On the big day

Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand! These past few days have been incredibly exciting. I'm growing rather fond of the place, even though the language eludes me.

Because of how soon I was to go in for surgery after arriving, and I had instructions to be on a liquid diet for 48 hours, I brought some Slim-Fast cans with me on the flight. Even though there was nothing against it on the TSA's website, it flagged me and I had to get a pat down. I asked for a private screen. They took forever to find a second female officer. This second one was a bit ignorant, grunt level S/O. She sauntered towards me and said, "That don't look like no female. You sure that's a female?" Granted, I had a flat sport bra on and no face makeup, so maybe that was why, but damn that seemed rude. Especially since she asked her superior in a not-so-subordinate tone - the first woman that initially told me I was flagged was a Lead Officer (L/O).

Before the second S/O arrived, I told the L/O that I was trans, and that if she examined my genitals in the new standard fashion she would find them, well, "out of the ordinary." She confirmed whether or not I wanted a male or female examiner - I told her female as that is my true comfort level. She had no issue with that. The actual pat down was not as bad as I was expecting, actually. Which was good, as I was a bit sore from hormone withdrawal by that point. Still am, actually.

Well, no more issues on that leg. Shanghai was fun -we had clear customs twice in order to transfer to another flight, even in the same terminal :P I guess that's how it goes over there. We made it to Bangkok late - 130am by local time. And, of course, the immigration window was short staffed. We cleared customs 2 hours later! But my ride was still there and waiting, which was wonderful. They took us to the hotel, and we checked in without any issues.

Today, we went to the Bangkok Plastic Surgery clinic, where we met the surgeon, Dr. Pichet Rodchareon and his staff. Wonderful people! I felt instantly comfortable inside. I signed all the papers, and the doctor explained everything, with photos, that he was going to do. I had seen all that before in my research; Mom, on the other hand, was not as thrilled about it :P But we got it all done. It's now 20:02 local time (about 05:02 Pacific US) on 3 January. In the morning, we'll be checking out of the hotel for a couple days, then getting shuttled to the clinic at 08:00. After a bit of prep, I'll be in surgery. Less than 24 hours now! Think I should say some kinda weird eulogy for "them?" :P I'll keep you guys posted with more details as they go.