Our Last Days in Phoenix
Feb 10, 2006
It was a pretty typical morning for us, Jen went out for a walk and I decided to say at the B&B to rest after doing too much activity for the past few days. We planned to visit the Phoenix Botanical Gardens later today, visit Amy at Greenbaum and have dinner with friends later this evening. During the time Jen was out walking, I spent my time listening to music and relaxing. I began to think about all that has happened over the past few days. I’m thankful that all went well with my surgeries and overall, my recovery has not been difficult so far. We stayed at the Holiday Inn during our last few trips to Scottsdale and that was getting really old. I have never been a fan of places like the Holiday Inn, they are OK, but I really prefer staying at Bed and Breakfast or local Inn’s when possible anywhere we travel. It’s more like home and after staying at this B&B for the past several days, it has become far more like home to us. This B&B is run by a commercial realtor and his hobby is collecting historic automotive bits like old gas pumps, posters, dealer signs and all the stuff associated with cars from the past. He restores them and puts them on display around his property. He does have a few vintage cars too. Jen and I enjoyed looking at this stuff; it was like touring an antique automotive museum every day. There is a small orange and grapefruit orchard on one side of this property too. This B&B is located not too far from the big shopping center on Scottsdale Road, well within walking distance. We would definitely stay here again when visiting Scottsdale. I finished getting ready for the day just before Jen returned from her morning walk. We made a quick lunch at the B&B before heading out for the day. Our next stop was to visit Amy at Greenbaum to see how she is doing with her recovery.
It was early afternoon when we arrived at Greenbaum to visit Amy, Jan was in her room keeping her company before we arrived. Amy was not feeling so great today as she was dealing a bad case of nausea. We were not really sure of the cause. We tried to comfort her and help her get thru this bump in recovery. The anti-nausea meds tended to make her sleepy, so she opted to avoid them when possible. Jen and I had planned to visit Phoenix Botanical gardens today, but decided it was a bit late in the afternoon for this; instead we stayed with Amy to keep her company. The time passed quickly as we chatted about everything from T* stuff to physics.
Jan reads a lot of Amine cartoon books and you always see the captions, “Sigh!” Jan used this in her conversation with us all that afternoon and by late afternoon she got Jen and I saying, “Sigh!” This stuck with us and eventually Amy looked at us and said,” Jan! You have forever changed the conversation between Jen and Nici.” I got to agree, since that time, the “Sigh!” really stuck with us. Amy was mixed for most of the day. We were hoping that she would be well enough to join us for dinner. But she never got over the nausea that whole day and it was hard on her to deal with.
By the time our dinner get together drew near, Amy was still not well. I had called Dr. Becky earlier this week to set up a dinner get together and somewhere in between, Donna Rose, Linda, and part of Roberta’s support group which we met earlier this week all decided on getting together for dinner on Thursday resulting in a big dinner group. Only problem is where, at the time when Dr. Becky and I had planned to GTG, we were going to meet at Oregano’s Pizza, but the group ended up at the Olive Garden. This group grew to about 12 and I ended up sitting next to Margaux with Donna in front of me. The words and conversation just poured out of us and by the end of dinner, Margaux and Donna wore me out. We all had a wonderful time together. One of the topics that came up was the degree of separation among individuals we know, it has been said that there are usually no more than seven degrees of separation among all of us, but within the trans community, it appears to be no more than one or two. In many ways, this is a relatively small community. After dinner we headed back to see how Amy was doing. When we arrived, Amy appeared to be doing better. We decided it was time for her grand opening gift. I picked it up from the table handed it to her. Amy looked that the odd blue wrapping with a card attached on top. She removed and opened the card and read the written words with a smile. She proceeded to open the gift. The mysterious blue wrapping turned out to be a chux pad. As more of the wrapping was removed, her eyes became big as saucers when it was revealed it was a box of Surgi-Lube! Amy’s eye’s rolled and let out a big laugh. We were all laughing pretty hard by now with Amy looking at the box of Surgi-Lube she just got. I asked her to open the box and when she did, inside the box were two books, “It’s a Girl Thing and Women of Substance” for her reading pleasure. Amy was touched and cheerful after what just happened and thanked us for the gift. Early summer last year, I sent a box of Surgi-Lube to my sis in Phx and when we met for dinner the night we arrived, she gave us a gift wrapped in this Surgi-Lube box. Our eyes rolled when we unwrapped the gift to discover the box of Surgi-Lube. When we opened the box, it contained a set of coffee cups for Jen and I. The gag was so funny that we decided it’s too good not to share. The idea of using a chux pad for the wrapping came when I was looking at the small bag of post-op stuff I got from Dr. Meltzer’s office. There were an entire set of events that ended up as part of Amy’s gift gag. We were pretty tired from the day’s events and it was time for us to head back to the B&B. We drove Jan back to the Holiday Inn where she is staying and continued on to our B&B for rest and bed time.
