Friday October 13, 2023

Friday October 13, 2023

Happy Oct 13th to all who celebrate. The only thing that has been spooky for me has been hungover all day. Last night we went to a Mexican restaurant and I had one margarita. It went to my head despite eating a lot of food. I woke up in the middle of the night to pee twice and had heartburn the whole time. I took my morning meds at 6 so I could take some Prevacid for my stomach. It helped.

I have been in a kind of weird space. Last night I was reading Thinking about Suicide and thought about writing a few pages about it as I have thought about it since I was eight years old. Mostly because I was not a boy. It was crushingly painful. I had some ideas about what to write but I didn’t write them down. Now I forgot.

Last night while I was eating my steak tacos, a piece of steak broke what remained of my broken tooth on the left side. Now the tooth next to it is broken and it is sharp. I called today to see if I can be seen to get evaluated but I need a dentist referral for it. I just hope I don’t cut my tongue on it.

I feel really shitty today. I had two cups of coffee and it did nothing for my hangover. I still need to brush my teeth and shave and I have no energy or motivation to actually do it yet. I will do it but I just am psyching myself up for it. It’s one of those days where self-care is taking the back seat. I put drops in my eyes because I think my dry eyes have returned. My left eye keeps tearing and feels like there is sandpaper in it. I wish I had an eye doctor that was closer than the one I have currently. I could go to the one in Boston but I hate that office.

I feel so tired and I have only been up for like 5 hours. I want to go back to sleep or at least lay down. I just had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as I was too lazy to make a tuna sandwich. I might have it tomorrow. I haven’t eaten much but yet my stomach feels full. It has been really weird lately. Like I eat something and it feels full all the time. Yet when I eat, I feel ravenous. I still have to be careful with what I eat as something dry will get stuck in my throat. The tacos last night had wicked dry meat. It sucked. They had a few pieces of meat and a shit ton of lettuce and cheese. I still experimenting with this restaurant to see what I like. I order something new on the menu every time I have gone.

My foot is cold. I have tried to warm it up but it refuses. Damn CRPS. I shut the ceiling fan off because it is cool today. I can’t get my pain meds until tomorrow, hopefully. I hope they have it in stock. I called the pharmacy today and was told it should be ready by 6 so we’ll see. I have to pick up my T as well. If they are ready, I will probably go to Starbucks for a coffee. I bought Pike’s yesterday. I did a little grocery shopping. I bought eggs and more cream. I made a nice burrito. Someone ate all my tortillas I am not happy about this. My niece eats my sugar and my nephew eats my tortillas.

tired from one fricken outing

Tired from one fricken outing

I had a dentist appointment today. I got up a couple of hours before it so I could shower and shave. I had my last k-cup of real coffee. Now I just have the fake stop and shop brand coffees which suck. I wanted to go to the grocery store after my appointment but I was too fucking tired. I spent like two hours at the dentist. I had a cleaning and then was seen by the dentist to go over the work that I need on my teeth. I have a tooth that needs a root canal and cavities all over the place. It is going to cost me close to a grand just for the root canal, which thankfully includes the crown. The first time I had a root canal I had to pay like $1500 and that didn’t include the crown. I luckily had a nice Russian dentist following up that gave me a crown for nothing. He is long gone now. This place wants money up front and I don’t have it. It is going to take me a long while to save a grand. I still need to save up to $500 for the editor. I am slowly paying off my credit card debt that I got behind on but there are still some cards I haven’t been able to make a payment on because the minimum is too high.

I had therapy yesterday and we spent the entire session talking about how to deal with my sister. It wasn’t a good session. We both got aggravated with each other. She wanted me to work on my cognitive distortions but I had a hard time coming up with some. She had to literally define it for me because I was so lost. By the time I figured it out, session was up. I hate it when she throws CBT at me and then some DBT shit. She kept on saying I was in emotional mind, a DBT term. The distortions are CBT. I was so aggravated. I fucking hated when she said I was “making myself depressed” because of the cognitive aspect of it all. Like fuck, how are you supposed to feel when she has no sympathy because I am depressed and thinks I am supposed to be “cured” because I had top surgery and am on meds and in therapy! Like WTF.

I am stressed out over money. My account is overdrawn by $90, which means I am going to be short my next pay period. I still owe my sister money for the gas and electric bills. I am trying to pay every thing but its fucking hard when you only get paid once a month and it is the same amount each month. And birthday month is coming up. I want to get my baby sister something nice for all the things she does for me. I missed her birthday last year because I was in the hospital. I am glad we aren’t celebrating Christmas this year so I don’t have to worry about gifts. We are going away but I am not sure I can afford meals. Just truly sucks.

Indigenous People’s Day 2023

Indigenous People’s Day

Happy Indigenous People’s Day to all who celebrate.

