Officially leaping down the rabbit hole - starting full transition

[Ceera]

After 4+ years of living as a woman socially and becoming more and more convinced that my future is firmly female, today I finally took the step of making my doctor's appointment to start me on the path to full transition. I thought it was financially impossible for me, because of my insurance situation. I retired early, and only have Medicaid and VA insurance. But I found out that as of 2016, in Oregon, Medicaid/'Oregon Health Plan'/Trillium will cover HRT, AND top surgery (if a year on HRT doesn't give you breasts), AND bottom surgery! The whole transition is covered, from starting HRT to having vagina. My appointment is in two weeks. If my doctor confirms that the full path is possible financially for me (that the part I have to pay out of pocket, if any, isn't out of reach), and that the necessary medical letters can be drafted along the way to go 100%, then I will start the full process. I can already document years of living publicly and openly as a woman. As I understand it, the other requirements would be for top surgery, I would need of have been 1 year or more on HRT (My doctor will already sign off on me starting HRT), and I need one mental health professional's letter for the top surgery; I would need two such letters for the bottom surgery. The letters just certify that I have seen a mental health professional and that I have sufficient gender dysphoria that the surgeries are medically necessary for improving my mental health. The operations could be done at a facility in Portland, just two hours from my home. With luck, if I have things right, I could be fully female in about a year and a half.

Hello down there Alice! I'll meet you and the White Rabbit at the bottom!

Plan B, if I can't get a good likelihood of being able to afford my part, or if it seems unlikely I can get the necessary gate-keeping steps passed to go all the way, would be to forgo HRT, and pay out of pocket for top surgery, at least. I have no issue with losing my male genital functions, provided I gain reasonably functional female genitals to replace the male parts. But I don't want HRT to make me a eunuch and leave me stranded at that neuter state, unable to afford ever to cross over to full female.

Either way, I am pretty sure that within a year, I'll take the step if changing all my legal documentation to a female gender marker, and changing my first name to Ceera, dropping my middle name and demoting my gender neutral first name to a middle name. I'll keep my birth surname. Driver's license, birth certificate and name change are easy to do in Oregon. And with those in hand, the rest should be reasonable to switch.

[Lana Mae]

Congrats! Sounds like some great news! Best wishes! Hugs Lana Mae

[chelyann]

that's great news, good luck on your new journey .

[Ariana225]

Congrats Ceera! Good luck in your transition to the real you! Much love!

[Devi SM]

Congrats Ceera, you look determined in your path and is good to no have doubts.

[pamela7]

Wow Ceera,

Amazing news. Wishing you all the best.

xx Pam

[Dana44]

wow cerra, nice news.

[HelenR2]

Excellent. Go girl, go!

[docrobbysherry]

I hope it all works out for u, Ceera!:thumbsup:

However, despite all her changes I don't recall Alice switching genders!:battingeyelashes:

[Rianna Humble]

Ceera, I wish you well with your doctor's appointment.

Please remember that in the TS Forum we are here to support you as you go down the path of transition even if in some cases that might result in a warning of "Here be dragons!".

I look forward to reading more about your experiences.

[GracieRose]

Good luck Ceera.
Hoping that all goes well for you.
I think that it will.

[CD Tammy]

Congrats. You have a lot to look forward to.

[Teri Ray]

Best wishes for your desired outcome

[Ceera]

Update: 8/13/2018
I saw my doctor today, and everything went smooth as silk. He is putting together my prescriptions and treatment plan for hormones, and I start HRT as soon as that is ready and I can pick up the supplies. Probably later this week. He will also connect me with a behavioral health specialist, so I can start a rapport with them in preparation for getting the needed mental health professional approval letters for top and bottom surgery after a year on HRT. He sees no reason why I should not get those approval letters easily. Medicaid should cover the full cost!

