A Day of Misgendering

A Day of Misgendering

Yesterday my mother’s occupational therapist kept misgendering me as well as my sister who called me sister instead of brother. My mother’s blood pressure was low and so I had to stay with her while going through with her doctors on what to do about it. My mother was not a good patient as she didn’t want to stay still. I told her she had to stay sitting or laying down and she said she doesn’t take orders from her daughter. I said I am not your daughter and she replied then whatever you are. I said oh really and she was indignant as she said yes, whatever you are. I felt so hurt. I wanted to cry but I couldn’t. She became more stable as the day progressed and I was glad we didn’t have to take her to the hospital. But the damage was done to my heart. I don’t think I can forgive her for this.

With all the care that my mother required and with me walking all over the house, my back flared up. I had groceries delivered and that just made things worse. I some how managed though. I think my back being flared up is messing with my bladder. I have been having trouble urinating all week. My urologist finally got back to me and if I haven’t gone in 8+ hours I need to cath. So now I got to keep track of my voids again. I have no idea if I am emptying completely or not. I made an appointment for urodynamic testing in a couple of weeks.

Because I had to take care of my disrespectful mother, I had to cancel therapy. I hated doing it because I really wanted to talk to my therapist about the misgendering. I was pretty angry and hurt about this. I kept having to say that I am my mother’s son and it just wasn’t registering. I felt pretty hopeless about being a transgender around my family. I thought my sisters would get that I am their brother because I set them memes about how a brother loves their sister. I guess it didn’t click.

I need to shave and shower today. My hair is getting to be manageable again, though the top is too long and needs to be cut. I didn’t realize how long it was until I started shaving my head and it went up like a mohawk. I want to go out today. It is really nice outside and warm. I want to get a steak and maybe I can grill it as my sister has the BBQ on her porch. I wouldn’t mind getting some steak tips either. My mother’s PT is coming in a little while so I might do it after he leaves.

I don’t know what to say

I don’t know what to say

Been a hard few days for me with pain and depression. I had therapy Wednesday and it was a disaster. I became suicidal after we went over some negative thoughts and then we both became frustrated. I told her I didn’t want to be in the hosp. She wanted me to join a group of some sort. I called the chronic pain support and they have a long waiting list so I won’t be able to go to that for a while. I got the impression she doesn’t know how to support me when I am suicidal. Yesterday I wrote her a message telling her about the suicide response plan and safety planning by Brown and Stanley. I don’t care which one we use but I think it is important to use one of them. I told her I prefer the suicide response plan because it is what Jobes uses for CAMS. I told her what CAMS was and how I find benefit from it but there are no CAMS trained therapists in Boston.

I got really upset and thought she didn’t want to work with me anymore because she said that she was tired of this cycle we get in when I get suicidal. She wants me to check the facts about this. I was sure she didn’t want to work with me anymore because I was too suicidal. I still feel like I might need another therapist but I know finding one now is going to be impossible because of the pandemic and because of my history.

Last night I had a runny nose and was sneezing my head off. I felt lousy. I still feel like I am coming down with a cold so I am trying to limit my exposure to my mother in case I am sick. I need to shower and shave my head. I got my haircut Wed. I didn’t have it all nice when I was talking to my therapist though. I had rinse out the hairs and it was messy. I didn’t care. I haven’t showered all week. I am trying to get enough energy to do it. I just feel so tired and don’t want to do anything. I really need to go to the grocery store to get more Gatorade. I have just six bottles right now. That is not going to be enough for the month, or even a week.

Yesterday I had PT and my deltoid is sore today. It feels bruised but there is no bruise mark on it. She did a lot of work on my arms yesterday. I got more stretches for my neck. I am glad because my neck has been such a pain. I need to put heat on it. Only thing is my family keeps moving my heat wrap on me so when I am in the kitchen, it isn’t there for me to throw in the microwave. It is the only way I can put heat on. PT also gave me some tennis balls for my back and hamstring. I have to rig something to have it between my shoulder blades. She said that I can use scotch tape but I think the balls will be too heavy for it. Will try it and see. Otherwise I will have to think of something else. Maybe a sock or something.

