Sarah...
03-03-2009, 02:48 PM
...25 years after first making an appointment with my GP to discuss my transition (and then bottling out) I met with my GP last night to start the process as overseen by NHS professionals.
My wife came with me and, in light of my nervousness, started the conversation. Well, I worried for 2 weeks before our appointment. I needn't have. Our GP was calm, understanding, accepting and more than willing to help manage our transition. She has experience on a personal basis with gender issues but not on a professional basis. However I had taken the opportunity to download and print the latest DoH guidance for GPs. She welcomed my proactive action in helping her with her research. She recognised the process was a lengthy one but also seemed very reassured that in my case the issue has been extant for a very long time indeed and was not a recent development.
So, we meet again in a month (as I can only escape my business in the evenings) when she will have identified the organisations and individuals we have in place up here to help.
You might wonder why I'm posting this because, on the face of it, nothing practical happened. Well, like I said at the top, I started this process 25 years ago. I am now actually engaged fully with the managed transition process which will lead to me being a legally recognised woman in a few years time. An outcome I have thought about every day since I was very young. This is a big step for me, an important milestone. And it went well. So I thought I'd share that with all of you. :)
Thanks.
Sarah...
My wife came with me and, in light of my nervousness, started the conversation. Well, I worried for 2 weeks before our appointment. I needn't have. Our GP was calm, understanding, accepting and more than willing to help manage our transition. She has experience on a personal basis with gender issues but not on a professional basis. However I had taken the opportunity to download and print the latest DoH guidance for GPs. She welcomed my proactive action in helping her with her research. She recognised the process was a lengthy one but also seemed very reassured that in my case the issue has been extant for a very long time indeed and was not a recent development.
So, we meet again in a month (as I can only escape my business in the evenings) when she will have identified the organisations and individuals we have in place up here to help.
You might wonder why I'm posting this because, on the face of it, nothing practical happened. Well, like I said at the top, I started this process 25 years ago. I am now actually engaged fully with the managed transition process which will lead to me being a legally recognised woman in a few years time. An outcome I have thought about every day since I was very young. This is a big step for me, an important milestone. And it went well. So I thought I'd share that with all of you. :)
Thanks.
Sarah...