesday morning to have the catheter removed and they wanted to make sure I could pee before releasing me back home, otherwise the catheter goes back for a few more dreadful days. Unless you have lived with a Foley catheter and drainage bag for a while, you might not appreciate the significance being able to pee on your own. She made an appointment for me on Tuesday morning and a pre-op exam with my ob / gyn early next week.

Jen went out for a bike ride that morning and I told her of the news when she got back. We got ready to head over to the post office and Safeway for food shopping.

To make things worst, I was getting the sense that a urinary tract infection was beginning to happen. I have had these before pre-op and they are no fun at all to deal with. I knew the symptoms and body reactions. I was hoping this was not going to be the case, but gosh, I knew in the back of my mind it could be just wishful thinking.

Jen ands I drove over to the post office and got our mail including the box we sent from Scottsdale. That was a welcome sight. IMO, the USPS package service is simply good and reliable. The amount of stuff I have sent via USPS has not been small and so far, they have been 100% on every shipment domestic and foreign.

Our food shopping trip at Safeway was uneventful except for me dealing with what feels like a UTI happening and making a dash to the bathroom. I was getting tired from our short trip too, so Jen told me to wait for her in the car. It was a rainy valentines day.

We got home and I got into bed to get some much needed rest. I also took one of the Doxicyline tablets prescribed for me as part of my post op meds. I should have been more diligent with taking my meds on schedule. BTW, my rash and cough is pretty much gone now. The scheduled prednisone tables really work well to help clear things up fast.

The rest of the evening was spent with a quite dinner together with lots of rest and post op care. I got a visit from my little sister, Amy. We met at the same picnic Jen and I met at. I have tired to do what I can to help her along her life’s journey and seeing where she is today is very rewarding to me. I got out a new Foley bag from one of the kits thinking there might be a risk of infection myself from anything that might be left over from the old Foley bag. I set the thing up and we went to bed thinking about the events to come on Tuesday morning.

February 15^th.

I slept pretty well that night. I woke up at just after 6:30 AM which is pretty typical for me. Jen woke up a short time later. Both of us got ready to head over to KP to deal with my Foley catheter. It was another rainy day. We arrived at KP pretty much on time and checked in. I believe nearly everyone in that department knows me as I go by there once every 2-3 weeks for my EV injections. It has become a friendly and familiar place for me and the staff who work there.

My name was called and my ob/gyn’s nurse (nurse ‘A’) opened the door and welcomed me into exam rooms 3. She gave me a gown and instructed me to change into it and she will be back in a moment. She is also one of my favorite staff members there. I got to say the gown in the ob / gyn department are definitely prettier and more feminine that the plain white with blue printed lines issued at the Greenbaum. I got changed and began to lie down on the exam table just as she arrived. I got into position, she got everything ready and Jen held my hand for what was about to happen. Nurse, ‘A’ told me to be ready and with a gentle tug, a moment of burning sensation from down stairs, the catheter was out. I also made a considerable mess on the pad she put under me just before this was done. I told nurse ‘A’ that I might have a UTI brewing. She wanted me to drink some water and try to pee into a sample tray so they can run a culture for what might be a possible problem. I went to the bathroom just around the corner and not much came out of me except a few dribbles. I began to worry again. I really did not want that catheter back in me again. Nurse ‘A’ came back to my exam room to check on me. She told me to be patient and not rush as this could take some time to get things working again after being catheterized for the past several days. She had what appeared to be an endless supply of sample trays for me to get a good clean urine sample. I kept drinking. Nurse ‘A’ did a quick exam on me to see if my bladder was getting too full. It was definitely filling, but nothing was coming out yet.

Two trays, two dribbles. Not enough to run a culture or sample test. Jen appeared to as concerned over this as I was.

Once again, nurse ‘A’ told me to try and relax and don’t worry. If it’s going to happen, it will, if not we will deal with it. I kept drinking water and cranberry juice.

The time passed slowly and I sat there browsing the stuff in the exam room and Jen doing the same. I got the urge to pee and I headed off to the bathroom with sample tray in hand. I sat down on the potty and amazingly I peeded! It was over 100 CCs and enough of a sample to run a test and culture. I went back to the exam room with a huge sense of relief and big smile on my face. When I opened the exam room door, Jen saw the big smile on my face and pretty much knew what happened. A short time later, nurse ‘A’ came in to see how I was doing. I told her what happened and gave her the sample tray. She gave me a hug with a big smile and said, “congratulations!” She took the sample off to the lab for culture. A few minutes later, I went to the bathroom and did another pee into another sample tray. I produced a similar quantity to the first time and it was another sample off to the lab. Things appeared to working again. I still had the sense that a UTI might be happening, but knowing that they have two samples from me, that should be enough for the lab and my doctor to figure out if there is a problem. The three of us had a little celebration in exam room 3. I got dressed and ready go head home. We were so relieved that things are working again. On our way our of the exam room, my doc was headed down the hall and we chatted for a bit. She was getting ready for a patient so we chatted for a few short moments. I would see her early next week for my post-op appointment. I said goodbye to my doc, nurse ‘A’ and Heidi.

We stopped by Uno Mas restaurant for one of our favorite lunch time meals, roast chicken tacos. It was short trip home from Uno Mas. We came home to some flowers sent to me from my therapist, Cynthia. The note said, “welcome to the rest of your life, Heal Fast!” I changed in something comfy and got into bed to rest and do post op care.

Dr. KRC called me to see how I was doing. I told her all that has happened and she told me what other possible problems to watch for and could come up during this recovery process. A few of the common problems Dr. KRC told me about, failure to completely empty the bladder. If you fail to completely empty your bladder, you find yourself going to the bathroom very often since you are only draining off a bit of what is in the bladder. The other one is urinary tract infection. This one I think we got covered. Dr. KRC told me to call her if ANYTHING comes up that appears to be a problem. She has taken care of post vaginoplasty women before and it is so comforting to have a doctor/ surgeon and friend like Dr. KRC.

I feel so fortunate that we have so many caring health care providers and friends who are doctors that are so willing to help us in times of need and understand our specific health care needs. One of the things to do on my list is to thank all the health care providers that have helped me in so many ways along my journey. I want them to know what they have done for me and the difference they have made in my life. Some of them are trans themselves or have been opened minded enough for me to share what I know combined with their medical training to meet my specific health care needs. This will be a note of thanks from the bottom of my heart. A good health care provider is hard to find and when you do have more than a few in your life a note of appreciation can make a difference in they lives.I also want to THANK all of those who called me to see how I was doing, sent me various gift of caring and love while we at the Greenbaum hotel. There are some things that I felt were not visible in a material way, I felt the spirit of love and caring each and everyone who had me in mind as I traveled this journey. I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart. You will always be part of my good memories during our journey to Scottsdale.

What I have shared in this journal is very close to everything I have written in my own journal that I have kept for years. I hope the sharing of my journal has enriched your lives in some way. It’s part of my belief that the sharing of life experiences we have can enrich our lives in their own way.