So, what do I have to bitch about? I am living almost the perfect life now if you ignore the black hole in my heart at the loss of my whole family. Shit, that was over 5 years ago now, so I just need to buck up, pull up my skirt, keep my lipstick straight, and not fall off my heels, right?
So, now I am living in the jungles of Ohio. My Doc back in Oregon told me to check in at the VA when I got to where I was going. So, day before yesterday, I called them. They said to come in yesterday. I went in and they made an appointment for today. I have nothing wrong, I was just checking in fer gosh sakes.
So, I went in today and saw a Doctor. Everyone was very nice and very respectful. I got weighed (lost 7 pounds), was walked through a questionare, and then walked in to see the Doctor. Elapsed time all three apointments, less than an hour.
Talkin to the Doctor. "We never had anyone like you around". In our conversation he asked me if I'd had SRS? I told him I had and it was done in Thailand. He had me get on the table. "Hey, you still have your gonads and stuff? What about a Pap smear?"
I related to him that no I no longer had gonads, but a pap smear was not nessessary since I have no cervix and all that.
He looked at my chart and seemed amazed that a person with such a high PTSD score was just walkin the streets. Well, Duh, I had 4 years of intense treatment, geeze I don't think I even stand on bridge railings any more, at least I don't remember it.
Now, I go in tomorrow for a fasting blood test. Anyone ever get appointments that fast at the VA? I'm not complaining at all. Though it feels like I spent the day at the petting zoo. LOL
Not my line, I just remember it from a sign I saw in Sturgis as we drove through.
Nope, I am not drinking anything stronger than Tetley's tea. I'm sure that the world will quit spinning when I quit pushing it.
Gwen
Comments
VA appointments
Not that fast, but at times they can be very fast. My first appointment was about a week after submitting my info. I should have done that 20 years ago. At times you just fly through the appointments. Other times, I was there for 8 hours two weeks ago. All to find out "We don't know why you are having pain there, and we don't know who to ask." The pain has subsided but is not gone.
The docs unfortunately vary too, most have been good, competent, and have a good bedside manner. Unfortunately the Urologist is the worst doctor I have ever seen. His response to intense pain, so much that I could barely stay on my feet for an hour, was do nothing. I saw another Urologist, and eventually had surgery (3 weeks after another procedure failed, 1 of which was because of travel problems). It wasn't the surgery I wanted though. Even so from the onset of the pain until the surgery was about 6 months.
Good luck with everything Gwen.
VA Doctors
They do vary greatly. my primary care physician in VA was great. She was caring, on the ball and kept track of what was going on with me. Moving to NJ and a new primary care physician provided the flip side. She is so ignorant of what it means to be a TG that when he found out I had three children, she asked if is had delivered them naturally or had a C-section, and this was after we discussed what SRS is.
I will give most workers in the VA credit. I had a problem with my leg recently. I went to the VA East Orange hospital where the ER sent me for every test imaginable to sort out what the problem was, even when it was just to confirm their diagnosis. And you meet the nicest people at the VA. While waiting for X-rays, I had a wheel chair race with another vet up and down the hall. When I saw a sign posted on a bulletin board that said, 'It's okay to ask VA employees if they washed their hands,' I wheeled about the floor asking VA employees I came across if they had washed their hands. Without fail, we all had a good laugh of that.
No matter where I have gone, I have always been treated with respect and as a female. So I have no grips with the VA. You do need to be patient, however, and not expect VIP treatment every time you go. You are, after all, dealing with the Federal government and most people know what that's like.
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
You can find out some interesting things at the VA
While I was having the pain in my testicles, which the Urologist thought was no problem, my primary care physician ordered up some blood tests, one very obscure, that everyone has said, WTF to. When I got the results, I found that I had a BetaHCG level 3 to 4 times normal. That is what is commonly tested for in pregnancy tests. Apparently I was, no. No one has every come up with a reason for it though. The other test was a Testosterone level test, I was in a great deal of pain, and somewhat tired, so I don't remember the exact number, but it was somewhere in the bottom range of a preteen or about half what it is supposed to be. One doctor requested that a retest be done at a later date, but no one has been willing to do it. i keep asking, although the last thing I want is them to prescribe Testosterone treatments.
I should say that I am not truly TG, but asexual and agender, and would like to get rid of those two annoying pieces of tissue, and let nature take it's course.
Thanks for listening.
I wasn't really complaining.
My previous treatment at the PDX VA was above par, and they were extremely compassionate with me. I'd just been divorced after 40 years, without warning, thrown from the church, lost my family, my job ... everything I valued, not to mention the GID I'd had so forcefully buried since my youth. They were the first to tell me that there are other ways to get PTSD besides being in the Military in combat. It took them 4 years but they got me out of the extreme danger zone. Some of the old timers here will remember my talking of it.
I have been enjoying an extended period of happiness, of being successful as a woman, but not so much in religion. This whole idea of actually living with others has been totally new to me and I am not sure that I am awake yet. LOL
I was actually just bemused and befuddled about yesterday. LOL He is a brand new Doctor, barely out of internship and trying to build up his patient base. I thought it was pretty laughable that even after I had told him that I'd had SRS, he still thought I has gonads. LOL We tend to place Doctors in such high esteem and often they are just not ready for it. In time they may be but we need to be patient. They seemed to be making a lot of effort to deal farely, or at least legally with me. But so far they do not understand SRS any better than if I were from the next galaxy, and had three heads. LOL
Much peace
Gwen
That they are actually trying to understand is a good thing...
...I took your blog to show the remaining misconceptions that hang on tenaciously everywhere. Here's an example, however, of how the government is at least trying to get things right.
http://www.tavausa.org/Management%20of%20Transgender%20Veter...
Glad you wrote what you did, dear heart. Many thanks as always.
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
Lesbian roommate
Thank you Andrea. I sometimes feel that I am way in over my head on social adaptation, because much of me is still very fundamentalistic. So, how does someone as narrow minded as I am wind up with a toy oven? LOL
Well, it was forced on me silly. Not really but that used to be my lame assed excuse.Talk about Forced Feminization. I used to say that all the time but those who really know me no longer believe it.
One of my room mates is a Lesbian with a MtF T friend. They normally live together. And through them I discover that most of my ideas about what people think of us originate in the bowels of a very paranoid mind. Yeah well, we gotta go with what we have to work with.
After the incident yesterday, she told me that I was very brave and breaking ground for other T folk. Why is it that I do not feel like a societal rambo?
Much peace
Khadijah Gwendolyn Ellen Brown (most of the time)