I got a letter from my pcp yesterday. He is leaving to go to the CDC. His last day is April 1st. This really sucks because I really liked him. He was a good doctor. I am going to miss him. I see him Monday for a follow up. It will be our last. Really sucks.

pain, pain, and more pain

Pain, pain, and more pain

I have been severely depressed and in a lot of pain with my shoulder and neck the past few days. Yesterday I went to PT for some more dry needling. She checked my progress and I have improved a lot since first going to her but the pain and sleep have not gotten any better.

A psychiatrist I follow on Twitter told me about some Taylor Swift journals so I had to have them. I just got them today and they are purdy. I can’t wait to write in them. I am still writing in a Harry Potter journal. I haven’t been writing lately. Been so hard for me to write down my thoughts lately. I know it has been a while since I last blogged. I have been really struggling with the depression. Pain has been making the depression worse so it cycles. My therapist thinks that I am in my head too much. I don’t know what that means. I got to ask her when I see her Mon. We are going to do the CBT pain workbook together. I hope that this book will help me.

I emailed my neurosurgeon asking him if my weight restriction could be increased to 15 lbs. Right now I am not supposed to lift more than 5 lbs. He gave me the okay as long as I didn’t get a headache from doing so. I feel like I have made some progress. I still am deconditioned as I brought my groceries up the stairs by myself and got really winded. It took me like six trips because there was six bags. I only bought ten Gatorade. It wasn’t the flavor I wanted but that is ok. I will go to the grocery store tomorrow and get the flavor I like. It is supposed to snow tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes. There is supposed to be some good weather next week so hopefully I can go then if this weekend’s weather is shitty.

I am in so much pain in so many body parts it isn’t funny. Mostly the pain is on my left side. I want to cry. But the tears aren’t coming. It has been so hard to cry lately. I feel like I should, I probably would feel better but I just can’t seem to let myself. I feel like watching old baseball games or Sox highlights of the 2004 and 2007 games so I can cry. It will be the same release, except instead of sad tears they will be happy tears. I am such a wimp. I watched the 2007 series DVD and cried throughout it. I swear I went through a box of tissues.

I just tweeted to the psychiatrist that I got the new journals so now we are having a conversation about how to get another lyric printed. This is so fun. Another therapist friend had a predictive text for therapist and this is what mine said “my therapist told me I am not going to be in a relationship because of my favorite country artist”. HA HA. I love it. I can’t wait to show her on Monday.

pain and therapy

Pain and therapy

I had therapy today and I was in a rotten mood. We talked about how scared I was about my mother being in the hospital and her heart being dysfunctional. Then I talked about how I wanted to die. I told her to just write me off as hopeless. She said there are no hopeless cases. I really wanted her to say ok, I won’t see you anymore just so I could off myself. But she isn’t going to do that. We set up another appointment for the week and we will start the managing chronic pain book. I asked if I needed to keep the appointment and she said it would be for me if I keep it.

I don’t know if I am going to keep it. I got the fuck its big time and just don’t want to do a damn thing except kill myself. But I can’t right now and that sucks. I am in a lot of pain with my shoulder/neck. I started hurting with leg pain before my suicidal melt down. We were talking about how PT really hurt and I wanted to die but instead told the PT that I wanted to cry. She said that I couldn’t cry so she put some biofreeze on me. Thing me sweat so bad. My shirt was soaked by the time I got home.

I have PT tomorrow. I was talking to a friend that has had shoulder injuries and she said it could be years for knots to be taken out. I hope that doesn’t happen to me. I will hate being in pain for years with this. I will definitely die if that happens. The pain is horrible. The pain goes around my ear and in my jaw. It is so awful. I am hurting something really bad and I can’t go on like this. I just can’t.

I finally changed my sheets today. I am in my mother’s bed as the new foam topper takes shape. It could be up to 48 hours for it to hold shape. UGH I didn’t know this. So tomorrow my niece will help me make my bed. I tried today and my back wouldn’t have it. I folded my clothes and it took all the energy I had to do it. My back was so bad. I would have done the dishes but I was hurting too much. My ankle has flared up now so I am stuck in bed. I took double my BT meds. I hate doing that because I can’t take more if I need it. But sometimes two work better than one pill. I am getting tired so I should be going to bed shortly. I just wanted to write this down while I was still up.