Good morning All. Coffees on.

[Heather Nicole]

Hi everyone! I'm pretty excited today, as late this afternoon I finally have an initial consult for HRT😀. It's going to be hard waiting until then! It's in an area I'm not real familiar with (thank goodness for google map's street view!), but just down the road from it, on the way really, is an lgbt center that has some trans groups I've been meaning to look into. So I might head out early and stop in there on the way to my appointment.

[Billie75B]

1 hour ago, Heather Nicole said:

Hi everyone! I'm pretty excited today, as late this afternoon I finally have an initial consult for HRT😀. It's going to be hard waiting until then! It's in an area I'm not real familiar with (thank goodness for google map's street view!), but just down the road from it, on the way really, is an lgbt center that has some trans groups I've been meaning to look into. So I might head out early and stop in there on the way to my appointment.

Congrats Heather you are now on your way to being your true self. 

[Jackie C.]

14 hours ago, Elizabeth Star said:

understand what you're saying but I need to, for me.

 

Nah, I get it. You gotta' do what makes your dysphoria shut up.

 

Hugs!

[Ann W]

1 hour ago, Heather Nicole said:

Hi everyone! I'm pretty excited today, as late this afternoon I finally have an initial consult for HRT😀. It's going to be hard waiting until then! It's in an area I'm not real familiar with (thank goodness for google map's street view!), but just down the road from it, on the way really, is an lgbt center that has some trans groups I've been meaning to look into. So I might head out early and stop in there on the way to my appointment.

Wow...that's big news Heather.  Have a wonderful day! 🌺  you've come so far already. 

[Jamey-Heather]

2 hours ago, Heather Nicole said:

Hi everyone! I'm pretty excited today, as late this afternoon I finally have an initial consult for HRT😀. It's going to be hard waiting until then! It's in an area I'm not real familiar with (thank goodness for google map's street view!), but just down the road from it, on the way really, is an lgbt center that has some trans groups I've been meaning to look into. So I might head out early and stop in there on the way to my appointment.

Oh great mother that is so wonderful! Congratulations!! 

[Jamey-Heather]

25 minutes ago, Jackie C. said:

Nah, I get it. You gotta' do what makes your dysphoria shut up.

 

Hugs!

Ironically, I have the opposite issue. Although I want to 100% transform, I'd be happier with bottom surgery only, if I had to pick an "only". I've always been a bit of a tomboy, which was not helpful to realizing who I really am. Still, I really don't enjoy having these things hanging off me. Thank you for your insight. Hugs! 

[Jackie C.]

7 minutes ago, Jamey said:

Ironically, I have the opposite issue. Although I want to 100% transform, I'd be happier with bottom surgery only, if I had to pick an "only". I've always been a bit of a tomboy, which was not helpful to realizing who I really am. Still, I really don't enjoy having these things hanging off me. Thank you for your insight. Hugs! 

 

Well yeah. Whatever you do, it's to feel comfortable in your own skin. If you're happy with just bottom surgery, then great. If you need top surgery, bottom surgery, facial surgery and voice surgery (plus whatever else I'm forgetting that somebody wants), that's OK too.

 

Personally, I had bottom surgery, HRT and... I'm good. You have to do what makes you happy, not what anybody else expects. Even if I AM jealous of Liz's chest. 😉

 

Hugs!

[Jamey-Heather]

9 minutes ago, Jackie C. said:

 

Well yeah. Whatever you do, it's to feel comfortable in your own skin. If you're happy with just bottom surgery, then great. If you need top surgery, bottom surgery, facial surgery and voice surgery (plus whatever else I'm forgetting that somebody wants), that's OK too.

 

Personally, I had bottom surgery, HRT and... I'm good. You have to do what makes you happy, not what anybody else expects. Even if I AM jealous of Liz's chest. 😉

 

Hugs!

I'm jealous of her chest also! But I also understand that she wants the chest she wants. I dream of a society where NONE of this is a problem for ANYONE. Much love, and big hugs!!

