Just wanted to share how excited I am tyhat my top surgery will be done on August 7, by Dr Browstein. It was a fluke that I got a date this soon. I called my theripist and left her a message that I need my letter, and she calls me back last night and said I caught her off guard! She's like "what have I seen you only twice"? I said no, three times and Saturday will make four! She is cool though, she is presenting my case to the board next Friday, then I will get my hormone referal and she told me I will have my letter before August, just not htis Saturday. Excellent. ;)
Marco
Congrats! :) Good luck with the board next Friday, let us know how that goes for you.
That is so cool, congratulations Marco.
Steph
Congrats, Marco!
Good luck on your surgery.
Nero
Hey Babe...
Since your phone is off and I see you are online, hopefully you will get this message tonight. I love the new pic...very sexy! What are you doing??? I don't want people drooling over you! :P
I miss you and can't wait to see you tomorrow morning. No falling down now before then!! :-*
I love you!
Hey Babe,
What are you doing???????????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quote from: MarcosGirl on May 26, 2006, 01:14:08 AM
What are you doing??? I don't want people drooling over you! :P
It's ok. They'll just be jealous of you. ;)
Melissa
Thanks Melissa
Marco
Hey now...that's my man!! I'll box for him if I have to! :) O.K. girls...you can drool, but back off...he's mine! ;D ;D ;D
:D Wow, Aug 7th a real date! Congrats! I am very happy for you and yours. It'd be very cool if you guys came up for the wedding in April. We are getting married in Tofino, a very beautiful place on Vancouver Island, BC Canada (just to be clear). Tino saw his hormone doctor again today & will eventually start T again in a few weeks. It seems like such a long wait or everything! I am very excited you have a surgery date. Do you and Pam live together?
Take Care ~ Spike 8)
Quote from: MarcosGirl on May 26, 2006, 01:14:08 AM
- - -I love the new pic...very sexy! What are you doing??? I don't want people drooling over you! :P - - -
Too late. :D He is kinda hot looking :D
Steph
omg im so happy for you will finally be free'd from the world of breasts damn thats great news!!!!!!!!
Dude!!! Congrats!!! You must bne counting the Seconds!!! :eusa_dance: :icon_joy:
Amber
Marco, love the new picture.
Lookin good, man!
Nero
Spike,
Yes, Pam and I live together, last night I was up at my "house" where my kids live. That is why we were not together during those posts, and when the new picture of me went up. My daughter Mariah put it up for me, she took the picture too. Count on Pam and I being there in April. I have never been to Canada. Pam said she was there when she was 9. How was camping? Sounds like Tino and I will be back on T around the same time. Cool.
Marco
Posted at: May 26, 2006, 10:45:00 AM
Thanks Steph. Pam's used to it.
Marco
Congrats, that's almost the one year anniversary of my surgery :) Had mine August 3, last year.
When are you getting married, Spike? Yeah, Tofino is beautiful. Expensive accommodation, even camping, but if you know the area, you can get a site outside town for a reasonable price. I'm just a few hours away from Tofino and often ride my motorbike up there. That road is great for a bike.
Dennis
Posted at: May 26, 2006, 01:40:15 PM
Oh, Marco, I'm sure you've found this information elsewhere, but here's a list of things you should take with you for surgery:
Wet wipes (can't shower for a while, gets kinda gross otherwise)
Bendy straws for drinking
Sweatpants
Button down shirts (you won't be able to pull a shirt over your head. Have to be big enough to accommodate drains)
Slip on shoes (can't bend down to tie them)
Latex gloves if your drain-emptier is a little squeamish
An herbal laxative (anaesthetic will immobilize the bowels. Don't use this too soon though because you won't be able to use your arms to wipe your own butt!)
Snacks and drinks
Books or something - American TV drove me insane. Maybe you're more used to it though. Seemed like there was nothing but Seinfeld reruns or reality shows on 24/7.
Scissors in case your binder digs into your armpit. I didn't bring these and have a lovely scar by my left armpit where it chafed through.
