Top Surgery Health Regimen :)

So, what about me? Although Top Surgery has been a recent reality for me, there is much about how I prepared for and healed from it that reveals time-tested aspects (neuroses?) of who I am.

I am a foodie.
I am a herbally-inclined magician.
I am a meditating monkey.
I am into natural, gentle methods of health. 
I am into looking and feeling handsome.

Basically, I'm sort of like what my brother calls me, a "hippie". I like to look at it as boho-queerhippie-sheik. Words... even when we produce them ourselves, they are often too light; never fully expressing the dense reality we live in.

What did I do to prepare for top surgery? I did research and I consulted my herbalist friends. Now, many of you reading this actually have access to an herbalist. In most big/medium sized cities in the US there is usually at least 1 herbal practitioner. In my home state of Utah there is one and she is very very good! Utah I know! So, look one up in your area if you're interested. Or, more conveniently, just reference this article.

**Most of these herbs/supplements can be found at a large convenience store, like Safeway, Target etc.

**I am not a certified doctor/medical practitioner. (That being said, Our bodies can be the best doctors.)


Alright, Here is what my herbalist friend recommended:


THE BASICS:

Begin taking Milk Thistle immediately (one of our best liver tonics, and works best in food or capsule form.) This basically cleanses the liver which helps two fold: for those on Testosterone therapy and for cleansing the toxins accumulated after surgery. Pain meds (Percocet, Codine etc.) will toxify the body, so milk thistle is an excellent cleanser for pain-med damage.

 Increase fiber, protein (100g/day), fresh fruits and vegetables, and probiotics

◦  Focus on colorful foods and quality proteins- pastured eggs, poultry, wild fish, nuts

 Increase water intake- 3 quarts/day pre and post surgery

 Zinc supplement 

◦ Most of us are deficient in zinc.  Lots of research shows how Zinc reduces wound

healing time, supports immune function, and helps ward off infection post surgery

◦ Dose : 60 mg of available elemental zinc/day. Amino-chelated is best absorbed or

Zinc sulfate tablets (cheaper) 220 mg, 2X/day. 2 weeks before, 4-6 weeks after

surgery.

 Vitamin C supplement, 4-6 g/day, or eat lots of berries, 2 weeks before, 4-6 weeks

after

◦ Foods high in Vit C: fresh green peppers, berries, citrus, leafy greens & sprouted

grains

 Vitamin A supplement, 10,000 IU/day, 2 weeks before, 4-6 weeks after surgery

◦ reduce amount to 5,000 IU if continuing supplementation after this time frame

◦ Foods high in Vit A: liver,  fish liver oils, egg yolks, leafy greens, broccoli, seaweed,

carrots, sweet potatoes, and yellow-orange fruits and vegetables

 Magnesium supplement (to lower stress and relax) 

Milk Thistle! Just hanging out, being a helpful herb.

ALSO (Pro scar tip): Zinc and Vitamin C are known to help minimize scarring!


FOOD:

Increase protein (100g/day) to assist tissue and collagen repair

 For at least 6 weeks focus on these foods-

bone broth, shitakes,  pastured eggs, wild caught fish,  berries, raw green/red peppers, steamed greens, seaweed, soaked sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, sweet potatoes, fresh juices and smoothies, miso, carrots, broccoli, citrus, and sauerkraut 

◦ We want the antioxidants, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Essential Fatty Acids,
B-vitamins, Zinc, minerals, probiotics, protein, and enzymes out of these foods, if
you want to increase healing time and don't want to take supplements, eat these
foods :)

I personally cut out refined carbs almost entirely post surgery. My body told me No. So I listened. I craved a beer at 3 1/2 weeks post op, but luckily(?) for me the store didn't have gluten-free beer.

BONE BROTH: highly recommend. Collagen repair, ie. speeds healing time, reduces scars. 

CONSTIPATION/NAUSEA:

Constipation- side effect from Morphine and other Narcotic Pain medications

 Try a gentle laxative like ground Flax seed soaked, oatmeal, prune juice, or soaked

or Marshmallow root powder

 Next try an increase in your Magnesium supplement

 Next try Smooth Move tea from Traditional Medicinals

 Avoid strong laxatives, as they can cause straining

Nausea-side effect from pain killers and trauma from surgery

 Ginger or Peppermint tea

 Peppermint Spirits tincture (by Herb Pharm at the Coop, very effective)

 Cannabis- most effective :) *caution with pain medications


Pro Tip: get a LAXATIVE. For real. I used colace (stool softener) and Smooth Move tea. Do not over do it on the Smooth Move tea, its powerful. Like, don't double bag it.

