Gather 'round children. Tonight I shall regale you with the tale of how I obtained hormones.
First: Therapy. Technically, not a requirement thanks to Informed Consent, but an important step nonetheless. It's good to get in there and talk it out. Saying everything out loud to another person makes it real, instead of a bunch of BS floating around in your head. I always thought therapy was a bunch of crap, until I actually needed it. Very helpful.
After attending therapy for a few months it became more and more clear to me that I am transgendered and had been keeping it hidden for all my life. Now, it was time to do something about it. So I called the only Informed Consent clinic in the area that I am aware of, Howard Brown. I checked with my insurance company and thankfully they covered it. I scheduled my first appointment to take part in their "Thinc" program, which is designed to get hormones to trans patients without all hoops that you would need to jump through seeing a normal doctor, endocrinologist, etc.
The program is divide into three parts. First, an initial doctor consultation and hormone level analysis. Second, meeting with a therapist. Third, another medical appointment to discuss your choice in hormones.
In my initial consultation, they discussed what to expect should I start hormones, what my goals are, and how I came to have those goals and did a general physical examination. Prior to meeting with the doctor, I was all nerved out. Scared as fuck. I walk into the waiting room and there's 3 burly middle age gay men staring me down. I was a bit intimidated and sat quietly in the corner of the room. Then in walks a pretty hot girl, who I slowly start to realize was a man at one time. This inspired me a bit and gave me hope that someday I too will be an attractive female, or at least a passable one. Shortly after, I get called in. The doctor I met with was extremely nice and seemed happy for me. This made me feel great.
Next came the blood work. I was given a multi-page form with the listings of all the tests they needed to perform to check hormone levels. When I saw official paperwork with my name on it and my estrogen levels, I was floored. It hit me that this was finally becoming a reality. After more than 20 years of hiding myself from people, I was finally going to be free. So I head into the lab and they bleed me dry. Wasn't too bad, but they did take a ton of blood. The woman that took my blood was extremely nice too. I felt very comfortable. End of day 1.
The following day I had my second Thinc appointment. I had to go to a different location for this, which also handles uninsured HIV patients. Very sad to know that some of those people in the waiting room probably had HIV. I get called in after a short wait and met one of the therapists there. I spoke about my goals, my background, etc. She was phenomenal. Treated me with a ton of respect and laughed at some of my jokes. A winning combination right there. She even got my female name out of me, which I had been guarding. Had a fantastic time. How often do you say that about medical appointments?
The third appointment was back at the location of my first appointment. Very straight forward appointment. "These are your options, pick two, ok you're done. Go get them at Walgreens". In and out in about 20 mins. Answered any questions I had and was very pleasant. Can't ask for much more.
I highly recommend the Thinc program to any trans individuals out there that feel stagnant due to medical hoops they are forced to jump through.
So I have picked up my prescription and been on estrogen for about 5 hours now. I feel really calm, but maybe I'm just tired. Otherwise, no noticeable differences yet.
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