Hello there :-)

I called a little while back and got told that the waiting period has now gone up to 6 months, but if they are processing September referrals for June, that means I probably won't get appointment number 1 until July! That makes me very sad :-( I guess the thing that is frustrating me is that I'm having to pay for the hair removal and voice therapy out of my own pocket because I don't want to wait for the 2nd or 3rd appointment to get started!

Glad to hear you got yourself a last minute appointment Lisa, do you think it's worth getting some blood work done prior to the first appointment then? I assume you just went to your GP and asked them for it? I'd be fascinated to know what my E levels are like at the moment!

Hope E is treating you well Jessica :-)

Emily x

Hi Emily

I got my blood-work done as after being told the 6 month thing and the thought that there would be at least 3 months on top of that for HRT i decided to go to Dr Webberley. Its frustrating that laser and HRT is costing me money and a bit irritating to be told by the GIC to save my money as they will provide all that. my thoughts were something like,  errr well YOUR NOT YET and you have made no commitment to either......ironically I paid my initial fees to Dr Webberley the day before i got the call from the GIC and i initially doubted I had done the right thing, but given i was told at the GIC my second appointment would be in 5 or 6 weeks and i got the letter for it a few days ago for the end of August I'll hopefully have a good start by the time i go to my next GIC appointment. Fingers crossed i'll get something out of Dr Webberley this week.

But yeah i just went to my GP and asked for a combination of the tests DR Webberly said in her initial contact and the guidelines for CHX,  Frustratingly i later decided to put some "stuff" in the freezer and so had to get more blood tests for infection screening, so if you thinking of doing that also then get all the tests lined up in one go

Hello everyone,
I referred myself to the Northampton in January. The doctor didn't know what he was doing so I had to show him the GP guidelines, write my own referral and then keep chasing him to post it. Took him 2 weeks! Got the acknowledgment and agreement for shared care a few weeks later.

The practice I go to has several different GP's and the booking system usually gives you a random doctor based on an available timeslot so you never really know who you're getting. None of them has any experience with transgendered people so they rely on me telling them what bloodwork to order and how to interrupt the results.
When I called the GIC in March I was told that my first appointment would be in September. I am transitioning later in life and like Lisa I found Dr Webberley and am working with her.

I've posted an introduction if you would like to know a little more about me.

Holly

Hey Holly and welcome to the waiting room! I had to do the same thing with my doctor. She was cool though and took it all in her stride. I also took the signed letter and posted it myself which was a nice moment for me!

Your story is such a common one, in 20 years people will look back and be gob smacked at what we had to deal with.

I wrote another post about an informational guide which I created for friends and family. You might find it useful, I'll find a link to it and post it here for you :-)

Edit: here is the link: https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php?topic=206318

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Hi Holly

Welcome another letterbox watcher.  Your GP sounds like a bit of a drama not knowing who you will get, I can sympathize a little as my main GP just went on Maternity leave so i now have to try out some of the other GP's in the practice, but at least they have the system set up so i can choose which one i see rather than lucky dip.  I have started taking notes on them and ranking them of which are more interested/supportive than others so i can remember who to pick down the line.

Hopefully though when my GP comes back from maternity leave I may be in a position to introduce her to her name sake, not that i named myself after her, its just an awkward coincidence.

Anyway I too did the take along all the documents and pre-filled the referral form, I didn't get to post mine myself though, that must have been a profound moment, dropping that letter in the post box Emily.

I really like your presentation too, it says all the right things and in a positive way.  I have been looking for something like that to give to my family but find most of the guides start off well but always get bogged down in negative aspects which i feel aren't helpful at the early stage as it may reinforce fears, yours really doesn't do that and is about the right amount of info for an introduction. It looks like we share a style of writing and humor too. I wont share yours though with your personal information in it unless that is what you intended by posting it.

This new advice from the GMC for GP's may be of use to some struggling with GP's and waiting

http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/ethical_guidance/28852.asp

I notice though that it doesn't always go through to the useful page, so if you only see a couple of paragraphs and links,  Find the tiny link at the bottom above all the twitter and Facebook links and click the Begin reading link for the good info.

Woop! I got my letter :-) my appointment is on the 11th May, 6 months to the day after my referral was sent. I'm so happy!!

I have actually started hormones now, on a very low dosage of estrogen only, and hopefully the NHS doesn't penalise me for it. It's going to be good to get moving on the NHS system :-)


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yeah, congratulations,  11th may isn't far away now

Hello,

Sorry for the late reply and thanks for all the info. Emily, I was wondering whether you would allow me to post your link on my Facebook page at a later date when I do make my big announcement?

Quite a lot has happened since my last post, mostly good.

I met up with a transwoman in the company I work for who has just returned to work after 10 weeks following SRS. She's a senior project manager with direct contact with the MD, lead for 'Diversity & Inclusion' and all transgender related company information. She told me about her experiences, both personally and professionally and we ended up taking for nearly 3 hours. It was really nice meeting someone who understands and even nicer being able to give her a hug instead of shaking hands. Some advice she gave me was that in her experience it was better to tell people early about changing as she felt that she missed out on a lot of support from her friends in her in the early days. We are both the same age so I could relate to her quite easily. I feel more comfortable about who knows now so I have started to tell my wider circle of friends and even changed my Facebook picture. You are all welcome to join my old self on Facebook. You'll find that name under 'Contact' at galaxytv.co.uk, which Facebook will recognise. Trust me there's no way you'll get the wrong person!