PAIN:

Us Humans, we don't like pain. It hurts.

 I was prescribed Percocet, it worked just fine for Day 1 and 2. 
After that I switched to Cannabis.

 If you have access to it and it doesn't make you feel super anxious, I recommend it. Especially high quality cannabis oil, and Indica concentrates in capsule form. Trust me, cannabis cures cancer. It aids in nausea, sleep and pain during recovery.

I must say though, it does cause sensory intake to be heightened. You will feel your incisions...so if you aren't into that level of bodily awareness, perhaps reconsider.


TOPICAL TREATMENT (After incisions close up):

 Apply an oil infusion of St. John's wort and Calendula with Vitamin E to encourage

healing and help with shooting nerve pain as soon as incisions are closed.

 Effective herbs for reducing scarring: Rosehip seed oil, Helichyrisem essential oil

I am personally using a three fold system: 

I am using a nerve salve (to regain sensation): St John's Wort, Prickly Bark, Beeswax, Helichyrisem, rosemary, wintergreen.

I was given (as a sponsor type gift) a powerful scar cream that contains: calendula, tea tree, sard(?), carrot, wheat germ, clorophyll, azurite, arnica, gingko, aloe vera, SHARK cartilage, EMU oil, vitamin A, D3, E, F, C, onion extract, epithelial growth factor. Just. Woah.            

Target scar strips (silicone) check out Micah's bit about scar strips @ neutrois.me

3 weeks post op, chock full of herbs^

Before Leaving the Hospital make sure You know- Checklist:

 How to care for your wound at home

 What to look for that might need attention right away

 Who to call with questions and problems

 What your activity limits are

 Other restrictions- related to pain medication, diet, etc

 What medications to take and when to take them

 When you need to come in again


Get cozy, make a fort of pillows, have your herbs ready, and pull out the Sudoku puzzles.




I do hope this was helpful in any way.

Q's? : facebook.com/marvalartking


BEST OF LUCK FELLOW GENDER ADVENTURERS!!!!

with Love, <3

Marval A Rex

Link to another article on Weed and Transition

It's been a green month! Here's an older article of yours truly, from Northern California's Emerald Magazine:

http://theemeraldmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Transitioning.pdf

Marijuana... and Top Surgery

Oh yes, marijuana. Weed, grass, tea, ganja, mamaganja, cannabis.

On the cusp of her national legalization, and my gender-confirming surgery, I am lucky to have her help. . .

Its been almost three weeks post-op for me. I'm feeling great.

Here's how weed entered the picture:

One of my main concerns before I went ahead and got Top Surgery (ie. double mastectomy with chest masculinization) was allopathic pain meds. Many people struggle with pain meds, such as Percocet, Codine, Hydrocodine, Oxycontin etc. I have never dealt with the addictive lure of these medicines, but I was aware that they slowed recovery and prolonged healing time. And, being the New-Age magician that I am, I am wary of foreign invaders meant to "numb my pain" but not really help me heal all too well.

The goodie bag I got from The Growing Kitchen in Boulder, Co.!! 

Fortunately, I had the grand synchronicity that my surgery was in Colorado. And in Colorado, weed is legal. (Note: I chose the surgeon because they are phenomenal, not because "Colo" has the green.) Regardless, I am not a frequent smoker and was far more interested in medical marijuana, which falls under the category of "alternative medicine". I am a big fan of alternative medicine, which is really ANCIENT legacies of wisdom concerning optimal health, from before the Industrial Revolution and Modern Science. Herbal remedies and other ancient medicine practices have stood the test of time, even if the West won't quite acknowledge it yet. Cannabis, which is both a term for the plant itself as well as the elegant healing compounds inside, is a powerhouse healing plant. These compounds are powerful in their healing ability. They're called cannabinoids, and are also known as CBD's. They cure cancer. Among other things.

I figured it couldn't hurt to supplement my healing regimen for top surgery with some ancient plant medicine. This mage is down with the herbal remedies!

Me being cute, 1 week post op. 

I was forwarded to a local, organic cannabis company in Boulder, Co from my friend Sharon Letts whom I'll refer to as "the Florence Nightingale of weed". There I met Brooke Wise, the owner and guru of The Growing Kitchen. Brooke was incredibly welcoming and smart as a whip. She gave us the grand tour of the facility where they bake and create all the delicious goods, tinctures, capsules, salves and candies made with that special (not secret) green ingredient. The tour was excellent and the atmosphere was clean and professional. Brooke is ahead of the whole legal-weed business, and I have no doubt TGK will flourish and change the world's view of green medicine and business.

