My bottom surgery is scheduled!

[Bimmer Guy]

Hey, guys.  So, I am scheduled with Dr. Crane for metiodioplasty in early March 2016.  I am really excited.

This will be in Austin.  He starts his practice down there in January, 2016.  If I wanted to wait until I could do it in San Francisco, it wouldn't be until October, 2016. 

I am getting a metoidioplasty, with the "full works"!  Metoidioplasty, scrotoplasty, vaginectomy, hysterectomy, and urethroplasty.  Crane doesn't do the hysterectomy, he brings another surgeon in.

6 months following this, I will get testicular implants and possibly a mons resection.

If anyone knows anything about the area of Austin that could be of help to me (lodging, places to shop/groceries, etc), I would appreciate it!  I need to find out where his office/surgery is located.

[AGhostInMyArms]

Many congratulations on scheduling your surgery! I wish you the best of luck and hope all goes well.

You say Crane is moving to Austin TX for a while? Do you know what for or for how long? I live on the east coast so CA is pretty far but he is who I would like. I want to get the same package, but with phallo instead of meta. Could I also ask what you think the cost will be around for the surgeries alone? Sorry about all the questions, just genuinely interested. hope that's okay. Thanks.

[Bimmer Guy]

Many congratulations on scheduling your surgery! I wish you the best of luck and hope all goes well.

You say Crane is moving to Austin TX for a while? Do you know what for or for how long? I live on the east coast so CA is pretty far but he is who I would like. I want to get the same package, but with phallo instead of meta. Could I also ask what you think the cost will be around for the surgeries alone? Sorry about all the questions, just genuinely interested. hope that's okay. Thanks.

Hi there.  Thanks for your congrats!

Crane is going to be full time in Austin.  He is starting his practice there in mid December 2015.  He is coming back every few months for two weeks to do surgeries and check on the practice. 

For the package I am getting (minus the hysto, and minus the testicular implants 6 months later), the "self pay" rate is 30K.  If you have insurance, they charge your insurance more.

I do not know the cost of phallo, but obviously that is significantly more money.
I wanted to do Austin because my friend who is coming with me would prefer to be there, but no doubt it will be cheaper for me to stay in Austin.

[AGhostInMyArms]

Hey thanks for your reply, sir. And wow I did not know that, thank you so much.

Have you heard of the Jim Collins foundation? They're taking applications for surgeries until August 1. It's very interesting and I definitely recommend it. If they select your essay they will give you a grant (or a partial-grant, which is what I would like to apply for) and cover the costs (or half, for partial) of everything.
Just throwing that out there.

[Jake25]

Congratulations!

[Bimmer Guy]

Congratulations!

Thank you, Jake.  I appreciate it!   

[GnomeKid]

Congrats! 

I'm calling to schedule a consultation with him over the next few days.  Don't have the insurance yet to fund the surgery, but I just graduated so I'm planning to move to one of the states which requires trans coverage to get it done. 

Definitely excited to get the ball rolling. 

[Bimmer Guy]

Congrats! 

I'm calling to schedule a consultation with him over the next few days.  Don't have the insurance yet to fund the surgery, but I just graduated so I'm planning to move to one of the states which requires trans coverage to get it done. 

Definitely excited to get the ball rolling.

Hey, thanks for the congrats.

Congratulations to you on graduating!  What is your degree in (I believe you were in undergrad?)?

[Bimmer Guy]

Just in case folks didn't hear, Crane's Austin office didn't work out.  At least for now.  Two Saturdays ago he called me to tell me that the hospital /surgery center(?) he was working with said he couldn't do surgeries there.  He says they didn't/wouldn't give him a reason.  Obviously, it is transphobia.  He's hoping to find something else in Austin in the future.

So, all of us that were scheduled in Austin (60 of us), had to be rescheduled in San Francisco.  I am not happy about the change of venue not only due to higher costs of the area, but due to having to start all over again with plane tickets, finding housing, etc.  It really is a lot of work believe it or not.

Anyway, at least my surgery date is within two days of what it was.

Yesterday I had my hysto.  They thought they may have to do abdominal incision since I had abdominal surgery in the past (and there would be too many adhesions/scar tissue to get through by doing it lapro), but the surgeon was awesome enough to stick it out and go a whole 5 hours to get through all the incisions to get it done.  This was 3 hours longer than the surgery should have taken.

He said there were huge amounts of adhesions and my organs were plastered against the walls with scar tissue.  He had to use stents in some areas in order to keep the tissue pulled apart so that he could get to the organs.  That's some crazy stuff right there!

Anyway, I have 5 cuts in my stomach, he said in unusual spots because of the strange angles he had to work in.  I am in a decent bit of pain, but I am just thrilled I didn't have to get cut open.  I won't have to stay out of work as near as long.  I am so glad for that because with needing 6 weeks off for bottom surgery (in March, 2016), I will have to go a week or so without pay due to not having enough sick/vacation time.

People think I am nuts for being thrilled to have had a hysto, but to me it means one step closer to the penis!!

ETA: I ended up deciding to get the hysto separate from the meta because Crane still didn't have a GYN surgeon for Austin and it was making me uncomfortable.  Too, there is no way I would be able to know if the person was good or not when he did finally get someone.  Plus, my regular insurance paid for this.   Knowing the guy I used was the Director of Robotics, I figured if anyone could do it laproscopy, he could.  And he did!

[mm]

Good to hear you are doing alright after such a long procedure, 5 hrs is a long time to be under for a hysto, but I understand for your case you were lucky to have a dr who stayed with lapro procedure.  I hope your recovery is going great for you.  You must to glad to be rid of those organs from your body they can no longer cause you any problems.     Do you want to say what your previous abdominal surgery was?

