English
Nederlands
2006-04-30
Thirty-eighth Column
Tonight my thirty-eighth column was broadcast in Gendertalk #557.
You can find the complete program in the Gendertalk archive.
Or you can find just my column at:
http://www.eveliensnel.com/audio/SMOKE01.mp3
A full transcript of the text is below:
Smoking
This week I had the usual appointments with the gender team specialists in the VU-hospital in Amsterdam. I have to go there once every three months for a check-up of my hormone levels and for a chat with the psychologist about my progress in my real life test.
Of course monitoring the hormone levels in my blood is very useful. Hormones are very powerful stuff and medical supervision is absolutely necessary if you take them. And besides hormones they are monitoring many other things in my blood, like the cholesterol level.
Last year and the year before they have also made X-ray pictures of my hip-bone and the lower vertebrae in my back. And the conclusion from those pictures is that I am suffering from osteoporosis, that means there is too little chalk in my bones. Nobody would ever have noticed that if it hadn't been for the close medical monitoring I undergo to prepare for my sex-change.
So besides hormones the endocrinologist is also prescribing me calcium and vitamin D to strengthen my bones. And he had a serious talk with me:
"Do you smoke?"
"Yes, I still do..."
"Well, it is your life and you have to make your own decisions. But you will have to deal with the consequences. Smoking is very bad for people who suffer from osteoporosis. It is also very risky to smoke while you take estrogen."
Our second visit in the hospital was with my psychologist. It is her duty to follow my progress during my real life test, but that is not very useful in my case. I did my own real life test before I ever set foot in the hospital. Coming out to my environment is long behind me and living full time as a woman is normal for me. But still these visits with the psychologist are mandatory and are part of the strict protocol the hospital has to follow in sex-change processes.
So we chatted about how unfair it is I have to go through the standard protocol even though I am so much ahead in my transition compared to other people who made their first visit to the hospital on the same date as I did. Of course this is unfair to me, but on the other hand if the hospital would acknowledge the fact that I had been living as a woman for more then a year before I first entered the hospital, they would soon get many more transsexuals who make the same claim, just to speed up their transition.
So it is the same protocol for everyone. I can accept that. And my real life test is nearly completed anyway. But then we get to the next stage: The waiting-list for the operation. It is completely unclear how long I will have to be on that list. It could be anywhere between 6 to 12 months. And the gender team does not make any predictions about the date. They did do that in the past, but due to circumstances beyond their control they were not always able to fulfill those promises and that caused many problems.
By the end of our chat, we came to the subject of smoking. It is the rule you have to stop smoking at least six weeks before the operation. So the psychologist gave me some homework to do: Next time I visit with her, I'll have to tell her what method I will use to quit smoking.
My third appointment was with the speech therapist. I see my own speech therapist for practical exercises every two weeks, but the therapist in the hospital is monitoring the state of the vocal chords inside my throat. It is possible to overstress those if you force your voice too much. So they put a camera in your throat and film the vocal chords while you make a noise. Mine looked very healthy indeed, but the area around them looked somewhat red and irritated.
"This may be caused by smoking too much", said the speech therapist.
Well I think the point is clear: I have to quit smoking. All the three specialists I saw that day pointed that out to me in one way or another. I should have known that and to be honest I did know it of course, although I didn't want to admit it. And I guess now is a better moment to work on it than short before my operation. At least it is something I can work on, something to actively pursue. That is better than passively waiting until it is finally my turn.
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You can find the complete program in the Gendertalk archive.
Or you can find just my column at:
http://www.eveliensnel.com/audio/SMOKE01.mp3
A full transcript of the text is below:
This week I had the usual appointments with the gender team specialists in the VU-hospital in Amsterdam. I have to go there once every three months for a check-up of my hormone levels and for a chat with the psychologist about my progress in my real life test.
Of course monitoring the hormone levels in my blood is very useful. Hormones are very powerful stuff and medical supervision is absolutely necessary if you take them. And besides hormones they are monitoring many other things in my blood, like the cholesterol level.
Last year and the year before they have also made X-ray pictures of my hip-bone and the lower vertebrae in my back. And the conclusion from those pictures is that I am suffering from osteoporosis, that means there is too little chalk in my bones. Nobody would ever have noticed that if it hadn't been for the close medical monitoring I undergo to prepare for my sex-change.
So besides hormones the endocrinologist is also prescribing me calcium and vitamin D to strengthen my bones. And he had a serious talk with me:
"Do you smoke?"
"Yes, I still do..."
"Well, it is your life and you have to make your own decisions. But you will have to deal with the consequences. Smoking is very bad for people who suffer from osteoporosis. It is also very risky to smoke while you take estrogen."
Our second visit in the hospital was with my psychologist. It is her duty to follow my progress during my real life test, but that is not very useful in my case. I did my own real life test before I ever set foot in the hospital. Coming out to my environment is long behind me and living full time as a woman is normal for me. But still these visits with the psychologist are mandatory and are part of the strict protocol the hospital has to follow in sex-change processes.
So we chatted about how unfair it is I have to go through the standard protocol even though I am so much ahead in my transition compared to other people who made their first visit to the hospital on the same date as I did. Of course this is unfair to me, but on the other hand if the hospital would acknowledge the fact that I had been living as a woman for more then a year before I first entered the hospital, they would soon get many more transsexuals who make the same claim, just to speed up their transition.
So it is the same protocol for everyone. I can accept that. And my real life test is nearly completed anyway. But then we get to the next stage: The waiting-list for the operation. It is completely unclear how long I will have to be on that list. It could be anywhere between 6 to 12 months. And the gender team does not make any predictions about the date. They did do that in the past, but due to circumstances beyond their control they were not always able to fulfill those promises and that caused many problems.
By the end of our chat, we came to the subject of smoking. It is the rule you have to stop smoking at least six weeks before the operation. So the psychologist gave me some homework to do: Next time I visit with her, I'll have to tell her what method I will use to quit smoking.
My third appointment was with the speech therapist. I see my own speech therapist for practical exercises every two weeks, but the therapist in the hospital is monitoring the state of the vocal chords inside my throat. It is possible to overstress those if you force your voice too much. So they put a camera in your throat and film the vocal chords while you make a noise. Mine looked very healthy indeed, but the area around them looked somewhat red and irritated.
"This may be caused by smoking too much", said the speech therapist.
Well I think the point is clear: I have to quit smoking. All the three specialists I saw that day pointed that out to me in one way or another. I should have known that and to be honest I did know it of course, although I didn't want to admit it. And I guess now is a better moment to work on it than short before my operation. At least it is something I can work on, something to actively pursue. That is better than passively waiting until it is finally my turn.
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