I've been issued my letter!
Next step: blood test (crosses her fingers while hoping for no complications).
Yay for small steps!
;D
Yay!!! Congrats Emma. :D
So weird that they would call it a diagnosis. I think I'm awesome right now. :)
Diagnosis? Who cares? It is one "condition" I did not mind at all being diagnosed for! ;D
Congrats Emma! I wish you well with the blood tests.
Remember, every small step takes you closer to your end goal! ;D
Huggs
Megs
Just wondering which letter this is? Is it your HRT letter? I only ask because where I live, there are at least two different letters that could constitute a "diagnosis" (I agree with your disdain for that term, however...). The HRT letter can come from a psychotherapist, psychologist or psychiatrist. Alternately (or in conjunction), one can go see the Gender Identity Clinic in Toronto (CAMH, which requires a medical referral), and get a "letter" from them confirming "you meet the criteria" (with lots of suitable CYA language for good measure). I've had my HRT letter since the end of November, and finally have an appointment with an endo for the 29th of this month. I saw CAMH in January, and I'm still waiting (well, going ahead anyway) for their "results" to be sent to my family doctor.
I just LOVE the line in TransAmerica, where she asks the doctor if he doesn't find it strange that a "mental illness" requires drugs and surgery for treatment... :laugh:
Congratulations, Emma! ;D I think you'll really be happy once you begin HRT. In fact, I think you'll be amazed how happy you'll be, even on a low starting dose of E.
Congratulations Emma!
The night I got my letter, I bought a fancy frame and putted a copy of the letter inside, and hanged it on my wall among the awards and certificates I got in the past.
The letter is now the first thing I will show to a guest visiting my place. I am simply so proud of it.
Congrats Emma
Every step counts to get you closer to your target.
hugs
Annette
Congratulations Emma :)
Sweet Emma
Congratulations Emma and I disagree. This is a huge step!
Grats!
Congrats! One step closer. It's excited right? :)
Thanks everybody!
Quote from: Colleen Ireland on March 09, 2011, 05:41:55 AM
Just wondering which letter this is? Is it your HRT letter? I only ask because where I live, there are at least two different letters that could constitute a "diagnosis" (I agree with your disdain for that term, however...). The HRT letter can come from a psychotherapist, psychologist or psychiatrist. Alternately (or in conjunction), one can go see the Gender Identity Clinic in Toronto (CAMH, which requires a medical referral), and get a "letter" from them confirming "you meet the criteria" (with lots of suitable CYA language for good measure). I've had my HRT letter since the end of November, and finally have an appointment with an endo for the 29th of this month. I saw CAMH in January, and I'm still waiting (well, going ahead anyway) for their "results" to be sent to my family doctor.
I just LOVE the line in TransAmerica, where she asks the doctor if he doesn't find it strange that a "mental illness" requires drugs and surgery for treatment... :laugh:
The letter is for HRT. Prepped and signed by a psychotherapist (LCSW Ph.D.). In short it says, among other legal fluff, I have been seen and evaluated for HRT readiness, In his professional opinion I meet the criteria for a diagnosis of GID, I meet the criteria provided in the SOC, I understand what I am about to do to my body, and have a documented real life experience of at least three months. There's really more to it, but I don't want anybody trying to make one up for themselves ;)
Yeah, mental illness... :P
These letters are very important to our treatment and forward momentum.
They are confirmation from socity that we are who we say we are.
I find it somewhat ironic that we are so pleased to recieve them. Any other disorder or condition we would be mostly devastated to recieve a letter confirming our worse susspisions. Kinda says something don't it?
Congrats! I was ecstatic the day I got my letter(s). So I can imagine how giddy you must be.
))hugz((
Quote from: EmmaM on March 09, 2011, 11:46:38 AM
Thanks everybody!
The letter is for HRT. Prepped and signed by a psychotherapist (LCSW Ph.D.). In short it says, among other legal fluff, I have been seen and evaluated for HRT readiness, In his professional opinion I meet the criteria for a diagnosis of GID, I meet the criteria provided in the SOC, I understand what I am about to do to my body, and have a documented real life experience of at least three months. There's really more to it, but I don't want anybody trying to make one up for themselves ;)
Yeah, mental illness... :P
I had been following your posts for a little while and didn't realize you had 3 months of RLE (full time). When did you start?
