Thoughts
I've now had a little time to get my thoughts together about yesterday, and for some reason have chomped my way through a bag of liquorice allsorts. [Come here Bertie, *chomp*]
I have to say that I'm very pleased how it went.
Dr Andrew Davies does, as twiggy_j said, still have the "shiny new car smell" to him, as it were. He doesn't seem to be constrained by the attitudes of the old guard that I've heard much about. He, also, seems to be approachable and I found it very easy to talk to him. He did ask a couple of questions that have left me thinking a little, I'll come back to that in a bit.
That there was no attempt to persuade me that I shouldn't self-medicate, or even a requirement that I stop, is good. If there had been, I'd just have ignored it and gone to see Dr Curtis. He never even commented specifically on the spiro dose (200mg/day). It's been suggested that I just ignore his desire that I reduce the estradiol valerate dose to 4mg/day from 6mg/day. At present I have no intention of reducing the dose. I was naughty though, sitting in the waiting room at the clinic I took my second EV pill of the day. Ooh, slapped wrists. :) He did say that they won't advise my GP on HRT prescribing until the second assessment (late Feb at the earliest, then.).
I was given, on leaving, their draft quality standards stuff, see other post, and made the appointment for the next visit, apparently they only do 60 min consults first thing in the morning (9:30am), or immediately after lunch (1:30pm). A 1:30 appointment was not available until late march, but a 9:30 was available in late February. So, my next appointment is on 26/Feb/08 at 10:30am with Dr Penny Lenihan.
No, that's not a typo, it is at 10:30am; on Tuesdays, she doesn't start until 10:30. That makes things so much easier. Although getting there from here for that timeslot is do-able but only if things are absolutely on-time, and involves the train on which *no* discounts are available - the 7:14 off Stockport that runs non-stop to Euston. So Sarah has graciously offered crash space for the Monday night.
Sarah: have you considered opening a guest house for itinerant Trannies?
What I am less pleased about is the way I felt once I was on the tube from Euston Square to Hammersmith. I shouldn't have been panicky, I'm glad that shinydan had insisted that I call him if there were any problems. It was good to hear a familiar voice, which on it's own had an immense calming effect. Thanks hun, I owe you a big one. It was he who was my first contact once I'd left the hospital after having the bloods drawn (for a change, this time it was a vein in my right arm that got abused). [Must remember to ask them for a copy of the results.]
Meeting up with auntysarah was a pleasure, even if in First Out (or TrannyCentral as she described it) she got sidetracked by the new shiny. It is rather k3wl, and very shiny. If I hadn't already got a iPod Video, I might well have considered the 16Gb one as a replacement for my very flaky iPod photo. After coffee, or in Sarah's case HLT:) and food (the mezze was nice) we whizzed off to meet zoeimogen at Moorgate. After an all to brief time we parted company at Faringdon, them to catch a train to Brighton, and me to carry on to Euston.
Somewhere, I failed to touch in or out properly with my Oyster card and noted as I touched out at Euston Square the display told me to "Seek Assistance". I duly did so, and my card is happy again. I'll know what went wrong and where, once the journey history is updated on the website. All I know at this point there is a balance of £15.40 on the card - so it cost £4.60 to whiz around making the following journeys mainly within Zone 1 (I note on looking on the tube map):
Euston Square - Hammersmith (H&C line)
Hammersmith - Oxford Circus (via Victoria)
Oxford Circus - TCR
TCR - Moorgate
Moorgate - Euston Square
I have to admit, if it hadn't been for auntysarah's mental map I would have got lost at Bank.
I'd hazard a guess that it is 12 years since I last used the tube, and that was just Wimbledon to Olympia and return. I have to say that, yesterday at least, it didn't let me down, but that it does look a little "tired" in places. Euston station though, whilst the main concourse in nice and bright, the platform area gives a very gloomy and grubby impression, as bad if not worse than New Street in Birmingham. And Crewe station is just depressing.
I alluded to some stuff that was said yesterday earlier in this post. It has to do with the donor material, and my feelings towards it. I was asked two questions that have again be causing me to ponder. In some ways they are linked. One being did I have feelings of not being male at a young age, and the other how did I feel in the past about my genitals.
These I find are hard questions to answer, although the latter is easier than the former. There have been lots of times when I have wished they weren't there, but mainly I couldn't care less about them. As to feelings of not being male, I can only say, that it was a sense of wrongness as far beck as I can remember.
Early this morning, I recalled something, from when we were living in Benwell, which put is before October 1967. I distinctly remember trying to invert the boy bits up the inguinal canal.
So, there you have it. All done and dusted, only 4 months to the next visit to "Sainsburys" GIC. In the meantime, I get them a letter from work confirming that I have been "in role" FT there since late last year, and I need to get a copy of the blood test results from them.
