Hey everyone. I'm wondering if some of you might be able to give some input about this situation.

The end of April was when I last saw my top surgeon. Coverage would have been processed quickly (up to about 4 weeks). I hadn't heard anything from his secretary, so at the end of July I called in to see if there were any issues. I was told the coverage went through fine and they were just waiting for a time to open up, so I would be called back "very soon"... I haven't heard anything since. I know summer can mess professionals' scheduling up, but I dunno. I'm not familiar with all this.

I have a feeling the secretary might be annoyed with me, though. Because of how Ontario's health coverage has been about trans care, I first saw this surgeon a little more than a year and a half ago. Through the whole duration between then and now, I've perhaps called 5-6 times to inquire the status of different things at various points, never taking long. Except once early on I gave my chosen name, (which is on my medical records fwiw) which confused things I think, so I made sure to be clearer later. Anyways, one time she was rather terse with me, saying something about how busy my surgeon is, I can't remember exactly. Since then she's been terse. Not rude or anything, just very... short... and I have perceived undertones of annoyance, though it's possible I'm misreading. I'm not impolite, I call once about (what I think most people would consider) a legitimate inquiry and I'm fine with very brief interactions of under a minute - I don't need to talk about the weather, just a simple answer to a single, relevant question.

I can't help but wonder if I got on her bad side (consciously or not) and that's reason I haven't been booked in or if this is all just within the norms. I'm feeling a bit uneasy about all this, you know?



More info that might be helpful. Sorry, don't mean to make this a book  The other side of my unease is that this surgeon hasn't performed this kind of surgery before. He's a young surgeon who's made a name for himself with surgeries for post-mastectomy patients, to give them breasts, specifically. From the handful of reviews I've seen, the women were very happy and satisfied. He's already won a grant competition and has made a few speeches from what I can tell. He said to me he wanted to expand his practice to trans patients. So, from what I've gathered, he does specialise in chest anatomy/surgery and aesthetics and has a lot to gain from doing really well on the surgery. He's also in close proximity to me which is very important because it'd be nigh impossible for me to travel at the moment. All the same... he hasn't don't this before lol. I'll be getting peri, btw.

So yeah... anyone have any thoughts about all this?

I waited for months to get scheduled for my bottom surgery (and never ended up getting scheduled) with a particular surgeon. No matter how annoyed she seems, it is her job to answer the phone and provide answers to the person calling. If you've received approval and are just waiting to schedule, and if it has been a prolonged amount of time since that approval came through, I would be calling regularly asking for updates. Probably once a week on a regular day. If you have a case manager, have them call and inquire as well.

I would just call and say "Hey, it's YOUR NAME. I understand things are busy and I don't want to be a bother but it's been LENGTH OF TIME since this procedure was approved and I'd like to know what we're looking at with scheduling."

Is it possible to go to another surgeon? I can understand proximity being important, but I'd be very annoyed to have scheduling dragged out like this, and I wouldn't be very comfortable with someone who has never done this surgery before. Especially peri.

You make some good points here Max. I wasn't sure how realistic my worries were, so it's really helpful to get that feedback from you.

I did some more looking and found out that Dr. McLean is now accepting OHIP; he didn't used to. So I e-mailed to confirm and the answer was "yes". It might take longer to actually get the surgery, but that's a relatively minor thing. I really like his results for peri and it's close enough that I think it'd be quite doable.