T-ISSUES PODCAST: EPISODE 5 - TRANS FOLKS TALK ABOUT THEIR SURGERIES!! SPECIAL APRIL FOOLS DAY w/ GUESTS

T-ISSUES PODCAST: EPISODE 5 - SPECIAL APRIL FOOLS DAY WITH GUESTS (Video Version) - In this SPECIAL APRIL FOOLS DAY EPISODE 5, Nadja Dee & Airen host 3 trans guests who share intimate details about their surgeries. Ever wanted to get the inside scoop on what it's like to get some life-changing transgender surgery straight from trans folks themselves? Well, watch T-ISSUES PODCAST: TRANS PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THEIR SURGERIES! Then Airen and Nadja Dee review the rom-com "50 First Dates" movie, which has a surprising amount of trans content. We answer several offbeat, ridiculous April Fools-themed questions. Then, T-ISSUES PODCAST shares "Some Good Trans News," as well as some "Good Dog News" in the spirit of Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update. Join Nadja Dee and Airen as they share life experiences, fun, laughter, positivity, and insights into a trans life. (TRT 1:06:10)

We've made the video version available for the public over on Patreon, so folks can get a taste of what T-ISSUES PODCAST is all about. If you like it, become a Patreon Member and support our work! Thank you

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:01

Hello and welcome to this very special episode of Tissues. Tissues is a shared story, a shared life experience series hosted by two real trans folks who try to spread education, awareness, and positivity. We are not licensed therapists, we are not licensed psychologists or physicians. However, we are happy to share up-to-the-date information and references if you seek that information. You can contact us always at tissuesquestions at gmail.com. Erin, you know how we love dogs and we love trans people on this show.

SPEAKER_04 0:43

Yeah, I do know. I do know.

SPEAKER_07 0:47

Well, I thought for this very special episode of trans folks share their surgical procedures, I found a joke that combines trans people and dogs. So when I was in Thailand, I was on my way to have gender confirmation surgery. And my husband and I were walking and I saw a dog on the street licking his own genitals. And I turned to my husband and jokingly said, if I could do that, I probably wouldn't need to get surgery. And he looked at me and said, I'm sure the dog would let you do that, but you might want to pet him and ask his owner first.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Sounds so good.

SPEAKER_07 1:40

And then I ended in. Not to mention that if male dogs get gender surgery, would they constantly be chasing their own pussies? Oh my god. Welcome to tissues.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Issues. Issues. Tissues.

SPEAKER_07 2:09

On this very special episode of Tissues, we have invited some very special guests to join us in studio and share their experiences of going through surgeries and operations to help them in their health and welfare. Tissues does not strictly enforce surgeries for everyone, nor is it the one and only path for any trans person. But we've gathered these fine souls who have agreed to share their own surgeries. So let's get some introductions. What's your name, your pronoun? And if you had access to a time machine, would you go forward or backward? Erin, why don't you start?

SPEAKER_04 2:51

Uh my name's Aaron Dean. Um and uh uh you can use he, him or no pronouns for me. I would go forward. I can read about the past, but um who knows, you know, what's gonna happen after we're here. So I would go forward for sure.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

Um my name is Andrew. I use he, him, his pronouns, and I would definitely go backwards. I think I'm too afraid that if I went forward there wouldn't like there wouldn't be anything, and that would freak me out because I wouldn't know when that would happen. So I'm gonna I'm gonna go backwards.

SPEAKER_06 3:26

My name's Elaine. I use she and her pronouns, and I think I would also go forward. Uh I'm interested in the great unknown. I want to see what the world is gonna look like in a few hundred years, maybe a couple thousand years. Um maybe if the machine lets me, I'd go a couple million years into the future and see what even hum if humanity looks like humanity anymore. Who knows?

SPEAKER_05 3:50

I'm Bartholomew, I go by he, him pronouns. And um I would also go into the future because I just want to get out of dodge here.

SPEAKER_07 4:00

So I'm Naughty D, I go by she, her. I would want to go to the future because I'm a technology whore and I love to see how we would communicate, how we would watch movies when they all just be internal and we're like, I'm gonna watch that thing you do, and just push a button on my forehead.

SPEAKER_04 4:20

I love that movies, movies is where you've got movies.

SPEAKER_07 4:26

Exactly. I want to know that. But I also would want to go to the past because I'm such a huge Beatles 60s PowerPop fan. Oh yeah. I'd want to be able to go like, oh, I saw them at I saw the Beatles at the cavern.

SPEAKER_04 4:40

Oh yeah, you could go to one of those shows where it was like you and 50 people. Yeah.

unknown 4:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 4:45

John Lennon put a toilet seat on his head.

SPEAKER_04 4:48

That's right.

SPEAKER_07 4:48

So well, we're here on our April 1st episode. Welcome everybody. Thank you for taking your time out of your busy schedules to meet for tissues. And we're gonna talk about surgeries. Sure got a lot of people to tune into this. Ooh, trans people and their surgeries. So do I have any volunteers to go first?

SPEAKER_04 5:20

Yeah, I mean, I thought I would kick us off partially because um my memories, you know, of surgery are a little bit vague because I was so young. I think younger than a lot of people are when they have surgery. Yeah. So I think my story won't be long and in some ways it is, you know, there's sort of a discomfort with not being able to remember or know everything that was part of your surgery. I actually don't even know for sure how old I was, uh either five or six years old. What I remember about the surgery is before I had it, um, you know, adults around me, um, my parents, my grandparents, uh, like a dear friend who was an aunt to us, um, they all talked about how everything would be better after the surgery, um, I would be happier, I would not have pain, I would be um I would just sleep more peacefully, all these things that sounded so good. I remember thinking how there were a lot of promises about how the surgery would be good and not much information about what would happen during the surgery. Again, you know, I was only five or six. Is that legal? This is a while ago, right? And things were not as you know, the rights of parents um were more like owning the child as property, right? So the choices weren't necessarily yours. I wasn't informed. I wasn't taught my parents didn't talk to me about here, here's what's going on, here's what can happen to make things more comfortable or more um at peace for you. They didn't talk about any of that. It was just that you're gonna go to the hospital and something this is gonna happen and then things will be better after that.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

That seems incredibly young.

