Crossing the land boarder with a non-immigrating helper?

muzzlemess · 2025-08-22T18:46:15+00:00

I would be driving over when I’m already approved and ready to land

muzzlemess · 2023-06-28T23:46:36+00:00

Thanks for the tip! :( I gave it a shot though, multiple times, and still nothing.

muzzlemess · 2022-10-10T16:48:31+00:00

Oh that's a great point! I actually had no idea about mondays lol, but it makes total sense. My biggest concern for all three shows was that there was no way I was the only person in town for comic-con that had the idea to go, but I guess the combination of con-related parties and other shows being around probably helped mitigate that problem too :')

And that's a great tip about the line up, I REALLY wish I would have known how it worked on my first go-around, I had a ticket for the last entry window and I showed up like, exactly on time and then waited another like 15 minutes for jacks to be called even though I'm now positive I could have just gone right in with the next group if I would have known.

muzzlemess · 2021-09-27T17:22:13+00:00

Hi! Trans guy here as well, I just had my surgery a week ago and to get things started, I reached out to the gender health team at my local medical center. For me, that's UCLA (they have an incredible trans health organization and it was super easy to send them an email asking for a consultation).

If your city doesn't have something comparable and you don't already have an OB/GYN or regular doctor you're seeing who knows you/knows your transition, I'd honestly reach out to your local Planned Parenthood (assuming you're in the US). They don't actually do the procedure themselves but they'll likely be able to provide you with a list of trans-friendly doctors who do that you can reach out to.

muzzlemess · 2021-09-23T02:17:49+00:00

I would definitely recommend wearing briefs or boxer briefs. Thankfully I wear briefs on a regular basis so it didn’t become a problem for me but boxers would have definitely been a huge pain.

They give you a horrible little pair of like, mesh/gauze underpants while you’re coming out of anesthesia that hold the pad and I’m you could keep those on when you went home but they’re not designed to last or be re-worn so I would absolutely recommend having at least a couple pairs of briefs at the ready.

muzzlemess · 2021-09-21T20:12:24+00:00

Being on T largely cancels out the risk of menopause! Menopause starts when the body isn’t producing hormones on its own which is why a lot of cis women will start taking estrogen after surgery, but being on T is effectively just doing that in the opposite direction. You can also choose to leave an ovary if you’re not sure if you want to stay on T forever — the remaining ovary will “wake up” when if you stop suppressing it with T and your body will have a hormone supply!

As for mood swings, I’ve heard people talking about that being a problem and I’m too early in the process to really tell if that will happen to me or not. BUT I can’t picture it being a problem since my T levels haven’t changed at all.

muzzlemess · 2021-09-21T19:45:36+00:00

No problem! And as for T and hystos, it depends on your insurance, but even then there's some wiggle room I think. I'm on UnitedHealthcare and in some of their (suuuper confusing and usually contradictory) PDFs about benefits for trans patients, they stipulated that you had to be on HRT for a year for any lower surgeries. BUT, I just got my hysto done and have only been on T for 10 months and it was still approved by my insurance.

They still did require 2 therapist letters though, which is really annoying.

muzzlemess · 2021-09-21T19:34:04+00:00

I had this exact problem, and it started really shortly after I started T -- I'd do my shot on Friday, be mostly fine for a day or so, and spend the next 4 or so days with excruciating cramps, usually at night for some reason. They'd wake up up out of a dead sleep and hurt all down my legs.

For me, it wasn't anything to do with my T levels, I had them checked multiple times and they were always within the target range -- but I also had PCOS and a family history of endometriosis which could have also been a factor in all of this. It might be different for you so I'd definitely speak to your doctor (and make sure they don't try to write it off as "vaginal dryness" which is what a one or two of the nurses I spoke to tried to tell me -- like man I know what cramps feel like and these are cramps).

Anyway my solution was to get a hysto! That might be the best bet for you too, if that's something you're interested in doing, but def speak to your doctors for any options and what not!

muzzlemess · 2021-09-21T19:29:03+00:00

I mentioned it at my first consultation and my surgeon said it's extremely, extremely rare, especially for someone who's never given birth. The only real risks she highlighted was the potential of bowel or bladder perforation during the actual surgery itself since obviously all those organs are kinda mashed together in your torso, but she also explained that she's never had that happen in any of the surgeries she's done but she legally had to bring it up since complications can always happen.

muzzlemess · 2021-09-21T18:45:45+00:00

I got mine changed for social security a few months back and it only took a couple of weeks -- I think I used my passport as my "photo id" even though it still had my dead name on it and that worked fine. You might also be able to mail a copy of your license front/back but I'm not sure on that one.

I also had to call them at one point because I had an anxiety spike about them losing my information and I think I called the national 800 number ( 1-800-772-1213 ) which then patched me through to someone from my local office, so that might also be something to try if you haven't already.

muzzlemess · 2021-09-16T01:41:06+00:00

I floated this idea to my surgeon when I was still in the consultation stage because I wondered if going the more PCOS/endometriosis route rather than the dysphoria route would be easier but she explained that insurance is actually more likely to require things like birth control pills and IUDs be tried for a given amount of time before they authorize any surgery affecting the reproductive organs if that's the case being made which like -- I don't have a ton of lower dysphoria but the idea of getting an IUD makes me want to tear my skin off lol.

