farewell titties, hello top surgery!

hello friends, family and community :)

i finally have got a date in the diary for top surgery - 28th of november 2024 baby!

i have been wearing a binder for four whole years and my body has reached a point where i can’t keep wearing it. the pain and damage it is causing to my ribs and shoulders and just my entire torso is too much. at the same time, i can’t not wear it because it makes me so anxious and insecure and depressed and just all round awful! it will be the best feeling in the whole world to swim and climb and run and sunbathe and do everything without feeling my chest or my binder getting in the way.

as we all know, the NHS waiting lists are getting longer and longer. i am still not being seen by an NHS gender identity clinic so there is little hope that i would get top surgery on the NHS within the next four years. so i have decided to go private.

as some of you know, i haven’t been working for the past 2 years due to being diagnosed with a chronic neurological condition so funding this myself has been very challenging and i have been using some of my disability benefits to fund it. i’ve been gradually saving money to put towards it and i’ve also just taken out an overdraft but i need a little help with the last £3500. even if i raise some of that it would massively help!

if i could save the money for it and pay for it all by myself, i definitely absolutely would but it’s just proving impossible. the cost of private top surgery is slowly increasing and i feel i am trying to win a losing battle.

i am getting top surgery in malmö, sweden as it is more affordable than the surgery costs in the UK. i will be there with my partner for 15 days to ensure i am healing correctly and to make things less stressful. here is a breakdown of the costs:

accommodation and flights: £800 (already paid)

surgery: anywhere between £4.5 and £6.5K

i won’t know the surgery cost until i get my consultation at the end of october but i’ve been given a very large ballpark of between £4500 and £6500. i’ve already paid my consultation including the flights and accommodation as i’m there for a few days to be assessed.

there are some things i am funding myself whilst i’m out there like food costs and any extra medicine required. if there is any excess in funding at the end of it then i will use this to pay back my overdraft.

this is a really difficult thing to ask for particularly with the cost of living so i completely understand if you can’t donate (and please don’t donate if u can’t afford to) but please do share it with ur friends and family and online and even with ur cats!!!

thank you so much for reading this,

mac :)