Current Military And V.a. Patient
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in Military Veterans and Active-Duty Service Members
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Who's Online 7 Members, 0 Anonymous, 64 Guests (See full list)
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Posts
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By KymmieL · Posted
I have a fantastic therapist. She is so caring she has helped me open up so much. Unfortunately, She is ending her internship. Do to a hiring freeze at the VA she isn't going just go right into a position there. My Endo is out of the Denver VA hospital. I haven't talked with her in probably 2 yrs. I am looking to transfer providers and get back to seeing a GYN at the Cheyenne VA. -
By Ladypcnj · Posted
Trump thinks he's the chosen one.. chosen to do what? -
By Ladypcnj · Posted
I meant to say to make Trump loose -
By Birdie · Posted
Shopping at the mall today and helping out at Torrid I excused myself to the restroom. The manager told me the restroom at JC Penny was much closer (I normally use the family restroom in the food court). Upon arrival I discovered that JC Penny doesn't have a family restroom, it's either or. The men's room was occupied with customers, and me going in with large breasts, long hair, and makeup was going to cause a stir, so I opted for the woman's room instead. I was the only one in the woman's room. Texas state law does state that your must use the restroom that matches your chromosomes, and it's a misdemeanor to not do so, but it seemed to be the best choice (I really needed to go!) -
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By ClaireBloom · Posted
My avatar is from a T-shirt that I am just dying to buy. Maybe soon.... -
By Lydia_R · Posted
I had some guy grab my butt on the ship. I don't know how "real" it was, but I did not enjoy that at all. Also did not enjoy the hazing I saw other people going through. One person can only do so much to stop that when there are 10 people doing it. -
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By Lydia_R · Posted
I pulled this out of a stack of old military mementos yesterday. I guess I didn't realize how cool this one was because I did so much of this kind of thing back then. -
By Lydia_R · Posted
This internet video thing is pretty amazing. I'd call it Zoom, but there are other platforms out there. I prefer Zoom over Teams because Zoom puts me and everyone else in the same picture. I like seeing the whole group in one shot. Teams of course is about having so many people that you can't get them in the shot, or is it? Just saying that I have never met any of my counselors in person. Doctors, of course I have and I am lucky there. They are 3.5 miles from my house as is the main transgender surgery place in town. I've been doing virtual visits with the medical doctors lately though. It feels like once I became steady state, they don't need to interact with me physically that much. I have enjoyed going into their office in my nice clothing. -
By awkward-yet-sweet · Posted
I guess a lot depends on where you start and where you wanna end up. For me, doing the "boy form" thing has come with disadvantages. Smaller skeleton, thinner bones, and skinny/tiny everything. I'll never be taken seriously. I guess the advantage is that my way of blending in is just kind of confusing. "Mommy, is that a boy or a girl?" One of the biggest arguments for starting transition early in life is I think it gives a person a greater ability to pass. My two MtF friends started early, and pass really well. They never got to the larger bone structure, beard, deep voice stuff. Me being intersex (which is more complicated) and not getting around to "boy form" until my 30's, my body size and features were pretty much set in stone. You're lucky. Some folks pay all that and more, even AFTER insurance. One of my friends faced the choice last year - pay for her final year of college or pay for her meds. She's taken a year off from college to work and save up money to finish. My medical expenses have been more injury-related than therapy or medication The state covered some of it with a fund for crime victims, insurance covered a lot, but there's ended up being a few thousand dollars spent out-of-pocket since 2022 to put me back together again. I've never found a decent therapist, but my husband has a psych degree among other things, so I figure talking with him is almost as good. I do have a good doctor, although I have to drive a long way to a big city to see her. Mostly she takes a basic look at me, and writes another year's prescription. Since I'm non-op and only using testosterone cream for a localized effect, its pretty simple stuff. -
By Lydia_R · Posted
