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In the links bellow are 37, 100x100 icons of Alexandra Grey as Eliza Edwards in Transparent. She is an African American, transgender actress. Her hair is dyed green in this role. Edit these all you like, they’re not watermarked, though I would appreciate if you would like or reblog this post if you use them. Please cast her appropriately.

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176 base icons of Yetide Badaki as Bilquis in American Gods. Screencaps taken from here. Feel free to edit, but like/reblog if you use them or if you’re an rph.

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500+ base icons of Broderick Hunter as himself. There are a few faceless icons in this batch. Feel free to edit, but like/reblog if you use them or if you’re an rph.

AI never had surgery before so I really went above and beyond trying to get everything I needed to prepare myself. To help anyone is or will be in my shoes, here’s a list I made of things that will definitely help your recovery.

A wedge pillow: You’re going to need to sleep on your back, I’m a stomach sleeper so this was particularly difficult for me but sleeping propped up helped me immensely. I got one for $25 off Amazon

A neck pillow: Unless you want to wake up with terrible neck pains, you’re going to need one of these bad boys

Baby wipes or body wipes: Some surgeons will allow you to shower with drains but it seems very difficult. Mine didn’t allow me at all so I relied on wiping myself with these  which are large body wipes to use in place of showering

Benadryl: Your bindings might be itchy so to prevent itching, Benadryl tablets help as well as making you sleepy if you are having trouble sleeping

Stool softener: Anesthesia and pain pills can often leave you backed up. After surgery I didn’t poop for two days until I took a stool softener to push things along

 Pain pills (that aren’t the prescribed ones): It’s very easy to get addicted to high dose pain pills so I recommend having a lower dose over the counter bottle of pain pills you can take for when you’re not in a tremendous amount of pain but ask your surgeon what to use first. I was not allowed to use Tylenol because the pills he gave me had the same main ingredient so I had to take Advil or Ibuprofen so I wouldn’t have kidney or liver damage from too much

A long phone charger (10 feet or so): You won’t want to move very much so have a charger that can stretch a fair distance 

Straws: You might not want to move your arms that much depending on how much pain you’re in so straws will be a friend to you

Snacks: Most pain medication requires you to eat with it so you don’t eat on an empty stomach and get sick so have a snack handy just in case you need to take a pill

Shoes easy to slip on: You’re not going to be able to bend down and tie your shoes so get something easy to slip on and off

Hey cuties!

Alex is almost three weeks post-op, and among other things, that means we have had plenty of time to mull over a partial packing list for you interested folks!

Please keep in mind that this list is by no means comprehensive, and each person’s needs will vary some. We’re just trying to give you an idea of the things we a) brought and totally used, b) brought and didn’t use at all, and c) didn’t bring, and ended up needing. Also, keep in mind that many of the medical supplies we ended up needing may be specific to and vary among surgeons. We worked with Paul Steinwald (currently at Lake Forest Plastic Surgery, but moving soon to the Denver area), so the things we will mention are things we needed for Alex’s after care as instructed by our surgeon. If anything we list is unclear in description or reasoning, please send us a message and we will clear it up for you!

All that said, here comes the list:

Things We Brought and DEFINITELY Needed: -pillows(as many as you can) and blanket from home -first aid kit (including, but not limited to: large gauze pads, teeny gauze pads, box of many latex-free plastic gloves, medical scissors, paper-type medical tape, etc (post forthcoming about our aftercare first aid box)) -applesauce in squeeze pouches (Alex basically lived off this stuff for the first two days) -your other favorite “oh shit, I’m sick” foods -BENDY STRAWS! ALL HAIL THE BENDY STRAWS! -a tray table for sitting in bed -button up shirts and sweat pants/gym shorts, also flip flops and many socks -ibuprofen -stool softener -a pill sorter and a notebook to keep track of what/when he took -a towel that you really like from home -(not really a thing we brought, but a thing we planned for by getting a room with two beds) your own space, having a designated safe space where he felt comfortable really helped Alex relax. -money for delivery -iPad for Netflix and video updates -hand sanitizer

Things We Brought and Didn’t Use: -homework (you might be different, but he was way too tired and I was way too busy) -any shirts without buttons, and pants with them -sneakers (for him) -throat spray