Neither here nor there, but a counselor sitting in on the meeting was absolutely shocked that I had not yet been on hormones. He said: "Wow, you look really good." And a trans friend of mine guessed, as I was giving him a ride home, "You have no trouble using the women's bathroom, do you?" As a token of appreciation, I laid out the guy code of the bathroom for him so that his anxieties in that regard were allayed.
It was a great evening :)
Oddly, I'm more relieved than giddy. Now I can move towards feeling normal.
Quote from: interalia on March 09, 2011, 12:18:34 PM
I had been following your posts for a little while and didn't realize you had 3 months of RLE (full time). When did you start?
It was not full time. I think his perception of RLE is loosely defined. I have operated in the outside world as a woman on and off for years. I also can provide at least 11 people who know this for sufficient evidence, 3 of whom have known for years. He probably figured that that was close enough. I was a little surprised by that part too, as I thought it had to be continuous.
Quote from: EmmaM on March 09, 2011, 12:26:29 PM
It was not full time. I think his perception of RLE is loosely defined. I have operated in the outside world as a woman on and off for years. I also can provide at least 11 people who know this for sufficient evidence, 3 of whom have known for years. He probably figured that that was close enough. I was a little surprised by that part too, as I thought it had to be continuous.
Unless the SOC has changed since I last read it, it is supposed to be continuous. It allows people who are contemplating surgery to experience life as the other sex even when it isn't so convenient to do so. This doesn't appear to be a surgery letter, though I can see it construed by someone as such.
Regardless congratulations! I was just confused about that part of the letter.
WPATH SoC v6 (2001) hasn't changed, but the new v7 is due sometime in the near future.
(In my opinion, it's already a few years overdue.)
Emma that is fantastic I am so happy for you I think it is neat that we will be starting together on hrt today is day 2 and I am on cloud number 9.
Keep it up sister.
Congratulations Emma. Small steps add up. Trust me girl.
Hugs
Beth
Thank you :)
Today I find I'm just trying to handle the stress of moving slowly. Time to focus on something else as this is falling into place...
My baby talks about me being a girl to people who don't know about me :) It's hilarious!
Congratulations Emma!!!
Big Hugs & Best wishes.
Roxy & Patty
Congratulations Emma and I wish every one of your days to be brighter than the one before it. :-* :-*
Quote from: Safiyah on March 11, 2011, 06:26:05 AM
A castle with fairy lights that's the real male, and I think it is our place to help along the process of people realising this.
Hi Safiyah, I didn't quite understand what you meant by this, if you don't mind could you please clarify it here or in PM if you wish? :)
Safiyah, imagine someone who was homosexual falsifying documents to obtain a sex change, simply because they could not accept themselves as homosexual. That person would be making an enormous mistake. So too would a man who just likes to be pretty.There are ways for men to be pretty, in fact, crossdressing is losing steam as a fetish or mental illness,and there are organizations to help them cope. The point of the process is to help you prepare for the incredible difficulty and pain, and make sure you're making the right decison.
Being gendered male actually eats me alive. I've tried coping in all possible ways. I follow the process outlined in the soc because I want peace of mind and I find it responsible. If there was no other way, I would try to do it my way and probably fail, just give up and let myself dissolve. I will not endorse trying to do this any other way, but I won't view someone as "less than" for finding it a cumbersome pain and foregoing the process. I just don't want to be viewed in any way as a contributor to their misery should they fail.
I am not making any attack on anyone's understanding of their self. This is a destination with many paths not well travelled. I don't care to continue on in this manner.
Emma,
CONGRATULATIONS!
I was worried about you and your doctors.
Quote from: EmmaM on March 11, 2011, 01:01:49 PM
I am not making any attack on anyone's understanding of their self. This is a destination with many paths not well travelled. I don't care to continue on in this manner.
that's alright neither do i i shouldn't post information certain people will use to get a diagnosis
Awesome Emma!
I look forward to that day myself, my therapist and I are looking at the possibility of late Spring/early Summer.
There is a definite part of me that wants to get started on those magic pills sooner than that, but I'm the first to admit that I'm not yet ready.... thus the time frame we are shooting for.
Congrats!
Thanks for the support friends!