SPEAKER_04 7:17

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at the time, what was my reference point, right? I mean, I didn't, I wasn't, it wasn't like I was, I think I don't I like I said, I don't remember, you know, was I in kindergarten, was I in first grade? It was so long ago I don't really even remember like who my teacher was, but I don't remember talking with any peers about it. I remember the few adults in my life who sort of knew I was going talking to me.

SPEAKER_06 7:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:43

And um I definitely remember thinking, well, things will be better when this is over, and being afraid because I didn't really know what was going to happen. I you know, five or six years old, you don't even know what surgery is, really. You have an image of doctors with the mask on their face and a little hat, right? What I remember after the preparation, I don't remember going to the hospital, I don't remember talking to the surgeon, I don't remember any information, I don't remember anesthesia, I remember none of that. I remember waking up in the hallway of the hospital on a gurney, um, and nobody was around. I I I remember waking up and seeing no people, um, and knowing I was in a hallway and feeling I was totally abandoned, um and looking around, right, to like who was there, who were my people, who were my grown-ups, what was happening. And immediately, as soon as I woke up and noticed I there were no people there, um, feeling like a horrible pain, right, in my throat, because they had taken out my tonsils, of course, and and all the promises, right, of it'll be better and you'll have all the ice cream and the popsicles and all these things. I immediately realized I don't want any of that. I feel horrible. I could never have anything. I don't even want to drink a cup of water, right? So it was certainly um a bait and switch, I feel like, from the adults in my life, right? They really set me up for this is gonna be great, and afterward, oh, you can have all these things and your dreams will be realized, etc. And um, it sucked. And that's what I remember about it.

SPEAKER_07 9:23

Thanks for sharing that.

SPEAKER_04 9:25

Yeah, thanks for listening, everybody. It's hard, it's a hard thing to talk about, but I'm glad you're all here for this. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 9:32

Yeah. Um, I remember I was in my early 30s and um just really coming into what it meant to be trans and really experiencing that. And um I had some I'd found uh some very affirming uh healthcare providers. My doctor was very kind, um, was constantly listening to me. And, you know, one day I told him that I'd been experiencing um a lot of discomfort uh whenever I was like I actually had this is a lot. I I had um I had an extra bit of flesh attached to my body in my underwear, and it was very um just increasingly uncomfortable. But I mean it was something that from a young age my family was like, this is just something you, you know, you're gonna have to deal with. And um the doctor was very kind, very patient, and said, well, you know, if uh we'll just take this slowly, we gotta, you know, we gotta work, we're gonna work through all these details. And I one day it had actually swollen and gotten very, very uncomfortable. And um the doctor said, Yes, this is filled with blood and it is engorged, and uh, we're gonna have to deal with this. And I just said, I I said, I didn't even know we could do something like that. Um in C I do we have where do I have to travel? And I, you know, I thought I'd have to go to San Francisco or some. He's like, no, we have Thailand. I mean any number of places, but it wasn't like I'd been it was like my first time I'd ever encountered any any kind of surgery, anything at all. And um he uh he said actually we can do it in the office here, and it just really shocked me. I'm like, what do you really you're prepared for that? He's like, Yeah, totally. We'll just put you under light sedation. I'm like, how does that work? I mean, I'm dealing with a lot of discomfort here and a lot of pain, and you're telling me I'm gonna have a surgical procedure, and it's kind of what same day, and he's like, something like that. And I'm like, okay, so I trusted my doctors. I mean, we we had already been through a lot, and I went in and um they laid me down the table, actually gave me a Xanax, which was really helpful to help calm my nerves. I was very, very stressed out.

SPEAKER_04 11:44

Was that all they gave you? Was just the Xanax?

SPEAKER_06 11:47

I know. I was expecting more, and I thought maybe they're gonna come with something more heavy. So that actually I I know, I know, I know. But I'll I'll get to that, all the pieces. And I'm laying there, and then the PAC comes in. He's a really nice guy, redhead, played rugby. I had actually seen him in a game once. He was really, really great guy, and just the two of them there, a comforting presence. Um, and as I'm just getting relaxed and relaxed, they brought out this small container of um nitrogen, and I was starting to freak out. I'm like, what are you gonna do with that? He's like, we're gonna apply this to that that bit of flesh to take care of the issue for you. Really? And I went, I don't think I've done research and I don't I don't think this is how you do this. And he's like, trust us, we're doctors. Wow, something like that. I mean, I was I was having Xanax.

SPEAKER_04 12:41

What are you gonna do at that point? You're already there, you're already on the table, you've already had the Xanax.

SPEAKER_06 12:45

I mean, they had a female nurse and the female nurse helped drape me and I was ready to go, and they exposed my genital area. And um, what they'd done is uh then they began to apply the nitrogen um just in very small amounts to uh about a four to five millimeter um skin tag that had become engorged and had gotten almost infected. And uh they applied that. Yeah, um, it was just a little like a little skin tag, it was just going right down close to my pelvis and it was just constantly getting, you know, hit and rubbed, and and you know, every time it it got bumped, it was very uncomfortable. And I um yeah, they they burned it off with nitrogen and then I think one or two stitches and then it hurt a little bit at the end, but um and I was got to recover for maybe half an hour to an hour and then I could actually go home and it was, you know, it's like same day. It was just in and out. I was very surprised. But that was a lot to deal with. And um, you know, but it wasn't I guess what I would expected, but it was it was definitely something that was very personal, very close to me, and really helped affirm who I got to be as a person and made me feel more whole. So it's not close to you anymore though, right? It's far away. No, it's I'm sure it's yeah.

SPEAKER_07 14:08

Yeah. Wow, that's a medical waste. So that was about a skin tag.

SPEAKER_06 14:11

Yeah, it was a skin tag, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 14:13

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:15

Okay. I mean that's one term, right? There are probably other terms for that.

SPEAKER_06 14:20

One time I had one under the eye, it was really awkward, but yeah, this was the one place to have one, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_07 14:27

Yeah, I agree. Never called mine a skin tag, but well, thanks for sharing, Elaine.

SPEAKER_06 14:34

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 14:36

All right, so um, folks, you're listening to the Tissues podcasts, trans folks talk about their surgeries. Andrew, thank you for being so brave.

