Hi Laurie, are you still going to Christina for electro? She always insisted that OHP was the only insurance option for coverage, and that some colleague of hers had tried it and was still waiting to be reimbursed, but this isn't true at all, under the right circumstances anyway - I'm still not certain how that all works. It has to be in conjunction with work done by a clinic or something. I had to stop going to Christina as I was earning minimum wage and had some debt to get out of the way and was flat broke.
I just received my go-ahead letters from my insurer (Providence) for an orchi next month and GCS with Dugi in the not too distant future. The seminar OHSU has on their program is well worth attending, they set me up with a Providence caseworker who's been a lot of help.
Another electrologist in Beaverton, Alice Berry, told me Providence only covers genital electro but people at the Q Center support group told me that isn't the case, my caseworker should be able to help me out there. This is essential as Alice and the gal in Oregon City charge double for genital electro - $150/hr or so. Alice kind of chewed me out for going with Providence and their stuffy regulations - I chose them because the premiums were a few $$$$ less and I was under the impression electro wasn't covered by anybody - but my experience with them in re: providers/HRT/therapy has been fine. Incidentally I went to that Q Center group just last Friday, for only the 2nd time - first time it wasn't really my cup of tea - but had a lot more positive experience this time around, and might make it a monthly thing.
Another thing the Q folks mentioned is that Toby Meltzer and Ellie Ley are coming to Portland soon, to give a seminar or presentation or whatever on setting up a GCS clinic here. This is interesting as Meltzer used to have his practice here, until the super-stuffy church-ran hospital he was at told him to get lost. This would be great as Dugi really needs someone to take up some of his workload. I don't know who the surgeon would be - Meltzer's due to retire soon and I assume Ley's content being in AZ. Maybe someone they'd train.
One of the Q folks was ranting about what a pain in the hinder Toby's daughter is.
It was pretty funny to hear about. When Toby was still in town my therapist used to send folks to him too - she remembers him being a bit too impressed with himself. Also that a major factor in moving to Arizona was for the golf.
