"	Gene's Story or How I Gained a Cousin A novel by Karen Lockhart Copyright 2016

CHAPTER 33

I woke the same way as yesterday, with Ginny making spoons. It is a nice warm way to wake up though. I'll never tell her that though.

I jumped out from under the covers and shouted at Ginny, “You did it again, are you sure you like guys?”

You should've seen her reaction ! Priceless!

“Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean any...” she started, than saw I was doubled over laughing, “You little twit, you had me thinking I was poking you in the back. You are going to pay for that!”

That caused me to start laughing again. “What are you going to do, kiss me? Everyone thinks we're a couple, not 'cousins' anyway.”

Into the bathroom I ran, closing the door just in time, took care of business, and hopped into the shower.

When I came out, Ginny said over her shoulder as she passed me, “Just for that, do your own make-up today!”

I was dressed in fifteen minutes, in jeans, western boots, and a mock turtle necked sweater. A quick swipe across my lips, a squirt of my eau de girl, and I was ready to go.

Ginny on the other hand, was something else! She did a full “I'm going out tonight” make-up job. She shinnied into a pair of painted on jeans, a turtle-necked jersey, and a deep vee sweater.

She then turned to me and asked, “How do I look?”

“You look so hot we won't need to turn on the car's heater on the ride back to the clinic.” I said, “But I though t-girls always wore skirts or dresses?”

She looked at me funny, and said, “Not this girl honey. Where did you hear that?”

“I was reading a few on-line stories at that site you told me about, and that seemed to be the norm in those stories.”

“What would you think if in stories, that pro women golfers were gay, and you were a golfer who wasn't interested in other women? Same thing you know.”

I looked at the floor for a moment and said, “I'm as bad as those people I read about in the newspapers, making assumptions.”

With a quick kiss on the cheek, Ginny headed for the elevator, “Come on, hon, we'll miss the free breakfast, and have to buy our own.”

I gave a sigh of relief, and hopped into the elevator before the doors closed, and gave a thought to what Ginny had said, Everyone is different, that should apply to TS/TG people too.

Breakfast finished, we headed for the rental car. “Want me to drive today?” I asked.

“Yeah, that would give me a chance to take in the scenery. You can't go wrong, Mildred will yell at you if you do.”

I looked at her, Mildred I thought, who's Mildred? Oh, the voice on the GPS, of course!

After a pleasant ride, I turned into the clinic's parking lot. We gathered our shoulder bags and coats, and headed inside again.

With a huge smile, we were greeted by Denise again, “You weren't scared off by anything you two heard yesterday, I guess.”

She offered coffee, which we both accepted, then said, “Today, you'll speak to the actual people who would be taking care of you, and some of the clinic's history. So, if you'll follow me, we'll get started.”

She took us to the hospital part of the clinic, where nurses in colorful pant suits ran back and forth.

“This is the recovery room section, where family and friends can visit after the surgeries. This is the area where the patient's post surgery pain is managed. That is why we highly recommend you stay with us during your full recovery. Although, you may stay at a local hotel, and drive back and forth for exams and progress checks. It is considerably cheaper, and some patients do this.

When this choice was presented to me, I opted to remain here during my recovery. I felt that this was the most important decision of my life and now was not the time to get frugal.”

We walked by airy single bed recovery rooms that surrounded an oval nurse's station. I thought it was a good sign that everyone was smiling and relaxed.

After waving to several of the nurses, we went through a set of double doors into an area that looked more like an ICU unit in a large hospital. This area was unoccupied, so we stuck our heads in and looked around.

I looked at Denise, “I am very impressed Denise, Are the operating theaters as modern and up to date?”

“Even more so, however we can't go peeking into those. I'm starving, why don't we return to the cafeteria, and have lunch? They have a different menu for each day. I've forgotten today's menu, why don't we look and see if anything appeals to you?”

I must say, I could eat here,all the time. Along with a grill and pizza, today's special was grilled chicken breasts with roasted potatoes and fresh mixed vegetables. The three of us opted for the chicken dinner.

Ginny and I got hot tea, Denise had Iced mint tea, that almost made me change my mind.

After eating, we sat around chatting about of all things, NFL football ! Next week the Denver Broncos were playing the New England Patriots at their stadium in Foxborough Massachusetts.

We had a good time going back and forth about the relative merits of each team's quarterback. Denise looked at her wrist watch, “Jean should be back from lunch by now, why don't we return to her office. She'll give you the rest of the tour.”

After knocking lightly on her door, we went in and sat on a couch facing her desk.

“What do you think? Have we turned your heads enough?”

Ginny spoke first, “I am totally in awe of this clinic, it's even more impressive than in the brochures. Denise mentioned you would be telling us a little more about the clinic.

Jean paused. “First, let me give both of you ladies some statistics about what happens to TG/TS people. Did you know 41% of TG's attempt suicide, 19% of those refused medical care? Here's a scary one, 2% have been violently assaulted while in their doctor's office, this is from a survey of only 7000 people in the USA.

“We hope that in some way if money is a problem we can find a way to have the surgical procedures and prescriptions paid for through insurance or charitable grants.”

“I feel I'm successful with insurance payments for the different medicines except for normal co-pays, and in a lot of cases, most surgical and hospitalizations, are at the co-pay levels of your insurer.”

“Before one cent is billed, I obtain pre-authorization from the insurers, fight for the lowest possible co-pay, and then tell you the costs up front. That way there is no surprises. Before I go any further, any questions so far?”

Ginny took a deep breath, “What are the fees again, say I was to pay cash?”

“The surgery and hospitalization would be $18,000, then if other plastic surgeries are done, such as breast enhancement, we have different fees, those are in the brochures.”

“Does that answer your question Ginny? If so, I can give you some history of this clinic.”

“This clinic was started in 1969 by Doctor Stanley Brown. This was the first private practice doing GRS. The current doctor was actually a patient here herself. When Doctor Brown retired in 2004, she took over the practice, which was expanded to the San Francisco area in California.”

I looked at Ginny, who looked back at me and laughed, “I don't have any idea of anything I could ask, you've covered everything.”

“Well in that case, when you decide to proceed, I hope you will choose to allow us to help with your journey. Denise has a list of what we require, and the hormones you should be on. We prefer progesterone under the tongue and prolactin in a patch form.”

Ginny and I stood and made our goodbyes with Jean, and returned to Denise's desk.

“Wow , you were in there a long time, Can I mark you down for a time next week?”

Ginny almost fainted,”N n next week?”

“There, now we're even,” she said. “Seriously, what do you need for further information?”

“Jean mentioned a time table and recommended hormones?” I asked.

“Goodness, you are right, here is a list of everything, if you don't see it or have any questions, our phone numbers, extensions, and e-mail address is listed on the reverse side.”

We made our goodbyes with the expected air kisses, and returned to the hotel, exhausted, ate a light supper and turned in for the night.

To be continued

Many thanks to Bronwen Welsh for her help in correcting typos and punctuation.