SPEAKER_03 14:46

Yeah, of course. I mean, that's a big part of being trans is being very brave. So um my name's Andrew. I came out when I was around like 14 years old, and that's when I was really, really like I didn't have link I didn't have language for it to begin with. And then I saw this episode of Degrassi actually when they introduced their first trans character, and then I was like, oh my god, that is that is me, that is who I am, that's me as a person, and I didn't have any language to it before that. So I was like, whole why did nobody tell me? Um and I was really, really depressed. I was dealing with a lot of anxiety and paranoia and just like being just just so like I was staying home from school a lot and like the the pain that I like I I think back on it and I just want to cry, but like the the pain that I was feeling at that time was like it was so visceral, you know. It was like it was so visceral, like I could feel it in my gut, but mostly I could feel it in my throat. It was just the like like a like a word you can't get off your off the tip of your tongue, you know?

SPEAKER_02 16:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:04

And it was just like so deep embedded in my throat, really. And I like stopped talking for weeks at a time. Like I was just I was so much in my dysphoria, in my pain, in my everything that was going on when I was dead. Um and so like I I also didn't really have supportive parents either, and so I didn't end up getting to have the surgery like when I was 14. It would have been so great if I would have had it like a lot a lot younger because it can be more it can be a lot more painful when you're an adult versus when you're like five or six, you know? Um and so like when I found out that that's what was going on, I was just like, oh my god, I need to I need to do this. And I was going off of my parents' health insurance at the time. So I was like, I have to do this like right now, right now, or else I'm not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_07 17:16

Your parents' insurance covered your surgery?

SPEAKER_03 17:20

Yeah. Wow. Like yeah, it was really, really lucky. So I ended up getting it all scheduled, and um, I had to see a couple of doctors beforehand for them to just like make sure I was well enough to have surgery, I suppose.

SPEAKER_04 17:37

Um there's always some gatekeeping if you're you know allowed to have a surgery now or not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:44

Yeah. Right? Ugh.

SPEAKER_04 17:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:46

Like the amount of loop the amount of loopholes you have to go through in order to get something that is literally gonna change the trajectory of your life is just like I was staying home from school probably like a wee like a week to two weeks at a time for of like months at a time. Like it was horrible. It was really bad. Um, and so I went I went to the hospital and they got me all suited up in my cute little nightgown situation. And they I got them finally being removed, and I was like, thank God. Um and what was really cute and sweet was I have this stuffed moose. Oh, he's right here. Oh I have this I have this stuffed moose, his name's Jerry. I've had him since I was like five years old. And they let me bring Jerry into the OR with me, but they had to like put him in a plastic bag. And so I just no, but it was like so it could be sterile. They like put it in like a sterile bag, but they like still they still let me bring him in, and that was really cool. And so I thought the surgery went great and everything was good to go. And like when I was recovering, I was I was in this lavender phase of wanting everything lavender flavored.

SPEAKER_06 19:05

It's a good flavor.

SPEAKER_03 19:06

I was drinking a lot of I was drinking a lot of lavender dry soda, which apparently you're not supposed to do after surgery. Nobody told me that. Nobody in their nobody told me you're not supposed to have dry soda after surgery. They told me I wasn't supposed to smoke, I wasn't supposed to drink, I wasn't supposed to do this, that, or the other, but I didn't know I wasn't supposed to drink dry soda. Um, and I was eating a lot of lavender ice cream, and there was this point when I was eating lavender ice cream and I had I had literally just finished the container. Like, there's no way this could have been more like like I think me eating ice cream probably saved my life, is how I feel about the situation. So like I would finish my ice cream and then I just started perfusely spurting out so much blood, so much blood that I couldn't control, just so much of it. I was just like I was sitting there and I was just collecting it in this pint container.

SPEAKER_06 20:07

Oh it was in the ice cream container, yes, that I had just finished.

SPEAKER_03 20:12

So I had a container to catch the blood. I mean, there is something kind of poetic about that, really.

SPEAKER_07 20:17

It's like lavender blood though now.

SPEAKER_03 20:19

Yeah, it's yeah, a little bit, you know, like an infusion, a little treaty, a little iron, you know. Um but because it I was bleeding so much it was I couldn't really yell, I couldn't really scream. And so I was like trying to hold this thing to collect the blood to not stain my parents' carpet to find my mom. And she was like, oh no. And I was like, yeah, oh no, like let's let's go to the back to the hospital. And so we went back to the hospital, and I again I deal with a lot of anxiety, I deal with a lot of panic attacks. I was also having a panic attack while I was profusely bleeding and uncontrollably, and I couldn't talk and I couldn't yell, and I couldn't do anything. All I could do was bleed into this lavender ice cream container. Um and so they're like, Have you eaten anything today? And I just I was like, Are you kidding me? I ate this ice cream because the ice cream that I'm holding right now, that's what I ate. And they're like, That's fine. It's good, that's not very much, let's go. And they immediately send me back for emergency uh re-cauterization surgery. Oh, and so they sent me back and I was panicking and freaking out, and I have a tattoo from the musical rent on my arm, like the 500, 25,600. Um, and they were trying to calm me down by like asking me about my tattoos, and I was they're I was like, Oh, it's from the song called Season of Love. He's like, Well, I know that song. And then they played I Swear on My Life, they played it in the O R as I was falling asleep. It was the coolest thing that is that's serious. Talk about Bedside Manor because like Like I feel like that's one of the biggest things about surgery is like nobody's very I feel like people in s in like surgery practice aren't usually very hospitable, especially towards trans folk. Especially when we're so vulnerable and when we're literally stripped down to nothing wearing a surgery gown, you know, like it's hard to do.

SPEAKER_04 22:21

But at this point also they realize like you're bleeding from the wounds that they supposedly cauterized. And now yeah, what are they gonna do? I mean, they're yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

Yeah, but I thought it was interesting that um Aaron also shared about getting their tonsils taken out, getting his tonsils taken out because I also got them taken out, but I was like so much older. So when you were like five or six, I was like, that is so young.

SPEAKER_04 22:48

Yeah, there is no way it happens at different ages for all of that.

