Quote from: Brianna Deanna on September 19, 2016, 04:37:16 PM
I actually got an email response stating the prices of the initial appointment and the subsequent appointments along with the charge to determine the possibility of "cross sex hormone therapy. So when funds are available I will be going in to hopefully figure out the direction to go. How exactly do they determine if hrt is the right course to take...is it a given or can they refuse?

If the organization has gender center in it's name I seriously doubt that they refuse many people.   Medical doctors may refuse treatment for certain conditions like cancer or other health related issues, however.   When I went to the gender center in my town last February I danced around the issue with my therapist for a long time and she would actually describe to me how transgender people who finally do make the decision to transition rarely, and I mean almost never, have any regret about doing so.  She talked about 'feeling more comfortable in your own skin.'  She talked about the ability to 'feel more like yourself.'  She didn't encourage me but she made it clear in her own way that a lot of my resistance was about the stigma and the internalized transphobia that trans people carry around like unwanted luggage.  In the end it was left as my decision to proceed forward.

I knew I wanted to transition but I was reluctant because of all the fears and reasons I had made up over the years not to transition. It all had to be worked through.  Eventually, after about 3 months I asked my gender therapist what I would need to do to get HRT.  She explained my different options and stuff and offered to write any kind of letter I needed to access care.  Since I'm on Medicaid, I spent more months being denied treatment by my transphobic, religiously-motivated, primary care clinic.  But that's another story and I digress. In the end I just went to Planned Parenthood.  I got on a waiting list that lasted 40 days and 40 nights before I had my first assessment.  True story.  They didn't require a letter and will provide transgender people with needed and necessary medical care without a letter and without a lot of questions.  And they are terrific and affordable and sensitive to trans patients.

Quote from: Brianna Deanna on September 19, 2016, 04:37:16 PM
I actually got an email response stating the prices of the initial appointment and the subsequent appointments along with the charge to determine the possibility of "cross sex hormone therapy. So when funds are available I will be going in to hopefully figure out the direction to go. How exactly do they determine if hrt is the right course to take...is it a given or can they refuse?

Great news that you got the email.

Have you checked and do they accept your insurance? If not, I know many places that have payment options based on your financial ability.

There are many who are afraid that therapists are "gate keepers". That may be the case occasionally but I think that has become less frequent. Particularly if it is a gender therapist.

They often wait a bit before offering a letter. They need to get to know you. They want to help guide you to the choice with both emotional and mental stability. Instability is the only rational reason I have heard of a therapist wanting a patient to wait. It seems that if after a bit of time, usually around 3-6 months(some places want longer), you both see where you are headed and they can/will write you a letter.

Sometime HRT is tried in small doses almost as a test. I have read/heard that most  changes in the first 3 months of HRT are reversible by simply stopping(not sure if that is accurate).

Most of what I have written is my take after a bit of observation and my own experiences as well.

With warmth,
Joanna

Kinda at a loss today had to bury a 3 week old kitten last night

Gosh, I'm sorry to hear that, that hurts.

In my Southern town there are about 5 or 6 major residential HVAC outfits and even more smaller ones plus the commercial HVAC places. Surely your boss isn't the only game in town. You have marketable skills. Maybe you should sniff around the competition.

I had a friend who was a union electrician who transitioned. She was outgoing and had lots of friends who would hire her for their own home projects when other jobs dried up. (Honestly, she could have had work with the big boy around here but it meant working on nuclear and she refused to work on that on principle.)

It just seems like with a trade you ought to have options. Even if you are in a one HVAC town maybe there is another town where you can still drive to see your kid?

Sad about the kitten.