My Angel at the VA

For those of you who are following my continuing saga/soap opera with my HRT and the Veteran's Administration, my "angel" came through again.
After only two phone calls to my patient advocate (angel) , she discovered the bureaucrats at my local VA Clinic had decided two paid visits to my endocrinologist were enough and turned down the third and any future ones.

She got that reversed and payment has now been approved for the one this past spring and the one coming up in September.  For some reason the powers to be have decided my transgender "condition" is temporary I guess so a few "Endo Doc" visits are all I need.

Maybe if I keep "poking the bear" I will irritate him enough to get me some in house treatment. Hopefully before he claws me.

FYI, if you are a transgender veteran and need any advice what so ever about my learning experience- please email me through the blog!

Matt to Maddy!

A whole lot of transitioning going on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:

Life on the Passive Aggressive Frontier

We could call this a Cyrsti's Condo "Quote of the Day"...  sent along by a friend:

Robert Heinlein made a good point when he said that women were just like men, only more so. Gentler, kinder, more intelligent, more vicious, etc...

Camping in the Girls Room

Last night a female friend of mine and I got together for a couple adult beverages and eats in a place we go to quite a bit.  We were enjoying our conversation until about an hour into it comes a group of at least 25.  Mixed in the group were five or six of the worst kind of adults-the ones who didn't seem to care about the kids who were basically 10-12 and probably 90% girls.

Well of course they abused the place and were extraordinarily loud which was bad enough until the girls commandeered the bathroom too. I tried to go potty and let a very unhappy woman go through the door ahead of me.  Of course all three stalls were full, plus another two girls sitting on the floor by the sink on their cell phones.  The woman ahead of me didn't hesitate and growled something to the effect of get the hell up off the floor. (I know for a fact she wasn't with the group.) Well, there was some scattering in the room, but no one left-except for me. I decided to hold it for awhile.

My friend and I sat and watched the comings and goings in and out of the restroom and never did see the girls leave.

Finally we paid and left and I found another place to stop and pee before a rather lengthy trip home.

Look, I know of the magical feminine bathroom mystique but bottom line is the older women in the group should have quit stuffing their faces with food and beer and taken care of the situation.

It's no wonder many of these people don't want a young transgender girl to use a girls bathroom. Maybe she would blow the whistle on the whole foolish mess.

I have said any number of times how surprised I am at how fast the majority of women use the bathroom and get out.

OK, I feel better now. Yes I did find another bathroom in time plus I was allowed to rant with all of you for a bit...thanks!!!

The Top Drag Queen in History!

I was watching the classic Seven Year Itch movie last night and realized I was watching one of the great drag queens of all time, Marilyn Monroe-of course!   Yes silly's I know (or think I do MM was genetic) But where was it written that drag queens have to be men?

Of course I am not the first to push this idea of the over the top female movie stars such as Marilyn being the ultimate drag queens- in that they represented a totally unachievable level of femininity to the greatest majority of genetic women.

Just between you and me though, I'm still jealous of the famous scene of Marilyn's iconic white dress being blown up over the subway grate in the sidewalk! Shown on your left.

Let's not forget to mention one of the female impersonators (Jimmie James) who used MM to build his career. Here he is on a 1987 Phil Donahue show on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:

Just Another Clog...

In the drainpipe of life.

Out of the clear blue hot and humid sky last week comes a letter from the Veterans Administration saying my endocrinologist bills would not be covered.

To catch all of you up who may be new to Cyrsti's Condo, I am a transgender veteran who took the VA up on it's directive to provide treatment for trans vets- essentially through HRT needs. Along the way there have been some bumpy trans roads to travel around here in Ohio. The biggest hurdle was a six month struggle last summer to get them (VA) to pay for an outside endo doc to monitor my treatment.  Ideally they were committed to do it through the directive since there was no in house specialist available. As I said, six months went by and my first two visits to the doc were paid for.

Life was pretty good.  I finally had a professional monitoring my HRT and I was able to stabilize my meds. Then of course the winds of change began to blow again.  The way my treatment works in the VA, I have a "primary doc".  The one I worked with for years up to and beginning HRT agreed to approve the in house pharmacy filling my meds- essentially a co-pay system which saves me big money I can't afford.  This spring though my primary transferred out and I'm left with a new one to break in this fall. Conceivably, he could say he doesn't want anything to do with the process and try to transfer me to someone else.  I'm not going to jump off of that bridge until I come to it.


So September again is a big month for my progression down this transition road. I have appointments with both Docs and may be fighting again for everything. Essentially my battle comes down to this: The VA is saying my outside treatment is not an emergency and I'm saying it is - plus they are directed to provide treatment one way or another..Which they won't acknowledge without a fight. But...

I have been down this path before with them and won with the help of a very capable "Patient Advocate" in the Dayton, Ohio VA. Of course now I have had my initial conversations with her to get her in the loop.

I really am positive all of this will be settled again the right way and I can put my oversize plunger away!

Plus, how much fun would life be anyway if there weren't a few "clogs" here and there?

Cyrsti's Condo "HorrorScope"

Another week- another horrorscope kids....


Libra (September 23-October 22): All the stressing you’ve been doing about money and long-term issues with your baby is going to start to see some resolution now. If you’ve been working on creating a more solid foundation, the tides will start turning your way and you will see some traction happening. However, don’t get caught up in showing your hand, because to play to win, it’ll mean not blowing your cover now.

Well, if all that means I am going to get my book done after 60, 000 + words, I will ride with the tide and look for the traction! I blew my cover in so many ways a long time ago!

"Horrorscope" is my term. Be sure to go to theFrisky  for yours!

First Trans Male Prez?

Well at least in a musical and he is being playing by Chaz Bono. (left)  From the Advocate.com:


"Chaz Bono landed his first male role, playing the President of the United States inThirty Minute Musicals: Independence Day, reports People. The role, which is an imitation of the character played by Bill Pullman in the 1996 film Independence Day, is a dream come true for the iconic trans actor who credits playing a male role in high school with opening his eyes to his own gender identity.

 “I started acting in high school. It was the career that I wanted but I stopped because I couldn't really do a good job playing female characters and I didn't know why," Bono told People. “My senior year of high school I got cast as a male character and for the first time I really excelled. But I told myself, ‘This will never happen as a professional so I need to find another career.’”

Take a look at more here.

Tootsie Revisited

I ran across this very enlightening Tootsie video to present on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen.  No it doesn't even have any pictures from the movie-only Dustin Hoffman speaking on his feelings.  He is speaking to the choir here, but does it so well.