Cautiously Happy

02 Apr 2020 Activism

The week of Transgender Day of Visibility is going very mixed for me.

First of all, your girl just got an appointment confirmation for the diagnosis at the Gender Care clinic in 3 weeks. Moreover, my insurance company approved it and will pay me back after the appointment.

Also, yay! I had an appointment with a private endocrinologist from BUPA. Dr. Nida Chammas has prescribed me 3 month’s worth of HRT based on the medical documentation I received from the 56 Dean Street Clinic. Sadly, this is out-of-my-pocket, since my insurance provider does not cover any of this.

Photo by Daniel Páscoa on Unsplash

Finally, it seems that my pharmacy might start delivering to the UK by the end of this month.

And there is some less good news.

Last Wednesday, my NHS GP told me that she’ll get back to me with updates regarding the GIC referral and the bridging prescription, yet I haven’t heard anything from her. Another doctor from that clinic was extremely unsupportive, telling me that he couldn’t do anything. Finally, the clinic secretary refused to update my name, so I had to physically bring them an explanation letter from the Gender Kit website.

This morning I received an SMS from them,

We have received your correspondence and will start the process of requesting a new NHS number (required to change your gender to female on the system). In the meantime, we have added Miss Atsuko Ito as your preferred name.

We have again requested advice from the Gender Identity Clinic Specialists via phone and email. We are also seeking advice regarding reputable private specialists you could engage with.

We will update you when we hear any further information.

I need to calm down. I was angry every other day, and I was fighting too much. The imminent crisis is in the past.

Consequently, I don’t want to lose momentum. I’m participating in discussions with HR and Benefits at the workplace, and it’s rather productive and educating for both us, Transgender Community, and them.

We need to be visible. We need to be open and vulnerable. I think that’s what we should do this week (and every other week too) to celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility.