I'm probably a superhero, now

Isn't that what happens when one gets microwaved? Yeah.

( So, about the surgery )

Actually kind of surprised about how good I feel at the moment, but still not going to be running marathons anytime soon. Planning to dick around with some intarweebs/UK trip business this morning, and then go park in the theater. Hoping work is slow the rest of the week, too.

Won't know for a while yet exactly how effective the procedure was--results are a little different for everyone--but as far as I can tell right now, that nasty midsection badger should be well euthanized. Really looking forward to a future without that kind of pain ever again. Of course, I still have all my other health problems to deal with, but knowing that this particular one is more or less dealt with permanently is quite a relief.

Ladybits politics

As a side note to my surgery thing...

Dealing with this issue has made it abundantly clear to me exactly how important it is to keep fighting for abortion, contraception and other reproductive health rights.

( Here's why: )

So there it is in a nutshell. Having access to a full range of reproductive health care is what's kept me alive all these years, and what will continue to do so now.

It's true that some anti-abortion activists make exceptions for life/health of mother, but I think very few of them truly understand exactly how complicated these things can get, and how legislation on this stuff just gets in the way, and can literally be the difference between life and death for a woman in crisis. Even legislation that seems somewhat fair on the surface--like conscience clauses for pharmacists--can turn an unfortunate-but-livable situation into a tragedy pretty damned fast.

Men who fight this stuff I get. Most of them have no clue whatsoever how women's bodies actually work, and even if they're married or have sisters or daughters, they're usually the kind of guy who doesn't want to be around when their kids are born, who make stupid PMS jokes and who would patently refuse to buy tampons. (And frankly: If you're married to/dating a guy like this? Dump his ass. Even being alone is better than being with someone who thinks you're a second-class citizen because you don't have a dick.)

But women? IDGI. I just don't get why any woman would fight against reproductive health rights. I spose some women who have always been regular and never had a complicated pregnancy may just blow this stuff off, and assume that access to abortion and contraception is someone else's problem. They figure that if they're not being promiscuous, these issues will never be a problem for them.

They're wrong.

Even the healthiest, most chaste woman can have something go wrong at any time, and if you think you don't know a woman who's ever had to face this stuff, well, hi. You do now. Even if you're not specifically anti-abortion, if you're voting for politicians who support anti-abortion legislation, you're voting against my health. And if you vote for these people because you think bombing brown folks or saving the rich a few bucks on taxes is so much more important than the risk of me or any other woman suffering or dying because we have fucked-up ladybits? Then please, piss completely off.

The bottom line is this: This is a medical issue, not a political one. Each reproductive health problem is as individual as the woman dealing with it, and therefore absolutely no one but that woman and her healthcare providers should have any say in it at all. Blanket legislation that restricts access to this care in any way doesn't just punish stereotypical Jezebels (who, by the way, are just as entitled to proper healthcare as anyone else), but turns women like me into collateral damage in that war.