Tomorrow I leave for the hospital. It should be interesting. Here is my schedule for the week:

Monday Aug 2: Leave for hospital around 1:00 in the afternoon. Get there around 3:00. 3:30 is the pre-surgical consultation. After that I'll probably relax for a little while. Later that night I get to go through bowel prep....not so excited about that.

Tuesday Aug 3: 7:30 am surgery begins. I should be out of the OR by noon. After that...it's pain and recovery.

Wednesday Aug 4 through Tuesday Aug 10: Relax and recover in the hospital. I wont be allowed out of my bed for the majority of that time. I probably wont be able to even roll on my side. On the 10th I'm discharged.

Wednesday Aug 11 and Thursday Aug 12: Staying at the Holiday Inn near the hospital. After that I head to my parents house.

Friday Aug 13 through Aug 31: Recover at parents house

I think it'll go well. I'm not really all that scared. I'm just nervous and excited. I can't believe this is really happening. I dreamed about this at five years old. It's truly a dream come true. Today I went shopping with my mom for some loose fitting clothing to wear during my few days after the surgery is done. It's going to be a painful time, so they want light, loose fitting stuff to wear. I'm sure I'll be leaking, so these clothes are getting their only use this week.

The "Bye Bye Penis" party didn't quite happen as planned. I got a lot of "I'm not sure if I can make it" e-mails. I invited a ton of people, but the day just didn't work out for a ton of my friends. One was in Italy, another got stuck out of state forced to move out of his apartment, another friend was closing on her house in Illinois, most of my friends from school just couldn't get time away from work to drive the three and a half hours to my parents house, etc. I had a few people come and it was still fun. I know without a doubt that the "Hello Kitty" party will be a heck of a lot more fun though. Everyone in my college town wants to come. The friends who couldn't make it due to conflicts told me they will be there. I think there will be a packed house for it.

I have some good ideas for the party too. We want to make paper mache pussy lips to put around the door frame that people enter through. Also, we could hang a camel toe for people to kiss under ;). We could play pin the cooter on the transsexual. I'm sure there's a ton more ideas that can be had with this party too. My friend Annie wants to help me make them. She's an art major and also a lesbian. We went to high school together. She was very excited when I suggested the paper mache labia. It was so cool seeing her, since I haven't in many years. She brought me two dozen roses! I still am a bit surprised at that. They are very pretty. I loved her line she said before she left the party..."It was great to see you now that you've gotten all hot and stuff." I blushed. It was cute. She may visit me in the hospital. That should be cool.

I've learned that when I'm worried or nervous, I dream of storms. For the past three nights there have been thunderstorms and tornadoes in my dreams. I've been waking up a lot and can't sleep very long. It's worth the frustration though. Today I distracted myself by helping my father cut the grass. We had a great dinner too. I figure I can eat how I want tonight since it's all coming out tomorrow anyway. I hope I can sleep tonight.

I haven't heard from Jill since I got home. She may or may not visit. It's ok if she doesn't. I understand her reasons. I hope she knows I'm totally ok with just being friends with her. I sent her an e-mail of my time in the hospital and numbers to find out what room I'm in. I tried to be clear that I'm not pressuring her into anything. I didn't hear back...so, we'll see what happens.

Well, it's really hot in my parents house. I want to go outside and cool off. Everyone please wish me luck on the surgery. I'll write again after I get home on the 11th. Bye everyone.

Luv,

Jess

Today I head back home. It's my last day of work, and amazingly, I've actually planned ahead. Last night I did my dishes, cleaned up the apartment as much as I could, and packed all my stuff up. So, for once, all I have to do when I get home is grab my toiletries and any other miscellaneous items and head home. I'll actually get home at a decent time instead of after midnight. I may even have time to go shopping for my party tomorrow. Amazing isn't it?

It's been pretty unusual at work this week. It's been really busy. Usually on Fridays we sit on our butts, listen to music, and don't do much of anything. Today it's been call after call, we have about four or five computers to work on, laptops keep coming in and out...kind of annoying really. It's nice to have a slow day each week. We haven't had one this week. Of course, it's always that way the week before I leave. Oh well. At least it went by really fast.

I grabbed all the stuff I plan on doing while in the hospital, and it was a rather large pile. I was able to fit most of it in my backpack though. I brought along a ton of movies, books, and video games. I hope I wont be too bored. I might pick up some more books this weekend before I head out to the hospital on Monday. I read pretty quick and might finish a book a day.

My boss is lending me her smart media card for my camera. I can usually only take 25 pictures before my camera is full. I never invested in a decent sized memory card. So, she's being nice so I can take a bunch of pictures for the website. You'll get to see how crappy I look the day of the surgery. I'm hoping someone will be kind enough to take a lot for me. We'll see.

Anyway, this entry has literally taken me hours to write. It's just so busy. I think I'll leave it at this for now. I'll write again some time this weekend. Tomorrow's the Bye Bye Penis party, and of course I have to report on that. See ya later.

Luv,

Jess

Hehehe...sorry Jill. I couldn't resist. Anyway, today was my last laser treatment for a while. It hurt, as usual. I made it through it ok though. There was one spot I knew was going to hurt, and it did quite a bit. Overall though, the bum is not that bad...just certain parts of it. Anyway, moving on...

The most embarrassing part of today was when I went to pay for the treatment. It was $195.08...which is the normal price for it, but it's still a lot. I don't get paid until tomorrow, nor has my paypal withdrawal gone through yet. It sucks that it takes three or four days for that. So, I was relying on the $500 protection that I thought I had. The card was declined. Turns out the protection works for any transaction...but has nothing to do with the acceptance of my debit card. So, I had to hold a balance on my card and send a check in by mail instead. I felt really dumb and embarrassed.

