Zk | Untitled Surgery Novel

writing fiction novel gender

I had my own surgery in 2018, and my therapist suggested I write about my experience anonymously so that she could share it with one of her other clients who was looking at going through a similar process. That she did so a year before I started writing this is neither here nor there.

Either way, While Justice’s story closely follows my own in a lot of respects, it isn’t 100% the same. It’s the type of thing I’d like to be readable without losing any of the informative aspects. A lot of the process of going through surgery is incredibly recondite and awkward, and there’s no escaping that. The goal of this project is, first and foremost, to tell a story, but a close second is to provide an example of what one can expect in going through this process. To that end, I hope it helps.

To my mom, who changed my birthday to my surgery date.

Outline

Justice - trans woman getting GRS Matthew - husband

• Start with letters fiasco
• flashback to:
  • Decisions
    • Deciding on surgery
    • Deciding on a surgeon
  • First round prep
    • Getting letters (part 1)
    • Getting the consult
    • The consult
  • The problem of hair
    • Laser
    • Electrolysis
• Leading up to surgery
  • Getting letters (part 2)
  • The pre-op appointments
    • General medical
    • Surgeon
    • PT
  • Trans woman murdered in town a week before
  • Bowel prep
  • Driving and the night before
• Surgery
  • The morning of
  • Waking up and the first night
• The hospital stay
  • The bed
  • Bed rest
  • Bowel movements
  • Breathing and fever - incentive spirometer
  • The dressing
    • The first sight
    • Nerves mapping
  • Anxiety and pain
  • Medications
    • timing
    • Oxy/tylenol
    • Cephelaxin and the smell
  • The packing
    • The drains
    • The catheter
    • The packing itself
  • Peeing and showering
• The post-op stay
  • The drive to the Airbnb
  • Getting partner
  • Drainage
  • Showering and company
  • Bacitracin
  • Getting off oxy
  • Getting comfortable
  • Walking with cane
• Post-op visit
  • Leaving Airbnb
  • Powell’s
  • Getting there early
  • Kat Campos and getting dilators
• Home
  • The drive home
  • Seeing dogs
  • Dilating
  • Shopping
• Healing
  • Dilating and increasing size
  • PT
    • Lifting
    • Walking
    • Breathing
    • Tensing/muscle control/kegels
    • Healing well
• End with the concert?