I'm rather thrilled today. I started HRT yesterday and thought I would share the experience for anyone else in The North East looking for a gender clinic. I went to Callen Lorde Community Health Center in NYC (
http://callen-lorde.org).
Rewinding a little, I called them to make an initial appointment about a month ago and they told me that they don't do initial intake by appointment but that they had walk in hours from 1-4 on Monday and Thursday. I took an afternoon off work to go there one afternoon and arrived just before 1. To my dismay they were already completely booked up. I took the following Monday off completely and sat myself down in their waiting room at 10am. I was determined this time, and I got seen! This is the best piece of advice I have if you want to go here, get there early!
I met with the case manager who is basically there to help you with any questions you have about the process or if you need other services like name changes etc (they can refer you). She was super nice. I met with the nurse next. She explained more about the process and then took my blood for tests. Well, she got someone else to do it, I have the tiniest veins that like to hide so I always have problems. We set up an appointment for a few weeks out to review my lab results, meet with the doctor and potentially start hormones.
My second appointment was last night. I met with another nurse briefly who took my blood pressure etc. he actually mentioned that there may be a few more appointments before I could start hormones (boo). I met with the doctor next. He was awesome. Really going to like having him as my doctor. He explained all the risk factors, reviewed my lab results, talked to me about the effects of hormones, asked me a bunch of questions about my medical history etc. It was a long appointment. And then he asked when I would be ready to start. My answer was obviously right away if possible I had gotten some mixed messages from different people about timelines here but I think that's because it's down to the judgment of the doctor. He said he would be happy to prescribe today!
I opted for oral medication (hate needles) and he started me out on Estradiol and Spiro at a half dose of what he expected to bring me up to on our next appointment which is just under a month away. They have a pharmacy in the clinic that has great prices, filled it within minutes and supports a worthy cause
My wife was with me during the whole appointment and we went out for dinner afterwards to celebrate. When I got home, I took my Day 1 photograph (my wife insisted I start a daily photo log so we can see, it could be fun) and took my first set of pills!
Anyhow, I hope my story may help other people if they search for this particular provider. I highly recommend them! And I just plain wanted to share my awesome news with you lovely people
