Of Hormones and Women

Greetings everyone! I hope you are doing well. I want to apologize I promised that I would post yesterday but unfortunately I was not able to see my doctor that day. However I saw him today and let me tell you, I have some great news.

I woke up at 8 in the morning on pins and needles not knowing if I would begin HRT today or if I would have to wait for blood results and red tape. After I took my adipex and finished all the boring morning routine stuff. I went to my car and got on my way at promptly 9 o'clock. It was the longest car ride I have ever had, not because of distance but because of all the thoughts racing through my head. I arrived at his office at exactly 10:30.

It was a very small office run by three nurses and my doctor. Tiny waiting room, old tv, old magazines; the classic doctors office. I signed my name and began filling out the paperwork when the nurse pulled me aside and asked what I was being seen for today. I thought oh no what happens if I tell her and they say they will not see me. But I forced all that down and told her that I was there for Hormone Replacement Therapy and to my surprise she was the nurse that I had spoken to on the phone. She was really supportive and told me that she had checked and found my insurance will not cover my doctors visits do to the medical code being transgender. After a few laughs I sat back down and started finishing up the paperwork. That was when another nurse had arrived and pulled me into her office.

She was an older lady and very kind. She asked me the usual questions: When did realize you were transgender? Are you out yet? What made you want to start hormones? Do you have anyone this will directly affect: wife or husband, children, etc. After all that was said and done I was kind of getting the feeling I was being interrogated. Evidently she realized I was feeling that way and said to not worry. She and my doctor had been treating transgender patients for 40 years! I was shocked and amazed. We got to talking about all sorts of things from religion to politics. It really made me seem at ease and welcomed. We finally got to her paperwork and the first thing she asked was what was my name so I gave my birth name and my new name, Gwen. She asked which I preferred and I said Gwen and she put that down and through out the rest of my appointment refereed to me as Gwen and with proper pronouns. Then the doctor arrived.

He was a very nice older gentleman, he told me he has had several male-to-female patients over the years and asked me a couple of questions. He was really friendly to lots of jokes, we had to stop several times to laugh, even though I only saw him for about 10 minutes about 6 of that was laughing. Before he left he told the nurse to go ahead and contact the pharmacy and set up my prescriptions for Estradiol (Estrogen) and Spironolactone (Anti-Androgen). At this point I was ecstatic I was actually getting the hormones, I didn't even realize that the doctor had left until his nurse had started talking to me again.

She went over the medicines protocols with me, when to take them and so on. She also informed me that they will take blood work on my next visit and that the visit will cost $100 for today and future visits will only cost $50. The last thing she told me was that once I go full time to not worry at all, the staff is very supportive and the other patients are ok with it too. After I paid the nurse at the front desk I quickly rushed over to the pharmacy where I found out my insurance will not pay for my Estradiol (which I already knew) but would pay for my "Spiro" and it only cost me $13. So I finally started my hormone replacement therapy and are on the path for full reassignment.

Needless to say, I am quite excited that not only did I find a doctor with years of experience with an awesome nursing staff but also a pharmacy that is just as welcoming. I cannot wait to see them all again for my next appointment. I go to see them again in 4-6 weeks. So I am planning on going back around June 8th. I am so glad to finally be on the path to being who I truly am, but now I find that my wardrobe is kind of lonely with only one dress, guess it is time to start expanding but that is for another time. I will be sure to post at least once a week about how my HRT is going and to keep you all updated about how the rest of the transition is going. So be sure to check back soon.

Till then,

~Gwen

Femme Fatale

Salutations everyone! I hope you are all doing well. I have quite a bit of news for you all. And as promised I will be presenting some en femme pictures for you too.


First off let me just say that I am so glad to have such support from my friends and family. I have not had a single negative experience so far, knock on wood. In actuality I was jumping at shadows for the first two weeks waiting for the negative reactions. Silly right? Anyways on to the news!


I have been in contact with a well known transgender supporter in Charleston and she actually did quite a bit of research into doctors in the area on my behalf. Yesterday she called me back with info on three doctors. Two of the three do not take personal pay or my insurance. However the third not only takes both but is only an hour away in Milton,WV. I was so excited to the point of being on cloud nine. YAY!


Anyways, after finding this out I called his office and confirmed all this information. The only thing that I was not told was that if by some chance the insurance will not pay it will be $100 to be seen, which is significantly less then the doctor in Morgantown. I also found out I do not need a letter or a referral, I just show up and they will see me. So if all goes well, fingers crossed, I will be seeing him on Monday the 11th.

Now as promised and without further ado I present to you Gwen, en femme.

I personally like this one, though it looks like I have short hair. Should I get it done that way?

This one is ok but I think my smile is dorky. 

This one is not to bad, hopefully the HRT will fix some issues I see.

 Well there you go, Gwen in all her beauty. I do apologize that they are not full pictures and just face shots, but I am not that confident yet. Combined with my weight and the fact that I still kind of hate my upper body (missing two things) I am kind of lacking confidence. Both of which are being rectified. 

My next post will be Monday after I get back from my doctor's office. I hope that I will get my hormones then but there is probably a chance that will not happen do to having to have blood tests done to see my normal hormone levels. Though I will see if he can work in conjunction with my primary care here so I can get my blood tests and medicine from her but he can get the results and tell her if she needs to change my dosage or what have you. Either way Monday will definitely be an interesting day so come and check out my next post.

Till then, 

~Gwen 

Weight Loss, Doctors, and Wardrobes. Oh My!

Hi everyone, I hope you are all doing well. Well for those of you that do not know I have an appointment with Doctor Toffle located in Morgantown to see about beginning my Hormone Replacement Therapy. It is on May 27th at 10 in the morning, I am going to be so tired. I am still saving up every penny I can. It is going to be $283 just to be seen, not counting the cost of the blood tests. Hopefully I will know if I will have enough saved up on the 20th. So here is hoping.

As for my weight loss, recently I had a slight increase to 311 lbs. but I am back down to 308 lb, I only have 158 lbs left to lose. I am getting stricter with my diet and I am doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred, hopefully the pounds just melt off.

On a side note I bought my first dress. Yay! It is a pretty flame coral color and it actually did not cost all that much surprisingly. It is the first step in changing out my wardrobe. Though if I keep up my weight loss track I will be switching out my wardrobe several times over the year. :P

           Here is the dress for those that are curious. I love the color. ^_^



Be sure to check back, I will be posting a full femme post soon, need to show off the dress and my makeup skills. Though I need to build up the confidence to post the pictures, I promise it will be posted within the week.

Till then,

~Gwen