I think I’ll repost in a few days with lots of photos and descriptions of my preparation and the first few weeks of recovery, but for now, here’s my new beautiful (very swollen) face!
Are you also a Deschamps-Girl?
yes! how did you know?
I recognize the glasses head gear and nose cast job :)
Lol yes I also recognized the glasses holder and plaster cast!
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You look amazing 😻
How do you feel?
I still breathe 100% through my mouth, and I’m not used to dry climates like SF. For that reason alone: absolutely miserable.
Everything else has progressed shockingly fast and I’m super excited to see what I look like casts off, even with the lingering swelling. So in that sense: pretty good?
Doing this during peak COVID has been surreal/scary.
I would give anything to eat something other than Soylent and breathe/smell even a little bit through my nose 😭 Hopefully that will be soon.
Getting the cast removed is an incredible experience. Dr D gets way into it it’s really cute.
I feel you on the mouth breathing - it sucks. I finally stopped a couple weeks ago.
Start with soft foods! I rode the soylent train for a while. Slow steps - you’ll get there. And you’re looking fabulous.
Sounds like you're not local but if you can a humidifier was a massive help for me.
Sorry to hear you're uncomfortable because of the dry air. I'm like that, too. Are you able to find a humidifier for your room? Just one with a spinning fan over a pool of water is best. The misting kinds are gimmicks.
How much did your surgery cost? And who was your surgeon? TIA x
I plan to see DB but my budget is only 50k so I'm only going to get what I can with that much. The rest will have to wait.
Deschamps-Braly. A lot, like the high end of high, but I got it covered through insurance—which required a great deal of effort. It was totally worth it though. I never would have been able to do FFS with Dr. D otherwise.
Do you feel comfortable sharing who your insurance company is and/or where your general location is?
NYC. Aetna, provided via my employer’s parent company IAC. They/we are self-insured (as many large corporations are) and thereby have the ability to work with Aetna to modify/extend coverage beyond their normal clinical policies.
We have an HMO/HSA (i think?) plan, and a more expensive PPO/FSA plan that allows out of network service. I am on the latter. My FFS was covered as in-network via a network deficiency something something bureaucratic and LOTS of back and forth between me, IAC, my employer, and Aetna.
I hope that things will be easier for future IAC trans employees after a few of us have labored through this a few times.
Is that a head band for holding glasses? I didn't even think about not wanting something on your face afterwards. Do you know how long until you can wear your glasses normally?
6 weeks. I got a new contacts prescription before surgery, and may wear them instead for awhile once all my casts are off and swelling is down. I strongly prefer glasses because of my astigmatism.
I can't do contacts either, it's nice to know that there's some way to still see more than blobs. I hope your recovery goes well and heals up nicely.
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