SPEAKER_03 22:52

Oh yeah, it's true.

SPEAKER_07 22:56

Oh okay, so um that was your tonsils. Okay. God, yeah, it was my well when you were talking about the amount of blood, I was like, oh, bottom surgery. And now that I know it was tonsils, is so it's top surgery. Yeah. Or talk surgery. Yeah. Talk surgery. Yeah, yeah. Talk surgery.

SPEAKER_04 23:20

I mean, yeah, thank you. I mean, I'm I'm glad I know that I haven't I have someone in this with me, you know.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

And I just want to like thank both of you for even creating this podcast to start with, because you're that's what you're doing is creating community for those.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

Yeah, we need to know that we're not alone with our surgeries. I mean, it's important.

SPEAKER_07 23:37

Yeah, you it's just more proof that trans men really relate to each other.

SPEAKER_04 23:41

Amen, sister.

SPEAKER_07 23:42

Well, we're here on April 1st for trans people talk about surgeries. Bartholomew, will you bring us home?

SPEAKER_05 23:52

Yeah. Um, so you know, I wasn't as young as Aaron at the ripe age of five. Um, I was I was a little older. I was around seventeen and the the interesting thing is when I was looking online and everything like that, you know, everybody um you know, I j I I wanted to do as much research as I could and especially for recovery period and you know, everything like that. And um sorta sort of in the same similar realm as Erin though, um the uh the doctors were telling me and my mom even had told me, like, oh you definitely should have gotten this, you know, um when you were much younger. Like, you know, a couple a couple years ago. And I was like that's that's not something I you know learn learned about online. Like Okay. Like the earlier the better, I guess. And you know, so we we had to do like the whole, you know, insurance, you know, trying to find an insurance that worked and you know, like a pharmacy that worked with that insurance, and then clinic that worked, you know, like just all those all those different hoops that you gotta jump through. But I had to get this done so like in a pretty short period of time because I was going on a trip. You know, I heard that the recovery period was anywhere between a couple weeks to, you know, even a couple months for for some folks. So it's like, okay, we're I'm gonna try and prepare for the months just in case, 'cause you know, you never know. And so I I got to the doctor's office and you know, we were going through everything and I was like, you know, I was feeling very, very nervous. There's a lot of a lot of anxiety around it, um, 'cause, you know, it it is a very, very huge thing and it's a very big step. All all I remember is 'cause I think I kind of phased it out, um, funny enough. But all I remember is I was starting to go under anesthesia. She was like, Okay, I'm gonna have the anesthesiologist start your anesthesia. We're gonna count down from ten. And so I was like, Okay, sounds good. Um and so they're counting down and they get to five and all of a sudden she says, Oh, I forgot to tell you don't uh can't can't eat anything after this for a while. I was like, What? And then I was out. I was like, Okay, great. Yeah. Which which was very interesting because, you know, I I didn't really see anything about that. So, you know, and I was like, I know I have to get this done quickly, but Well at that point they're telling you you're about to go out, you have no idea.

SPEAKER_04 26:30

Is this gonna compromise the results of your surgery? Are you gonna be safe? Like is it still gonna w work the way you thought it would?

SPEAKER_05 26:37

I mean Oh exactly. And I was like, I mean, I know it's I know it's you know, top surgery, but I didn't know it was that kind of top surgery, like Yeah. And so then I I came to I remember my mom was saying something about how the nurses were preparing for me to flirt with them because apparently that happened a lot at at that clinic. Especially men came off of we're coming down from anesthesia. She was like, Good thing, you know, you you don't have to go to court. So I was like awesome. Um and uh yeah, so that was that was really nice. That was really nice. And then I was home and it was a day later. Like that anesthesia, uh like the whole thing just took me out for like a good day. So I was looking, you know, I was uh texting people and I was like, hey, I'm okay, made it through. You know, but um but I'm you know, I'm feeling sore all over.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:30

And uh You were with your parents or your mom this whole time, Bartholomew?

SPEAKER_05 27:36

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:38

I was You must be really supportive. I mean that's pretty amazing. So supportive.

SPEAKER_07 27:42

I'd met her.

unknown 27:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:44

Yeah. By by that point, in in the very beginning um of my transition, it it wasn't like not supportive, but it wasn't supportive either. You know, I was kinda stuck in like a very odd middle ground. But luckily, you know, as time went on and she she and I had talked about it and she talked to other folks. She came to the point of, you know, okaying and be being okay with me going on hormones and then you know, surgery and and she helped, you know, a lot with the recovery. So I was looking at my phone and I realized that I had sent Snapchats to people. So this is video episode. Yes. And it was it was when I was in the clip.

SPEAKER_03 28:28

Insert a clip right here.

SPEAKER_05 28:32

If if I still have them, I definitely will send it. Send it to me. But it was not only not just any Snapchat, but it was a Snapchat to one of the popular kids. Because I ended up like um I ended up befriending one of them and we were like acquaintances, you know, we weren't besties. And so I sent him this video and uh and it was me just absolutely high off my ass on anesthesia and I'm slurring. And um and it's because I got my um wisdom teeth taken out. Uh oh. Like when when I said top surgery, a lot like you know, Andrew and Aaron, like it is very, very top.

SPEAKER_04 29:23

I mean it's pretty high up there, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 29:27

That's why you couldn't eat. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 29:30

Well, I guess I'm still glad your mom supported you like getting the wisdom teeth out, even though you were kinda old for it. I mean, good. It's good.

unknown 29:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:40

Come on, I I think it's time that you shared your story with us, Nadia D.

SPEAKER_07 29:45

Yeah. I mean, what's surprising about my surgery as opposed to all your surgeries, is that I don't want to talk about the initial surgery. I had I needed extra surgery due to complications from my first surgery.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 30:06

At this time I didn't, you know, know Botzer or Meltzer or Menard or any one of those fantastic surgeons that are out there. And I just knew that I needed my life to change, that I was in a lot of pain after the first surgery. And I was very worried that after my surgery I wouldn't be able to feel anything post-surgery. I just wanted it removed so bad. And pain got worse and worse every single day. And the number one thing was I needed to find, you know, a genital surgeon, a gentle surgeon to work on me. And what was weird was that my brother assisted in the surgery. Why my my own brother, my older brother, yeah. He had a practice where he was learning from this world-renowned surgeon.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_07 31:08

And that is that was like it almost seems medically unethical. That because I didn't think family was supposed to work on their own family.