Brownstein will pin your drains for you and will provide a binder. Have fun sleeping on your back for a month :/
Dennis
Dennis,
Hey that is funny that you mentioned your surgery being a year at the time I will have mine. I said that today to Pam. I think you should plan on riding your bike to Spike's wedding.Pam and I are going to go. We can have a Susan's thing along with it. Now the big Canadian show that airs here is DeGrassi. Do you know of it? My almost 15 year old daughter LOVES that show, and it does have a catchy tune. Last summer I took her to Los Angeles to a huge mall, stood in line for hours in the heat, damn near dehydrated, just so she could touch them and get an autograph. One of the two is her favorite actors. She keeps telling me she wants to go to Canada and get on the show. Thanks for the tips on what to bring along. What are the wet wipes for?
Marco
Wet wipes are cause you can't wash. Keeps the, er, smell down. Swipe one in your pits (this will, in practice mean painfully pulling your arm up and pushing it into the small space between your other arm and your chest) once in a while and Pam will be much happier. Other areas that can also get sweaty might be easier to reach.
Your body will be largely inaccessible because of bandages from neck to waist. And your arms won't reach much beyond that, so hygiene is rough for the first week or so. My caregiver was a friend of mine (not such a good friend that I would've felt comfortable asking her to wipe my butt), and was good enough to wash my hair a couple of times, but I got it buzzed off really short before surgery to avoid greasy hair too.
Just got my bike back from the shop after getting a light bar installed and it is hawt. So you and Pam get your butts up here for Spike's wedding, bring your daughter and tell her that some of the DeGrassi dudes surf at Tofino (hey might even be true) and we'll have a Susan's meeting :)
And DeGrassi is now in the second generation of actors. The guys who played DeGrassi when I watched it are old and bald now. I saw a Degrassi reunion show recently and was gratified to note that I'd aged better than most of them :)
Dennis
Dennis,
Thanks for all of the hygiene tips. Yeah, Pam has told me she will give me sponge baths. I am the lucky one. on that note, how long before one can lay with someone comfortably without pain? Because Pam falls asleep with her head on my chest. That is a good ploy to get my daughter to come. She will if she thinks they will be there. I never even seen the first generation series, but have seen some of this one. They cover I think too much life topics. But that is the way things are now. Kids learn too much too fast now a days. We are serious about going to spike's wedding, I told Pam we should ask Spike if we can have a double wedding. That is around the time we are thinking of doing it as well, and since there wont be any family involved, it would be nice to have people around even if we only know each other through here, so consider yourself invited. How big is your bike?
Marco
It'll be quite a while before it's comfortable to have someone lying on your chest. I think I was still flinging my cat off me for a couple of months, maybe 6 weeks.
DeGrassi always has covered life topics - the old DeGrassi dealt with drugs, alcoholism, teen pregnancy, drinking and driving. All in the 80's. That was what I liked about it, it wasn't just a bunch of idealized teenagers whose biggest problem was a funny haircut.
The bike's a 750 Honda Shadow Ace cruiser. Good thing I picked it up from the shop Friday because my car died on Saturday and can't afford to get it fixed. Argh. I'm hoping it's just the battery though. At least that I can do myself.
Dennis
Dennis,
You probally look more cool riding your bike to work in a shirt and tie anyway. What kind of garb attire do judges wear there? Pam said something about seeing a t.v. show called Law & Order SVU and the canadian judge was wearing some George Washington type stuff?
Marco
No wigs, that's British. But in Supreme Court, lawyers and judges wear robes. In Provincial Court, judges wear robes, lawyers wear suits.
The barrister's robes are a waistcoat (black), wing collar shirt, tabs, and robes (and pants, either grey pinstripe or black). There's a picture of them on this website: http://www.imperialrobes.com/html/products/legal/court.html (http://www.imperialrobes.com/html/products/legal/court.html)
Better than letting lawyers choose their own clothes. I've seen some appalling getups on people in Provincial Court.
Dennis
Dennis,
Yes, that is the get up that Pam was referring. That looks George Washingtonish to us here in the states. Now we are sitting here going "does he know who George Washington is?" only because we don't know a thing about your government. So don't take offense to my asking about George. I don't even know what your money looks like. Now I feel like I need to be educated. Here, the guy that is hearing pam's case wears jeans with a shirt and tie if doesn't feel like wearing his robe. He is a commissioner whatever the hell that is. Take care now. Bye bye then. (Jim Carrey humor) That would be Pam's obsession.
Marco
:D Hello neighbour Dennis. Hello.
You can call me Amy or Spike doesn't matter. Wow this wedding is getting more exciting. I haven't been on Susan's for awhile. Dennis thanks for the tips, Tino is getting top surgery done asap and I hadn't thought of any of that. Denis are you familar with top surgens in the Lower Mainland? Reputation, wait list, work they have done?
