I was wondering what exactly he requires for surgery.
I have a therapist back home that I saw for a while, and she wrote my T letter. I'm now at college across the country, however. My school has a counseling center and I just started seeing someone there, but she might not be working there next year, and I'm looking to get surgery December 2012. So basically, I'm wondering what the requirements are for the person writing my letter. Could my therapist back home write one now that I could use later? Or, if this counselor leaves and I get a new one next year, will it be okay that I've only been seeing him/her for three or four months? I just want to make sure I don't do anything wrong along the way that will prevent me from getting surgery once I have the money.
http://drgarramone.com/transgenderflorida/html/requirements.html (http://drgarramone.com/transgenderflorida/html/requirements.html)
You'll probably have to call your therapists and ask them these questions.
You have to have a letter, and if your psychologist believes it's the NEXT step in your transition and that you are mentally prepared, then you can do it. Dr. Garramone is one of the surgeons that doesn't require an FTM to be on testosterone in order to have surgery done. So you will only need to have a letter from a therapist, and you will also need a letter from your physician stating that you are medically ready. So check psychologically ready, and medically ready and you're good to go.
And there are no requirements for the person writing the letter if they are a psychiatrist, a gender therapist, or a psychologist and also a primary care physician
Just to add to this, there was no letter required for the medical part of it. The only thing my doctor had to do for my surgery was perform and sign off on a pre-op physical. It was just a general question physical asking about medical history and allergies and making sure I was in decent health. The pre-op physical part of it includes blood work also that has to be done no earlier then 30 days out. So if you have to pay for your medical, make sure you plan for the physical and blook work about a month out. You may want to call his office and ask how far out they can schedule the surgery. You can secure the date once you put down the deposit and then make payments. This will also get you the paperwork sent to you that will need to be completed and has a checklist.
Do you make payments to his office?
Thanks, guys. I have a phone consult with him on Monday so that should answer any lingering questions. Just wondering, how far in advance did you schedule your surgeries?
I scheduled my surgery in January and had my surgery in June.
@Darrin: I made three payments. The first was the $500 to book the surgery. The others were the remaining $5400 split over two days due to my bank's transfer limits. All directly to his office.