Every morning I have been keeping an eye on my labiapalsty to see how it is doing. The first time I saw it was the morning after surgery and post catheter removal and it looked like purple bruised and swollen hamburger. This Friday morning my LP looks far better; the swelling is better but has a long ways to go. I was doing the crab walk for the first few days post-op due to the swelling and to my amazement; my bottoms were a bit tight for the first day or two. What I can say is don’t take the Labiaplasty procedure lightly, it can be more involved than one might think. Jen was surprised at how much recovery time was involved with this. While I was up and around in a few days post and the pain level was not really high for me, there was still some of the usual post surgery tiredness. It is important to keep your bottom clean, incision lines covered with Bacitracin and avoid undiees when possible. I put a chux pad on the bed when I’m in bed to prevent drainage from staining the sheets. It is also a really good idea to stay off your feet for the first few days and ice on and off for the first day or so helped reduce the swelling in my case. Always brand thin pads without wings in the yellow package worked well when we were out and about, I changed them every time I went to the bathroom.
Nipple hypersensitivity continues to be the primary problem with my BA. They are still high, slightly swollen and hard, pretty much what you would expect for this point in the BA recovery process. They have not been significantly painful even when I push them together, from the top to bottom against my relocated breast crease. They feel slightly sore and slightly tender more than painful. They are so hard and firm that I cannot really feel the implant location, but there certainly is something in there. Lifting stuff is a bit more difficult for the first few days, it is not a good idea to lift anything of significant weight for a while anyway. This makes maneuvering yourself in bed with your arms and upper body a bit different for the first few days post BA. It’s going to take 2-6 months before the implants settle and they did change my posture even for the short time that I have them. I’m still a bit amazed that I actually got the breast aug after that entire struggle for so long. It still seems a bit unreal even when I’m constantly reminded I have them. My meds are now Tylenol and Motrin as needed, Arnica, Colace and Acidophilus as directed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After we got up from bed and did our usual routine, Jen went out for a long walk to Camelback and I decided to stay at the B&B to rest. We are planning to visit Phoenix Botanical Garden; it’s our last chance to do this before we head back home. When Jen arrived back from her walk, she told me that she hear a cyclist call out her name and it turned out to be Dr. Meltzer and a friend were out for a Friday bike ride. What were the chances that they would connect on a Friday morning, fate and the universe has a strange way of making things happen. Jen was pretty tired from that long walk so we made some coffee and food. We sat around to rest for a while before heading out for the day.
Our first stop today was to visit Amy at Greenbaum to see how she was doing. I was curious to see if her nausea has improved. We also had a gift for the nursing staff who works at Greenbaum RCC. When we arrived at Amy’s room, Jan was already there keeping Amy company. She looked a lot better today. We talked for a while sharing our times at Greenbaum and plans for our trip home.
Jen and I took a short break from our chat to give our gift to the nursing staff. I handed the gift wrapped in blue to Julie and she was wondering what it was wrapped with. As a few members of the nursing staff watched Julie take part of the wrapper off, everyone let a out a big laugh once they realized the gift was wrapped in a blue chux pad. Julie proceeded to open the box to reveal a crystal nurse on a mirror with a sign that reads, “Medicine Heals the Body, But Nurses Heal the Soul.” The staff really liked this gift from Jen and I. This crystal nurse remains at Greenbaum, you will find the crystal nurse at the corner of the main nursing staff counter. Jen and I headed back to Amy’s room. We sat down for a little while longer to chat, and a short moment later, Dr. Meltzer and Linda walked in. They looked as surprised as we were and we shared some warm greetings. Dr. Meltzer stopped in to see how Amy was doing and we just sat and watched as Dr. Meltzer did a check up and chat with Amy. We had just enough time for two pictures and once that was done, Dr. Meltzer and Linda headed off to see his next patient.
