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My hysterectomy will be an outpatient procedure, unless I need to stay overnight for some reason. So, I'm packing my bag for all eventualities, mostly comfort eventualities. Going over what I packed last time... second verse, same as the first, really. Cervical pillow, which makes lying on your back with a hypermobile neck a lot easier. Sugar skull lap robe - yeah, they have blankets, but they're not fuzzy blankets, and they're only warm when they're fresh out of the warmer.

CW: yeah, in a post about food prep. Because I also discuss orthorexia, religious trauma, trauma from alternative medicine, trauma in general and how it affects the relationship to food, gastroparesis, enemas... and yeah, I have links to my recipe blog in here, too. I kinda forgot about refrigerator oatmeal. You know. The summer time meal prep darling. I do remember the last time I made myself refrigerator oatmeal, and it was honestly pretty traumatic (the situation, not the

My gyno ordered a CBC differential panel for pre-op, that's the one that looks at all your blood cells and makes sure it's all good, you're not having a reaction to anything going on in your body. Boy oh BOY do I have eosinophilia. Which, I understand just means "too many eosinophils," but my brain wants to read it as "these white blood cells love you SO MUCH!!" Really glad I was never tested on this word in college, it would be the one time my Ancient Greek would have screwe

CW: if the title wasn't enough advance warning, I'll be discussing medical tests and procedures, weight loss, my (healthy but very large thanks to lipidema) breasts, and Medicaid/SSI Disability. Today is the last day I can take my Meloxicam. Pray for me 😅😅 Especially considering a storm system came in yesterday, and the minute the pressure dropped, the migraine started. As the pressure hasn't let up yet... I feel like shit. I have a CT angiogram this afternoon, not surgery

CW: discussion of weight loss through caloric restriction, food cravings, potential surgical side effects, medical trauma and mental health. This might be the most chill I've been before any surgery, major or minor. I absolutely prepped more for my carpal tunnel surgery than I did for this hysterectomy. I mean, having a total hip replacement exactly eight months before certainly helps. This one is an outpatient surgery as long as there are no complications. I'm going to pack

And the Tumor Twins are certified benign, as of about 15 minutes ago!! And as of August 5th, everything but the ovaries gets removed, anyway, so there's no chance of it going bad, ever. This is the best health news I've had in years. I am also in possession of the Devil's Diaper Wipes, as well as the Ensure carbohydrate drinks they load you down with before purposefully traumatizing your body in the name of health and healing. And I have been cleared by the Surgical Optimizat

I went from having a very open summer to having a whole lot of appointments yesterday 😅😅 Hysterectomy is happening August 5th, which was exactly the time frame I assumed I'd be on. I'll have two pre-ops, one with my gyno and another with anesthesiology. I also went ahead and scheduled the MRI and CT Angiogram my neurologist wants to see, so the hospital is about to get sick of seeing me and my teeny-tiny veins that outright reject IVs. My last post-op is six weeks after th

I was referred to surgery to have my uterus and fallopian tubes removed today! Glory hallelujah! First steps? At the recommendation of a friend who has done it recently, I got myself a postpartum belly band that even comes with a hip stabilizer... in size SMALL. I'm between the small and the medium, and considering I'm bloated AF right now, I figured sizing down for the support garment I want to wear after having the source of the bloating removed was probably a good idea. Bu

When I tell people to prepare for the inevitable negative thing on the horizon, I usually get a lot of ostriches promptly and firmly planting their heads in the sand. It is IMPOSSIBLE for them to prepare for a negative thing. It is TOO MUCH. This video came up on my feed immediately after a tarot reader with a message about living wills the other day. It's been a little over two weeks now since I was discharged from the ER with heavily bleeding uterine fibroids and a very str

I celebrated turning 44 by spending six hours alone in the ER, getting diagnosed with two uterine fibroids! Weekday birthdays, am I right? My grandma: "only two? I had five when I had my hysterectomy." One's posterior and a little under 3 centimeters, so about the size of a grape, and the other is anterior and a little under 4 centimeters, so about the size of a bon bon. I also have a simple cyst in my left ovary, also grape-sized. Leave it to me to turn my unused uterus into