I had a migraine today, brought on by artificial sweetener. We are out of sugar and I forgot to order some on my last grocery order. I meant to do it, but it slipped my mind. If I don’t do things when I think of them, they don’t get done. I plan on getting some this week. I might have to pay more if I go to Walgreens. I am going to see if I can get to a grocery store where the price might be lower. Paying five bucks for four pounds is a lot. I also plan on getting eggs as we are out. Funny how its my sister’s daughter who has been the person eating them and yet I have to pay for it.

I got into a fight with my sister today over a fucking frying pan. I cooked bacon yesterday and left the pan. I planned on cleaning it but I got tired, like I usually do after I cook a meal. My sister think I am tired because “I am in bed all day sleeping”. This got me mad and when I said it was because of depression, she scoffed with “you’re on meds and in therapy and you had top surgery” like all that is a fucking cure. The sink was full of fucking dishes. I ended up emptying the dishwasher and then loading it again with the stuff in the sink. I left the two frying pans and scissors. I washed them and then had to sit for a bit because all these chores flared up my back. My foot got into it, too. It has been flared since this afternoon. Hopefully when I take gabapentin in about an hour it will settle down.

My therapist changed my time and also put that I will be seeing her virtually so fuck it, I won’t be going into town to see her. I plan on getting my haircut and having real coffee at Starbucks before our appointment. I might get two coffees as the Stop and Shop K-cups suck. Even when I use the “strong” button on the Keurig it makes it weaker. Nothing I can do about it until I get my SNAP benefits on Wed. I might go to the store then and get the eggs, sugar, and coffee.

Last night I started a new book. It’s not really a memoir but sort of is. It’s a dissertation on Thinking about Suicide by David Webb. He holds his PhD in suicidology, the first to have this degree. I am not sure where he got it but I am interested to know more. He is from Australia. It’s an interesting book and easy to read. It is giving me ideas about my book that I am writing. I don’t think I am going to have chapters. I am up to 83 pages with my latest writing. I somehow got to come up with $500 for the editor. I might have to stop my Starbucks funds for a bit.

I am feeling worn out. I took the recycling and trash bags out of my room and had my niece put them in their respective bins. I managed to brush my teeth today. I didn’t shave though. I had dreams of my mother throughout the night, followed by headaches. Hope I get to have some decent sleep tonight.

Trans joy is real

TW suicide

I am experiencing trans joy!! Much better than euphoria. I am finally me. I attended a transgender conference about gender affirming care and I resonated with the speaker. As I walked I kept looking down at my chest and wondered where my boobs were. Top surgery has been so wonderful for me. I realized I am no longer a bearded lady but a true man. As sad as I am about my mother’s death, I know it was a blessing as she was so against top surgery and I know I would not be able to handle her negative comments. I am finally happy with who I am. I may not have a perfect chest but I think the surgery went well. Last year at this time I was recovering from a suicide attempt due to dysphoria. Amazing how things can change in a year. Trans joy is real.

I vaguely remember how confused and psychotic I was. I was admitted for 30 days to a hospital on the north shore. About 2 and half weeks into the stay, I found out my surgery was postponed and I was bullshit. I wanted to die and I know if I wasn’t in the hospital, I would have tried again. As the social worker told me, this was life- saving surgery. It was so hard to believe this when my mother was dying. Too much was happening after my surgery. My mother never saw me once the bandages were off. It is just as well as the night they came off, my scar became open and I bled. I had to pack the wound for weeks. The scar isn’t pretty but I am hoping it will fade with time. I know my mother would bitch about it with her sarcastic comments that would hurt me. I am glad she isn’t around to hurt me anymore. She didn’t like me being trans and she didn’t like me getting top surgery. But I had to be me and have this surgery that was so important to my mental health.

Today was the first time I was looking for my boobs and was happy that they weren’t there anymore. I felt more confident in myself. I didn’t really meet anyone at the conference. I was way older than even the speaker of the gender affirming care presentation. I’m lucky my genes have me still look like I’m in my 20s. I’m happy I got up early for this. I was nervous because I am not a morning person and I woke up at like 330. Luckily I fell back asleep without a serious hangover effect. Otherwise I would be kicking myself for missing today’s events.

It was really hard to feel euphoria after my mother’s death. The sadness I had felt for months continued for several more months. She has been gone for six months and I am post op 6 months. It’s a happy and sad predicament. Grief is something I don’t always control. It comes in waves. Not only am I grieving my mother, but the self that was dysphoric for so long. The teenage me who didn’t understand why I had breasts in the first place. It’s a lot to process. It is especially hard with depression that has been bad all week. I never thought I would feel joy until today. I know it may not last long but I have the scars on my chest to remind me of it.