Aside from that, the day went pretty well. I don't know what it is with this week, but everyone on campus is having computer issues. The helpdesk is really busy. It's not so bad though. It keeps my mind occupied and the hours go by pretty fast. I forget that I'm tired and that I haven't been sleeping well.

Speaking of which, last night wasn't a good night. It took me probably an hour to fall asleep. I just tossed and turned that whole time. It was frustrating. Then, I kept waking up throughout the night. I know I dreamt a few times. In one interesting dream I was back in high school playing dodge ball with college friends. I could fly through the hallways, and then met up with Spiderman and some other heroes later. After that I got stuck in a large airport/hotel with my old high school friend, Missy. I am so weird.

Tonight I have to pack my things. Tomorrow I head home. Surgery is four days away. I just can't believe it's here already. I wonder how the party will go this weekend. I hope people come and have a good time. I wont be prepared at all. I can't really by frozen foods ahead of time...like hot dogs and such. Nor can I by just about anything. Being broke doesn't help either. Oh well.

Jill says I end too many of my diary entries with "I'm hungry. I'm going to go eat." So...I'm not hungry. I'm not going to go eat. However, I am at work. So I should probably get back to that. ;) See you later.

Luv,

Jess

I'm definitely getting nervous. It's 6 days away and I can feel it pretty strong. I may start having trouble sleeping, we'll see. All I have to remember is that I'll be sleeping a lot in the next couple weeks. That should be enough to get me through my day. At least, I hope it will be. I'm not scared. I know I'll live and that there wont be any problems. I've just never had major surgery before, and it's making me a little jittery. Maybe I should take a nap...if I can. I am tired. I was up a little late last night.

Speaking of last night, I talked to Jill. We had a big talk actually. I was honest with her and told her how I feel. She was awesome and was honest with me too. She's still having reservations, but not because of me. She's over the issues of me being trans. She really lifted a weight off of me there. I have been paranoid about that forever now. She's actually more worried about hurting people and hurting me again. I'm not going to go into detail or anything. I respect her privacy, but now I understand what's going through her head.

It made me think back to the few days before Jill and I met. We already know both her and I are dorks for meeting on hotornot.com. I got the double match notification early in the week. I debated for a few days about whether I wanted to even e-mail her. All I could think about was what happened with the last girl I met online. I got really hurt then. I wasn't sure I wanted to put myself through the possibility of the same thing again. Eventually I realized that getting hurt is a part of relationships and love. If I don't risk getting hurt, I'll never meet anyone. So I went for it and e-mailed her. I knew what I was getting into. That's one reason why I forgave her right away.

So, after that conversation, I felt really good about things. I don't know what will happen with Jill, but I do know that she'll be at least a good friend. I don't think she'll up and run off again. She's changed a little now. My trust level went up too. So I'm happy. I hope she works through some of the issues she's having so we can have a good friendship at least. I'll be there for her if she needs to talk. Anyway, I'm starving and it's dinner time. See ya later.

Luv,

Jess

We're talking regularly again. It's almost as if nothing happened and we've been talking the whole time....almost. I definitely am still attracted to her. I'm being very cautious now though. I guess I just don't want to get hurt again. I've been trying to keep my distance, but not really. Like, I really want to talk with her and still get to know her still, but I also don't want to let myself get so attached like I was. I guess what I'm saying is, I'm really trying to think of her as a friend for right now even though a big part of me wants to think of her as more than that. As I've said many times before, I hate having crushes.

I haven't asked her how she feels, but I'm not sure I really need to or want to. I haven't decided yet. I may just let things go as they have been. I still am not sure how comfortable she is with me. But anyway, aside from all that questioning and caution, I'm really enjoying talking to her again. I'm happy she's still in my life. :)

I was invited over to a friend's house for dinner last night.It was the person who runs the queer group for the local high school. Her name is Beth. She's married and has a little girl Lucy, who's almost a year old. Lucy is just enthralled with me. She just stares at me with big wide eyes. When I smile at her, she gets a huge smile on her face. She was coming over by me all night on her own. It was a little awkward for me, but it was so cute. She's adorable. They have two kitties as well. One of them is very friendly. Beth said she's never seen the kitty so comfortable with anyone. I think it's my nails she likes. The other kitty tends to be shy, but she seems to be more comfortable with me too. She let me touch her, and she also sat in the same room as the rest of us. Normally that doesn't happen. I apparently have a comforting presense in that house. Needless to say I had a good time. It was a nice, relaxing evening with friends.

I looked at my finances for the week and discovered that I wasn't going to have any money to pay for the party this weekend. One of my friends found out and donated money to me. To the person who donated, I know you read this and thank you. It really helps. I hate being broke. I know it's a part of college, but it still sucks having to ask for help all the time.

Tonight's another meeting for the youth group I'm volunteering for. It should be fun. I've enjoyed it so far. This is my last week with them until after surgery. I can't believe the surgery is so close. Honestly I haven't been thinking about it as much lately because I keep thinking about the surprise of Jill reappearing. I think that's a good thing. If I focused on the surgery I'd probably be so nervous that I'd be throwing up. Just more proof that everything happens for a reason. I still can't believe I have less than a week to go before my dream comes true. It's just amazing. Anyway, I should probably go get ready for the group tonight. Bye everyone.

Luv,

Jess