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10 February 2010

Establishing Myself

I've left my blog far too long on that last post... I meant to update it a couple weeks ago. Of course that was the time my computer decided to be an ass... It's all up and running again so I can finally write some positive updates.

Yesterday I went to a new doctor up here. Needed to establish a patient-doctor base up here and needed a refill of T. Nothing major. I hate going to doctor's offices... Something about the waiting out in the lobby kills me, especially the first time going to a new place. Once I get called back to a room, I'm fine, even if I have to wait a bit in the room. Kind of strange I know. If it weren't for my transitioning, I would have been one of those people who only went to the doctor's either when they are on their death bed or have been ganged up by various members in their life... Actually had a time when both members of my immediate family and co-workers ganged up on me and old me to go see a doctor. Ended up having pharyngitis, laryngitis, and bronchitis all at one time. Anyways, back on track... I initially found Dr. B by looking for trans-friendly doctors in the PDX area. I came across this site for trans- and queer-identified folk (http://www.resourcespdx.org/) that had a great compilation of all sorts of health related practitioners on it. Decided on Dr. B because she appeared to be the most knowledgeable practitioner on the list. Waiting time was about a month to get in to see her.

Upon meeting with her, Dr. B seems to be a no nonsense, very knowledgeable, sometimes abrupt doctor. A type of doctor I prefer to see. She saw that I knew a lot about T and potential side effects and didn't try to lecture me on things I already knew. She definitely works with transfolk a lot. I was her 4th trans-identified person of the day and the day was only half over. As such, the staff were very nice, appeared knowledgeable, called me by my preferred name rather than my legal name (still have to file the paperwork), and were overall just good people. In talking with me, I saw that Dr. B understands the plight of many transfolk - the issue of money. She understands that insurance doesn't cover much, if anything, in terms of transitioning. She doesn't believe in bleeding her patients dry by needing to see them every month or two and doing all sorts of bloodwork like testosterone levels. Dr. B wants to see her patients every 6 months and it seems that the bloodwork she likes to run generally is a CBC. It was recommended that I start taking a baby aspirin daily as T tends to thicken the blood thereby increasing the risk of clots, and that I also start taking a good multivitamin. Dr. B has no problem with me doing injections myself and wrote out a script of injectable T that I can take to Strohecker's pharmacy and have them fill it. Also, the building is full service with a lab and radiology on-site. Ended up getting some blood drawn while I was there as well. They have very experienced phlebotomists working there, hardly felt the prick of the needle. So I'm very happy with where I decided to go for my medical care.

This Friday, Amber and I going to be going to a Trans Revolution Dance Party. Some of my friends from Southern Oregon will be coming up for this and I'm looking forward to spending some time with them and, hopefully, getting to know some other transfolk in the PDX area. I'll let y'all know how that goes.

I hope to be able to file the papers for a legal name change next week. Would have filed this week, except I had my doctor appointment yesterday and there's some class you have to attend... They hold the classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I have Tuesdays off. Plus the cost for a name change increased by about 2/3rds from what it was last year and I already had the doctor visit on this paycheck. So in an effort to spread out the costs a little bit, I will be doing the name change filing next week, as long as everything goes as planned...

That's about it for me right now. I'll keep updating when I can. Oh, and I've been on T for 6 months now.

1 comments:

Lee said...

I don't like doctor's offices either--I don't feel relieved until I'm out the door--but maybe I wouldn't mind so much if I could find a good general practitioner. Congrats on your find, man, maybe she has a twin in NH?