Packing bags is my specialty, you guys. Anyone who travels with me will tell you I over pack, but also that I'm Boy Scout level prepared for everything up to and including the apocalypse. And that I'm ridiculously organized about it. Old pin. Though, it's extra ID for my bag (everything you bring in will get a sticker or tag linked to the MRN on your hospital bracelet, for ID purposes), it's not incorrect exactly, and I don't mind if I lose it because I could use some updated

That's Bob all stretched out on the teal blanket, Milosh keeping watch at the window, and Penelope curled up by the pillow pile. This is how I woke up this morning. Tonight's the night I'm not supposed to have any animals in my freshly sanitized bedding. Look, if God didn't want me to have cats in my bed the night before surgery, He wouldn't have given me shitty joints and clingy cats.

And we're in the home stretch.... I'm waiting for a dryer load to get to the freshly clean and sanitized new panties and silk sleep bonnet in there, and once they're in my bag I am fully packed and ready to go. So, the checklist is as follows: ✅ MyChart e-check in & Pre-registration. ✅ Everything I'm wearing to and immediately after the hospital needs to be laundered and sanitized. ✅ Hospital bag is packed and ready to go. ✅ Walker is tricked out with the cup and phone holder

So... I've had the panic pukes all this past week, which means I'm eating very blandly and sparingly, and the extra brown rice I made for the meatloaf didn't get eaten. And since the family dinner tonight was very allergy-unfriendly, I decided to turn it into Sardine & Brown Rice Croquettes and freeze whatever I don't have for dinner tonight. If I have two per serving, I have seven meals worth in the freezer. I didn't talk myself out of the binder this time! And it adds plant

My mom got the ancestry.com swab kit and membership on Black Friday special, and all the leaves started popping up in earnest today... So, my grandma on my mom's side was raised Cherokee. Now, this was the 1940's/1950's and while she spent every summer with her Cherokee family, and she knew full well she was Cherokee, she dgaf. She passed well enough, as far as she was concerned she was a "modern American girl" and didn't really care about her ancestry. Her brother did, but u

Well. "Owala." It's the "Freesip" design, but I have no idea if it's "real" or not. Nor do I particularly care. The Freesip bottle seems to be number one on everyone's "What I'm Not Buying in 2026" lists. I didn't buy mine! [ cue lil' Miley Cyrus singing the Hannah Montana theme song ] I'm at my Surgical Optimization Appointment a few weeks back, and my Nurse Navigator comes in with all my goodies - the itchy af pre-surgery wipes (they're basically off-brand Hibiclens), the E

One week to New Hip Day!! My BFF and surgery buddy is under the knife right now, lots of good thoughts to her! And I finally have meal number 1 in my freezer! So, I made up a meatloaf recipe with pork sausage, brown rice, and mushrooms. I use flax eggs instead of chicken eggs because I'm allergic to chicken eggs, and I went back and forth on whether the starch in the rice would be enough of a binder or not. I went with just the rice... why do I always blow 50/50 shots? It def

I have a sauteed pan of mushrooms and onions on the back of the stove, and brown rice in the instant pot. That'll all get mixed with the pork sausage I thawed last night, a few flax eggs, and some herbs and be baked in the cast iron bread pan I got for Christmas. When the meatloaf is cooled, I'll slice it down, freeze it on a sheet pan, and store the frozen slices in a bag, so I can grab one and microwave it with a pricked and oiled potato, that'll bake in the time it takes t

I have finally figured out my meal plan, hallelujah!! Edit: I had a great initial plan, at least. The initial plan: Steak & Pinto Beans with Cornbread Marinaded & pan fried chicken breasts with a recipe I just realized never made it on my blog - cornbread dressing with lentils for added plant protein. Kofta-spiced meatballs with chickpea flour as my binding flour for the plant protein, with a recipe that isn't on my blog because it belongs to my friend, Chef Abbey - whipped w

I'm at 2.5 weeks to New Hip Day! Officially the halfway point of pre-op. I have today and tomorrow left on The Pill, and one more week with anti-inflammatories. Knowing this, I was trying to front-load my pre-op, so I can spend as much time in bed with a heating pad as possible once the pills wear off. So, how am I doing with the pre-op checklist? ✅ Parking Placard procured. ✅ Surgical Optimization completed; walker, pre-op wipes, and glucose drinks procured. ✅ Stuff Procured