Things We Didn’t Bring (or Didn’t Bring Enough) and Wound Up Needing: -6" ace wraps with Velcro closure (they gave us two, but ooze and other nastiness happens, and washing those suckers is a pill) -fan and heating blanket (Alex found that he was very sensitive to temperature changes) -benadryl (NOTE: MAKE SURE to tell your surgeon if you have ANY reaction to adhesives such as the ones on band-aids! Watch Alex’s video updates if you would care to see why.) -MOAR gauze pads, ibuprofen -alcohol prep wipes (we were given some at the hospital, they really make emptying the drains and accompanying tubing much easier) -MANY MOAR clean gym shorts and button-ups -wheelchair (we ended up renting one from a local medical supply store because we were going stir crazy, but walking around was still pretty cumbersome and uncomfortable for Alex) -Again, not a thing, but I cannot stress how much easier it will make things for the caretaker to have a second person there to help with the recovery, especially if staying close to home isn’t an option for you. Alex and I made it work, partially with ingenuity, and partially with plain stubbornness, but having a second (stronger!) person would have really helped. - quarters for the hotel’s guest laundry

That’s all we’ve got for now, but if we think of any more, we will certainly amend the list!

As always, feel free to ask any and all questions,

A few months before you get surgery, exercise a lot, especially in your core. If you do lots of crunches and/or situps, once you’ve lost a lot of mobility and strength it will be so much easier to sit up and stand up if your abdominal muscles are stronger. 

Bendy straws! It makes drinking beverages so much easier. 

Make sure stuff is in arms’ reach since you won’t be able to reach very far. 

Stay ahead of your pain. Don’t wait until you hurt so much you can hardly move. 

Medicines you are given often give you a dry mouth, so 1. keep lots of water handy 2. get some minty gum because that dry mouth will make it taste like something died in there. Also brush your teeth (duh.) 

Get some stool softener pills. Any sort of narcotic pain killers (like Norco, Vicodin, etc.) will constipate the heck out of you, and milk of magnesia is gross af, just take pills to get the same effects. 

Always wash your hands, it’ll reduce the risk of infection. 

When positioning yourself, make sure your chest is in as little pain as possible, but also make sure you’re not going to make every other part of your body sore as a result. In trying to stop any pressure on my chest whatsoever, I twisted my back around and woke up with a really sore back. 

If you do end up with muscle pains, heating pads are great. If your chest hurts, use cold to treat pain and decrease swelling but only for short periods and with lots of bandages on your chest. 

Get some nice facial wipes because you won’t be able to shower for a week or longer. Also, the night before you get surgery (or whenever the last time you shower before then,) don’t condition your hair. It’s not as healthy, sure, but it’ll keep it from getting too greasy as you won’t be able to wash it for a while. 

Cough drops or some sort of hard candy, also tea with honey is highly recommended, as you’ll probably have a sore throat from the breathing tube they give you under anesthesia. 

If you want to take a non-narcotic pain killer, take tylenol, not an NSAID like advil, because NSAID pills can make bleeding worse. Also, don’t take multivitamins for the week before, as Vitamin E can worsen bleeding. 

Even if you’ve got drains like I did, the first night you sleep, you should put down a towel to sleep on in case you leak from other places under the bandages or surgical vest. This is normal so long as you’re not leaking dark red blood, but then again why stain your sheets when you can avoid it? 

Wear easy-to-move-in and easy-to-remove clothes: no jeans, no t-shirts, stick to button-downs and sweatpants or pajama pants. 

Feel free to add more tips! 

-L

Lee says:

My partner got me comic books and coloring things so I’d have something to do before I was able to get up and going around, so that was nice. You’re supposed to be low-activity for the first bit after top surgery so think of something that you can do sitting or lying down since he will get bored not being able to do things esp. if he’s usually a physical person. 

You could also get something practical for him pre-op, like button down shirts so he won’t have to lift his arms up to take off his shirt. The links below have more info on practical things.

Preparation for Surgery

Everything You Need To Know About Preparing For And Recovering From Top Surgery

Good things before/after top surgery

Things they don’t tell you about top surgery

Surgery packing list

Top surgery advice 1, top surgery advice 2, and top surgery advice 3

More top surgery advice

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