Basically, Brooke is awesome. She gave me a goodie bag of her products for being a brave young lad who got his boobs plopped off in an act of solidarity with his authentic self. (Not her words, mine.) In it were a variety of treats for "ingesting" or eating cannabis. I received Peace Pain Pills, which were the most important in the goodie bag for my first bout of recovery time. Other items included calming lozenges, two edibles, and a mouth spray infused with weed.

Let me tell you all: I was off the Percocet they prescribed me in 2 days.

And I felt minimal pain after that, because I was taking capsules of high concentrate weed for pain management. IMPORTANT: I did not mix Percocet with the weed pain pills. There are always possible contraindications, so best not to mix while recovering. Once I felt the pain was manageable, I switched to the weed pills and never went back to those powerful allopathic opiates.

I absolutely recommend medical marijuana in recovery from any surgery. Top surgery was no exception. It stimulated my bowels (surgical anesthesia causes constipation), lowered my pain, helped me sleep, and the dry-mouth made me drink tons of water. Drinking lots of water after surgery is an excellent idea while your body detoxifies. Two green thumbs up.        

I was thoroughly impressed with the quality and the effectiveness of TGK's products. They not only work to relieve pain but also improve my mood while I recover. And they are delicious!
To keep up with this revolutionary healing company, check out their website at: 

http://www.thegrowingkitchen.org/        

So, would I recommend taking in some form of weed while recovering from top surgery or any kind of surgery? Yes! If you have access to it, consider it. I will admit I was glad to have Percocet the first two nights, but after that I was glad to be off of it. Transitioning into taking the weed pills was a smooth and painless feat. And I feel like I recovered faster for it-- I was enthusiastic and ready to go on substantial walks by day 4 of post op. Fabulous!



Any Q's? Ask them here or email me at mavarex2@gmail.com




**All bodies are different and I have no doctoral licensure to give out medical advice. This is just what worked for me and its possible it could work for you too. As an side, it is not possible to overdose on cannabis.


AND! In my next post I will provide a succinct list of steps I took so I could heal from top surgery quickly and efficiently. 

      

Top Surgery LOG: Final Days of the First Week

Post Op Day 6

  Post Operative Day 8:

   It is beyond a week that I live without the prominence of two mounds of flesh for me to carry. I live with a renewed sense of weightlessness, one that well-cared-for children tend to exhibit daily. I am a well-cared-for child that I’ve had to raise myself, from one life to the next. This is my next life, both a deviation from and a continuation of what has passed. I revel in the brave innocence I’ve taken like a tonic, the liquid filling in the cracks of my opened wound. I understand and care for the prayer that has left its mark on my visage to the world, spoken in the shape of a broken smile. The scars that mark my journey enter me, with willingness or without, into the family of others who have taken this road of roads.

I see the genius in all of our unique gender adventures. How perfect and brilliant it is that we as gender fuckers exist with a ringing vivacity. That we demand to be recognized as all beings should. That we with our heart’s leadership create space for all others to live in their truth. This genius I celebrate with a fierceness birthed by the untenable immersion into the death of my old self. The sensations of death do not have to take the body with it, for the body is held together by invisible strands. Each day there is a weaving. As quiet as the small animal in the brush at dawn, the new self emerges and fastens the body anew.

Top Surgery LOG Day 4 and 5

Post Operative Day 4: Easing into It  

Ease in Being Injured

I’m easily tired as I recover. However, I feel more alert each passing day. I had my drains pulled on Monday which makes three solid days and nights with drains in. I feel (again!) absolutely reborn without the blood bags dingle-dangling off of me. My pain has decreased so much so that I’m off the percocet, I’ve experienced no nausea, no dysphoria, and no post-breastum depression. It has been an incredibly smooth and easy ride for this sleeping phoenix (as I often call myself). I feel humbled in this expansive and dearly grateful way. One of my greatest meditations the two weeks before top surgery was to surrender to the amount of help I would need at the most basic level. Eating food. Sitting up. Wiping my butt. Yes, Megan wipes my butt. And I am mostly graceful in my ability to accept her essential help. Thank you, Meg.

