Transgender Health Care

In response to the Cyrsti's Condo post "Are You", which concerned my conversation on the phone with the VA receptionist who was scheduling my mammogram. She asked if I was male or female, to which I replied "transgender."

Connie wrote about her experience at the doctor:

FABULOUSCONNIEDEEJanuary 7, 2018 at 4:12 PM

"When it comes to health care, nothing short of full disclosure should be deemed acceptable - even at the expense of hurt feelings or embarrassment. Still, discreteness should not be sacrificed for the sake of disclosure.

When I first saw my current GP, he had never had a transgender patient. He obviously had received some training on how to talk to a trans woman, but he was very awkward about it. The second time I had an appointment, he had either done some research or asked some questions, which made him even more careful in how he talked to me - worried more about offending me than in dealing with my health issue, it seemed to me. 

Interestingly, I was suffering from a urinary tract infection at the time, and he hadn't known the source of it until all of the lab results had come in. UTIs are more common with women than with men, but the source of mine was my prostate gland - something he neglected to check on my first visit. The antibiotic he prescribed, therefore, was ineffective. I told him that I was totally aware that my biological makeup was male, and that he could not offend me in the least by treating it as such. Although he never admitted it, I believe he avoided doing a prostate exam for fear of offending me.

My very first physical exam, early in my transition, was done by a doctor who is very popular with trans women in my area. I had not yet changed my name or gender marker, but I arrived for my appointment appearing to be all the woman I could muster. As I sat waiting in the exam room, the nurse wheeled in a tray that was covered by a white towel. The doctor, after a discussion with me concerning my general health and trans issues, lifted the towel to reveal a complete set of instruments for a gynecological exam! She held up the speculum and said, "I don't think we need this...yet." We both got a good laugh out of it, and she proceeded with a digital exam of my prostate (talk about killing a laugh...). 

Even if I ever get to experience the need for a gynecological exam one day, I hope to still have to suffer through the prostate exam. The alternative would be to be permanently connected to a colostomy bag, which is not the image of femininity I have for myself."

Thanks for your experience!

Let's Be Careful out There!

Tragically, what is believed to be the first transgender Murder/death of the year has been recorded in Massachusetts.

Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien was found stabbed to death in her home on Friday evening. Her husband, Mark Steele-Knudslien, has been arrested on suspicion of the murder after he confessed to police that he had killed her.

An autopsy sound that she died from a loss of blood from a stab wound.

She also had blunt force trauma to the head.

The 42-year-old’s death has been ruled a homicide.

Let's be careful out there! Remember you don't carry the old male privilege with you anymore which helped to curtail violence . 

When you see all the cis women protesting against sexual harassment and violence,  don't think the protest doesn't apply to you too! 

Busy Week!

This is one of those weeks when everything seems to back up on me.

Even though the bitter cold is going away, we are expecting some ice today, which to me, is the worst of all possible weather worlds. Nearly impossible to drive on of course. Later on in the week though, we are expected to have temperatures rising into the mid 50's (F). Seeing as how I have the mammogram on Thursday, that is good news because I always get lost and have to walk a fairly long distance from the parking garage to the hospital annex I'm going to. I have the unique ability to go the wrong way almost every time.

Looking ahead towards the weekend, Liz and I have a social meetup meeting Friday and a pending small moving trip up to Springfield to move some pieces back down here to our storage unit in Cincinnati which is a round trip of about 150 miles.

Also, we have Liz's work holiday party (better late than never) this week to go to. It's a casual affair, so I won't have to plan much ahead for what I want to wear. However, Liz bought our tickets for her "Black Belt" karate dinner late in the month. It is more of a formal dinner and I have a couple of potential outfits in mind. I wonder if there are name tags we make, if I should add my preferred gender pronouns...not!

Many times I am torn between decisions and/or the idea of this is what I Mtf transgender transitioned for. It becomes fun until the night of the event, since inwardly I am so painfully shy. Unless, I make a concerted effort to smile, I come off sometimes like a snooty bitch. Not good.

On the financial side, this is the week I am changing banking institutions for various reasons. The only main drawback/hassle is changing over where my Social Security check is direct deposited into.

Also this week, are the final days to enroll in a couple on line blogging courses that are deeply discounted. I am interested to discover if I can learn more about the more technical aspects of blogging. We will see how that works!

So as you can tell, the week will fly by!