I went to see my GP last week and he said that he wanted to talk about my medication. Don't know what his idea of a discussion is as he told me straight that he will not issue me with a bridging prescription despite clear guidelines in WPATH, RCS and GMC documents I sent to him. He only offered to write to Dr Timmins to tell him what I was doing and, in the circumstances would he make my appointment sooner. Sooner than what? I still don't have a date yet. He then brought up my bloodwork and told me that he didn't understand what he was looking at, so I sat beside him and went through it with him. Unfortunately, I can't go into any detail due to the forum rules but I can say that my blood is now in the best shape it's been in the past 5 years.

All 6 of the female staff at the surgery seem a little friendlier and more talkative towards me now. They all know me by sight and I don't even have to give them any details when I walk in. They obviously know about me because one of them typed up my referral notes, but I try not to think about that part too much because there was some embarrassing detail in there! The only thing they don't know is my new name, but that's probably just a matter of time.

It was my birthday on Tuesday and amongst the usual cards with my old name on was one for Holly. My partner had actually sent me TWO birthday cards, one with each name. Holly's card had a lovely message saying how my partner would support me no matter what and picture of a dark haired young woman on the front. I have very dark brown hair and I've told her that I want to go blonde in 2 years' time so Holly's card also read 'dark haired women are just as beautiful'. My partner has long blonde hair and blue eyes!

See you all soon,
Holly

Hey Holly,

Sounds like things are going really well for you! Great news and happy birthday :-) you are welcome to link to my presentation, just send me a PM if you need some of the wording changed and I can provide you with a custom link!

The GP stuff is really interesting. I'll be going to see mine soon to get my blood work done and will take lots of documentation along with me!


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Hello there,

So yesterday was the day of my appointment with the GIC and I'm happy to say that it went really well!

I got a few firsts in that day; first time wearing a dress outdoors (although it rained on me!) and first time going into the ladies bathroom (at the service station - it was so clean!).

I arrived for the appointment which ended up about 45 minutes late (seems pretty standard really). The new doctor (Dr. Hasit I think) came out and dead named me straightaway which was a bit depressing. I had put my desired name on the form and everything :-( He was a funny character to be honest, very slow on the keyboard and quite formal at first. But he opened up later on.

He started off by just asking lots of questions about my life (parents, siblings and the like) and then asking questions about things like my sexuality, when I first knew something was wrong, stuff like that.

I had also written a 3 page autobiography which I gave to him to put in my file, apparently they ask for this so I kinda beat them to it :-)

I told him I was self medding and he didn't have a problem with it: he told me to get my blood work done by my GP and bring it into my next appointment which is awesome! He also told me that I pass quite well already which is great for my self esteem! I feel over the moon to have got started on the NHS pathway now, and to finally be getting the estrogen my body craves.

All is good in the world of Emily! I started this thread back in October last year and it's lovely that is Northampton-ish girls have come together to keep eachother up to date on the workings of our lovely GIC. Thanks for participating :-)


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Here's a cheeky selfie I took on my way out of the GIC xx




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Glad you had a good day and no grief about the self meds.

The smile in your photo says it all

I'm glad that everything went so well for you, but using your past name IS deeply unprofessional.
Shame I can't discuss the self-medicating with you (due to the rules).
Nice to see you so happy!

I've just called the GIC. They told me that there is now a 10 month waiting list and wouldn't give me a date for my first appointment, so I'm now looking at October / November. I also mentioned my GP refusing to give me a bridging prescription and was told to send them an email to see if there was anything they could do.

On a more positive note, one of my old customers has asked me to film her presentation show so at least I should get enough money from it to start my laser treatment.

Emily, I did snd you and email. Hope you got it.

See you all soon.

Quick update - just got my 2nd appointment date...26 October!! Over 5 months after my first appointment!


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Sounds inline with mine.  March > August.  If you haven't already received it, chase up your first appointment outcome letter,   Thought mine had come and it was my 2nd appointment letter, waited a few more weeks knowing these things are a bit $@!&, eventually phoned up and it was all done and confusion on why I hadn't got it so  they re-sent it, when it turned up it was dated 2 weeks after my appointment and said I had declined  copy!

Weird! I got my report along with my appointment luckily :-)


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I had an appointment with my doctor on Monday to review my blood test results and he still refuses to give me a bridging prescription. He did say that he had asked the Warwickshire Trust for advice and their reply was, as they had no one qualified to advise him he should do nothing, which is what he's very good at. Basically the entire county of Warwickshire has no transgender support!

Today was a lot more positive as I got a phone call from Dr Timmings. Still no appointment but he said that they would now call me immediately if they have any cancellations because I have no support from my GP. Ironically he was able to talk to me because he had a cancellation. I talked him through my medication and he said that I had been following 'old' advice and that the current thinking was that you now only need Estradiol at the right dosage as Oestradiol will naturally shut down most of the T production. T blockers are now only used if T remains high. He was said that I could lower my dose of Estradiol a little due to my age as the excess is simply being wasted and that a lower dosage would also slow down breast development so growth would not be too obvious in public in 'boy mode'. Oops, too late for that! Size A already and in need of constant support. Interestingly he said that very high Oestradiol levels in older patents could result conical shaped breasts. Anyone want to look like Madonna?

Even better though, Dr Timmings is now contacting my GP about a bridging prescription, so I should be soon popping into the chemist, just as my own tablets are running out.

Be in touch soon.

You got a phone call from Dr Timmins?!? Incredible.

Also strange what he said about hormones because I know somebody who is prescribed through that GIC and blockers were prescribed straightaway. I think he might just be saying that to reduce risk for you (T blockers are the ones which usually carry a health risk).

Great to hear they will help with a bridging prescription though, my doctor didn't suggest such a thing at my appointment when I told him I was self medicating.


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