Allowing oneself to be helped by others can prove difficult, as I’ve discovered with myself. It is this inability to receive that points to an imbalance within our internal world. It is a fear of losing control. The whole paradoxical reality about transitioning is that you must give up all control, all you’ve ever known to be true, unleash all the pain you’ve kept inside--to bob up on the shore, reborn,  more-whole and shining with evolving self-assurance. You can argue against it being a spiritual experience. I will kindly disagree. I believe everything drenched in raw urgency  towards Self speaks to a spiritual something.

Image: my chest 4 days post op by Dr. Steinwald

Post Op Day 5:

   Today was simple and easy and my mood is bright like the plastic tunnels of LED lights that brand the street below the flat. I made love with Meg, which is interesting to navigate when one receives major surgery just four days prior. We did just fine and reveled in the sunshine-stained fabric of this strange winter.

In my soul it is spring. I am reveling in the novelty of this post-boob world. I am at once a very old man (I finished two ½ sudoku puzzles the eve before) and a bright young baby aeon, heralding the new race of genderless folks to come. I feel incredible. It can only be known by those who experience it: the reclamation. When a part of our queer body is reclaimed, made to match more with our internal chemistry, there is a profound and bittersweet relief. Mostly sweet, but I am an artist and I sure do like it bitter too. I find it sweet because it’s a monumental moment to rejoice! Rejoice! I rejoice, for living my life as an affront to a collective schizophrenia that demands brand-named normalcy. We are a species so essentially diverse! What is this “normal”? It, whatever it is, has wreaked havoc on our psyches. And it is through self-reclamation, individuation, and respect of others’ individuation that we may combat this troublesome trend of twos: Us vs Them, Male vs Female, White vs Brown, Rich vs Poor etc. etc. etc.

Top surgery has been an unquestionable (although I did question it) necessity for me on my journey to self-individuation. I can relax into the deeper work I must do with my psyche because this external reality I toy with has been, well, toyed with. Some people buy themselves cars, I bought myself no-boobs. The price is comparable.

Could I have individuated without top surgery? Well, I’m not sure I could have (and perhaps hypotheticals for alternative realities is not too useful). Here, let me try anyway:

My life would have been different. I would have navigated around my inner and outer worlds in a different manner. When I touch into my true voice about this, it tells me I’d live a life forever somewhat uncomfortable in my body. Because even now, in this reality, I spent a decade living with breasts (and a gender assignment) I tried to accept. I diluted my inner voice with all kinds of bullshit, be it church, state or MTV. I fumbled about, trying to accept my body and secure my “cis privilege”. Nope. Did not work. I even dived into some New Age hippie mentality (which can remain just as dangerous as orthodox religions if you don’t pay attention) that one’s body is a temple and thus one should not defame it. I clung to whatever information kept me from the soft parts of myself: the wounded animals that breathed heavy on the floor of my internal wilderness. I strained to live with syrup-sweet ignorance until I got a toothache that later pierced my brain with unsettling clarity. I was about to take action on a secret I had been uneasy with for a long time: I have all the makings of a leader, but I am not a leader like they’ve seen before. I am 3 parts angel 3 parts mutant and 3 parts archetypal human. I am here to lead with the heart. Revolution #9.

Top Surgery LOG Day 1 & 2

POST OP DAY I: A Reflective Sleeping fish

Relaxing into it

The night before my double mastectomy ( with so-called “chest masculinization”) was a night of broken sleep and future reflections. I lay in the bed of an AIRBNB studio we found in a municipality of Denver, called Lakewood, Colorado. By “we” I refer to myself and the incredible feminine soul I call my friend, lover and, sometimes, “baby lady”. Her name is Megan Joy. She lays next to me, her body warm, heavy, and golden with attempted rest. I don’t sleep much, but feel at ease and in a surrendered state to the impending surgery. A mexican prayer candle of the Virgin d’Guadalupe blankets the room with her light and her strength. I watched the light dance on the cream walls around our cocoon and release myself of all my old ways, making room for the newness that whispers to me from a mere six hours away. I breathe into my chest, which still holds gently two docile mounds of mammary tissue and fat. I imagine what my life post-knife feels like. I calmly anticipate and accept the pain and constriction that only time (and a good surgeon) will afford this chest.

As I sit here now, post-surgery fatigue curling all around me, I can admit that my intimations of the future were pretty spot on. The pain is mostly dull and low, prickling here and there as skin tissues reach forward to reunite with their fellow kin. The constriction from the bandages is so similar to the chest binding I have implemented for over a year that the tightness feels reassuring and protective. I find myself now, a sleepy and well-wrapped Piscean blob, absorbed wholeheartedly into the couch and gingerly typing this here record. I feel, succinctly, reborn.

