Checking levels beforehand, at 3 months, 6 months and then 1 year (and once a year there-after) is pretty standard stuff. It doesn't have to be kept in a rigid way, so you can trust your healthcare professional if they think it's fine to check again in November after doing a test in May.
While it is a sad reality that lab tests are expensive and many people don't have insurance to cover it, that doesn't make Nygeel's advice right. It is dangerous to go without follow-up care when you do cross-hormone therapy, and you can't rely on looking and feeling "fine" to tell you if you have a problem with your dose. You could cause significant damage to your liver or kidneys, for example, without knowing about it, or have other adverse effects (dangerously high cholesterol levels) as a result to how your body processes the testosterone. [And the reason for pre-T blood work is to check for contra-indications.]
I cannot tell anyone else what the right choice is to make if they have no way of paying for adequate pre-screening or follow-up care, and I can't presume to know. There are trade-offs in everything. But I think it's incredibly irresponsible to give the impression that not testing is ok, so long as your health seems fine. That's not medically sound advice, and it's the not the recommendations of any of a number of medical/health organizations that have developed guidelines or statements regarding care. The follow-up care you're reporting, Dominick, seems more consistent with better practices, so you should be fine.
