The past few days have not been my best. About the only thing good to say (okay, maybe not only... but, you'll see...) is I lost a few pounds cause I wasn't eating much.

Why?

Oh, if you read my last blog, today was my court date re my name change. But, more on that later.

The last two weeks have been "eventful" to say the least. I started out trying to arange my FFS (Facial Feminization Surgery), which IS covered by my work insurance plan. My selected doctor (I'd have prefered to have checked out a few more - but having spent most of the first quarter out of state I just didn't have time, and it's not as if my first choice is a bad one... Just expensive.) was on vacation the week I'd wanted to have surgery, so things were pushed out to the 10th of July (a two week delay). *sighs* But, okay...

The doc's office submitted the stuff to the insurance company - to pre-authorize the FFS. The insurance company requested a Pre Surgery Evaluation Letter - despite it not technically being required for the procedure (their docs require it to start HRT and for GCS/SRS - no requirement for FFS, but since they asked for it, I called my therapist and she scrambled and wrote one for me)... The letter went off to the Insurance company. (It got to my FFS Surgeon's office on Saturday - and went to the insurance company Monday morning (8 days ago). Then, it seemed to "sit" there. So, I sent an e-mail to my benefits office and the insurance company's customer advocate - to see what the story was. Turns out that since it wasn't marked "urgent" the insurance company was taking it through "normal" approval processing which could take 2-3 weeks. OUCH. But, I was assured that the benefit was good, and I knewo that another girl from my company had had her FFS done by the same surgeon back in January and insurance had covered hers (even though she's not transitioning any time soon, but that's another story.).. So, I figured it was just a matter of time.

Meanwhile - AlLergy Season hit with a vengence, and my teenager brought some sort of virus home from the Band field trip (4 day). So, I wasn't at my best. I got a message from the surgeon's admin assistant Wednesday morning to give her a call. I figured she was just going to tell me they couldn't hold the date without insurance approval... Though, I hoped they would, since they'd worked with the insurance before. I was wrong. It was to tell me that the insurance company had REJECTED my FFS. No reason given. So, I was back on e-mails to the same folks as before... Nobody would tell me why it was rejected. The issue is now with the Benefits coordinator for my company. (The plan is my employer's $$ just administered by the Insurance company, so the rejection COULD be overridden - and has been for others.) Yesterday, I finally got someone to respond to me, but all they could say was that they were working on it, no additional information is needed from me or my therapist (who offered to ammend her letter and make an even stronger case), but that they couldn't tell me anything nor could they tell me when a resolution would be made. So... Not happy girl here.

Over lapping this. Yes, there's more. I saw my endicrinologist a few weeks ago, and we decided to change approaches on my thyroid management, as I'm not tollerating the anti-thyroid drug well (edema's not your friend!). So - referred to the Nuclear Medicine folks for radioactive iodine treatment. I show up to my appointment, and they missplaced my paperwork. ARGH... I go home, and make calls... Wondering what ELSE could go wrong. A few hours later, like a miracle, they FOUND the paperwork and wanted to reschedule. Only, I can't do it this week as I had court this morning and will be traveling the rest of the week (which was yet another hurdle - the customer wanted me on site today). So, NEXT week, I finally get to do this bit.

And, to top it all off, between the alLergies, virus and stress... I ended up with a sinus infection and bronchitis. :-( (Gotta love antibiotics and prednisone. *sighs*) I am feeling better after only one day on meds. Not anywhere near 100%, but better than yesterday.

Oh, there was some good news. Hey, the title DID say "Mixed News" didn't it? I went to court today, looking pretty sharp if I do say so myself. Give all the things that have gone wrong recently, I was nerveous as all get out and didn't sleep worth beans last night... To make matters worse, we had a monster thunderstorm (which really freaked out the dog! (He's a Samoyed that looks a lot like the one pictured on the Wikipedia page...)).

But, back to court... My lawyer and I went in. The judge came in. He introduced himself, read the docket number. Then asked my lawyer to identify herself... All quite formal. He then confirmed the case was for me to change my name from "XYZ, III" to "ABZ". This was acknowledged. He then said since there are no challenges and it doesn't appear you're doing this to get away from creditors he'd approve it... And he signed the order. So, in the next three (3) weeks, the order gets published in the newspaper, and then on June 15th, I get to legally use my new name! And, I have a copy of the order with the Judges signature! (Can't start fixing things without the final sealed copy - after newspaper notification.) So, SOMETHING good happened! I can just hope the other issues are resolved, soon, too.

Thanks for reading... The good news was something I wanted to share... But, I figured it was incomplete without the other stuff.

Thanks for reading.
Annette