Katy Vore Hair

I'm a day late posting, but...
FOUR YEARS AND NINE MONTHS SOBER ON SUNDAY 6/9/2024

CELEBRATE. EVERY. MILESTONE.

Here is proof that no matter how hard you hit rock bottom, you can come back from it.

This is proof that if you fight for yourself, never give up and even if you have to survive purely out of spite, your hard work will eventually pay off.

That even if you think you are trapped by your addiction, or trapped in a body that is trying to kill you, you can still fight for something better.

You can still evolve. You can improve your quality of life.

I didn't say it was gonna be easy. It has been the most excruciatingly painful,messy ,mind bending and uncomfortable 4 years and 10 months of my life. But I'm here. I'm sober. I'm alive. And I'm slowly clawing my way back to better health.

Nothing happens overnight. It takes WANTING IT WITH EVERY FIBER OF YOUR BEING, planning, follow through and CONSISTENCY. And so much patience.

After 13 weeks of unrelenting chaos including covid, eviction/moving, emergency gallbladder removal surgery, needing my car repaired, trying a new anxiety med and having it cause a heart episode that also revealed i habe long covid and heart damage from covid and many more fun character building tests sent from the universe.... I'm finally on the mend and had my first full week back at work (knock on woooood) in over 13 weeks.

Words cannot express the gratitude I have for the people who show up for me. Who make sure i feel heard, understood and seen. Who have helped me in any capacity. Y'all have helped me through some of my darkest hours and I love you so much!

I'm officially back slaying hair and taking names at THE vivid hair salon, THE safe space salon especially for the lgbtqia+ community, your local luxury punk salon, Star Studio in Ypsilanti Michigan! I also have the honor of managing the salons education program, helping with social media, coordinating events and managing daily operations. It's the best type of management job because I manage places, times and things and not people 🤣

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Credit~Color Me Happii

Saturday 3*9*24 was my 4.5 year sobriety birthday!
FOUR YEARS AND 6 MONTHS WITHOUT THE SAUCE!

It was one of the first anniversaries I legit broke down in tears, and sobbed tears of joy, because of how insanely proud I am of myself.

This last year, especially the last 6 months, we're some of the hardest and most brutal of this journey to date, BUT I MADE IT.

I am here. I am alive. I am sober. I have an amazing support system.

Last month when I made it to 4 years and 5 months, I bought myself flowers (and I don't buy flowers, especially since I cant afford to both eat AND pay rent) because it was the hardest month of my entire 36 year existence to date. I had one of the worst depressive episodes of my entire life for almost an entire month, and I still didn't drink. (It was a perfect storm of post-op hormone levels evening out, PMDD like no other, fancy winter seasonal depression, financial ruin, AUDHD on steroids, the entire eviction process/market and the pressure of getting back behind the chair)

This is why we CELEBRATE EVERY MILESTONE.

Why we have to take it one day at a time, sometimes even one SECOND at a time.

I'm back in the salon (Star Studio) OFFICIALLY after a 14 month health hiatus!!! I could not be happier!
I'm still at Salon Centric at least once a week. I love both jobs, both teams and all of the customers and clients I see at work🥰

But I am also moving back to Pinckney for a little bit to get back on my feet financially. I'm excited to have that extra time with my parents and to take the time to finish healing out in the country.

(Now taking any donations for gas and moving as I'm out of my apartment in two weeks and I have no idea how I'm gonna afford to get everything moved and have gas to get to work 5 days a week 😅 $KatyVore on cashapp)

Ooof. I made it through yesterday. Let me tell you, it was no easy task.

I always have to remind myself "you did not come this far, to ONLY come this far".

It was one of the darkest (mentally) and most painful (physically, mostly) days I have had in the last year.
But I survived.
And with most of my dignity intact.

The perfect storm of sciatica, PMDD and a touch of some seasonal depression as a cherry on top.

All the disappointment and guilt of setbacks and having to cancel plans and letting your friends, family and coworkers down AGAIN.

This was the first major sciatica flare up I have had since surgery. I used to get them at least every 6 weeks. And it's been 4 months. So that's definitely been a major improvement.

But what I never expected was that it would hurt worse because I have less OVERALL pain, so since there isn't such an overwhelm of pain responses coming into my brain at a consistent rate, my brain can concentrate on this one MUCH better and it is far harder to dissociate from the pain. In this case, dissociation is the only tool for survival. When you live in that much pain, it's the only way to not exist in a constant state of panic, anger, rage, and wanting to isolate oneself like a wounded animal awaiting death.

