Another update post.

[Emma Beth]

Last time I was on, I was having issues dealing with my wife and setting things up for me.

Well, my wife left back at the end of June and I have noticed just how much stress she created in my life. The lack of stress from her has had a huge impact on my learning process. Since she left I have learned a lot about myself.

Back at the beginning of August, my dog broke one of my fingers with his leash and I am still recovering from that. I had a huge scare when I went to the surgical consult and because of the break and how it was broken; amputation was a consideration. However, I am happy to say that I still have all of my fingers and I am struggling with physical therapy for my finger.

I have learned just how messed up the VA medical system really is and how to handle it and deal with all the red tape. Referring to my broken finger, there was a snafu with my paperwork and I'm still wondering how many people walk into the VA with shoes on their hands. It also took me two months to finally make arrangements for a Primary Care Physician. My first appointment was supposed to be the day before Thanksgiving and I received three calls telling me that my Doctor had called in and my appointment had to be rescheduled for Feb 22nd, about an extra three months.

However, I remember people on here saying that transition is a marathon on many occasions. I can see how that is. I can also say that going the route I am going to get my transition started is just a taste of what is to come in this regard.

I'm so much closer to everything that it has somehow become tangible for me now. I can see myself saying out loud, "Through the lips and over the tongue, look out tummy here it comes." Then down the hatch goes my first dose.

What time I have left before my next visit with my Doctor will be filled with a lot of emotion and self doubt.

I can feel how much more difficult dealing with this Gender Dysphoria has gotten. I have had a few days lately that have been real hard to cope.

Fortunately I do have enough of a support network in place that I can at least talk to someone, and I have found that that is so huge.

I have come out to one more member of my Family since I was last on the forum.

My Mother saw that I was having a real hard day a while back and she gave me the only email address for her sister, my Aunt Bonnie. My Aunt has been a therapist in the prison systems of the states of Michigan and Nevada for many years over the years and she now lives in Canada.

I never had much contact with my Aunt over the years, but when I started talking to her. I felt more of a connection to her over the past few months than I have for most of my life. Somehow, even though it was from afar, I have always looked up to my Aunt.

So aside from a few bumps in the road that I am dealing with and have dealt with since I was last on, life is good. it could be better, but it could also be much worse.

[ErikaS]

Keep the faith with the VA system. I have had good results, I see my endo today after 4 months on HRT hoping for good things.

[Emma Beth]

Thank you Erika, and good luck with your visit.

I know that once I get past that initial visit with my Primary that things will begin to roll.

The really hard part is getting to that point and hoping that there isn't another snafu like I had with my finger.

My dog broke my finger with his leash and since I was at the VA for orientation, I went to the ER to get it checked out.

I was told that I needed to have a consult with a surgeon and they passed me off to the Choice program.

Well, somehow the category of care was listed as Podiatry and it took me three weeks to finally get it fixed; and that was going through Patient Advocacy.

Once I finally got my surgical consult, I was told by the Doctor at the time that since it had taken so long to get to him that I mainly had three options. One of them was mostly out in his opinion so I needed to think real hard about the other two and he would consult with his partner to see if she had any other options that he was unaware of. One of the considerations was either partial amputation of the finger, or complete amputation.

With mixed feelings, I'm happy to say that I still have all my fingers. But, the physical therapy really stinks.

Now I did have a few of my friends tell me I should get me a Lawyer about this. But I had to tell them, "What real good would that do? All that would do is tell people that I was greedy and possibly take the care needed by another Vet away from them."

On top of patiently waiting for my Primary Care Physician visit, I'm struggling with setting up with physical therapy without the help of having a Primary. The struggle with this was getting people to to perform an Anal Craniotomy, and transfer my medical file to the right people. That finished, now I'm waiting on notification for Physical Therapy.

So, yeah, working with the VA is definitely a test of patience and perseverance.

[RADER]

Elizabeth Jamie;
I also had trouble with the VA.
Then I told some one at my American Legion Post.
I was in to see a Doctor the next week, and she is now my
primary care Doctor.
They seem to have some pull with the VA.
If you remember all the co-motion a few years back when
vets would die before seeing a doctor, well it was an American
Legion National Commander who blew the whistle.
The VA does not want any more toots.
Rader

[Emma Beth]

I remember that, Rader.

That's why I have a great relationship with my Patient advocate right now.

She has busted her kiester to help me out and make things go as smooth as possible for me.

Lol; as a matter of fact, she's also my Dad's advocate.

Right now there is nothing that can be done with getting in to my Primary because this is my initial visit. If I had already had that visit with her, then if she had to call in like she did that day I could go see her staff and keep the appointment.

Even with all that has been done to fix things with the VA system, they are still very overwhelmed and need a lot of help.

If the Government would just work out something for Med Students to get a percentage of their loans paid off for every year of service in the VA Health system then the staffing problem would be fixed. Then the major problem would be enough facilities.

But, that's all a subject for another place on the forums.

My biggest point is that just dealing with first entering the VA system will teach you the patience needed to deal with the marathon that is transition.

From the day of my new patient orientation to my initial visit with my Primary will be almost eight months. Then I'm probably looking at a few more months after that before I can breath a sigh of relief with my first dose in hand.

I've been doing what I can at this point. Like bringing my weight down like I need. I've lost about ten pound since I began, with about another thirty to go.

I have my first appointment for electrolysis scheduled for January.

Everything else I have done has happened here and there over the past six months.