Flan's Top Surgery!

 

 

Hello! For those of you who went to school with me, I'm Flan. For those of you who met me online, I'm Karst!

 

There's a million of these in this sad world, so I'll get straight to the point. Gender/body dysphoria is the actual worst. It's like feeling like a foreigner in your own skin because you look at yourself and can't really see YOU. I've spent so many years of my life believing I needed to be feminine despite despising my body and my mind every time I tried to paint my nails or wear bras and lip gloss. I thought that hating my chest was normal and that all women just lived with hating their breasts and it was a necessary part of life. Then I got OUT of Catholic School, thank heck, and began a journey of self discovery through an incredibly long bout of playtime with DOTA 2.

Yeah, seriously.

 

I realized that being anonymous in an online video game meant I was automatically referred to as male, because no one knew who I was or what I looked like. I began to realize that the anonymity was super validating, as on the internet everybody starts out as androgynous until they're more well known.

Online, I was just images and text. I was neither, and nothing. And it was GREAT.

 

Over time I learned what the hell this was, and with the help from my best friend, I discovered what it means to be non-binary and how well I fit into the definition. I met awesome people and learned about the affirming surgeries, and figured out for myself that hating my body with an uncontrollable disgust is NOT normal. And in June of 2019 I changed up my fursona and pronouns and officially came out! And things have been amazing since!

 

Unfortunately, if you know me, you know my 2022 has been pretty damn awful. My psychiatric medications were completely out of balance and I ended up being unable to keep a job I'd been quite looking forward to. After several emergency therapy sessions, wellness checks, and psychiatry visits, I feel like I'm finally close to a balance.

 

And then I got the good news! After waiting over a year for a consult, I met with a surgeon and the surgery was approved. But that leaves me with the dilemma that plagues every other person on the planet; finances!

I am keeping the time open, but right now I'm working full time as a free lance artist. Which, as you can imagine, brings in like NOTHING when it comes to income, so...here I am. I bounced back and forth on this idea for weeks, finally asked a few people what they thought, and here it is. I'm trying to afford a few weeks of no income because I don't have PTO or anything, so that I don't have to kill myself trying to work post-surgery.

This would be happening in the beginning of May!

 

So this is for medical fees/supplies, and living expenses. I'd be able to get the double mastectomy, and finally look at myself in the mirror.

This is me trying, at least. If you read all this, I'm super grateful.

So thanks!