So ... I just had my 3rd session with my therapist. He's so good. I was sitting there talking about how stressed I am at work and he was helping me get through some non-TG related stuff and then I started rambling on about my transition plans. He asked me if I had thought of who I would work with for HRT and I told him I had no idea who would be a good resource in the area. He gave me a few names and said "If they need a referral letter, let me know. Most doctor's these day's don't need them though. That Standard is only loosely followed these in practice."
Wow ... I was expecting that to be much more difficult. I think it's fairly obvious that I'm transgendered. Hell, I go to my sessions as a woman, but I expected there to be more of a roadblock. He asked me how I felt and through my stunned and speechless shock, I told him that that was one roadblock out of the way and I was excited.
Now, however, I'm trying to figure out who to go to. He gave me 3 names of doctors who are used to working with Transgendered people. One is a Family/Obstetrics Doctor who has been working with the community for many many years and he said that based on what he knows about me, he'd recommend her. The other is an Endo at, what I can only describe as, a public health clinic where you have to have some sort of membership which pays for your care. And the third is a General Practitioner who he warned me might be a personality conflict for me.
I called the Family Doctor first, as she is in the Medical Network that my current Primary Care Doctor is in. That means that I don't have to worry about moving records around between doctors. The problem is the phone number I had to use is to a sort of call center. She wasn't accepting new patients, and when I had to explain to them that I was being referred there by my Therapist for HRT, which was a little awkward, they said that she does sometimes take exceptions for minority communities and the would forward a message over with my information.
I'm a minority? I never thought of that, but I guess I am.
I'm very apprehensive about Public Clinics. The doctors are overworked and tend to be very cookie cutter in their treatments. So I doubt I'll call that Endo.
So here's sort of the guts of my long winded post:
So, what if this Ob/Gyn Doctor won't take me? Do I just pick a random Endo in my Insurance Provider Network and start calling around if they'd be willing to work with me on HRT?
-Epi