Sorry to hear that Dr. Crane's Austin office is not working out at this time, hopefully he can work something out at a later time.

Good luck when you go to see Dr Crane for your bottom surgery.

[FTMax]

Congrats bud! Glad to hear you are post-hysto and feeling as good as can be expected. I'm hoping to have mine done in January (robo-assist through the belly button).

I had heard about Crane's issues with Austin, and I agree with the conclusions you drew as to why. I'm so sorry you're having to reschedule everything and make new travel plans. I hope it all works out in a way that doesn't cost you too much more.

[Bimmer Guy]

Hey, guys, thanks for both your congrats.

I had a colon resection in 2010 for colon cancer.  They had to cut me again 10 days later (in the same spot), because scar tissue had already built up and was obstructing the intestine.  I guess it is crazy how fast scar tissue can built up in me.

ftmax, I am sorry that I did not remember to ask Crane the question about getting hysto during time of bottom surgery or not.  However, I would say that I think doing it separate is smart (especially when you are getting something huge like phallo).  I think you are making a good choice.

[Jameson]

Wow, I'm really sorry to hear Austin didn't work out, I know you had that all nailed down. I am glad that the surgery date will still be close to what you wanted, that could have turned into a waiting game. It will be more expensive to stay in SF although being a trans friendly area may turn up some unexpected resources.

Best of luck sorting that out Brother

The hysto going well is a huge relief and I do think it's smart getting it done and healed before going after another major project.

[Bimmer Guy]

Wow, I'm really sorry to hear Austin didn't work out, I know you had that all nailed down. I am glad that the surgery date will still be close to what you wanted, that could have turned into a waiting game. It will be more expensive to stay in SF although being a trans friendly area may turn up some unexpected resources.

Best of luck sorting that out Brother

The hysto going well is a huge relief and I do think it's smart getting it done and healed before going after another major project.

Hello, my friend!  I guess I can shorten that email I have been working on to you in my draft folder. ha  Glad you came to the site to get caught up.

[Bimmer Guy]

As of today, I am two months away from surgery!

I am psyched guys.  The insurance negotiations (how much they are willing to give Crane and how much Crane is willing to take), are still not worked out, which is a bit anxiety producing.  It worked out in my favor that it is "in network" for me (which means no copay), but since I have a 75K lifetime maximum, it is possible I will have to put out some money for the surgi center, as they do balance bill.

There is reason to believe that I might go financially unscathed through this first surgery, but pretty solid on the fact that I will have to put out money for the implant surgery, 6 months after that.

With the high cost of travel and lodging (flying one coast to the other and paying for all my companion's costs), it almost feels like I have no insurance involvement.  That, along with the loss of money when I had to switch from Austin to San Fran.  I do need to remember though, I am blessed that I have trans health insurance, at all.  I didn't have it when I got my top surgery.

This has been a long 7 months of stress with the constant staff turnover at Crane's office causing difficulties in communication, and with the change in location, but I suspect I will forget all about that once the surgery is here!

I'll keep everyone updated in this thread, as I think some guys will be interested.

[FTMax]

Bimmer Guy,

When you say Lifetime Maximum, where would I find that in my plan? I can see my deductibles, co-pays, and out of pocket maximums for the year (in network and out of network), but I don't see anything about a lifetime maximum and I'm suddenly concerned. They didn't mention it when I emailed them about surgery coverage.

[Bimmer Guy]

Bimmer Guy,

When you say Lifetime Maximum, where would I find that in my plan? I can see my deductibles, co-pays, and out of pocket maximums for the year (in network and out of network), but I don't see anything about a lifetime maximum and I'm suddenly concerned. They didn't mention it when I emailed them about surgery coverage.

I don't know.  I helped my company set up our trans health insurance, so that is how I knew about mine.

Someone said that part of the ACA said that you couldn't set maximums on health insurance (which would include trans health, I suppose).  I do not know if that is true or not.  My employer is allowed to do whatever the heck they want because we are self insured.  They don't have to follow ACA rules.

I would just call them tomorrow. 

[Bimmer Guy]

I don't know.  I helped my company set up our trans health insurance, so that is how I knew about mine.

Someone said that part of the ACA said that you couldn't set maximums on health insurance (which would include trans health, I suppose).  I do not know if that is true or not.  My employer is allowed to do whatever the heck they want because we are self insured.  They don't have to follow ACA rules.

I would just call them tomorrow.

Max, I just looked through all the ACA information for trans people.  I do not see anything about requiring there be no lifetime maximum.  The people who told me about it were both from California.  It might just be a state rule, that they assumed was associated with the ACA.

[Dex]

ACA did change some regulations with lifetime maximum benefit. However, there are exceptions and it will probably depend on how your insurance defines things. But the insurance companies no longer have the ability to blanket reject claims once you reach a certain dollar amount.

http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/about-the-law/benefit-limits/index.html

[Bimmer Guy]

ACA did change some regulations with lifetime maximum benefit. However, there are exceptions and it will probably depend on how your insurance defines things. But the insurance companies no longer have the ability to blanket reject claims once you reach a certain dollar amount.

http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/about-the-law/benefit-limits/index.html

Hi, Dex.  Thank you for your post.  Unfortunately, since my company is self insured, they can do anything they want.  The customer service rep confirmed that if something happened that I had to be hospitalized after my meta for some reason, I would have to pay out of pocket if it went over the maximum.  She said she actually asked her supervisor that question, just so that she understood the how the lifetime max worked.

So, yeah.  Self insured employers = do whatever the heck they want.