Date: 2011-11-16 01:22 Security: Public xpost http://soph.livejournal.com/225038.html Tags: charing cross, gender identity, gender identity clinic, gender identity: hormones, transgender issues Subject: My second GIC appointment

So, I promised people on Twitter I would write a post about how my second GIC appointment went. If you want to remind yourself about how my first appointment went, here's the post I made about it. Like last time, snowfields accompanied me to the GIC, although this time he stayed in the waiting room.

The second appointment didn't go as planned. The main reason for this is that, as you'll have noticed in the post I just linked, my second appointment was meant to be on November 10th.

No, I didn't forget what date it was supposed to be on! But some miscommunication meant that I was under the impression the appointment had been moved to the 14th.

A few weeks ago, I had received a letter from the GIC with appointment details on them. Because of the proximity to the actual appointment date, and because I only knew about the appointment I had earlier booked, I had assumed it was a simple reminder letter. But it was different to how I expected it to be, because the appointment listed on it was on the 14th instead of the 10th.

Later on, I called the GIC about this. I first asked to confirm the appointment for the 14th, to make sure that was correct, which it was. I then asked why the appointment date had changed from the 10th to the 14th. The receptionist wasn't able to tell me why it might have happened, eventually concluding that it had probably been rescheduled because the person I would be seeing had no clinic on that day.

Of course, the reason she was unable to tell me why it had changed was because that particular appointment *hadn't* actually changed; it was a second appointment with no relation to the first. I had assumed that the letter meant that the date had changed, when it hadn't.

So, it turned out I had missed the appointment for the 10th to see the second psychiatrist (the first being Dr. Andrew Davies, as detailed in the other post). It turned out that *this* appointment was to see an endocrinologist about the results of the blood test that I'd had done last time (and which I see I failed to mention in the post - sorry!). Apparently there were some abnormalities in my blood test results and they wanted to ask questions about me and my family, and examine me physically.

It turned out that the blood test results showed that I had a higher level of FSH than is normal. Based on this (and possibly the physical examinations - I can't remember when they said this), it means that there's apparently a chance that I might actually not have XY chromosomes, but XXY chromosomes. To confirm this they wanted me to take more blood tests, and they also wanted to see other things from the blood test too, like my bone marrow density. They also wanted to retest my baselines - that is, the levels of hormones that I have. So, I went along to the hospital again to have more blood taken. This time they took about 10 (or so) blood sample bottles full - quite a lot!

With regard to the appointments... when I realised that I had missed the appointment on the 10th, it upset me a lot; I actually started crying right there at the GIC. It meant that there was no way I was going to get hormones that day (though Fated reminded me later that I was probably not going to get them anyway considering that they want to retake my baselines), but more importantly, I was worried because the GIC's policy for patients not attending the first and second assessments was to discharge back to the GP.

Thankfully, it didn't happen this way. I'm not entirely sure why - maybe they realised what the problem had been. In any case, because of the mixup, they offered to reschedule me for the next available appointment instead of rescheduling for six months down the line like they'd normally do.

So, the appointment that I was *supposed* to have on the 10th will now be in three weeks, on the 5th of December. In addition, I have another appointment with the endocrinologist in June.

And to end this on a good note, it occurred to me while writing this that if the blood test results come back within those three weeks, it's *possible* that I may be able to get hormones then. If I had attended the appointment on the 10th, I wouldn't have been able to get them until my next proper appointment (because they'd have wanted to retest baselines), which would almost certainly have been months in the future.

I do hope I can get hormones in three weeks, and ask about voice therapy.

Date: 2011-05-22 02:20 Security: Public xpost http://soph.livejournal.com/219895.html Mood: okay Tags: charing cross, dr andrew davies, gender identity, gender identity clinic, transgender issues Subject: GIC report

Okay, now I feel up to describing how my GIC appointment went!

So, as you all know, I had an appointment at the Charing Cross GIC (which is not, in fact, in Charing Cross, but in Hammersmith). I went along with Fated (snowfields), a friend of mine who has been with other people to various GICs.

The first appointment was scheduled to last 75 minutes. I don't remember how long it took in reality, but it was probably closer to 60 minutes. I didn't want to be on my own so I asked if Fated could also be in the room. (I knew full well that there would be some frank discussion, but I'm fairly open about these things. I did make sure Fated was okay with it before asking if he could come in, though.)

It was basically an interview; I was asked about what I wanted from the GIC, how things were for me in my life, and such. Most of what I told Dr. Davies is in locked posts on my LiveJournal, under the gender identity tag; I keep meaning to import my posts over here to Dreamwidth at some point but I haven't yet done so. (LJ users, never fear - I'll keep them on LJ too.) In the meantime, if anybody on my DW access list would like access to my LJ and has an account over there, let me know and I can add you there. (There's also some filter polls you'll want to fill out; take a look at the notice on the journal main page on my LJ and you'll see a link to them.) As a bonus, you'll get to see the comments people leave on my LJ - I still get a lot of comments on my LJ and on DW you only get to see half of the story, because of the access differences on my journals.

So, yeah, that took a bit of time, and there wasn't much more to the appointment than that. My next appointment is in exactly half a year from my first, November 10th, and will be much the same thing except with a different person; kind of a 'second opinion' as it were. After this they'll then decide what to do with me, and I'm really hoping that they'll prescribe hormones and anti-androgens at that point. I'm also looking for voice therapy, but I guess that might take longer.

(At some point, I'm sure some people have calculated that there are 184 days between May 10th and November 10th, and will therefore correctly say that it is not, in fact, a difference of exactly half a year - after all, 184 * 2 = 368, which is a full 3 days away from the real number of days in a year, at least in non-leap years. And yes, you are correct, but you know...)

(...or was it only me that did that? Oh well, never mind.)

Anyway, I asked (with trepidation) about the moving thing. I think they'll accept it for now, but they'd want me to move back when I can, if I'm remembering correctly. I do remember that I didn't need to worry about anything for now, though. I hope they're right.

So yeah, next appointment is in November. I wish it wasn't that far away.

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In other news, I'm preparing to return my laptop for a bit of repair (it's under warranty), so I may have limited Internet access for a while; most of my activities are done using this laptop. On the plus side, it may encourage me to actually get out a little!

...meh, who am I kidding?

I've been meaning to make this post for a few days now.

I have finally - *finally* - managed to get an appointment at the Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic. It's on the 10th of May with Dr Andrew Davies.

Before I go there I'd like to get as much information on what to expect as I possibly can. Does anybody reading this have experience with Dr Andrew Davies at all? I've been searching and from what I've read, my initial impressions are not favourable. :/

I'm also getting concerned again about the NHS and the Charing Cross GIC. People alternately tell me good and bad things about it and I'm not sure who to believe. I'm sure they're all telling the truth about their own personal experiences - why would they not? - but it doesn't really help me much. If anything, it makes me nervous about going into a place where basically anything can happen, from what it sounds like.

Does anyone have any knowledge of any of this?