Hi there,
I'm transgendered, MtF, and living in Sydney, NSW, Australia. I've been slowly transitioning for around two years now. I stopped pretending to be a man over a year ago, and have been living as myself (a woman) ever since. Trouble is that the depression and anxiety have been affecting me more and more. It's gotten to the point where I cannot function properly because I have a penis and testicles attached to my torso and they're constantly freaking me out and I can derive no pleasure from them. Given how much pain they're causing me, my doctor and psychiatrist are both strongly supportive of gender reassignment surgery. I got two letters from two psychiatrists, I should be able to get enough money (by draining my superannuation account dry), and I'm healthy (no diseases, normal weight, etc), but the trouble is that I
really don't know where to go.
There seem to be so many choices, each with their own pros and cons, and I'm clueless as to where to even start.
There seem to be two prominent surgeons in Australia, Dr. Peter Haertsch (NSW) and Dr Peter Ives (Vic). In fact, I literally live down the road from the private hospital that Dr Haertsch operates from. Super-convenient!
I've seen people mention prices for the Australian surgeons range from $15,000 to $45,000, and I've really got no idea where in that range they sit. I don't really want to pay for a consultation with Dr Haertsch, or fly down for a consultation with Dr Ives, if they're going to quote me $45,000. As a side note, I've had several people (I won't mention names, but two of the people in question were transgender-specialising doctors) warn me that the Australian doctors' techniques are as much as two
decades out of date. I don't know how real that statement is, so please forgive me if I'm wrong, but that scares me to heck and back again. Does anyone know if that is the case?
There seem to be a number of popular surgeons in Thailand. But there are several concerns I have. Firstly, I have trouble going out to get groceries or see my Doctor; I really don't know how well I'd be able to cope with travelling to country where English is not the primary spoken language. Even if the majority of people over there have a decent grasp of English, I'd still be worrying myself into a knot, trying to learn a little bit of the Thai language so I don't ever get stuck. Plus, the political instability worries me. Please understand, I
really don't mean to be rude, I just see what's happening in the news and I don't know how wide-spread or troublesome it all is, or how a military-controlled government behaves.
Dr Suporn Watanyusakul (in Thailand) was recommended to me, and I've had a thorough look at his website. The non-penile-inversion technique sounds interesting enough, but I cannot seem to find any empirical evidence as to whether it's better or not... just people saying "yes, it's best" and "no, inversion is best". And while personal opinions are helpful, I get confused when someone says that operation X works best when they've not experienced the results of operation Y... if that makes sense. The retaining of the Cowper's gland seems like a good point, though, and the description on his website about which tissue goes where sounds good. Plus, Dr Suporn seems to have a six-month waiting list, which is reasonable. But the recovery times are longer, and that sounds like a huge down point for me. And lastly, the deposit is non-refundable, so if my flight gets cancelled I'd lose all my funds.
Dr Marci Bowers (in the United States) has been strongly recommended to me too. I've read her website, as well as spoken to someone who had her operation performed by Dr Bowers, and I've come to the conclusion that Dr Bowers also seems very good. But again, traveling overseas scares me. But traveling to a country like the USA, where English is the primary language, feels a little bit less worrisome to me. I also have friends in the USA, so I might even get to meet one or two face-to-face for once. However, her waiting list is at fourteen months right now, and that seems... excessive. She's also significantly more expensive. And again, the deposit is non-refundable, so if my flight gets cancelled (or something along those lines) I'll be unable to attend the operation and I'd lose the money I have.
Dr. Pierre Brassard (in Canada) has also received some glowing recommendations, from what I've read on the web. But again, most of my concerns for Dr Bowers stand here too.
And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. So, I'm in a situation where I've got so many choices and no clue what to do. I'm suffering from a bit of information overload and too many choices, but none of which seem to fit.
Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations, please?