SPEAKER_04 31:21

But sometimes there's so few people who want to learn particular surgeries that there's just gonna be that overlap as well, right? And is your brother sis?

SPEAKER_07 31:30

Yeah, he's cis. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:32

That's so fascinating.

SPEAKER_07 31:33

And this is the brother who is back in my life now. And I think the main thing was that I was worried that it wouldn't look natural. And I was worried I wouldn't be able to feel anything after the surgery. Would I have complete sensation after? Would you know would sour taste sour? Would sweet taste sweet to me, you know? It might have been my fault that I had complications post-surgery.

SPEAKER_04 32:05

Well, you can't blame yourself. I mean, these things are difficult to hear from.

SPEAKER_07 32:09

I mean what was weird was that after surgery I felt good, I felt fine. I was happy I had it. And then all of a sudden my cheek started swelling up. And it got bigger and bigger. And I thought, is this a side effect? I didn't know that happened. And it just kept getting bigger and bigger, and like one side of my face looked like a chipmunk. And I thought, this is weird complications from surgery. I've never heard of this happening before.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 32:41

There was an entire kernel of corn that got stuck inside my hole.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Did you say corn?

SPEAKER_07 32:50

Um not corn. Corn. Um corn hole? A whole corn.

SPEAKER_06 33:01

A whole corn, a whole kernel, okay.

SPEAKER_07 33:03

Whole kernel had stuck in that hole. And the hole in my mouth.

SPEAKER_06 33:08

The hole was in your mouth.

SPEAKER_07 33:09

And the hole in my mouth. Yeah, he on the got it, got it. Okay. And he went in there and they sliced it open, and I remember his face. It was two things that happened relief and him almost turning green and vomiting from all the pus that came out from my hole. It was a bossy hole. Yeah. I still have complete sensation in my mouth. It looks completely natural. I just wanted it removed so bad. Like I was in a dark place, you guys, like as dark as that kernel of corn must have felt. But I'm glad the surgery was done, and I'm sure my brother remembers it to this day.

SPEAKER_04 34:04

I mean, yeah, I mean, me too. I mean, I'm glad you're not in pain. I'm glad that your brother was able to be there for you.

SPEAKER_07 34:09

I mean, that's you know, yeah, something it was it was life-changing. It still is.

SPEAKER_04 34:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 34:15

Um, you might think I'd avoid corn today, but I don't. No. Well, you know, yeah. We all make our choices, I guess.

SPEAKER_05 34:23

I mean, also, you know, like it sounds like a lot of us had family who were there, but your brother was like really there for you.

SPEAKER_03 34:28

My brother was there, the scalpel right there.

SPEAKER_07 34:31

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

Your your brother was so they were your brother was definitely just like all up in the pussy hole, right?

SPEAKER_07 34:40

All up in my pussy hole, yeah. So yeah. Wow. I don't I don't think he ever wants to talk about my pussy hole again.

SPEAKER_03 34:49

Well, you know, and we all have our boundaries. I mean, that's now you've reconnected though. Like maybe maybe reconnecting with him is going to like help bridge the gap between you, him, and your pussy hole.

SPEAKER_07 35:03

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. When I make them dinner, it's weird. I'm like, do you want to have fish and mashed potatoes and corn? He's like, no corn, no corn.

SPEAKER_04 35:13

Something could trigger anybody, you know, and we need to be aware of that and be sensitive to it, I think.

SPEAKER_06 35:19

Yeah, that story was both wholesome and cornographic.

unknown 35:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:25

Oh my. Well, um, as it's b been kind of putting us through the emotional ringer tonight, but I just like really thank everybody for being so brave and sharing your story and surgery.

SPEAKER_07 35:38

Trans people talk about their surgeries.

SPEAKER_06 35:41

Yeah. Absolutely. Happy to be part of this.

SPEAKER_07 35:45

I didn't lie about anything. I mean trans folks did talk about their surgeries.

SPEAKER_04 35:50

And you know, people out there who don't understand us need to hear these stories so that they can understand we're people and see us as humans. You know, if they don't know about these intimate surgeries, how can we expect them to ever respect us? So it's good that we all come out here and share these things, I think.

SPEAKER_07 36:06

It's weird having trans people talk about non-gen gender confirmation surgeries because it's like trans people are people too. Huh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:18

I mean that's a pretty big leap you're making there, but I mean But basically every surgery a trans person has is a trans surgery.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

Ohst. Psst. Oh, do you know these trans? Oh, I'm gonna die laughing. Oh, I need a hot dog real bad. Happy, happy April.

SPEAKER_07 36:50

That went good.

SPEAKER_04 36:55

Wonderfully. Little What a beautiful segment.

SPEAKER_07 36:58

Little different then. We did talk about surgeries. True. Yeah. We're picking up right after this. We didn't take any time. Um did you nothing's changed from mere moments ago. Nothing's changed. It doesn't matter anyway. I'm glad that you two are here. And uh let's go into the movie review. Let's do it. Welcome to the movie review on the April Fool's edition of. And Aaron and I thought about this and we said, why review just a straightforward possibly why review a positive trans portrayal representation for the April Fool's show? And so I threw it to Aaron to say, what's a really bad trans film? And you picked this film. 51st dates. 50 First Dates.

SPEAKER_04 38:14

Which I should say I wouldn't consider a trans film, but there is um some arguably representation of awareness of trans people in it.

