#informed-consent

[valeriekeefe]

Wow, has this ever blown up in the last five years. I'm very encouraged. Also, shout-out to PP in North Carolina.

[tresftm-blog]

The Gatekeeper

Yesterday I had an appointment with Dr Larry Brash, a psychiatrist and my gatekeeper. He came recommended by my endocrinologist and quite a few guys on the interwebs. He has apparently seen over a hundred trans.* people and is essentially the person responsible for deciding whether they are allowed to commence treatment. 

He asked me to describe myself as I am today, then go back from birth and give a short summary of my relevant experiences, developmental history, and my status as it evolved throughout my life. I got the impression that he was waiting to hear whether I had ever tried to emulate society's model of a stereotypical female, which I did for a couple of brief periods.

Apparently, what he considers to be the FTM story is rather 'universal' whereas the MTF stories tend to have more variance, at least that's what he said his experience has led him to understand. If my story is 'universal' and so closely matches the stories of other FTMs I would assume he has said yes to them all, except (perhaps) for patients with obvious and extreme co-morbidity (the existence of another medical or psychological condition).

He told me that his vote was a firm yes, and that he'd be writing a report and faxing it to my endocrinologist. I do hope he includes a recommendation for a double mastectomy & chest reconstruction in that report. I'd much prefer not to have to go through a gatekeeper again.

I was pleased with Dr Brash's manner, and his diplomacy. He asked only the questions which were relevant and necessary to form a basic picture of me and to make his decision.

Now to get my blood test done, and return to my endocrinologist's office next week.