This time, it was a trinity of:
-Cold temperatures outside
-Inconsistency with my PT/stretches/walking/strength training for the two weeks while I was sick as I was physically incapable of doing them some days
-Rapid weight loss: when you lose weight this fast, your body doesn't have the time to build up different muscles to hold its proper posture with its new weight distribution. Angry angry angry sciatic nerve.

And the PMDD.
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Iykyk, but a simple Google search can fill you in further. Think PMS times infinity. Many women are so bad they have suicidal ideation.

PMDD or sciatica alone are enough to just wipe out a person's will to live. But I get to have BOTH at the same time. Lucky me.

Like, sciatica has been proven to be one of the most painful things humans can experience, along with childbirth and a broken femur.

(Post continued in comments)

Seemed fitting since I'm back in the game.

FREE PALESTINE
STOP THE GENOCIDE

After some fun delays with my health journey and a few random side quests I am happy yo say that I will ACTUALLY OFFICIALLY be starting back behind the chair at Star Studio by Angel in Ypsi next weekend Saturday January 6th!!!!

Fu**in clown

When did this happen? Who is she?

Biggest life lesson I have learned is to claw and fight to survive no matter what. You didn't come this far to only come this far. The only way out is through. NEVER GIVE UP AND NEVER GIVE IN. Fight tooth and nail FOR YOU.

Starting to FINALLY feel better and better from that nasty cold, sinus infection and ear infection. Even with how sick I got, it was NOTHING compared to how sick I would have been if I got the same cold before surgery.

I feel like the last 4 months have been a blur of chaos, noise, pain and frustration with lots of tiny wins. I was in complete survival mode going through so many chemical/hormonal/physical changes because of surgery. My brain is working on a level that it wasnt able to for years because I was so sick. Everything was so loud in my head all of a sudden and it took a while to get used to it and organize my thoughts.

But I feel like I'm finally awake again. But also in a dream or a simulation cus there's no way all this progress is happening to ME. Almost waiting for the catch, or the other shoe to drop.
I've worked so hard to get healthier for YEARS. And it took getting 80% of one of my major organs removed to make it happen. What a wild world.
I regret nothing.

Facts

I saw this on Instagram and it is just too funny (and appropriate) not to share

Not feeling very "in the holiday spirit" what with all the ethnic cleansing going on. Hard to take yourself seriously in this capitalist hellscape of a country during the most commercialized and capitalized holiday in history, that purposely overshadowed so many other winter holiday traditions while the ruling class and government decide to support/fund/help a fascist government to completely eradicate an entire people.
What a time to be alive 🙄🤢🤯👀

THE WAIT IS ALMOST OVER!

I cannot wait to have you back in my chair.

After a few delays I'm finally ready to commit to a date!

I will be taking clients at my new hair home, starting the week of November 14th.

Interested in booking? Let me know! We will get you booked!

I AM SO EXCITED FOR:
MY HANDS IN YOUR HAIR
CREATING NEW LOOKS
CATCHING UP WITH EVERYONE
HANGING AND COLLABING WITH MY STAR STUDIO FAM

Ignore my messy room and dusty mirror 🤣 I went to my first house party on Saturday since being a sober human. First Halloween I have dressed up for in 7 years I think? Dug out this costume from 10 years ago I wore at age 25 for Halloween at PPub. Fits better now 😎
Made some dope new friends and had a blast.

11 weeks post-op BTW.
40 pounds down.

10 weeks post op
Down almost 40 pounds
Found the extensions I ordered way back in 2019 for the Chicago ABS Show that got canceled due to covid.
Colored those puppies to match my vivid copper and had install them for me last week!! 🥰🖤🫶🙌

Palestinians have been living in what is called an "open air prison" in Gaza. Now entire family lines are being ended within moments. 5 days of bombing civilians and children. Hamas attacked Israel. The civilian people of Palestine did not.
🇵🇸

FOUR YEARS SOBER TODAY🔥❤️
FOUR. YEARS.
Four years of facing my demons head on, looking them directly in the eye. Accepting mistakes and wrongs I may never make truly right.
This year was a doozy. It was a gruesome fight to take back what I deserve; my health, quality of life, and soon my career. Making my surgery happen against all odds. Jumping through hoops. Still recovering from surgery, learning to rewire my brain in regards to how I think about pain. Changing everything to do with eating and exercise. It's a long difficult road, but I have done THIS, these 4 years of sobriety and I'm capable of anything.
Being a chronically ill recovering alcoholic who also has chronic pain is definitely an adventure 🫠 especially when you use THC for pain management and have to go off of it for weeks to pass a drug screen to get approved by an insurance company for surgery. Those weeks were sooooo mentally brutal (physically so as well, obviously). But I made it. (Shout out to the Titanic submersible debacle; those memes and the important conversations the entire situation started about income and class inequality and how messed up it is that society has tricked the oppressed into worshipping their oppressors got me through those weeks of torture.🤣😍 The submersible implosion will always have a special place in my heart.)
Unlearning things, learning new ways of life.
Putting myself first.
Sitting with and digesting memories that were repressed.
It's hard work. Not for the faint of heart, this fight is not for anyone who doesn't want this with every atom of their being.
But here I am. More proud of myself than I have ever been.
Shout out to my immediate Vore family; Mom, Dad, Zack and Molly. My main support system. Couldn't have done it without you.
To my SalonCentric fam, you are such an amazing team. You support me always. I love you ladies so much. You sure do know how to make a girl feel special, important and seen.

