Hi from San Diego

[Jani]

Hello Wendy and welcome back!   You've had lots of progress and the news about your insurance is good.  From my understanding with a zero-depth or cosmetic procedure you may not need genital clearing.  I would check with the surgeon that would do the work.  They would have the final word on what is required.  

Please don't stay away so long and join in the conversation.  We'r love to hear more from you. 

Jani

[Guest]

On 7/20/2016 at 1:24 PM, WendyLynn said:

Thanks!  I did hear from her office, and she does want electrolysis.  I think it's Kaiser "policies"  or something more than that it's completely necessary.  I do want hair removal down there, but don't want to wait the year or so it will take.  Ugh.  If I do have to wait that long, I want Orchi first, as Spiro has truly horrible side effects for me, even on the lowest dose that works.

 

[VickySGV]

6 hours ago, WendyLynn said:

The good news is they are doing surgeries at the new Kaiser facility in Los Angeles, with short wait times. 

I was just out at the Kaiser WeHo hospital visiting their absolutely most recent patient (surgery was this morning starting at 10AM and lasting until 2:30PM).  Another visitor was the FIRST patient to have the surgery there, a girl whom I also know, and come to think of it, I even know patients 2 and 5.  Your wait will pay off.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, VickySGV said:

I was just out at the Kaiser WeHo hospital visiting their absolutely most recent patient (surgery was this morning starting at 10AM and lasting until 2:30PM).  Another visitor was the FIRST patient to have the surgery there, a girl whom I also know, and come to think of it, I even know patients 2 and 5.  Your wait will pay off.

Cool!  I wish there were some kind of forum for those who have had surgery there and those hoping to in the near future.  It would be awesome to compare notes/get information.  Information is hard to come by trying to get it from Kaiser. 

[VickySGV]

39 minutes ago, WendyLynn said:

Cool!  I wish there were some kind of forum for those who have had surgery there and those hoping to in the near future.  It would be awesome to compare notes/get information.  Information is hard to come by trying to get it from Kaiser. 

At the minute there are less than 20 people who have had the surgery there*, that will probably change by the end of August, and their first one was the second week of April this year. I can let my friends know (neither one is a member here) and maybe have them do something on Face Book.

*I was patient 983 +/- for my surgeon four and a half years ago, so while I am a Kaiser Health Plan member who receives excellent post op care, I am not eligible for their GCS alumni club, nor do I know their real GCS hoops to go through.

[MarcieMarie12]

I am in Kaiser Mid atlantic, I will say the referral process for me has been a pain. But it was complicated by the fact that Kaiser didn't work all the kinks out when removing trans exclusions in their policies (mine had one in 2016 plan year that ran June to June). I was told that in 2017 that all plans would remove them, was not told that it would only happen after the plan year changes. That was my first complication.

[Guest]

I pretty much know what all the hoops and such are, and I'm satisfied with where I am in that process, but some of the details such as how much electrolysis is required for each procedure (depth/partial/zero depth), what the exact procedure the surgeon uses (for example, is there follicular scraping done?),  can an orchi be done if recommended by my endo because of poor tolerance of anti-androgens... stuff like that is hard to get information about, for the particular surgeon(s)  at the L.A.  hospital.  

We have a weekly group that I sometimes attend, where the information I have received is sometimes spot on, but sometimes somewhat unreliable.  It's always good to get first-hand perspective. 

[VickySGV]

3 minutes ago, MarcieMarie12 said:

But it was complicated by the fact that Kaiser didn't work all the kinks out when removing trans exclusions in their policies (mine had one).

Out here in CA, Kaiser got told by the STATE Insurance Commission that they had no exclusions in their policies across the board out here, which your state has NOT done.  Employers who bought the policies for their employees did not have to be in the loop or approve if the policies for their employees included that coverage. The policies and plans increased only by small change per employee and were submerged in annual contract increases for other things that had already been in place. 

[Guest]

Just now, VickySGV said:

Out here in CA, Kaiser got told by the STATE Insurance Commission that they had no exclusions in their policies across the board out here, which your state has NOT done.  Employers who bought the policies for their employees did not have to be in the loop or approve if the policies for their employees included that coverage. The policies and plans increased only by small change per employee and were submerged in annual contract increases for other things that had already been in place. 

My employer (A local government agency)  already covered it before that, which is nice.  They have been very supportive to me.

[VickySGV]

11 minutes ago, WendyLynn said:

stuff like that is hard to get information about, for the particular surgeon(s)  at the L.A.  hospital.  

There are only the two surgeons on the "team" that does GCS right now there and each one does 1/2 of the surgery in the West Hollywood medical center and not all of the questions you have have been directly addressed on a general level.  The process is still a case by case basis, but all the patients I know have been full depth vaginoplasty, and that is what the surgeons have been trained for and so far do.  It will come in time but they are evaluating each case before they schedule another surgery for the most part.  Two were done in April, and two more in early May, and I think in June they ramped it up to four that month, and I did not hear yesterday if any others were planned in the near future.  My suggestion is to contact one of the Patient Advocates at your closest hospital in SD and see if they can put you in direct contact with the surgical team, but do not be dismayed or angry if they honestly DO NOT know the answers just yet.  Even with my surgeon who has done close to 2K+ surgeries by now, each one is an individual medical event, and my experiences differ in some element from the group of "sisters" I talk with on occasion. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, VickySGV said:

There are only the two surgeons on the "team" that does GCS right now there and each one does 1/2 of the surgery in the West Hollywood medical center and not all of the questions you have have been directly addressed on a general level.  The process is still a case by case basis, but all the patients I know have been full depth vaginoplasty, and that is what the surgeons have been trained for and so far do.  It will come in time but they are evaluating each case before they schedule another surgery for the most part.  Two were done in April, and two more in early May, and I think in June they ramped it up to four that month, and I did not hear yesterday if any others were planned in the near future.  My suggestion is to contact one of the Patient Advocates at your closest hospital in SD and see if they can put you in direct contact with the surgical team, but do not be dismayed or angry if they honestly DO NOT know the answers just yet.  Even with my surgeon who has done close to 2K+ surgeries by now, each one is an individual medical event, and my experiences differ in some element from the group of "sisters" I talk with on occasion. 

Thanks!  I would not be angry at all, I'm sure they get bombarded with this stuff all the time, which is probably why it's so hard to connect with them directly.  Sometimes I find it effective to ask my endo to contact someone on my behalf.