I'm a tracker and I've paid for 100% of my transition costs out of pocket. Counseling was a huge, huge part of my transition and well worth my money. Not to be uppity about all of this. I'm just sharing information I have because I have it and it may be useful for others. Here is my analysis of my spending on transition over the last 2.5 years: Medical Doctors and Blood Draws: $2,397 Counseling: $3,800 Medications (brand name): $2,702.85 Medications (generic): $485.39 Total: $9,385.24 I picked up on the internet early in transition that transition is a consumer activity. I tend to agree with that. This year (Jan - May 18th, 2024), I've spent: Medical Doctors: $102 Medications: $241.52 Total: $343.52 So I'm on a much more sustainable path with it. I'm pretty happy with where I am with it, although I do still desire surgery and am nervous about how that will all unfold. But my doctors have me on this steady state thing. I could seek out other medications, but what I'm doing is good enough. Oh, I'm missing something.... I did a bunch of electrolysis that didn't appear to have any effect. I've always enjoyed shaving and I use pink shaving cream now (I've got some lipstick blond in me). It's good enough. Not sure if I'll do electro or laser in the future. The need to shave my body has become less and less. Before HRT, I was shaving my body weekly or even every 5 days. Now it is more like 2-3 weeks. Everyone's body hair is different. My beard is very coarse and stiff while my body hair has been somewhat minimal and light. It's nice to have smooth legs and not have to shave as much. Counseling was $200/session. I tried one or two counselors before I found one who resonated with where I really was. When I was prescribed HRT, I didn't fill the prescription until 4 months later. I had to take some time to decide that I really wanted to take on that lifetime financial commitment. And of course the possibly negative health consequences too, but I think I was actually thinking more about the finances of it all. Maybe 51%. I did a lot of work to revitalize my career before jumping into medical transition. I started counseling 3 months before I got the best paying job of my life. The pressure of wanting to transition was so great that I couldn't wait any longer. She was coming out. Even though I had very little money, I splurged on some nice dresses and a full length mirror and then started counseling. Sometimes you just have to move forward and hope for the best. Other times it is better to wait and do some hard work. The grace of it all.. -
By Ivy · Posted
And when the pressure is released it sucks in heat. I had a regulator leaking and it was covered with ice. It's how a heat pump works as well. Why do they always pick names like this? It's like the exact opposite of what it really is. I hate politics so much. But I still have to follow it. -
By Lydia_R · Posted
Wonderful! This reminds me of a discussion I had with my brother a decade ago. I said that things expand when they get hotter. He said, no, they expand when they get colder. And I had to think about that for a while. The weird thing is that H20 is special in that when it reaches freezing, it expands. The pressure makes the cold and then we see the condensation. -
By KatieSC · Posted
I used to have a really good therapist, however, she does not accept health insurance reimbursement fees as they are too low. I had to pay 130 per session. When she decided to jack the rates to 185 per hour, I cut bait. Without a doubt, counseling is very helpful. What concerns me greatly is that we are a vulnerable population. Unfortunately, we can easily be targeted for some pretty high fees. How many of us have been in the situation where our healthcare provider, surgeons, or counselors, have required cash payments? We get jammed as well by the health insurance companies as they often will not pay for items that could be essential to our well-being. It is my contention that our chances of being targeted for violence, death, or harassment, go up when we cannot easily blend in with the female population. For those of us that are MTF, some of us are blessed with more feminine features, and many of us are not. We get the whammy of a larger skeleton, bigger hands, bigger feet, a beard, a deep voice, and masculine face. It takes a lot for some of us to be able to blend in. My belief is that the better we blend in, the better chance we have of not being targeted. In this, electrolysis, facial feminizing/gender affirming facial surgery, voice/speech therapy with voice feminization/gender affirming voice surgery, and body contouring are all potentially lifesaving. Unfortunately, many of the insurance companies deem the procedures as cosmetic, and yet there is no cosmetic that fixes all of these issues. If you pay your money, you can get anything you want in this world. The sad reality is that for us, many of these procedures would enhance our lives tremendously, yet we face ongoing battles with our very existence. Yeah, an empathetic therapist helps, but is it just the concept of reasonable empathy at a reasonable cost? When my therapist jacked her rates to 185 per hour, I said enough is enough. Your mileage may vary.
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