[Jamey-Heather]

Which brings up something both hopeful and horrible: my wife's older sister (54) died unexpectedly yesterday. That's the horror. I asked my wife what I could do and she said "life is too precious and too short. I need you to be true to yourself, and biggie up (she, for the first time, did NOT say 'man' up) so you can take care of our son while I'm away". I don't want to read too much into this: but I told her I'd rather NOT transition if it meant losing her (and meant it), but that, just so she knew, I DID want to transition, 100%. I feel like she, through her great loss, realized...well, SOMETHING. I'll keep this family posted 💖

 

[Mmindy]

4 hours ago, Heather Nicole said:

Hi everyone! I'm pretty excited today, as late this afternoon I finally have an initial consult for HRT😀.

That's great news Heather, I hope everything goes well, and you also find the LGBT Center to be a plus.

 

Hugs,

 

Mindy🐛🏳️‍⚧️🦋

[Mmindy]

1 hour ago, Jamey said:

my wife's older sister (54) died unexpectedly yesterday.

@JameyI'm sorry for your family loss. Support your wife as she works through the grieving process.

 

The pain of her grief is equal to, but not greater than the love she had for her sister. If their mother is still living, she will be the one grieving the hardest because she has lost a child. Sometimes the best thing we can do for grieving family and friend is just be there. You don't have to say anything, just be there.

 

Prayers of comfort for the family,

 

Mindy🐛🏳️‍⚧️🦋

[Jamey-Heather]

34 minutes ago, Mmindy said:

@JameyI'm sorry for your family loss. Support your wife as she works through the grieving process.

 

The pain of her grief is equal to, but not greater than the love she had for her sister. If their mother is still living, she will be the one grieving the hardest because she has lost a child. Sometimes the best thing we can do for grieving family and friend is just be there. You don't have to say anything, just be there.

 

Prayers of comfort for the family,

 

Mindy🐛🏳️‍⚧️🦋

Unfortunately her mom, who lived with us, died in March this same year. But, yes, just being here is the most important. Love and hugs

 

[Mmindy]

5 hours ago, Jamey said:

Love and hugs

💔❤️‍🩹❤️

[Elizabeth Star]

@Heather Nicole Congratulations. It's a big step. A lot more things in your life will change.❤️

 

9 hours ago, Jackie C. said:

Nah, I get it. You gotta' do what makes your dysphoria shut up.

That's all I'm trying to do. 🙂

 

@JameyWhat Mindy said 💔❤️🩹

 

 

[Stefi]

Been awhile since I posted. So much has happened. On hrt for 5 1/2 months now. My wife and I need to start talking about divorce as she will not accept my gender at all.  My body is starting to change, mainly my breasts are growing. They are tender to the touch all the time now. I do not mind as it is a small price to pay for real breasts. Still quite emotional and my skin feels softer. I will try to post more often.

 

Stefi

 

 

[Elizabeth Star]

Got off work early. Met my partner at a friends house. I needed her car since it can haul more than my Jeep. Another run to Home Depot. I'm only buying a couple/few days worth of materials at a time. No sense in having materials stacked up if I'm not ready to use them.

 

I was able to finish building the cabinet around the refrigerator. Well actually rebuild-it. I didn't like where I was going with the first idea so I tore most it down and started over. I'm very happy with it this go-around. Tomorrow I'll start building the last section of counter then we can finally start painting. I still have to re-tile the floor and sort out some electrical issues. A lot of our house has cloth wiring (it's such a pain to work on) so  I'm putting off the electrical as long as possible.  New hard ware on the cabinet, some final touches and it's done.

 

 

 

 

[Elizabeth Star]

Hi @Stefi, welcome back. Sorry to hear about you and your wife. The ouchies is definitely a thing. I didn't really understand and underestimated what everyone was talking about until I went through it. Now I know why women move so gracefully.

[Heather Nicole]

Thanks for the congrats everyone, that really did make my day all the more! Aaand...my HRT consultation this evening went really well 🥰  It's looking like HRT may turn out to be a Christmas goodie for me this year! 😄  This place does informed consent, and the person I talked to said that after this initial consult they typically just do one follow-up appointment for a routine physical and paperwork and are usually able to give a prescription right then. Mine's scheduled in exactly two weeks -- the day before Christmas Eve! I've been ridiculously happy both before and since this meeting today, it all just seems so much more real now 😁

 

(Although I'd be lying if I said it didn't help help my mood at least somewhat that I treated myself to dinner at a nice Lebanese restaurant across the street right before the appointment...Yum!)