There is a “Dream Journal” for Dr. Meltzer’s patients. It contains the heart felt words from many patients who spent time at Greenbaum. The Journal was originated by Kara, a friend who is also a Dr. Meltzer girl. Some of the writings in that journal are very emotional, some are simply heart breaking to read and gives a bit of insight to those who have made this journey. It was strange for me to read what I wrote in that Journal just over a year ago. It is amazing to look back at where I was back then and where I’m at today. So much has changed since then, it brought back my memories of the emotional struggle that I had been dealing with for so long and now that struggle has become a faded memory. I was going to write a bitabout my recent time at Greenbaum in the Dream Journal, but our time for me to write ran out. It was late in the afternoon and time to drive over to Phoenix Botanical Garden before the sunsets.
We arrived at Phoenix Botanical Garden with no more than 3 hours before sunset and there was much to see. I have always enjoyed cactus for their shape, personality and tenacity to survive in a harsh enjoinment. Their flowers are pretty too. Once you get past the entrance, there is a main path that takes you to various desert setting which contains native plants, cactus and structures that native folks would live. We got to see only part of Phoenix Botanical Gardens before I was tired from the walk and the sun was beginning to set. For those who have an interest in cactus and what various desert environments might look like, this is good place to see this. The rest of our evening was spending sharing dinner with my sis in Phoenix. Once we were back at the B&B, we started the tasks of packing and getting ready for our trip home. As I began to pack our things for the trip home, I wonder where all the time has gone. It seems like yesterday when we arrived at PHX and was getting ready for my surgery date along with all my pre-op struggles. Now, all that is done and I had with few problems with my surgery and recovery so far. I’m thankful everything turned out this way. I guess fate and the universe was good to me this time.
It was a pretty typical morning for us, Jen went out for a walk and I decided to say at the B&B to rest after doing too much activity for the past few days. We planned to visit the Phoenix Botanical Gardens later today, visit Amy at Greenbaum and have dinner with friends later this evening. During the time Jen was out walking, I spent my time listening to music and relaxing. I began to think about all that has happened over the past few days. I’m thankful that all went well with my surgeries and overall, my recovery has not been difficult so far. We stayed at the Holiday Inn during our last few trips to Scottsdale and that was getting really old. I have never been a fan of places like the Holiday Inn, they are OK, but I really prefer staying at Bed and Breakfast or local Inn’s when possible anywhere we travel. It’s more like home and after staying at this B&B for the past several days, it has become far more like home to us. This B&B is run by a commercial realtor and his hobby is collecting historic automotive bits like old gas pumps, posters, dealer signs and all the stuff associated with cars from the past. He restores them and puts them on display around his property. He does have a few vintage cars too. Jen and I enjoyed looking at this stuff; it was like touring an antique automotive museum every day. There is a small orange and grapefruit orchard on one side of this property too. This B&B is located not too far from the big shopping center on Scottsdale Road, well within walking distance. We would definitely stay here again when visiting Scottsdale. I finished getting ready for the day just before Jen returned from her morning walk. We made a quick lunch at the B&B before heading out for the day. Our next stop was to visit Amy at Greenbaum to see how she is doing with her recovery.
It was early afternoon when we arrived at Greenbaum to visit Amy, Jan was in her room keeping her company before we arrived. Amy was not feeling so great today as she was dealing a bad case of nausea. We were not really sure of the cause. We tried to comfort her and help her get thru this bump in recovery. The anti-nausea meds tended to make her sleepy, so she opted to avoid them when possible. Jen and I had planned to visit Phoenix Botanical gardens today, but decided it was a bit late in the afternoon for this; instead we stayed with Amy to keep her company. The time passed quickly as we chatted about everything from T* stuff to physics.