New fellow, Dr. Bowman. Apparently trained in Europe. He's still trying to get hospital privileges (which is quite a bureaucracy). He's the only game in town at the moment. The previous surgeon, Patty Clugston, who did fantastic work passed away in January 05.
So you're looking at waiting for Bowman - who may have issues because if he qualifies to take MSP, he can't take private-pay patients and because of the mess with MSP guidelines, there's a huge waiting list of guys waiting for MSP funded top surgery. Or going south to Brownstein or east to McLean in Ontario. Friend of mine just had his chest done by McLean and is very happy with it. I had mine done by Brownstein and am very happy with it.
McLean is cheaper than Brownstein, and Ontario is cheaper than San Francisco, but Brownstein has extremely consistent good results with guys with low to medium body fat, which is why I went with him.
Any of the private pay guys can usually get you in within a month or two of booking.
Dennis
Quote from: Marco on May 30, 2006, 11:15:22 AM
Dennis,
You probally look more cool riding your bike to work...
...wearing some George Washington type stuff
LOL! :D
Quote from: Marco on May 30, 2006, 12:11:07 PM
I don't even know what your money looks like.
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.globalclassroom.org%2F2004%2Fspicer%2Fcurrency2012.jpg&hash=5ec13adc208ce77f36fc74a4cd168155ad15a2c3)
I love the toonies the best.
Melissa
Thanks Melissa for the money photo. What is a toonie?
Marco
A 2 dollar coin. The $1 coin is called a loonie because it has a picture of a loon on it and a 2 dollar coin is called a toonie because it is worth "two" and rhymes with loonie. In fact, the 2 coins on the left in the picture are toonies and the ones on the right are loonies.
I went on a business trip there and stayed up in Canada for 6 weeks and learned a lot. I stayed in Montreal Quebec (my favorite), Thunderbay Ontario, and Calgary Alberta.
Melissa
Melissa,
loonies and toonies? Who's idea was this I wonder. With all your money info I thought for a minute you lived there. Good to know though if Pam and I go to Spike's wedding in Tofino next April.
Marco
No, don't live there, although it kind of felt like it at the time. The irony is, that I live in Vancouver (in the states), and I've never visited Vancouver B.C., even though it's one of the closest Canadian cities to where I live.
Melissa
Hey Mellisa, Dennis, Marco & Pam it sems there are a fr ew of us on the west coast a gatherung would be great! ;D
Take care ~ Spike
Spike, are you two in Vancouver?
Dennis
A gathering would be fun. There's also Teri-anne, who recently moved up to the Seattle area. Hopefully she'll come back to the board soon.
Melissa
It would have to be in Canada because I STILL can't travel outside Canada. Sent my citizenship card in for name and gender change last August. Last month they wrote asking for more information and said they would process it right away when I sent it. Still haven't got it. Geez.
Dennis
That would be a fun trip. I think it would take about 6 hours or so driving to reach it. I would probably go up as male (to match my ID) and change in the car. Or maybe they wouldn't care if it didn't match.
Melissa
Melissa and Dennis,
So now what happens if there is no wedding? We should still get together. Pam and I were going to drive. Way cheaper. Dang Dennis, I hope you got a good deal when you flew here last year to San Francisco! One ticket to Canada was something like 1,200.00. Havent talked to Spike latley, but the wedding was going to be in April.
Marco
Yeah, cost me about 600 bucks per ticket (Canadian) so it wasn't too bad. Hotel was pretty friggin expensive though. So was food - but beer's cheap, so that made up for that. Yeah ok I'm not the posterboy for post-surgical care. Still turned out fine.
Dennis
If we're shooting for April next year, then I'll definitely be fulltime by then. I should have my ID updated by then too. I'll probably look much better too.
Melissa
Looking forward to metting you Melissa.
Marco
A gathering would be relly great. Vancouver Island is beautiful. If April for Wolfie (Tino's) & mine (Spike/Amy's) wed doesnt jive for the right date, lets do it in a warmer month like July or Aug. Great times had by all! I look forward to actually meeting you all in person and in the mean time getting to know you all better online.
~Amy~ aka Spike
I'll see how it goes. I was hoping to schedule my surgery around that time, but who knows, maybe I'll schedule it later.
Melissa