The Gender Clinic from Hell
Dale
Hi,
I just wanted to thank the kind folks who answered my "Gatekeepers..."
post and to fill everyone in on what happened. There's good news and
bad news.
My therapist and I had a good long talk on Wednesday --- actually
_she_ did most of the talking --- but anyway, I came away feeling a
little better about her. She _is_ actually willing to be flexible
about guidelines, is pushing for allowing upper surgery for FtM's to
be allowed on an informed consent basis, disdains DSM-IV type
diagnostic categories for clients... She gets an A from me for
Attitude :), so I guess I picked an apropos name for the old thread.
So much for the good news.
The bad news is, nothing she told me really contradicted what I had
heard at the support group about the team she works with. While they
follow their own standards rather than the SOC, their standards are by
her own admission more conservative than the SOC to begin with. For
example, they consider the traditional 3 month wait for HRT to be a
bare minimum, and require at least weekly visits throughout the whole
period. They also require a second opinion, meaning (I gather) that
you have to meet with their official gatekeeper and convince him that
you're already on your way to becoming passable as a woman (or man,
for FtM's). (My therapist was also under the impression that the
Benjamin standards call for at least some RLT before getting hormones.
Though I corrected her on that point, it's basically moot. I was left
with the impression that this was one area where she considered her
clinic's standards more liberal than the SOC, because they're not
entirely rigid on this point (read: they don't _require_ RLT before
HRT, but they do _prefer_ it).)
The upshot of all this is, that the earliest she can authorize me for
HRT is probably late July, and it would be perhaps a couple of months
after that (because of a several week wait to see their GP and
gatekeeper) before I would know whether I was 'eligible' for HRT.
No thanks.
All this assumes that I follow the gender clinic path. My therapist
seems to be willing to work with me and medical professionals of my
choosing, as long as I consent to free exchange of my case records
between everyone involved. I will see her at least one more time to
explore this possibility further. As I said, I rather like her and
would prefer to continue with her as my therapist. But if she insists
that I stick with the program, it's bye-bye.
So for now it's electrolysis and support groups... and waiting. :(
- Dale
P.S. Anyone know of a good endocrinologist with TS experience in SE
Michigan? E-mail replies welcome!
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