Jan reads a lot of Amine cartoon books and you always see the captions, “Sigh!” Jan used this in her conversation with us all that afternoon and by late afternoon she got Jen and I saying, “Sigh!” This stuck with us and eventually Amy looked at us and said,” Jan! You have forever changed the conversation between Jen and Nici.” I got to agree, since that time, the “Sigh!” really stuck with us. Amy was mixed for most of the day. We were hoping that she would be well enough to join us for dinner. But she never got over the nausea that whole day and it was hard on her to deal with.
By the time our dinner get together drew near, Amy was still not well. I had called Dr. Becky earlier this week to set up a dinner get together and somewhere in between, Donna Rose, Linda, and part of Roberta’s support group which we met earlier this week all decided on getting together for dinner on Thursday resulting in a big dinner group. Only problem is where, at the time when Dr. Becky and I had planned to GTG, we were going to meet at Oregano’s Pizza, but the group ended up at the Olive Garden. This group grew to about 12 and I ended up sitting next to Margaux with Donna in front of me. The words and conversation just poured out of us and by the end of dinner, Margaux and Donna wore me out. We all had a wonderful time together. One of the topics that came up was the degree of separation among individuals we know, it has been said that there are usually no more than seven degrees of separation among all of us, but within the trans community, it appears to be no more than one or two. In many ways, this is a relatively small community. After dinner we headed back to see how Amy was doing. When we arrived, Amy appeared to be doing better. We decided it was time for her grand opening gift. I picked it up from the table handed it to her. Amy looked that the odd blue wrapping with a card attached on top. She removed and opened the card and read the written words with a smile. She proceeded to open the gift. The mysterious blue wrapping turned out to be a chux pad. As more of the wrapping was removed, her eyes became big as saucers when it was revealed it was a box of Surgi-Lube! Amy’s eye’s rolled and let out a big laugh. We were all laughing pretty hard by now with Amy looking at the box of Surgi-Lube she just got. I asked her to open the box and when she did, inside the box were two books, “It’s a Girl Thing and Women of Substance” for her reading pleasure. Amy was touched and cheerful after what just happened and thanked us for the gift. Early summer last year, I sent a box of Surgi-Lube to my sis in Phx and when we met for dinner the night we arrived, she gave us a gift wrapped in this Surgi-Lube box. Our eyes rolled when we unwrapped the gift to discover the box of Surgi-Lube. When we opened the box, it contained a set of coffee cups for Jen and I. The gag was so funny that we decided it’s too good not to share. The idea of using a chux pad for the wrapping came when I was looking at the small bag of post-op stuff I got from Dr. Meltzer’s office. There were an entire set of events that ended up as part of Amy’s gift gag. We were pretty tired from the day’s events and it was time for us to head back to the B&B. We drove Jan back to the Holiday Inn where she is staying and continued on to our B&B for rest and bed time.
Every morning I have been keeping an eye on my labiapalsty to see how it is doing. The first time I saw it was the morning after surgery and post catheter removal and it looked like purple bruised and swollen hamburger. This Friday morning my LP looks far better; the swelling is better but has a long ways to go. I was doing the crab walk for the first few days post-op due to the swelling and to my amazement; my bottoms were a bit tight for the first day or two. What I can say is don’t take the Labiaplasty procedure lightly, it can be more involved than one might think. Jen was surprised at how much recovery time was involved with this. While I was up and around in a few days post and the pain level was not really high for me, there was still some of the usual post surgery tiredness. It is important to keep your bottom clean, incision lines covered with Bacitracin and avoid undiees when possible. I put a chux pad on the bed when I’m in bed to prevent drainage from staining the sheets. It is also a really good idea to stay off your feet for the first few days and ice on and off for the first day or so helped reduce the swelling in my case. Always brand thin pads without wings in the yellow package worked well when we were out and about, I changed them every time I went to the bathroom.
