Quote from: krobinson103 on April 14, 2018, 12:22:38 PM
Six weeks to orchie? Lucky. We have to wait a year here. Working on the red tape now 40DD nice. I don't want to be that big though. At 37c atm and that's just about where I'd be happy to stop. Body has different ideas though, think it may stop around D.
Thanks Krobinson,
I had no idea this could happen in such a short time. I didn't have to pay someone to facilitate things. I went to my counselor for two sessions and had my first letter. Then it was to my primary care physician where I outed myself and asked him to refer me to an endocrinologist, which he did. The referral was sent to a woman doctor who is in a practice with a male doctor. The male doctor took the referral w/o the doctor it was sent to ever seeing it. This guy looked at it and told the staff he didn't see any need.
I decided I wasn't going to waste my time with him so I started searching the net for a female endocrinologist in the Dallas/Fort Worth area (I live on the Fort Worth side of the DFW Metroplex). I found one relatively close to home so I called. The receptionist told me she had moved on and wanted to know if I wanted her number. Something told me to ask if they had anyone there that treated transgender folks. She asked me to wait while she checked. She came back and said they have a new doctor there that said she didn't have a lot of experience with transgender people but if I would let her she would take care of me. At that moment I knew I had found a doctor that was what I was looking for. She was candid in her response. I agreed and they made me an appointment for Tuesday 27 March 18. This was Friday 23 March, only four days between the call and appointment. Dr. jerk gave me an appointment 3.5 months down the road. I'll write more about this A-hole later.
When I was in the exam room I heard a knock on the door; when she walked into the room I knew I had struck gold; it was like fireworks going off when she came in. She spent over an hour with me checking me over, talking and getting to know each other. She has 21 years experience as an endocrinologist, She had recently attended a seminar on Transgender Health Care. She said she is putting a team together so she can treat members of our community. At the moment, she is the only endocrinologist in this medical center.
If you ever get to meet her you can not help but like her; she is everything one could wish for in a doctor and so are the members of her staff.
I left that day with her having sent my prescription for Estradiol to my pharmacy. I can't describe how happy I was as I left her office and headed for my favorite "Drug Dealer;" who I have been with since 1996. Of course this outed me to them, which was fine and actually fun.
Now that I had the patches I made an appointment with the surgery center to have a consultation with the surgeon that would do my orchiectomy. When I made the appointment it was around the 28th of March, give or take a day. They made me an appointment for Monday 09 April 18. I had to get one additional letter from a counselor and some blood work and an EKG. Got that taken care of and had my pre-op Wednesday and Surgery yesterday Friday the 13th. Went back for my post op checkup today Saturday 14 April, and here I am. Someone has been looking out for me and I know who it is; the "Big Guy Upstairs."
I'm not some rich gal, just an old retiree on SS; nobody special. I am grateful to everyone that has helped me arrive at this point. I learned a lot from all of your posts and am still learning. Yes Krobinson, I am lucky; I wish there was something I could do to help all of you accomplish your goals in such a short time. It troubles me deeply to see that many of you have to wait long periods of time just to see a doctor. To my way of thinking that is just flat wrong and unnecessary.
As soon as my Endocrinologist gives me the word I will make her name, address and phone number public.
Quote from: 2.B.Dana on April 14, 2018, 12:48:18 PM
Christine,
As a veteran I would suggest working with the VA to get your patches. Would be a lot less expensive. You should be able to coordinate a outside physician requesting and an VA physician ordering the meds. My dad did it for years. They will also do breast forms etc. if you want them prior to the real thing showing up.
Thanks Dana,
That's a good idea to get the VA to provide some of the transition meds I will need as I travel down the "Highway." I didn't realize you could get trans meds from the VA. That could save me a lot of money.
I do get a few things from them, hearing aids, eyeglasses and some meds. The last time I was there for my annual physical, I asked the doctor for Testosterone patches. I did that so I could see his reaction, which was: " We won't give you those; they cause cancer." I knew I was onto something.
I've had a suspicion that the main cause of prostate cancer is Testosterone. I have searched the Internet and found enough evidence to make me believe this is true. I provided this info to my primary and urologist. Both agree it is the main culprit; genes also play a roll. PC needs "T" to grow; an orchi is PM (preventative maintenance).
Thanks everyone, love you all.
Best always,
Christine
EDITED: 04 August 2018 - cj78