Quote from: ReneeT on December 18, 2012, 11:45:35 AM
For those who have undergone GRS according to WPATH guidelines, i would appreciate hearing your experiences in obtaining a second therapist to confirm readiness for surgery, how many visits you had with the second therapist, and any suggestions on therapists with appropriate experiemce.
Renee
I went to a psychiatrist (Dr Max Chorowski), because they are MD's. I gave him my first letter for surgery. He photocopied it. Then he gave me a simple quiz: Have I ever been depressed, Am I happy right now, etc etc. The whole thing took maybe 15 minutes. I spent maybe 45 minutes at the doctors office, mostly waiting, and then he asked where to mail my letter. I gave him the address and fax info for Dr Brassards office. The next day I got the 2nd letter in the mail, even notarized, and a copy of a fax receipt showing it was sent from the Dr's office to Dr Brassard. That was it. I never saw the psychiatrist ever again. Total cost was around $200 or so, in 2001 dollars. I actually printed out the standards of care and showed the doctor what exactly needed to be in the letter. I did that with the primary therapist.
I think in terms of surgery, that first letter is the most important one. The second is just legalese and nothing more. When I went to have surgery I even asked my endo to create a letter proving that I have had at least 12 months of continuous hormone therapy, just as a CYA. By the time I was heading to my date with destiny I had several years of HRT already but I was a stickler for the standards of care. By the time I finally made it up there, the only thing that mattered was that my surgery was all paid for. I don't even know what they did with the letters, if anything.
I think the letter stuff is overblown. It's not really a big deal. That's just my opinion.