Nipple hypersensitivity continues to be the primary problem with my BA. They are still high, slightly swollen and hard, pretty much what you would expect for this point in the BA recovery process. They have not been significantly painful even when I push them together, from the top to bottom against my relocated breast crease. They feel slightly sore and slightly tender more than painful. They are so hard and firm that I cannot really feel the implant location, but there certainly is something in there. Lifting stuff is a bit more difficult for the first few days, it is not a good idea to lift anything of significant weight for a while anyway. This makes maneuvering yourself in bed with your arms and upper body a bit different for the first few days post BA. It’s going to take 2-6 months before the implants settle and they did change my posture even for the short time that I have them. I’m still a bit amazed that I actually got the breast aug after that entire struggle for so long. It still seems a bit unreal even when I’m constantly reminded I have them. My meds are now Tylenol and Motrin as needed, Arnica, Colace and Acidophilus as directed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After we got up from bed and did our usual routine, Jen went out for a long walk to Camelback and I decided to stay at the B&B to rest. We are planning to visit Phoenix Botanical Garden; it’s our last chance to do this before we head back home. When Jen arrived back from her walk, she told me that she hear a cyclist call out her name and it turned out to be Dr. Meltzer and a friend were out for a Friday bike ride. What were the chances that they would connect on a Friday morning, fate and the universe has a strange way of making things happen. Jen was pretty tired from that long walk so we made some coffee and food. We sat around to rest for a while before heading out for the day.
Our first stop today was to visit Amy at Greenbaum to see how she was doing. I was curious to see if her nausea has improved. We also had a gift for the nursing staff who works at Greenbaum RCC. When we arrived at Amy’s room, Jan was already there keeping Amy company. She looked a lot better today. We talked for a while sharing our times at Greenbaum and plans for our trip home.
Jen and I took a short break from our chat to give our gift to the nursing staff. I handed the gift wrapped in blue to Julie and she was wondering what it was wrapped with. As a few members of the nursing staff watched Julie take part of the wrapper off, everyone let a out a big laugh once they realized the gift was wrapped in a blue chux pad. Julie proceeded to open the box to reveal a crystal nurse on a mirror with a sign that reads, “Medicine Heals the Body, But Nurses Heal the Soul.” The staff really liked this gift from Jen and I. This crystal nurse remains at Greenbaum, you will find the crystal nurse at the corner of the main nursing staff counter. Jen and I headed back to Amy’s room. We sat down for a little while longer to chat, and a short moment later, Dr. Meltzer and Linda walked in. They looked as surprised as we were and we shared some warm greetings. Dr. Meltzer stopped in to see how Amy was doing and we just sat and watched as Dr. Meltzer did a check up and chat with Amy. We had just enough time for two pictures and once that was done, Dr. Meltzer and Linda headed off to see his next patient.
There is a “Dream Journal” for Dr. Meltzer’s patients. It contains the heart felt words from many patients who spent time at Greenbaum. The Journal was originated by Kara, a friend who is also a Dr. Meltzer girl. Some of the writings in that journal are very emotional, some are simply heart breaking to read and gives a bit of insight to those who have made this journey. It was strange for me to read what I wrote in that Journal just over a year ago. It is amazing to look back at where I was back then and where I’m at today. So much has changed since then, it brought back my memories of the emotional struggle that I had been dealing with for so long and now that struggle has become a faded memory. I was going to write a bitabout my recent time at Greenbaum in the Dream Journal, but our time for me to write ran out. It was late in the afternoon and time to drive over to Phoenix Botanical Garden before the sunsets.
We arrived at Phoenix Botanical Garden with no more than 3 hours before sunset and there was much to see. I have always enjoyed cactus for their shape, personality and tenacity to survive in a harsh enjoinment. Their flowers are pretty too. Once you get past the entrance, there is a main path that takes you to various desert setting which contains native plants, cactus and structures that native folks would live. We got to see only part of Phoenix Botanical Gardens before I was tired from the walk and the sun was beginning to set. For those who have an interest in cactus and what various desert environments might look like, this is good place to see this. The rest of our evening was spending sharing dinner with my sis in Phoenix. Once we were back at the B&B, we started the tasks of packing and getting ready for our trip home. As I began to pack our things for the trip home, I wonder where all the time has gone. It seems like yesterday when we arrived at PHX and was getting ready for my surgery date along with all my pre-op struggles. Now, all that is done and I had with few problems with my surgery and recovery so far. I’m thankful everything turned out this way. I guess fate and the universe was good to me this time.
posted by Rupunzell | 9:38 AM
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