SO REFRESHING. After top surgery, recovery, and then a conveniently timed month-long coughing sickness, today I went to the gym with the the best gym buddy ever - my mom. Back in the day we went to the gym together on a daily basis. Until I started hormone therapy and the locker room progressively got a lot more uncomfortable than it already was. Eventually it got to the point where I no longer knew how to navigate gendered gym terrain and resolved to work out from home.
Which I did, for a minute. But with cats purring and video games within my reach, that didn’t last long.
Until today when my mom and I finally ventured to the gym again together. My first post-op gym work out!
It was so wonderful.
I hopped on the elliptical and sweat simulated jogged for 30 minutes. My chest felt great. Back in the day just feeling it there caused a lot of physiological distress that had me hating running-like motion. But now? Love it. I could’ve continued to run, but I couldn’t resist skipping off to experience other gym thangs - including the men’s locker room.
Locker rooms have always been a source of stress, trauma, and awkwardness for me. At the gym, my mom would walk in to the locker room with me before to help with this. Walking in to the men's locker room earlier today was the first time I have ever experienced walking in to a gendered space like this without startled reactions. No one called security, no one stood up and darted out when I entered… nothing happened. I literally just walked in, did my thing, and walked out. Wow.
On a related note, recovery has been going super well! Between classes and being sick, I’ve been negligent about updating my progress. Essentially, this past month has been my nipples morphing from little blackish mutants into pinkish little nubs. Now that they’re scab-free and becoming more nipply with each new day, I slather them in a Vitamin E / Shea Butter concoction. They’re so cool. Pictures soon!
Which I did, for a minute. But with cats purring and video games within my reach, that didn’t last long.
Until today when my mom and I finally ventured to the gym again together. My first post-op gym work out!
It was so wonderful.
I hopped on the elliptical and sweat simulated jogged for 30 minutes. My chest felt great. Back in the day just feeling it there caused a lot of physiological distress that had me hating running-like motion. But now? Love it. I could’ve continued to run, but I couldn’t resist skipping off to experience other gym thangs - including the men’s locker room.
Locker rooms have always been a source of stress, trauma, and awkwardness for me. At the gym, my mom would walk in to the locker room with me before to help with this. Walking in to the men's locker room earlier today was the first time I have ever experienced walking in to a gendered space like this without startled reactions. No one called security, no one stood up and darted out when I entered… nothing happened. I literally just walked in, did my thing, and walked out. Wow.
On a related note, recovery has been going super well! Between classes and being sick, I’ve been negligent about updating my progress. Essentially, this past month has been my nipples morphing from little blackish mutants into pinkish little nubs. Now that they’re scab-free and becoming more nipply with each new day, I slather them in a Vitamin E / Shea Butter concoction. They’re so cool. Pictures soon!
Comments
Post a Comment