SPEAKER_07 38:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 38:26

We'll share a little bit about that. I'd done some research. So 51st dates, directed by Peter Segal, who went to USC film school, cinema and television. He is known for comedy films. He did Tommy Boy, he did Naked Gun 33 and the Third, which we'll come back to in a minute, Get Smart with Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway. He also directed Adam Sandler in Anger Management. The film stars Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, and also stars A Surprising Cameo by Dan Aykroyd, Lucia Strass as Alexa, Sean Aston and Rob Schneider, culturally appropriating a native Hawaiian character, which is hilarious since he criticized trans celebrity Dylan Mulvaney, accusing her of cultural gender appropriation, saying she was making a mockery of women. Besides a donning Hawaiian brown face, this anti-vaxxer also was a speaker for the hate group Mons for Liberty. His own daughter has distanced herself from this abomination. Rotten Tomatoes scored the film as 45% rotten. That's when you get the smash green tomato. Ironically, movie critic Rex Reed, who played the pre-transition male role in the bad trans film Myra Breckinridge, he gave it 51st dates a skating negative review in the New York Observer, calling the film stupid, coarse, and abysmally unfunny, and said it uses offensive humor about brain damage. There's a musical adaptation based on the film in London, which ran last year from September to November of 2025. I want to emphasize that the reason we picked a film that doesn't portray the trans community in a good light was that this is our April Fools episode. Gives us an opportunity to pick a bad trans representation film. Aaron said, let's do 51st states, which I had not seen. The soundtrack's great. I don't eat spam anymore. Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore have undeniable chemistry. And one of the things I loved was it does look like he hired a lot of Hawaiian locals. So he boosted that economy. I looked it up and it's true. He employed a lot of the Hawaiian locals. And it's the best acting I've ever seen done by a penguin.

SPEAKER_04 41:10

The woman who plays Sue, who owns and runs the restaurant that Drew Barry Moore's character has gone to eat at every morning, um, because her character thinks it's the same morning. Um, I really like her. I think she that is a relatively small part, but I think she really nails it. And I've seen her in a few other things. She usually has like a small character actor role. She's great. And there's a scene that's pretty touching where she is explaining to Adam Sandler's character what the situation is. It's a small part. She portrays that pretty well, I think, like how somebody would feel about a person that they were really close to and they um could never explain what was going on to. And so they just make a choice to sort of support them and love them where they're at every day. And I thought that she did a really good job with that part. And there's a lot that I don't like about this movie, but in the rewatch of it, I was reminded about how much I appreciate her as an actor for that part.

SPEAKER_07 42:05

Yeah, a lot of the supporting roles are really well done, including the penguin. And the walrus including the penguin. Oh yeah, the walrus is great.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Well, thank you very much.

SPEAKER_07 42:17

I am the walrus. The negatives that I had about this film was there's so many damn montages. Most films have like one major montage, right? You know, Rocky training to, you know, da da da da and to, you know, get there. And you know, I get that. You have to have montages to show up past at a time. But this film had so many montages, I lost account. My mind went into a montage nausea. I really hated the fat joke about the wife. I felt like I hardly laughed in this film. The jokes just weren't funny. I maybe laughed two times. I laughed at the part where Adam crumbles up his list of how he's gonna hit on Lucy, her drew. And then the guy picks it up and goes, Can I have this? And he goes, You want that? He goes, Yeah, I need something to wipe my butt with. That made me laugh out loud. And the other line that I loved is a Beatles-related line.

SPEAKER_06 43:20

I can have a boyfriend so you can get rid of me.

SPEAKER_07 43:23

Oh, I'm not.

SPEAKER_06 43:24

What's his name then?

SPEAKER_07 43:26

Ringo.

SPEAKER_06 43:27

Who's his last name Star?

SPEAKER_07 43:29

No, McCartney.

SPEAKER_05 43:30

McCartney, okay.

SPEAKER_07 43:33

I also would never make out on the first date, unless it was with Sally Hawkins. And having their first kiss in the rain was a little bit cheesy.

SPEAKER_04 43:43

Well, I will say I f I didn't say this before, but one positive is um just like the scene, the scenery, the landscape's beautiful, and that's definitely a character in the film, you know.

SPEAKER_07 43:54

Landscape was beautiful. I didn't see a single dinosaur though. No, no dinosaur.

SPEAKER_04 44:01

You've covered, you know, most of the negatives. I would I didn't think about the montage, but you're right. They really do a lot of the movie is montages. Um, okay, I'll say that one thing I thought was uh cool. I like sort of little things that will be in a script um to to kind of give a character some depth or just sort of idiosyncrasies. And I liked um Drew Barrymore's character with the sort of building things out of her waffles at her break at her breakfast. That was cute. I like that part was really and then uh one of the times Adam Sandler's character is you know hitting on her um at the diner and her character gets on him for like putting his hands all over her food. He comes in to help with the waffle building or whatever. Yeah. That was good. I thought that was really well done. And um, yeah, so I like that little piece of it. That was fun part of it.

SPEAKER_07 44:50

Yeah, I don't want people touching my food. Do you like people touching your food? No. All right, time to get into the trans negatives in the film. The first trans-related joke is goes to Alexa, his assistant. She has this part where she comes on to Dr. Roth and he says, I don't know if you realize I'm not into guys. But even though Alexa may be non-binary, it's never discussed, she presents mainly female. And so I don't get the joke.

SPEAKER_04 45:23

I mean, it's it's working as a like a biased joke, or not working, I should say. They're using it um based on a few different things. One is um like people's discuss of tri for trans people. They're also doing sort of uh a basic like don't violate gender norms. Like one way you can look at it is that it's not that Henry Dr. Henry Roth thinks that she is male or a man or even a trans woman, but he's just saying you're violating the rules of what a woman should be, which is an interesting joke to try to make play against the backdrop of him basically wanting to hook up with any woman who comes his way and just discard them afterwards.

SPEAKER_07 46:10

Yeah, and it also wasn't necessary to say he could say, thank you, but I'm not into you.

SPEAKER_04 46:16

He didn't have to throw it into although that would call into question all his character development up to that point, because I don't think he ever says thank you for anything.

SPEAKER_07 46:26

And then I think the next joke I'm gonna talk about is the one that made you pick this film.

SPEAKER_03 46:32

And I'm so glad that you finally got that gender reassignment surgery, Jennifer. I mean Jonathan.

SPEAKER_06 46:38

Mahalo.

SPEAKER_04 46:41

What? It just out of nowhere. Yeah. She used to know her friend as a female, and now her friend is a male. However, when they show the character, it's like the character's gender presentation is as if the character is working very hard to present femme. That's what it looks like in the film. And so watching it, especially as a trans person, I sort of think, what are they doing? Like they're trying to make a joke without understanding like the fabric of the joke, even.

