Hi Everyone,

Well yesterday was surgery day for my lip lift/reduction. Everything went real well though I'm a bit swollen today.

I arrived at the doctor's offices at 6:30 AM and was out the door at 8:30 AM. He sketched on my face the amount of skin he could remove from under my nose and it looked good. The next step was the administration of several shots of local anesthesia in the area under my nose. While he waited for the local to take effect they wrapped my hair in a sterile covering and placed a warm blanket over me while I laid on the operating table. The last step was to place a blindfold over my eyes to protect them from the extremely bright operating lights. The rest of the procedure went quickly.

I now have about 12-15 stitches in the crease between my nose and face to hold the incision together which are to come out in a week. He evened out my upper lip which he told me was uneven by about 0.5 cm from one side to the other.

So far , so good. I can't wait to see the real results once the swelling goes down.

In the mean time, I'm going to spending some quality time with frozen peas on my face.

Erica Ann,

Congratulations on having the lip lift/reduction work finished. It sounds like this is a relatively minor procedure but one that gives great results. I can't wait to hear how much you like the end result.

-Danya

Hi Everyone,

Well the swelling is all gone and the stitches are out and the lip lift came out real well as you can see from my new avatar. This photo was taken about a week ago at the big Be-All conference. I love the results. As my doctor said, it's a subtle but dramatic change and I feel its provides a more feminine look to my facial features.

The hair color has also changed again this time to a dark red or auburn color, which I dearly love and am going to keep for awhile.

Other than that, things have been going real well. The hormone therapy continues to it's job in feminizing my face and body. Things are going well in the office and on my job and I've noticed that I've been getting some smiles and nice looks from men lately. I've also been getting mam'ed a lot more recently, which is nice.

No new news on either one of the family fronts. I haven't spoken to them now in almost two years now and my spouse's family is split on the issue of me. Some of them have accepted me, but the vast majority have turned their backs on me and have made it pretty clear that they don't want me around.

The GRS is now only a little over 3 months away and I can hardly wait for the "big event." Something that I've wanted for such a very long time. To finally have a match between my body and my mind.

I've quit smoking 22 days ago in preparation of the surgery date. This is a requirement of Dr. Bowers and probably a good one. Starting to feel better since I quit. Much easier to breath and my sense of smell is improving.

I've also been trying to diet and lose some weight. I've lost 8 pounds in two weeks now and hope to lose another 12 pounds in the next few months.

Love your new look. You look younger with the red hair and the surgery is subtle but great!

3 Months to the OR. You know we are all praying for a quick recovery. Where and when do we send the cards and flowers!? It seems like yesterday that you said it was a year off!

Sorry to hear about the family issues. I think some of this is just idiocy but hopefully some of it is just going to be solved by time. I think some people are just not aware at all that this does happen in the world and that not everyone is born with the right bits... And for those people the ignorance makes it hard(er) to walk a mile in your shoes. I think there is also some anger that your taking away the person they knew (Or thought they knew)

Hi MRT,

Yes, time does fly by when you're having fun and thanks for the wonderful compliment. I do so appreciate it!

In response to your inquiry, I will be admitted to Mount San Rafael Hospital on Friday morning, September 19th, surgery day and if everything goes according to plan, I will be discharged on Thursday, September 25th.

The hospital is located at 410 Benedicta Ave., Trinidad, CO 81082. Phone number is (719) 846-9213.

I hope to hear from you and all of my friends during this period of time as all I will be doing is laying around.

Dear Erica Ann,

You look gorgeous in your new picture and I can tell the difference after the lip surgery. Better yet, you look truly happy and I am glad for you.

I can totally relate, as you know, to the issues of non-accepting family members. It's too bad for them. They don't realize what they are giving up in not getting to know the real you, a beautiful person inside and out.

I am excited for you as the big surgery date approaches! I will definitely give you a call while you are recovering.

Hugs,

Danya

I think thats really great news. Well what kind of flowers do you like? Or are you a chocoholic like Mrs T???

Good luck for your surgery. I hope it goes really well. I'm looking forward to the time when I have GRS surgery, but that's still a long time away for me.

I'm giving up smoking too - today I saw my doctor and got two weeks worth of nicotine patches, as well as some gum. I hope it works.

EricaAnn (imported) wrote: Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:00 pm Hi MRT,

Yes, time does fly by when you're having fun and thanks for the wonderful compliment. I do so appreciate it!

In response to your inquiry, I will be admitted to Mount San Rafael Hospital on Friday morning, September 19th, surgery day and if everything goes according to plan, I will be discharged on Thursday, September 25th.

The hospital is located at 410 Benedicta Ave., Trinidad, CO 81082. Phone number is (719) 846-9213.

I hope to hear from you and all of my friends during this period of time as all I will be doing is laying around.

You have to be very happy and excited about that. Best wishes to you in finally becomming the woman of your desires. I envy girls like you.

Hi Everyone,

I had the best time of my life this past Sunday. I was invited and rode the Chicago Gender Society float in the Gay Pride Parade. To put it mildly, OMG it was more fun than anyone is entitled to have in a whole year let alone one afternoon.

There were 400,000 people in attendance along the 4 1/2 mile parade route and I think at least 300,000 of them were intoxicated beyond belief.

What a reception our float got. It was unbelievable. Several friends of mine were in the crowd along the way and they could tell we were coming a half a block away. There was an electrifying wave that went through the crowd as our float, which was one of 250 floats made its way along.

It was funny, as people would turn their attention toward us. The first girl they spotted was in the front corner of the float and she didn't get much reaction, as they panned their way down the float the next person was me and people's faces just lite up. I had people, both guys and girls blowing me kisses, guys mouthing, "Oh baby, you're so hot", guys breaking through the barricades to place strings of beads around my neck, guys breaking past the two security people walking between the float and the crowd to give me kisses and hugs. It was unbelievable! One guy kissed and hugged me and said "Sweetie, don't leave me so soon." It was hilarious!

One of the security guys looked at me half way through the parade and said "Erica, if we had known you were going to get that kind of reception, we would have posted two more guys on your side of the float."

My BFF Stephanie and I had to walk down the middle of Broadway Ave. to get to the float, which by the way had already been barricaded in preparation of the parade. We had guys whistling at us, call out to us "Honey, you're looking good today", or "God, are you hot" , waving at us, etc. At one point Stephanie looked behind us thinking that the parade had already started and was coming up behind us, but we were the only two on the street. She looked at me and said that we could have probably had our own parade.

What a boost for the ego, that's for sure.

On another happy note, surgery day is now only 10 weeks and 3 days from now. I received a telephone call from Dr. Bower's office yesterday informing me that I will be receiving my information pack from them next week sometime. This is just getting too good.

I also found out today that mine and Stephanie's photo was published in What's Up magazine that came out yesterday. It was in an article about Hot TG/TS girls in the area.

All I can say is WOW! Can it get any better?