Quote:
Originally Posted by Dean Thoreau
Dapper,
First off Thank you those words are simple but really meant, your advise and assistance is helping me a lot. And I am most appreciative also jealous of your car,,, I miss my spyder more than I can say; and have been looking but trying to hold off till I get the legal name change and gender change on my legal docs and college transcripts. By August that shud be done.
With regard to T My beginning dose is very tiny, it will be increased every two weeks as long as the blood pressure stays under control. So I am at 25 and am doing weekly shots; I wanted the lowest possible to start... they were going to start at 50 per week which I knew was small. But I had wanted even smaller. The endocrin and I have been talking for months about this and at this stage being overly cautious is my rule of thumb. What’s a few months at real low doses and staging if it helps prevent heart attack etc. currently living in 4 diff heart meds and still watching the Bp hit high levels I really want to prevent any heart complications.
Dr Rumer , I met with her some time ago, she does her work at Hahnemann hospital... she just became the head of the trans program their. Truth is I was uncomfortable with her; and I am not fond of hanneman hospital, it’s a personal prejudice and bluntly its dirty And the staff is cranky.
I’ve seen au’s work he’s great, he was also in the or when I had the mastectomy to draw lines for my oncology surgeon so the cuts where done where needed for top work.
Dapper I am a disabled veteran and have use of va hospitals/ medical care. Any veteran that applies to the med center can get treatment there with or without service connection illness. I strongly recommend it. With a few newly implemented programs over the past couple years the VA has become more inclined to send folks out of the VA medical center for care to local specialists.
So when I approached the VA regarding my gender dysphoric issues and needs I made sure I had done the homework and research and had laid the groundwork.
I have found insurance companies and the VA are very responsive when the issue of passing and dangerous restroom situations are brought up and really pushed. Also the fact that for over 50 years I have been escorted or dragged out of a ladies room, more times than I can count on my digits. Also the vocal adjustment one does so one is not mistaken.... I raise the pitch of my voice for so long to try and reduce the yes sir,,, thing,, that lowering it just back to the normal speech octave is so difficult I need speech path assistance. Basically dap because the voice can in fact cause one not to pass and put a trans in physical danger the VA took quite seriously. Bluntly I point to places like North Carolina, and I show the “bathroom app” and say if I am in this location the info on this app says the safest unisex washroom is 6 miles away.... now at my age the washroom and time to get there does not include a 40 minute drive in the city. Etc etc etc
And I was approved, the VA doesn’t have a qualified speech therapist for my needs so they had to send me outside of the veterans administration health system.
I also knew penn med aka univ penn hospital had what I needed so I was helpful to them and told them where I could go.
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I started on a very low dose of T too, so I hear you on that. I agree that UPenn is a good hospital. There is no question about that. In fact, I recently had some surgery there. Good luck with your top surgery. You shouldn't go with a surgeon you are uncomfortable with.
Trans people have been living dangerously for years when it comes to their voice, most pointedly trans women. Doctors saying it is a "medically necessary" or "making a case" does not work with insurance companies. If it is on their exclusion list, it is on their exclusion list. That is why I am so curious about you getting it covered. I am going to be with a group of trans health providers and surgeons over the next few days. I am going to find out if anyone else has heard of someone getting Tricare to cover voice therapy.