SPEAKER_07 47:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:13

The joke is simply that trans people exist. We don't know what's up with that. Isn't it weird? Like that's the joke without any actual, it's a poorly written at very poorly written.

SPEAKER_07 47:25

So summing up, my review, it's a bad film, but we knew that going in, especially from a trans representation side. Boom, trans joke, boom, trans joke. Where'd that come from? It's not even about that. And aside from Punch Trunk Love, I tend not to be a huge Adam Sandler fan. I guess you could call me an unhappy Gilmore girl.

SPEAKER_06 47:53

Wow.

SPEAKER_07 47:55

I like that it takes place in Hawaii and that he boosted their economy and hired the locals. You know, my father's side of the family is Hawaiian, so there's a part of me that feels like that's home. And the people there are family. If only there was a Hawaiian word for family. The tacky son and random trans jokes ruined the film for me. I would have stopped watching it if it wasn't an assignment for tissues. But did you know this director, Pito Segal, loves bad trans jokes? There's another bad trans joke in Naked Gun 33 and a third. It's a scene where the late Anna Nicole Smith reveals to a silhouette shadow that she has a penis. So classy. Ratings. Time for ratings, unless you have any other summaries of this film.

SPEAKER_04 48:52

I do want to echo what you said about um, I appreciate Drew Barrymore as an actor, and I think she did bring empathy to the role. And I'll say um this film and Adam Sandler's films in general will throw pot shots at basically anybody and everybody, not just trans people, in in just jokes that aren't that funny. It's like a it's like, wow, you're still living in this particular way of approaching humor that I think like Punch Strike Love, you pointed to, he can do like much better stuff. And I think of some of the songs he wrote on Saturday Night Live, pretty entertaining, right? So it that's kind of a bummer. Um, he could do better and be much funnier. Um, I'm gonna give it one one tissue crumpled that didn't really help. A second tissue where he actually got a good nose blow into it and it's totally soaked, and then a third tissue to clean that up. Those three crumpled together. That's my rating.

SPEAKER_07 49:55

And I too will give it one tissue, but it's at the bottom of the box, and the only reason there's one tissue is because of Drew's and Adams chemistry, the inclusion of Hawaiian culture, and the Ringo Ringo McCockney joke.

unknown 50:13

Woo.

SPEAKER_04 50:16

That's a good one.

SPEAKER_07 50:53

All right, we have five April Fool's questions coming from various people. The first question comes from Jim. If you're overweight and transitioning, is that what trans fat refers to? Erin, why don't you take this one? I wasn't prepared for this one.

SPEAKER_04 51:17

I do think often, Jim, about words um that have trans in them uh that we see around in everyday life that aren't. I'm sorry, Jim, to say that that isn't what trans fat refers to and that's not what it means. But I do see those words often and um they sort of throw me for a minute, like you'll sometimes see uh certain trucks, right? Like giant like delivery trucks or whatever that are some is some sort of transport something is what they're referencing or transmissions or something like that. Um, and you know, it's a minefield out there, Jim, for trans people trying to figure out like, is this vehicle, is this billboard, is this place of business, you know, welcoming me, or is it just a place for people to get their items transported from here to Toledo? We don't know. So unfortunately that is not what trans fat means, but it would be nice if, you know, there was a specific um resources, support, medical awareness for those of us who are transitioning and also would like to have a conversation about fats, carbohydrates, proteins, whatever it might be. On family feud. Good answer.

SPEAKER_07 52:28

Good answer. I think just like in real life, when there are bad trans fats and good trans fats, when a M to F gets estrogen and puts on that extra layer of fat, I think this is good trans fat. That's all I'm gonna say. Moving on to question two. Question two comes from John. Does driving a trans am make a person trans?

SPEAKER_04 52:57

Absolutely. Next question.

SPEAKER_07 53:00

Question three, completely different type of question. Can shaking the hand of a trans person I think, yeah, I think it 100% can make you trans if you're trans. Ready? Let's try it. Okay, ready? Shake my hand. I'm trans.

SPEAKER_04 53:24

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_07 53:25

It worked. Question four. Last two questions come from Ben. Is there any reward for helping five trans people's journeys or coming out or transitioning? Do you get like a set of steak knives?

SPEAKER_04 53:50

That's a very that's a good point. I mean, I would imagine that Ben is positioned at this point to get the steak knives if they are available. So I think I would say I'm gonna if you've helped, you know, five people, um, provided support, told them about resources, whatever, and you haven't received the stake knives, then I'm guessing no, we're not getting them. I mean, I haven't gotten mine. I don't think you've gotten yours yet. So either the infrastructure for distribution of these rewards is woefully lacking, or it's just never coming our way. We're gonna have to build it ourselves, I guess. Build it, and then they will come.

SPEAKER_07 54:26

Last question also comes from Ben. Who is the leader of the transes? It might be Big Bird. Okay, it's Big Bird. There you go. Thanks for those five great, super serious questions on our April Fool's Q ⁇ A. Moving on to some trans and or canine good news. Story is the official, unofficial, unabridged dictionary took note when members from the organization Make Acronyms Go Away or MAGA made a comment that words like cis and cisgender and woke are made-up words. The O U D spoke up and said that all words are in fact made up, and then decided to change the word trans to be pronounced silently. Transparent in fact means clear or see-through invisible. So the word itself should be not pronounced or pronounced silently, much like the K in knife, the K in knee, or the K in knob. But besides the silent KKKs, the dictionary now instructs words like translucent to be pronounced simply as Lucent. In addition, trans men are men and trans women are women. The region of Transylvania has gone the extra mile regarding trans rights by outlawing the name Amanda for newborns. When asked for further detail why they singled out this particular name, the Carpathian leader said, so no one can make that transphobic joke. I should have known my trans girlfriend was trans when she told me her name. How did her name tell you she's trans? She said, I'm a man, duh. Scientists have broken new ground when they stumbled across the original teleportation pods used in the 1986 David Cronenberg film, The Fly. It's a remake of the original 1958 movie. Archivists found that all they needed was a new power source and some rewiring. Jeff Brundle, the lead restoration archivist, was able to reconnect and fire up the pods earlier last month and tested it by placing a blowfish in one pod and a leech in the other. The experiment resulted in a blowfish that really sucks and a leech blower. Realizing this technology could help the trans community switch body parts is the next step, they said. The same experiment was tried using the vintage 1958 pods, but everything that morphed turned into black and white, leaving the scientists to simply cry, help me, help me.