Alice.
I have to say that I'm very pleased how it went.
Dr Andrew Davies does, as twiggy_j said, still have the "shiny new car smell" to him, as it were. He doesn't seem to be constrained by the attitudes of the old guard that I've heard much about. He, also, seems to be approachable and I found it very easy to talk to him. He did ask a couple of questions that have left me thinking a little, I'll come back to that in a bit.
That there was no attempt to persuade me that I shouldn't self-medicate, or even a requirement that I stop, is good. If there had been, I'd just have ignored it and gone to see Dr Curtis. He never even commented specifically on the spiro dose (200mg/day). It's been suggested that I just ignore his desire that I reduce the estradiol valerate dose to 4mg/day from 6mg/day. At present I have no intention of reducing the dose. I was naughty though, sitting in the waiting room at the clinic I took my second EV pill of the day. Ooh, slapped wrists. :) He did say that they won't advise my GP on HRT prescribing until the second assessment (late Feb at the earliest, then.).
I was given, on leaving, their draft quality standards stuff, see other post, and made the appointment for the next visit, apparently they only do 60 min consults first thing in the morning (9:30am), or immediately after lunch (1:30pm). A 1:30 appointment was not available until late march, but a 9:30 was available in late February. So, my next appointment is on 26/Feb/08 at 10:30am with Dr Penny Lenihan.
No, that's not a typo, it is at 10:30am; on Tuesdays, she doesn't start until 10:30. That makes things so much easier. Although getting there from here for that timeslot is do-able but only if things are absolutely on-time, and involves the train on which *no* discounts are available - the 7:14 off Stockport that runs non-stop to Euston. So Sarah has graciously offered crash space for the Monday night.
Sarah: have you considered opening a guest house for itinerant Trannies?
What I am less pleased about is the way I felt once I was on the tube from Euston Square to Hammersmith. I shouldn't have been panicky, I'm glad that shinydan had insisted that I call him if there were any problems. It was good to hear a familiar voice, which on it's own had an immense calming effect. Thanks hun, I owe you a big one. It was he who was my first contact once I'd left the hospital after having the bloods drawn (for a change, this time it was a vein in my right arm that got abused). [Must remember to ask them for a copy of the results.]
Meeting up with auntysarah was a pleasure, even if in First Out (or TrannyCentral as she described it) she got sidetracked by the new shiny. It is rather k3wl, and very shiny. If I hadn't already got a iPod Video, I might well have considered the 16Gb one as a replacement for my very flaky iPod photo. After coffee, or in Sarah's case HLT:) and food (the mezze was nice) we whizzed off to meet zoeimogen at Moorgate. After an all to brief time we parted company at Faringdon, them to catch a train to Brighton, and me to carry on to Euston.
Somewhere, I failed to touch in or out properly with my Oyster card and noted as I touched out at Euston Square the display told me to "Seek Assistance". I duly did so, and my card is happy again. I'll know what went wrong and where, once the journey history is updated on the website. All I know at this point there is a balance of £15.40 on the card - so it cost £4.60 to whiz around making the following journeys mainly within Zone 1 (I note on looking on the tube map):
Euston Square - Hammersmith (H&C line)
Hammersmith - Oxford Circus (via Victoria)
Oxford Circus - TCR
TCR - Moorgate
Moorgate - Euston Square
I have to admit, if it hadn't been for auntysarah's mental map I would have got lost at Bank.
I'd hazard a guess that it is 12 years since I last used the tube, and that was just Wimbledon to Olympia and return. I have to say that, yesterday at least, it didn't let me down, but that it does look a little "tired" in places. Euston station though, whilst the main concourse in nice and bright, the platform area gives a very gloomy and grubby impression, as bad if not worse than New Street in Birmingham. And Crewe station is just depressing.
I alluded to some stuff that was said yesterday earlier in this post. It has to do with the donor material, and my feelings towards it. I was asked two questions that have again be causing me to ponder. In some ways they are linked. One being did I have feelings of not being male at a young age, and the other how did I feel in the past about my genitals.
These I find are hard questions to answer, although the latter is easier than the former. There have been lots of times when I have wished they weren't there, but mainly I couldn't care less about them. As to feelings of not being male, I can only say, that it was a sense of wrongness as far beck as I can remember.
Early this morning, I recalled something, from when we were living in Benwell, which put is before October 1967. I distinctly remember trying to invert the boy bits up the inguinal canal.
So, there you have it. All done and dusted, only 4 months to the next visit to "Sainsburys" GIC. In the meantime, I get them a letter from work confirming that I have been "in role" FT there since late last year, and I need to get a copy of the blood test results from them.
Alice.