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**POSTED ORIGINALLY WEDNESDAY AUGUST 31ST ON FB. ** I'm behind on my updates on IG 😅🥰

Since last Wednesday I have:
*Had 80% of my stomach removed by robotic laparoscopic surgery.
*Stayed in the hospital and was discharged Thursday around 5pm
*Got settled into Mom and Dad's for the first week of recovery.
*Witnessed a super wild storm and lightning and losing power and sheltering in the basement
*5 days no power (an adventure within itself and a story for another time)
*First post-op appointment on Tuesday !
- Officially off all Metformin and living life as a NON-DIABETIC HUMAN!!!!
- Officially off one of my heart meds that is a diuretic, HCZ, AND ZERO LYMPHOEDEMA!!!! I AM SHOCKED
- 6 abdominal incision sites are healing super well! I did not expect them to heal this fast!!!! Still painful and definitely I'm the depths of the worst fibromyalgia flare I have ever experienced. But coping rather well.
- I can already walk a mile per day. (Not all at once, in small portions throughout the day.) And the mile is the goal for 30 days post-op.
- I got to start the full liquid stage (foods are thinned and blended to allow stomach to heal) of my diet. I had some yogurt, cottage cheese, and will be having a creamy potato soup for dinner! Yum!
- My lips are what seem like permanently
stained from jello and popsicles.
- I have earned my parent's cats trust and she is almost to sleeping with me. She's a very skittish cat! This is a major win.
**My parents are amazing and taking such great care of me! My siblings have been so helpful and amazing! Molly has taken such great care of my fur child.
****I miss Miss Evie Kitty so bad
Hoping to go home around Friday, give or take a day, but it's still up in the air.

It's Definitely not how I pictured any of this going. Things never go how we expect. I always prepare and expect the absolute worst situation and I have been so far extremely pleasantly surprised. Having no power for so long wasn't ideal but we made it work. I'm so ready and excited for all of the positive changes to come. I will be back to work 9/15. Thank you everyone who donated! I couldn't have done this without you!!!!!!

I'm gunna be super annoying and post this every day. I am in desperate need of help.
Comments, likes and shares are always helpful if you aren't able to donate.

Donate to help Katy afford life changing surgery, organized by Kathryn Vore Help Katy afford surgery, time off of work to recover, cover pre-op/po… Kathryn Vore needs your support for Donate to help Katy afford life changing surgery

Every little bit helps! Please like and share even if you aren't able to donate🖤

Donate to help Katy afford life changing surgery, organized by Kathryn Vore Help Katy afford surgery, time off of work to recover, cover pre-op/po… Kathryn Vore needs your support for Donate to help Katy afford life changing surgery

It's never easy asking for help. I desperately need to get back behind the chair and get my quality of life back. Any and all help is greatly appreciated 🖤 even if you can't donate a share goes a long way!

Donate to help Katy afford life changing surgery, organized by Kathryn Vore Help Katy afford surgery, time off of work to recover, cover pre-op/po… Kathryn Vore needs your support for Donate to help Katy afford life changing surgery

Never doubt a hairdresser! 🔥

Credit:

It's the end of an era, and I have closed Katy Vore Hair Studio.

Don't worry! I will be back behind the chair starting early 2023. But for now, I'm on "Hair Sabbatical". I am taking some time to get some health issues taken care of, get my head right, spend time with family and just DECOMPRESS.

Closing down my small business was not an easy decision. But it was the right one. I had 4 years as a business owner. It helped me get sober. (Over 3 years now!) It helped me through the pandemic, keeping myself and my clients safe. I learned so much.

To all of my clients thank you so so much for all of your support, patience and love while I was navigating what life is like as a chronically ill human who deals with chronic pain every single day. I appreciate you more than you will ever know. 🖤
If you are looking to get your hair done while I am on sabbatical I have stylists to refer you to. Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. 🖤