Had a DM from Cassi so thought I'd take that as a sign it's time to pop in and say *** HIIIIIIIIII AGAIN ***! (Well, at least to everyone I don't have contact with on Facebook, which feel free to click that little button and add me still~ 
)
For posterity's sake since I know people actually like having timelines to reference, here's some good ol' fashioned... TRANSITION UPDATES (imagine that as big wavey banner text, too lazy to actually make it that way).
You know, those... yearly... updates... ... ... god... has it been a year...?
... Anyway.
It's been a bit of a mixed bag of late. Lot of frustration still transition wise even at over 2.5 years HRT, though some positive changes in my life in other arenas. I received completely devastating news that I have full blown alopecia, not just androgenetic, and even my hair from the transplant I had 2 years ago is shedding bad. Donor area fading. The whole works. So. Yeah. Currently about to start PRP treatments and was talked into getting a way too expensive laser hat to see if we can't do... something. Hair continues to be my major source of dysphoria and my largest barrier to... life. Just... life. Weight has also persistently been an issue post HRT, and I just can't lose no matter how hard I try. I feel that Spiro is possibly the major culprit, T suppression aside, due to a number of studies, so recently switched to Bicalutamide. Will see what happens. I also did my first injection today switching from oral/sublinguil estradiol. I'm getting desperate and I don't feel my previous generic regimen was working for me. I'm 2.5 years in and still have more body hair than many guys, so... Speaking of that, still struggling with beard as well. 2.5 years of laser. 2.5 years. 30 sessions. Everyone is baffled by my hair, no one can get it to respond to treatment properly, it grows in too many directions and just... doesn't want to die. There is... some good news on that front, they are trying a new laser on me, that I feel like in the past 2 sessions has done more than the previous year combined. Newer type of diode that has multiple frequency hits in one pass. Anyway... HRT stalled hard for me. Everything did. Has... not been great. (If anything, things have gotten worse because of the weight gain.)
I did finally start voice therapy after so long, and feel good about it. I am a natural mimic which has been both a bane and boon. I have the range in all metrics, and while I can copy voices well enough in the moment I can't quite get to my own voice reliably, but it's getting better with practice and I think I've figured out a few key things.
So... non transition front. Well, as of next week I'll be halfway through grad school. Me. The agoraphobic shut-in is about to have a Masters from a major school. More than that, I have a job, two jobs really, with the school. I am a TA in Health Informatics and play an assistant role with the program director working with the course platform. (Though they're technically part time they are still serious work!) There has been some really cool developments all around on that front. In Spring I took a course in Educational Technology which I was allowed to build an online continuing medical education course in Trans/Nonbinary Healthcare. I was then invited (by the program director!) to continue the project in a special topics course and to produce it further for actual conference submission. So this time next month I'll be knee deep in evaluation studies and redesigns. I apparently made enough of an impact in Spring TAing that I was asked to be head TA for a special projects course of our own, working with some seriously cool cutting edge stuff in healthcare technology. And... might have another, full time, honest to god research and development position with that same stuff!! The co-instructor of the course has been helping me get setup on required skills, and I've been working closely with the team there enough almost everyone already knows me. I'm not going to go into too much detail here, but suffice to say... it's... very very big. Particularly for me, again, the agoraphobic shut-in who has never had a real position like that. I've also decided that I'm probably going to go for a PHD. Not 100%, I'm going to talk it over with the aforementioned program director guy I work with soon and proceed from there. But I really want to, and I think I actually can logistically fairly readily, particularly with the job I may get as it's a very neat fit in which I would have it both partially paid for and literally be working with the same things I'd have to research as part of the PHD study. It's... a very weird thought that this is even a real possibility after... well, yet again, the whole agoraphobic shut-in thing.
Anyway...
Ellie,
After you have earned your doctorate you may have the post docs, or in medicine, the residency for certification. If you were to pick cardiology or endocrinology and some other subspecialties, then you do that area’s fellowship, but first you do a residency in internal medicine.
Regardless of field, you start with general skills, then specialize, then maybe specialize more.
In theory, if you have a research based doctorate, the instant you defend your research, you are the preeminent expert in that very area you published in. The earned, rigorous doctorate will provide you with a great base of knowledge and skills to make breakthroughs and to well serve your clients or patients.
My main point is that learning never ends! I wish you well!
Keep ROLLing Ellie. You can do it, set your heights high and persist. Keep us informed.
Chrissy
@Roll
