So my first endo appointment is set for December 18th. What is everyone's experience for their endo/ dr that lead to hrt?
There will be blood. Probably several vials full.
They will check heart, liver, and kidney function, lipid profile, blood sugar, weighed, measured and more than likely you will turn your head and cough. At least if your prostate is enlarged, finasteride and dutasteride will be covered as on-label use.
I had my blood drawn a couple weeks before the appointment. This was my request to the Endo's nurse. I did it so that the doctor would have my levels right in from of him to help set a starting point for hormones. I didn't want to take a chance that I would walk out of that first appointment with a blood draw requisition and no prescription.
With that, the first appointment was mostly uneventful. No examination, aside from the basic weight, temp, pulse, blood pressure that they give to any patient. About 15 minutes of talking with the resident followed by another 15 minutes of talking with the doctor. Some of it was him making sure that I knew what I was getting into. Some of it was him reviewing the letter from my therapist (he had previously received and read it). A lot of it was him answering my questions. I walked out of there with a prescription for Spiro and Estradiol, and a followup appointment in three months (which I had last week). It seems that a lot of endo's take different approaches to starting meds: some just estrogen, some just anti-androgen, some both.