After a 2 day drive down the coast, I’m now settled in my Airbnb and just finished my pre-op appointment.

My anxiety is mostly gone now that there are fewer things to go wrong and I couldn’t be more excited to finally be here! The doctor and all the staff at the clinic are wonderful and friendly. Though they did give me the predictable fatphobic lecture about my BMI being slightly over the “recommended weight.”

I have my COVID test tomorrow and then it’s smooth sailing until my bowel prep starts the night before surgery. Monday morning I’ll show up bright and early and go under for the 4-5 hour procedure.

We chose to drive down since airports felt too risky. The drive down the 101 coastal highway was beautiful but long. And we couldn’t stop much because everywhere we went there were hundreds of white tourists without masks.

I’m glad to see that the most Asian neighborhood we are staying in is much more compliant with mask laws. It makes me feel safer walking around though I suspect the tourist areas here are going to be bad too.

We’re trying to find things we can do while we’re here since everything is understandably closed. I guess we’ll go wander around some parks and eat lots of amazing takeout.

Thank you again to everyone who donated to make this happen! I’ve gotten some unexpectedly large gifts this week which make me feel so loved and supported.

As I’ve said before, it takes a village to make a vagina!