Appointment Letter

[vetobob9]

I received my appointment letter yesterday from VA Long Beach. It for the endocrinologist and says I have to be there Friday March 28 in the morning. This was the referral the psychologist at the Whittier VA clinic said she was putting in the system.

What should I expect from them?

[mbmeen12]

Congratulations I am super happy for you and very envious please keep us posted. Blood work I suppose to base line???

[BOBBI G.]

If you haven't already had the blood work done, they will order it for you . Then, after the endo reads the results, your medications will be mailed to you. This first meeting will be a "get to know each other" type. A few questions, nothing too off the wall, and they may do a physical exam of your breast area. Let them know of any medicines you may now be taking ( transition types). It will make their prescribing easier. My whole appointment lasted only a half an hour. All my medical and support people are very courteous and I can not say enough good about them.

Side note; let them know the name you prefer, and it will be noted into your record. It may take a while, but now, to all my medical staff, and I have a bunch, I am Bobbi. And what a nice feeling this is.

You have just gotten on the train, find a seat and enjoy the ride, I'm only a couple of stops ahead of you on this trip.

Bobbi

[vetobob9]

Why would they do an exam of the breast area? Medicines should be an easy question since I am not taking anything.

The name I am still considering. When we had the meeting for WATA and everyone except myself was using a female name. I have a name I imagined myself using but then I noticed more women these days are being given male names and more men are being given female names with only a slight variation in the spelling if any. How important is it to change one's name?

Do they just send you the medications after the blood test or do they ask questions first? How does this work?

[StephanieC]

I think you have time for the name...they can work with whatever name you desire. I received a prescription that I ran to Walgreen's to fill.

Congrats! Big step.

-stephani

[BOBBI G.]

When they did my upper chest exam, all they did was feel to see it there was any growth. I think they may just get off a little on it. I had also been on hormones for about 6 weeks on my own, and let them know this. That may have been the reason. In your case this should be a mute point.

Bobbi

[vetobob9]

Does anyone know what they look for in the blood work?

[LeaP]

They will look to see if you are healthy and a good candidate for hormones and anti-androgens. They may look at your potassium, prolactin, and liver and kidney enzymes in addition to basics like cholesterol.

[PretzelGirl]

I also think outside of the specifics they are looking for that Lea points out, it is a good thing to just document a baseline of where everything is prior to them starting to, hopefully, change the numbers.

[vetobob9]

I almost missed my appointment this morning because I missed the first bus.

They asked some questions and checked my thyroid. They said not to expect anything because I was too far past puberty. Then they put me down for an estrogen patch and something called an anti androgen. They are sending them in the mail.

I have to go back in two months which they said was not enough time to see any noticeable changes.

[LeaP]

Hmm - not much of a checkup.

The anti-androgen will reduce your testosterone

[vetobob9]

They went over my cholesterol levels which they had already had from January. He said the LDL was low and I needed to bring it up. But everything else was where it should be.

He is prescribing low dosages. Though he said the lab work shows I have no liver problems that needed to be watched for, that why he offered me a choice of the pill or the patch. Having read horror stories of pills causing liver damage I decided not to take that chance. I plan to be here for a little while longer thank you.

[mikiSJ]

The VA is great for us girls who did our time ('Nam 66). I was prescribed Fenasteride during my first visit and I could have request a visit with their endocrinologist if I wanted to proceed. I chose not to at that time but have since, with a non-VA doctor.

I was able to bring in a month old blood workup and it showed my kidney creatinine (chronic for me) was slightly above the limits so he excluded the antiandrogen Spiro as it is hard on the kidneys. I was given a script for estradiol valerate which I inject. In the four months I have been taking it I DEFINITELY see the difference in my chest, softness of my skin and a much better feeling of well being.

My three month test showed my E level at 1,100, my T level at 73 (without a T blocker), but my prolactin was above what should be expected so we will be following to see if I develop any pituitary adenomas. These tumors are benign but if they get large enough can impinge upon your optic nerve.

Maybe I am lucky (about time!).

[vetobob9]

Was I supposed to pick the spino at the VA pharmacy or will they send to me with the estradiol patch?

[mikiSJ]

I get all of my VA medication refills by USPS and they are usually delivered within 3 days.

Are you signed up on myhealth.VA.gov? It is a bit of a one-time pain as it requires an in person verification of ID, but it is how to communicate with the VA care people.

[vetobob9]

I am signed with myhealthevet.va.gov