KP, you knew I couldn’t leave this article alone. Chronologically I’ve got a couple of decades on you. Emotionally I’m still 16. When I accepted my true gender identity about 16 months ago, two things happened. The first was that I was absolutely sure that I had interpreted myself correctly. I just knew that I knew that I knew. Accordingly I read 2 dozen books by or about transgender women. In each I found myself thinking, “I was never interviewed by this person. How did they know what I was going through?” I researched everything medically and psychologically I could get my hands on in the proper medical journals. (I ignore social media and all the gibberish and misinformation.) I engaged two therapists an LCSW and a PhD Psychologist, because I knew the WPATH guidelines would require two letters for GAS in addition to the HRT letter. I quickly got the diagnosis of gender dysphoria so I could begin HRT. (Actually I pushed the process by self-medicating until I could get the proper endocrinologist to accept me as a patient.) I was on an aggressive schedule. I even arranged to get bottom surgery only 8 months out from when I started. I was actually shaving the required time frame.
As it turned out because of unexpected eye problems, I moved back my surgery by five months and fell well within the guidelines. (My checkbook will thank me when I successfully appeal the turn down by Medicare because of the Trump guidelines and prove that I complied with all the requirements for the needed surgery including waiting the required 12 months. It will be nice to get the cost of a small house back.) Bottom line: I am a postop transgender woman who has had facial surgery, electrolysis, laser hair removal, voice training and virtually anything else you can imagine. I still have at least three, probably four, procedures to do. The only reason they haven’t been done is I have to wait three months in between each major surgery. I do not know how I could’ve moved more quickly. But like you I did the homework, I hired the right people, and I moved as quickly as I could. I can hear the clock ticking and I want to live my authentic life as long as I can. 16 months after I began all this, I have no regrets. I am more sure than ever that I understand myself perfectly. The world is brighter. I am happier. I laugh more easily. Ordinary problems do not bother me as much. I am meeting new friends in a community that was foreign to me previously. There are so many interesting people inhabiting it .My life is better in so many ways. The angry, disillusioned, impatient, snippy person I used to be has completely disappeared. I am now a 13 year-old girl going through puberty and I am loving my life. You are just beginning your ride. Hang onto your hat. It will be wonderful in spite of the fact that you chose a different direction than I. I’m with you in mind, heart and spirit. And you know where I am if you have questions. I have decades of experience with what you are about to encounter. Lol. You will be fine. You are doing the right things In pursuing your authentic and best life.❤️
