English
Nederlands
2005-07-12
To the VU
Today I went to the gender clinic at the VU in Amsterdam for the usual tests they do every three months. I thought this would be a dull routine matter, but it turned out differently.
Our conversation with the psychologist was quite heavy. Hormones are now bubbling through my body and that has the effect of creating a kind of 'second puberty'. I want to explore the world and enjoy new, exciting experiences. But in contrast with a normal puberty I have to take into account the many things in life I don't want to loose like my marriage and my job. These desires are difficult to combine.
We met a new doctor this time. He is from Austria and he is the successor of Prof. Goore. He thought I was wearing falsies, but no, these were my real breasts; I do have a real A cup by now. He congratulated me with that because is it a very good result after only 7 months of hormone use, especially at my age.
It seemed like he was the first one who had really looked at the test results from my previous visits to the hospital. It turns out I have osteoporosis. That could be seen of the bone scan that was done last year, but so far nobody had taken the trouble to tell me about that. [By now I know that the bone scan is just an X-ray picture, it is not an MRI at all.]
He also told me the results of my last blood tests must have been in error. According to the test results my estrogen level would be "996", which is about 10x higher than that of a fertile woman, so that cannot be true. They must have made a mistake at the laboratory.
Fortunately my testosterone level is very good. It has plummeted from "21", which is even quite high for a man to less than "1".
And the Gender team co-ordinator told us the government is cutting back on the reimbursements transsexuals get for their operations. "So please make sure you have 3000 Euro ($4000) at hand for paying the breast augmentation surgery", he said. In the past the breast enhancement was refunded by the insurance companies but suddenly they refuse to pay up. And if people complain, they hypocritically point to the government and say they are not allowed to pay for that.
Two transsexuals are now going to court for fighting this injustice. And they find lawyers from the Gender team at their sides. Fortunately (?) it will take a long time before it is my turn, so maybe this will have been settled by then.
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Our conversation with the psychologist was quite heavy. Hormones are now bubbling through my body and that has the effect of creating a kind of 'second puberty'. I want to explore the world and enjoy new, exciting experiences. But in contrast with a normal puberty I have to take into account the many things in life I don't want to loose like my marriage and my job. These desires are difficult to combine.
We met a new doctor this time. He is from Austria and he is the successor of Prof. Goore. He thought I was wearing falsies, but no, these were my real breasts; I do have a real A cup by now. He congratulated me with that because is it a very good result after only 7 months of hormone use, especially at my age.
It seemed like he was the first one who had really looked at the test results from my previous visits to the hospital. It turns out I have osteoporosis. That could be seen of the bone scan that was done last year, but so far nobody had taken the trouble to tell me about that. [By now I know that the bone scan is just an X-ray picture, it is not an MRI at all.]
He also told me the results of my last blood tests must have been in error. According to the test results my estrogen level would be "996", which is about 10x higher than that of a fertile woman, so that cannot be true. They must have made a mistake at the laboratory.
Fortunately my testosterone level is very good. It has plummeted from "21", which is even quite high for a man to less than "1".
And the Gender team co-ordinator told us the government is cutting back on the reimbursements transsexuals get for their operations. "So please make sure you have 3000 Euro ($4000) at hand for paying the breast augmentation surgery", he said. In the past the breast enhancement was refunded by the insurance companies but suddenly they refuse to pay up. And if people complain, they hypocritically point to the government and say they are not allowed to pay for that.
Two transsexuals are now going to court for fighting this injustice. And they find lawyers from the Gender team at their sides. Fortunately (?) it will take a long time before it is my turn, so maybe this will have been settled by then.
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