Endo appointment
I just got back from my second endocrinologist appointment. I would have gone to work this afternoon, but I scheduled an optometrist appointment right afterwards because the offices are right next to each other, and now my eyes are too dilated to get anything done. q-: Good thing I can touch type and have set my screen to an insanely large font size. Though my vision insurance is too crappy for me to get new glasses (and I have used zero benefits previously) and I still had to shell out $100 just to get lenses with my new (and still pretty weak) prescription put into an old set of frames, my appointment with the endo went well.
She immediately noticed that my voice had changed! (-: Okay, so I guess this is an edge case on someone noticing without being prompted, since she obviously did know I was on T, but still, I spent the whole time trying to suppress the enormous grin from taking over my face (althought that started before she said anything). She said it sounded like it was cracking, and giggled about me being a 14-year-old boy. Only 11 years too late! She asked about other changes, too. No downstairs growth, no additional body hair, still getting periods, I think that was it? She laughed at my comparison to being a puppy (hyperactive, lots of energy, also sleeping a lot). She didn't know anything about ADHD getting worse on T but liked my hypothesis.
I was able to be honest about giving myself half of the half dose, and she was totally cool with it. I've got a prescription for the 1.25 g metered pump instead of 2.5 g packets, so I'll be producing less waste and getting a more consistent dose. She asked why I did that, and I didn't have a good answer, just chalked it up to last-minute jitters about changing too fast (which isn't really what was going on, but it was early and I was inarticulate), and she wasn't critical of that at all. I am actually satisfied with the pace of changes and am unlikely to increase my dose especially soon, but it's good to know I can whenever I want to.
Also, when I got there, the staff used my legal name, etc., but I didn't get worked up about it because I'm used to it. My doctor however, was angry on my behalf . Incidentally, she is trans, too, and this was the first time her new name appeared on various forms of paperwork I got. So, the staff screwed up pronouns for us both, and she had the manager-nurse-person talk to us about it; apparently I'm the first trans person from the school to see the endo at the new site in town (last time I had to travel a couple hours in each direction), and she wants to make sure they're better about it. We had a nice chat, and I was taken super-seriously, which felt a little funny because I don't always take myself seriously. Anyway, I was assured it wouldn't happen again, and I felt good about helping them improve service especially for other trans*folk from my school who might be more sensitive (so, probably all of them?). My doctor said that there would be 3-4 trans patients from my school there each time she was at that office (once per month), so that means there's about a dozen trans people currently using the school insurance.
I asked about a letter for my passport, and she said she'd get right on it but that it would take a while. She told me that getting a gender marker changed on a driver's license/state ID is actually really easy here, and she could write me a letter for that whenever. I'm going to make another post rambling about that because I'm not entirely sure what I want out of this and need to figure it out soon due to upcoming international travel plans and a lack of valid ID of any kind. Anyway, I'll be getting bloodwork some time this week, and this time she'll tell me what my levels are. When I get the e-mail about that I'm also going to ask about my pre-T levels because I'm curious. I'll be sure to share that with the internet when I find out. (-;
She immediately noticed that my voice had changed! (-: Okay, so I guess this is an edge case on someone noticing without being prompted, since she obviously did know I was on T, but still, I spent the whole time trying to suppress the enormous grin from taking over my face (althought that started before she said anything). She said it sounded like it was cracking, and giggled about me being a 14-year-old boy. Only 11 years too late! She asked about other changes, too. No downstairs growth, no additional body hair, still getting periods, I think that was it? She laughed at my comparison to being a puppy (hyperactive, lots of energy, also sleeping a lot). She didn't know anything about ADHD getting worse on T but liked my hypothesis.
I was able to be honest about giving myself half of the half dose, and she was totally cool with it. I've got a prescription for the 1.25 g metered pump instead of 2.5 g packets, so I'll be producing less waste and getting a more consistent dose. She asked why I did that, and I didn't have a good answer, just chalked it up to last-minute jitters about changing too fast (which isn't really what was going on, but it was early and I was inarticulate), and she wasn't critical of that at all. I am actually satisfied with the pace of changes and am unlikely to increase my dose especially soon, but it's good to know I can whenever I want to.
Also, when I got there, the staff used my legal name, etc., but I didn't get worked up about it because I'm used to it. My doctor however, was angry on my behalf . Incidentally, she is trans, too, and this was the first time her new name appeared on various forms of paperwork I got. So, the staff screwed up pronouns for us both, and she had the manager-nurse-person talk to us about it; apparently I'm the first trans person from the school to see the endo at the new site in town (last time I had to travel a couple hours in each direction), and she wants to make sure they're better about it. We had a nice chat, and I was taken super-seriously, which felt a little funny because I don't always take myself seriously. Anyway, I was assured it wouldn't happen again, and I felt good about helping them improve service especially for other trans*folk from my school who might be more sensitive (so, probably all of them?). My doctor said that there would be 3-4 trans patients from my school there each time she was at that office (once per month), so that means there's about a dozen trans people currently using the school insurance.
I asked about a letter for my passport, and she said she'd get right on it but that it would take a while. She told me that getting a gender marker changed on a driver's license/state ID is actually really easy here, and she could write me a letter for that whenever. I'm going to make another post rambling about that because I'm not entirely sure what I want out of this and need to figure it out soon due to upcoming international travel plans and a lack of valid ID of any kind. Anyway, I'll be getting bloodwork some time this week, and this time she'll tell me what my levels are. When I get the e-mail about that I'm also going to ask about my pre-T levels because I'm curious. I'll be sure to share that with the internet when I find out. (-;