It all reminds me of this wonderful song by Antony and the Johnsons:

One day I'll grow up, I'll be a beautiful woman.

One day I'll grow up, I'll be a beautiful girl.

But for today I am a child, for today I am a boy.

For today I am a child, for today I am a boy.

One day I'll grow up, of this I'm sure.

One day I'll grow up, I know whom within me.

One day I'll grow up, feel it full and pure.

But for today I am a child, for today I am a boy.

For today I am a child, for today I am a boy.

POST OP DAY II: Water Purifies and Cleanses  ▽

Family and All that it Evokes

My parents and brothers came in for the first two days to see me after surgery. I was both thankful for this gesture and overwhelmed at the idea of navigating their energy after such a tremendous opening. I felt sweet and soft and sugary after top surgery. I felt feminine in this bizarrely ironic way. I knew a Truth in a way of perfect clairvoyance... that this surgical intrusion, this incision and removal of the mounds that marked “Womanhood” for so many, had released pain for me of 10 long years. The irreversible visit into the dark tunnel of the OR  had broken me into an unlikely wholeness. Now, it was strange and awkward to interact with my family. I felt starkly different, surrendered to my pain and the delicious release that that pain marked. My family was all very much themselves, loud and boisterous and masculine-minded like so much of society is taught to be.

And here I am, cut wide open to release so-called feminine body markers, and I feel the most tender and sweet and relaxed I’ve ever been. I feel feminine, and what’s even more profound: I feel the infinitely penetrable depths of feminine strength. Strength in pain, strength in vulnerability. Such strength in breathing, pulling inward and surrendering to the every moment. To respond instead of to react. And now my family comes for support, and they are all subtly dumbfounded by me. I know I feel different to them, they’ve smelled the tweak in my disposition. And it’s not because I’m a wounded animal. Its that I’m a wounded healer. I’m stepping into a mysterious sense of Grace; and surgery was a spiralling staircase I knew necessary for my ascension. I simultaneously ascend up into the higher parts of myself, the ones cleansed of fear, as well as ground down into my earth--my body, this vessel of mine that I know to be magic. I disdained this holiness for so long, and know I come to cherish it in this soft motherly way. I am quietly and wisely rejoicing this event. As much as I anticipated the actual physicality of surgery, I could not have previously comprehended this incredible sense of gentle freedom that pervades my being. I am so proud of who I am. Never before have I known this with such transparent honesty. And neither has my family.

As I change in ways that disrupt and even destroy my daily persona, as I travel into my subconscious and even poke around the edges of my unconscious, I affect those close to me. I reflect for them the places where they are afraid to go inside themselves. The fear of being one’s authentic self is perhaps the greatest fear we as humans grapple with. Top surgery was a physical manifestation of a larger hidden journey of my soul. Landing outside of the gender binary is a small but important part of my soul’s purpose. Teaching others by example that it is okay to be soft, vulnerable, and loving is my soul’s desire. Because of this, I do not fear the feminine, as many assume of those who seek top surgery. I have cleared the way for my feminine, taken great and sometimes calculated risks to reach her, and believe in her energy as she heals my broken-to-wholeness body. I do not fear her. I know, resolutely, that the feminine is the future.

That which is Feminine appears inside all bodies of all expressions, and does  not demand any constricting labels to satisfy her. She is within all of us, regardless of our self-definitions and personal stories. Her gentle power sits inside all of us, often dormant but with patience unsurpassable. She can work through all of us; be gentle and kind and open us up to ourselves. This feminine nature will heal a sickly world of fear-based limitations, spawned from of a false sense of control. The collective schizophrenia brought about by a masculine imbalance of “do, do, do” “make, make, make” “conquer, conquer, conquer” will dissolve under the warmth of her embrace. I reclaim the feminine. I reclaim love over fear. I reclaim my body.   

Lunar New year 2016 'scopes

Lunar New Year Tid Bits 2016

What if the story of your life was not about suffering for the sake of benediction? Imagine a world wherein you have always been strong enough to forgive whatever harms you. It can be hard to finally feel strong but, Pisces, you are different then you once were—kinder at the core and luminescent. I wish you could see with clear eyes the many ways you were cared for—each of us your mother as if we knew how to be mothers.

 Still, I think it only fair that you try your best, Aquarius, to find out just how much this past year of endurance has taught you. Test your limit. You’ve made it this far so why not go farther?