Today I also went to the Veterans Administration health center, as a woman, to make an appointment with my VA doctor, to get a prescription for a ‘cranial prosthetic’ - a partial wig that attaches with surgical glue to my scalp for two months at a time, and is styled into my own hair, to eliminate my baldness and give me a full head of feminine hair. My real hair is at the length for a shoulder length shag cut, ready to add that extra hair. Between maintenance checks I can treat it just like my own hair, washing it when I shower. My appointment there is later this month.

I have been living nearly full time as a woman for four years now, with virtually all of my social life as a female. 3/4 of my local friends have only known me as female, and those who knew me first as a male all accept me now as female. This week I’ll tell my extended family members who already knew I was socially female that my transition is progressing further, and will tell a handful of cousins, in-laws, and other friends who did not know me yet as Ceera that I am transitioning.

I have already begun living 100% of my public life full time as a woman. There are no more barriers in my way! I will do the legal gender marker and name changes after 3 to 6 months on HRT, once I am certain that is going well for me.

[Devi SM]

I hope that every transgender, transsexual could achieve those goals as you're doing.

[Katya@]

Good luck Ceera with coming out to the extended family. Wishing for everything to go well.

[Roxanne Lanyon]

You make me feel so proud, and so envious. I often dream of doing this, but, so far, just haven't put it all together. I so wish you the best of luck, and hope everything works out for you, girl! I just know you will be a wonderful, thriving woman!
You do not know me, but my heart is with you!
Roxanne Lanyon

[DMichele]

Ceera,
Congratulations! I wish you well with the medical side, and good luck with announcing your plans to family and friends. You seem to have a lot of acceptance already and hopefully all will go well.

[Ceera]

Took a while to actually get my hands on the meds, but as of today, 8/22/2018, I have begun HRT. Took my first doses this afternoon.

[Ceera]

9/23 update: So far, so good!

I have been on HRT for a month now, and living full time female since August 10th. Even for ‘private’ things like staying indoors and cleaning my garage, I am doing it en-femme.

All my local friends now know and accept that I am a woman now. Even the ones who had known me for decades as a male. I have their full support. While I have not sat down with any of my neighbors and clearly stated what is happening with me, they have pretty much all seen me as nothing but female for the last six weeks, and all the ones I have chatted with treat me like I had always been a woman to them.

First checkup, one month after starting HRT, showed normal bloodwork, with no problems.

Met with my VA doctor, and they agreed to write my prescription for that “cranial prosthetic”. It still needs approval by a “VA Council”, but the doctor said he saw no reason for them not to approve it. Also met with my wig salon expert, and got my order started for that hair replacement system. The actual order will go in next month, because the system I will be getting will be on sale in October! Worst case, if the VA fails to pay for it, I will pay for it myself. I should have it around December.

Got my first mental health screening meeting done, and am in the queue now for the full evaluations by two separate mental health providers needed so they can write the letters for my surgeries. Those more formal evaluations should happen in about five months, nearly half a year before I need the letters for surgery. The doc I saw first agreed that I have a well-established female personality development pattern, and that I seem stable and happy. So I won’t need the weekly support sessions with a therapist to cope with my situation. I am already living quite happily as a woman, with a good support network of friends and family, and nearly universal acceptance, so far.

Most recently, I told my sister in an email that I am going for full transition now, and not just living most of my social life as a woman. She has seen pictures of me as a woman, but has never seen me in person that way. She admits it will take her a while to process the idea of me becoming her big sister, but she invited my daughter and I to visit her home this coming Friday and Saturday, while her husband, who is the only family member to reject me, is out of town. She understands that means she will meet me as a woman for the first time. But she is looking forward to that visit!

Next up will be to tell my two sisters in law and their families, and the remaining friends and cousins who follow my male side’s Facebook page. Not really expecting any problems there.

So... I like it in the ‘rabbit hole’! Happy and doing well so far.

[KymberlyOct]

Congratulations Ceera !!!! It gets easier with time. It's been a little over 18 months since I went full time. The first few months are hard. It takes courage IMHO. It gets easier with time. You are doing great !!!!
Kim