Dentist, Doctor and Donation

There are events, sometimes we call them milestones or ?bridges to cross?, or even bucket list items. More by accident than design I recently ended up with three in reasonably close succession.

Firstly, the Dental check-up. Unusually I had the first appointment on a Saturday morning and the waiting room was empty as I presented myself at the desk. The receptionist didn?t bat an eye. After a couple of minutes a nurse came to fetch me. There was a momentary disconnect, I was still the only person there, then she led me to the dentists room.

We exchanged pleasantries as usual and then he carried out the check-up, took a couple of X-Rays, and then passed me over to the hygienist for a scale and polish. All done and back out front to pay. Nobody said a thing, all just completely normal.
A few days later I am at the Doctors to keep an appointment made so long ago that the original illness had cleared up. Again, an early appointment and an empty waiting room. No reaction from either the receptionist or the Pharmacy staff working nearby. Very shortly the Doctor popped her head out and called for Mr. _____.

I stepped into the consulting room and described my issues. A quick blood pressure check, a listen to my chest, some advice and a prescription and I was done. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

At the end of the week I had a blood donation appointment for early on Sunday morning, which, having had a bad night on the Saturday, I was regretting and thought briefly of ditching the plan of attending dressed in return for extra ? hour in bed. But no, I had wanted to do this for a while. It wasn?t my usual location, which although unintentional, probably calmed the nerves a little.

The greeter gave me the form to fill in, the booklet to read and pointed me to the water station. She was nice and helpful but think she had worked me out straightaway. I joined the others already waiting and filled in the form but had barely flicked through the booklet when I was called (nobody seems to notice). Stupidly I admitted I hadn?t fully read the booklet so was sent back till I had done. As I already knew, it hadn?t changed.

The nurse is lovely and we chat about skiing mostly. It doesn?t take too long before I am heading over for the tea and biscuits (only place I ever eat Club biscuits nowadays). It is a bit crowded round the table and the greeter is chivvying the slowest into moving on before helping me to not completely destroy the new-fangled tea machine. Nobody pays any attention.

I was thinking of coming out to my doctor as I dress in drab to see him.

Getting tired of living a lie, it's been too many years and I have few men's clothes.

Oh! Good for you, I would be a bit apprehensive to do it like that although I do dress 90 percent of the time when I go out.

Bev ,
My GP's surgery was one of the first jobs I did two years ago when i move dinto my new home , I had to register as a new patient so I asked to be recognised as Terri , I also had Mr. removed .

Helena ,
I'm not sure if you're aware but I donate blood at the Urban Hotel , the night of the Ascot Ladies Day meeting the nurses asked me to pop up and show them my outfit , at my last donation last week I got several hugs from them .

I've just returned from my dental checkup and again had my name and title changed and had a little fun with the receptionist . I'm not sure what to make of my dentist , he's never smiled at me like that before .

I'm so glad it's working out for you , so many of our fears are in our heads rather than in reality .

Helena,

As Teresa says, "so many of our fears are in our heads rather than in reality". That said it's not something I'm in a position to do as it stands and even if I were then I'm fairly sure there would be more than a bit of trepidation.

In your case as with Teresa, you're dealing with professional people. For them to react in any other way than they did would be surprising. Meeting someone from our community probably doesn't come close to the top of the list of unusual things they get to see as a result of their work.

Helen,
The aspect that surprises me is still being a minority not everyone including professional people apart from doctors possibly have encountered a TG person and yet they react as if it's a normal occurrence , that raises several questions amongst them the passing one .

So many of us are affected by the negative thoughts from our close family , they are possibly based on self protection but as I venture more and more out in the RW I ask the question protection from what ? That self protection is actually isolating my wife now , she knows she's surrounded by people who know of me or have seen me , they offer sympathy because she is looking for it but you can't bury your head in the sand forever so eventually the sympathy will dry up .

I used to be a serial blood donor (platelets). I started wearing fem tops and the staff knew I wore bras. One day I laid back and my blouse opened showing my bra. I couldn't reach for it since the needles were in both arms. The gal reached over and arranged it. Never said a word.

Good for you Helena. Nowadays I wouldn't think of dressing any other way, it's me, it's what I wear and I've not had a problem anywhere.

This all rings so true to me. These things are in our heads and I went through the same as you Doctor, dentist, optician and no one was in the least bit bothered. I have been asked about name changes but thats all. Best bit was my last dentist visit where I had to go in drab - the dentists and assistant paused when I entered the room and re-checked who I was - then the nurse said how she needed to get make up tips from me as they all commented how lovely I look when I go in!!

I love the real world and find it more difficult to be in t-venues (maybe I get a little internally judgemental).

My bucket list has a posh gala dinner and flying in a private jet left I think now.