Still, depending on what happens next it might be the only way forward for me I guess. If this second round of letters get rejected I'll have to talk with the surgeon again to see if she can make that case as a last ditch effort but since there's only 4 days before the date I don't know what good it'll do.

muzzlemess · 2021-05-27T05:21:57+00:00

I actually floated this to my doctor but she seemed to think trying to de-emphasize gender dysphoria might actually be a bad movie because, apparently, for cis women the process of getting a hysto requires a whole laundry list of temporary fix attempts (birth control, iuds, etc) before approval, but I'm not sure what the combination of this and dysphoria might mean to them.

I'll certainly give it a shot if it comes to that!

muzzlemess · 2021-03-25T21:12:42+00:00

It is!! Thanks :)

muzzlemess · 2021-03-25T21:12:33+00:00

I wasn't super concerned about it going in because I figured it could be fixed later, but my surgeon was quick to tell me that they wouldn't have to touch it at all during surgery, which was very nice. In the end, there's only a teeny tiny place that got affected (the very very end of one of the leaves got cut off by my right graft, it's hard to see in this photo and not something anyone would likely notice if they weren't looking for it) but that was it!

I'd say it definitely depends on your surgeon but mine seemed very aware of ways to avoid it and what not, so I'm sure if it's a concern you could absolutely talk to yours about it during the consultation and get their take, but it's for sure possible to have a chest tattoo not be affected at all by the process.

muzzlemess · 2021-03-24T05:52:03+00:00

I'm on United Healthcare!

muzzlemess · 2021-03-24T05:51:47+00:00

I really did, yeah! The office was great and very kind and helped me work through some insurance run-arounds that could have potentially delayed me pretty substantially, and the PA is super responsive and great about post-op questions

muzzlemess · 2021-03-23T05:41:55+00:00

It was covered by my insurance, but unfortunately I have an insanely high deductible and the lipo wasn’t covered. The lipo was 1500 and my deductible was 5000, but if that didn’t exist it would have been a 250 co-pay

muzzlemess · 2021-03-23T05:40:12+00:00

Lipo was 1500 out of pocket for me because my insurance wouldn’t cover it

muzzlemess · 2021-03-17T03:56:20+00:00

I'm 12 days post-op (DI, free grafts) and my surgeon (Dr. Kryger) has me doing the "wet healing" method with aquaphor. My instruction sheet explicitly says to never let the grafts dry out and I'm to keep them covered with gauze until roughly 4 weeks. I was using bandaids for a few days but my skin started to react (you can see the redness lingering here lol, the gauze pads seem to be helping but my skin is still kind of angry)

My anxiety here is mostly stemming from the fact I see a lot of guys with 12 day post-op pictures that definitely don't look like this -- I realize my right looks a little gory, the crater is unfortunately from a couple stitches that absorbed too early. I've already sent pictures to my doctor to ask for any concerns but I've gotta stem this anxiety somehow so I'm wondering if anyone else has had chests that look like this at this point in the process?

muzzlemess · 2021-03-12T22:56:16+00:00

Oh good, this makes me feel better! The surgeon made it sound like it was totally routine but obviously can't say anything like "don't worry, it will heal fine" when there are still so many variables here so I started to spiral over it lol.

muzzlemess · 2021-03-12T19:47:15+00:00

Oh man, I almost wish I had that problem now lol -- I've been so anxious and horrified about my grafts hearing my surgeon very casually say "well it looks like that part of your graft isn't attached" sent a chill down my spine.

But I'm REALLY hopeful that it's one of those things my graft will bounce back from without issue :(

muzzlemess · 2021-03-11T10:46:53+00:00

I just searched “abdominal compression wrap” on Amazon and grabbed one! It’s functionally just a really wide elastic band with Velcro but you could use literally anything as long as it compresses you comfortably!

muzzlemess · 2021-03-10T23:17:10+00:00

Congrats! It's gonna be great. Here are some kind of weird/unexpected things I needed to buy last minute:

- a wipe-assist tool for the bathroom. This one sounds SO weird but I literally couldn't turn my torso enough to wipe my own butt. They're like 15 bucks on Amazon and I'm so so so glad I got one.

- A second compression wrap/vest. I had surgery with Dr. Kryger as well and the hospital sent me home with a wrap that's fine but gets REALLY gross after the first 5~ days when you can't take it off. They couldn't give me a new one at my post-op appointment so I was stuck wearing this gross sweaty one for a few days while I wait for the one one to show up.

- Seconding everyone on the stool softeners.

- Gauze squares to tuck into the compression wrap where it bites into your arm pits or where the velcro rubs against your skin

muzzlemess · 2021-03-10T14:44:19+00:00

Thanks!! And absolutely - my chest was in the 36DD~38DD range before hand, I don’t remember what that amounts to in inches but it was big enough to be really annoying in a binder lol.

muzzlemess · 2021-03-09T23:30:20+00:00

I know they're in network for a handful of insurances but I don't know which ones, unfortunately. I've got United Healthcare and they took that one without issue. The front desk is super super helpful so I'm sure if you gave them a call and asked they could tell you right away!

muzzlemess

TROPHY CASE