SPEAKER_04 57:18

Wow, that's brilliant.

SPEAKER_07 57:21

Canada has passed a new law allowing trans citizens to vote twice. When asked for comment, Prime Minister Brislin said, oh, this is not a trick. We have given our transnationals the power to vote in each gender. It's time for a toast. A cytogeneticist, that's a scientist who studies chromosomes, on a science vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. I mean, that's the Gulf of Mexico, has made a rare discovery, a third chromosome. Typically, females carry an XX chromosome, while males carry an XY. But Dr. Noe Gizmo has discovered a Z chromosome. Researchers stumbled upon the chromosome triad, were shocked, because the kerotite machine, which examined the XYZ chromosome zipper, was down. Due to a recent controversy in trans athletes and sports, a non-binary organization have started their very own basketball league association. So if you identify as non-binary and want to join, simply contact the NBA. And now in some trans dog stories. In some good canine news, dogs' lives can now be extended by transferring the one-up mushroom from the Super Mario series game to add an extra life to your canine.

SPEAKER_04 58:48

Wonderful. I knew they were working on that.

SPEAKER_07 58:50

They were. A disclaimer must be noted that extra lives cannot be applied to the cats since they already have nine. And our last canine news story, that's good, is Nessie, the self-proclaimed leader of all dogs, has teamed up with Roomba to create the first automatic butt rug scooter. Still in its testing phase. Small dogs sit on top of the Roomba, strategically hang the rear over the side until it touches the carpet, and let the crack vac do the work. When released, the crack vac or the crack yume will be available in Hershey Squirt Brown and Rear in Red. They have a tagline to look for. That's not fair. I'm still laughing at crack you. Oh my god. While we repair air. I broke my co-host.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:06

Oh that episode was great. Does anyone need a tissue after this episode? Get it tissue.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:16

Thanks for those great news updates, Nadia. Really appreciate those. Um, all joking aside, everyone, this is our April Fools episode. And still we're going to take some time like we do at the end of every episode to remind you that things are not always all jokes in good times for all of us who are trans and who love who love trans folks. And just like at the end of every episode, we want to remind you that we are here for you. You matter to us, your experiences matter, your stories matter, whatever you want to talk about or need um to find in terms of resources matters, you can write our tissues questions email address. Um if ever you just want to talk about something or have questions you want us to address or looking for resources, and we'll do what we can to hook you up with those things. And we're going to share, an audio share now, um, a few numbers and resource lines that we recommend for folks.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:16

If you're feeling down, suicidal, or just need to talk to somebody, you can call 988 at any time, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and talk to somebody. The operators are there to listen. It is paid support as well as volunteer support. I did talk to them in person to find out how they would handle a trans person calling in, and they said that your call is important to us just like everybody else, and you would not be discriminated against. So again, you can call or if calling isn't your thing, you can text 988 and talk to somebody. Your life matters. It's very, very important to us. So please, you can also reach out to us, tissuesquestions at gmail.com. Erin and I will be happy to listen or talk to you or chat with you if you have anything that you're going through. You also can call the Trans Lifeline at 1877-565-8860, as well as the Trevor Project, 1866-488-7386. And just remember that your life and everything that might be going on in the world right now is heavy. It's a heavy load to carry. You're not the only one going through it. You are perfect the way you are, and we want to support you. We do this show because we want to bring positivity and hopefully some laughs, like this episode hopefully brought to you with my bad jokes and our long drawn-out single joke. And, you know, we're having fun. So I'm hoping that as long as we're having fun, you're having fun too.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:09

Yeah, we appreciate everybody being here. We had a little bit of fun in this episode. We don't know what's happening between when we are recording this episode and it airs. You know, you're gonna be seeing this or listening to this on April 1st. Happy April Fool's Day, everybody, or maybe April Fools thereafter. Um, and we recorded this about six weeks before that. And so um a lot's happening in the world and things change rapidly. And, you know, we expect um more challenges to come between now and when you hear this, and we expect that we will all continue to stick together and have each other's backs as well to take care of each other during those challenges.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:46

We do want to extend a great warm tissue thank you to our special guests, Elaine, Andrew, and Bartholomew for guesting and sharing your operation stories. That was so great. And a shout out to our Patreon members, Ben and Erin. We love you. You can join us on Patreon and watch this video instead of just listening to the audio, if that's your thing, at Patreon for a mere five dollars a month gives you all of that. You'll also get a special sticker.

unknown 1:04:23

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:26

So if you sign up sign up for that, you'll get one of these stickers. I believe I'm going to make them available um for purchase as well, so look for that. But we want to thank you. Thanks for letting us have this fun.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:41

Thanks everybody. Happy April Fools.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:43

Happy April Fools.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:47

Tissues is produced, written, and hosted by Nadia D and Aaron D. Tissues theme song by Sal Baglio. Muppet style puppetry intro by Nadia D and David Zombie. Thank you to Jim, John, and Ben for submitting your April Fool's Day questions to our podcast. Thank you to our special guests, Elaine, Andrew, and Bartholomew for sharing your operation stories. Celebrity Impression by Shicada. Tissues would not be possible without support from Chase, Jude, David, Baldu, and Nessie. Special shout out to our full box Patreon members, Erin and Ben. Erin Nadia D would also like to thank her, Chance Shicada, the folks at DaVinci Resolve and Nadia D's Mew Sally Hawkins. This has been a podcast production of 12 o'clock tail. Happy Dog. Find us on Facebook at Tissues Podcast. And don't forget you can watch the exclusive video version of Tissues Podcast by becoming a full Tissue Box Patreon member at just $5 a month. You will also be helping us cover the high cost of production, hosting, and streaming services, which is vital to our continued message of positivity and transformation. rights and acceptance. If you have a trans-related question, email us. TissuesQuestions at gmail.com. Need a tissue?