 

Maybe a little late, but the imminent reality of this also has me finally feeling extra-motivated to work that much more seriously on my weight/fitness. Lately, I'd been thinking I really should commit, at the very least, to regular daily walks around the block (heck, it helped a lot six years ago back before I let myself go again), but with E's less-muscle/more-fat effects around the corner, things like that feel all that much more essential now (along with everything else I've been working towards: Better diet, Moderation Management for reducing alcohol, and just the general project of getting my life back on track I've been gradually trying to work on the last couple years.)

 

I'm even starting to feel like I might be slightly starting to outgrow the...admittedly very comfy...lie of my current AI-enhanced profile pic. I don't know, we'll see, one step at a time...

[Heather Nicole]

@Jamey I'm so sorry for your and your wife's losses. I can only imagine two losses in a single year must be very difficult, to say nothing of one of them even being unexpected. My condolences.

 

@Stefi Very sorry to hear about the difficulties in your relationship with your wife. I wish I knew what to say 😔

 

@Elizabeth Star I'm impressed by your home improvement handiness (and that of many other people here, too). In my family, my little brother is the handy one. I, on the other hand, feel proud when I'm able to successfully change a faceplate or an air filter! But I have recently gotten hooked on "Ask This Old House" again (a lingering effect of my mother's influence, I'm convinced , she loved home improvement shows: some of the very few TV shows she didn't have complaints about!) So maybe there might be hope for me yet...!

[Aggie1]

1 hour ago, Heather Nicole said:

I'm impressed by your home improvement handiness (and that of many other people here, too). In my family, my little brother is the handy one. I, on the other hand, feel proud when I'm able to successfully change a faceplate or an air filter!

I'm right there with you!! I can do faceplates and filters, but you know what? I can also change fuses too! And furniture, if it's from Ikea.

[Aggie1]

Well, it's been over a year since I had a haircut. My hair ends now touch under my chin. And I have discovered another "joy", that of pulling hair ends out of my mouth when I'm eating. Hair in the mouth is something my wife always complained about. To hear her you'd think she'd been bitten by a spider. Nope, just pulling a hair out of her mouth! I'm beginning to appreciate the experience first hand. Not gross, but it can be annoying. 

She's also in her 60's and at least once a week she spends some time plucking hair out of her lip or chin. She asked me the other day about my electrologist, and I got her an appointment same time as me in January, so she gets to meet her for herself. Pretty cool that she's taking a more active interest in my transition, in a positive rather than a passive way. 

[tracy_j]

I am not the only one? lol. Yes I have experienced the "joy" which comes from having longer hair too. I cut my own at the moment and taper it a bit at the front to avoid that as much as possible.

 

Tracy

[Heather Nicole]

1 hour ago, AgnesBardsie said:

Well, it's been over a year since I had a haircut. My hair ends now touch under my chin. And I have discovered another "joy", that of pulling hair ends out of my mouth when I'm eating. Hair in the mouth is something my wife always complained about. To hear her you'd think she'd been bitten by a spider. Nope, just pulling a hair out of her mouth! I'm beginning to appreciate the experience first hand. Not gross, but it can be annoying. 

 

Omg, yes, this! Unfortunately for me, I always used to find the combo of food plus any one strand of hair terribly gross. So that's something I've been forced to start "getting over", as there always seems to be at least one wayward strand going somewhere unexpected. On the plus side, I now fully understand why women tend to have that certain feminine mannerism of keeping their head tilted upwards or level and never facing downward while taking any single bite of food! (Facing down = all hair goes in the face!)

[MirandaB]

Curly/wavy hair, so only has flown into mouth area outside on very windy days, so far.  

 

Mrs. keeps threatening to pop in to one of my electolysis sessions to get a few random hairs zapped, but every week it doesn't work out. My transition has inspired her to do a few things like that for herself on her own. 

[Jani]

5 hours ago, RhondaS said:

Mrs. keeps threatening to pop in to one of my electolysis sessions to get a few random hairs zapped

Ha!  My wife made an appointment a few years ago to zap a couple hairs.  She couldn't believe the pain so she never went again.