New year, new me (or: It’s the end of the world as we know it)

The Christmas and New Year celebrations continued to overrun as Pip paid me a visit, and we spent the weekend eating, drinking and being merry, like you do. Lovely to see him again, and Pippa actually, for the first time in quite a while in all her finery.

Now I really must stop drinking. And eating. Maybe being merry is acceptable.

Our first gig after the Christmas break is on Friday, a private do for some very rich people, so no doubt the champagne will be flowing, but I’ll be driving so that will keep me under control, instead of under the table. I really must brush up on some songs.

I’ve chased up Charing Cross for the results of my blood test in November, and for the report to my GP (both of which they promised to send me), so I know whether it’s worth going to see him; I’m hoping to give Vaniqa cream a try, as an alternative to laser and electrolysis. If it works I’ll be using it forever, which sounds a nuisance, but my skin obviously doesn’t like being zapped, so it’s got to be worth a try. I have heard some good things about it, though haven’t heard of that many TS’s using it. It is a relatively new product though.

I didn’t need to chase up Charing Cross for the trach shave consultation though; they sent me a letter asking me to make an outpatient appointment in Genital Reconstruction, which I thought was odd as I have only had one out of two "opinions" before I would get my referral for that, and I’ve told them I will be doing it privately anyway. So I rang the gender clinic to check and they said I had indeed been referred to ENT and I should ignore the minor discrepancy on my letter. So I rang the hospital and despite the letter saying my appointment would likely be in about 10 weeks time, they gave me an appointment in exactly 5 weeks time, not too bad at all. I know I’ve complained about them being slow in the past but I must say that overall there have been no major delays, and they seem to be waving me through the system without any difficulty. So far…

I just need to make a decision on the trach shave so I can plan recovery time and book my SRS accordingly. See what Mr ENT says about the ugly lump on my neck, I hope he can do a good job. Anyone been to Mr Sandhu?

It may still be winter and SRS will not be at least until the autumn but it is all starting to feel closer, like it’s really going to happen. Having spent 40 years or so feeling it’s something I could only dream about, it’s kind of a weird feeling. Cool, but weird.

Did I say it’s winter? (English person’s speech approaching…) God is it winter. Hasn’t been that cold of late but blimey it’s been blustery, seemingly for weeks now. I got up the other day about 9am and looked out of my window, the winds were apparently 70 – 80 mph that day, it was raining and hailing at the same time, the hail sounded like machine guns on my window, it was moving sideways in huge waves obliterating the view of the mountains in the not too far distance. It looked like a nuclear winter; the end of the world. I went straight back to bed and curled up into a cosy little ball.

And this weekend they forecast it finally getting appropriately cold for the time of year; cold, wet, snow… God, is it winter.

I’m so looking forward to Thailand, on so many levels!

xx