Alison's Transition Adventures

[alisons]

Hi all,

I live in Canberra and wanted to provide details of my process to transition in Australia's Capital in the hope it might guide other people in my community.

Like many out there I have living in the wrong body, well it's my body with the wrong bits, and I am taking the steps to rectify things. To make things right.

At the start on 2018 I attended the Hobart Place General Practice and saw one of the doctors (will not provide names but they have specific doctors who you can see regarding gender) who talked about why I thought I was transgender, how it made me feel and the process to transition in Canberra. She then referred me to a psychologist who I have met with 3 times over the past 9 months. 

My psychologist has been fantastic and really professional. I remember our first session which involved discussing my life, what being transgender meant to me and how it made me feel. She asked my preferred pronouns (she / her) and has called me Alison since that day which makes me feel so happy.

Our second session was chatting about how I was going and how I saw my future, did I want to live full or part time as a woman? Did I think I was ready to transition and why? How did I think it would affect my family and friends? It was really easy to talk with her, she made me feel so comfortable.

It was during our session last week that she totally floored me and mentioned something that I didn't really expect.

The session started like the others, a quick chat about how things are going and I mentioned that my marriage had finally broken down after 2 years of just hanging on by a thread. We discussed this into depth and I said that I'm ok with it ending, it's something that has been happening and I've prepared myself with it and am moving on. We have two children who I love so much and we will have them week on week off.

I mentioned that I am in the process of finding my own place which I can decorate as Alison, not someone else, and that excites me. I plan to use the week without the kids to discover who I am more and go out as myself and start going to A Gender Agenda (https://genderrights.org.au/) and get to know other LGBTIQ people in my community. Basically I'm going to start being me. When the kids are around I'm going to start to slowly let then know about Alison and get an idea of how they feel.

Then towards the end of the session she started talking about the process of transitioning and straight out told me that she thinks I'm ready and will write me a letter of recommendation to get my bloods done and start on HRT. Wow, I was not expected that and she mentioned that my face lit up when I heard that 

I have to go back to see her in May for a final session and pick up my letter. I am also getting my bloods done before hand so that she has all the information available. I then need to take the letter and bloods report to the Sexual Health Clinic at the Canberra Hospital who supply and administer the medications.

I will keep adding to this in the hope that someone out there can use the information later.

Love
Alison xx

[Northern Star Girl]

@alisons
Dear Alison:
It is wonderful to read your very first post on your brand new transitions thread.
This is a great way to chronicle your journey and to share your thoughts and comments with other like-minded members here on the Susan's Place forums.

As you share your good news we will all rejoice with you, and when your report not-so-good news we will lend our ear to listen and our shoulder to lean on.

Again, thank you for sharing your journey with all of us.

Blessings to you, I am wishing you well.
Hugs,
Danielle

[Allie Jayne]

Alison,
          I wish you every success through this difficult stage with your wife and children. Life is full of surprises, and I had a couple to start off with. I am 65, and was catching colds from my grand kids, spent a lot of visits to the doc to come up with being run down. She asked me what stresses I had and I told her of my dysphoria, and the next thing I was sitting with a psychologist. She explained we needed to go over lots of things to see where I was at, then 40 minutes later stopped, and said she was positive I was female, and wrote a referral to an Endo. Not even a full session! Next surprise, after the Endo looked at my blood test and he said my Testosterone was so low, I didn't need blockers, so he started me on Estrogen patches straight away.

I have battled with dysphoria all my life, and it was a factor in my first wife leaving me with 3 and 5 year old children, who I raised on my own. So I have some empathy for your situation, though I couldn't imagine not having my kids every day. They grew up, and have their own spouses and kids now, and I met and married another woman who, after some rocky patches, accepted my female side, though, I am still a prisoner in my house. I'm not sure if I'll ever come out, but my dysphoria is at a manageable level, I don't have a cold, and everyone is happy.

There are so many options in life, sometimes it's just a matter of looking for them and you can find good solutions. Hang in there, there are bumps ahead, but lots of smiles too!

Allie