ive heard the argument that transitioning is a "voluntary surgery" and so its not necessary. while its true that medical transition is an elective surgery (all elective surgery means is that youre not going to die immediately if you dont have it now, as opposed to emergency surgery), most surgeries are elective. still, ive seen people argue, "would you let someone cut off a limb if they didn't want it?" and id say, yes. ive seen it done before
ive worked in hospitals for a long time, and years ago i saw a patient very frequently. he came in once every month or so, inpatient. one day he told me what he kept coming in for. he had a knee replacement, but it kept rejecting. so the hospital would take it out, keep him, and then put it back in. he told me that he was fighting to just have it amputated. he said he was in his 70s and he just didnt have enough time anymore to spend it all in the hospital. he said that he felt he could live a better and more fulfilling life for the years he had left if they just took the leg off. he could get a prosthetic and just not have to go to the hospital all the time. he said that the doctors were fighting him on it but that was what he wanted. i said that i understood, and that i hoped he could get that amputation
anyway, some time passed, and i saw him again. i asked whats up, he was beaming and said, "i got it done! they took the leg off!" i was like, "hell yeah man, how are you feeling?" and he said "well it hurts right now but im not gonna have to come here all the time anymore." he left the hospital some time later, and i never saw him again, which is all you can hope for when you work in a hospital
he also had an elective surgery, a "voluntary" surgery. he chose to have an amputation because he was suffering with the limb intact. and thats really what we're doing too. yes, transition surgeries are elective, but that doesnt mean that theyre not necessary to improve the quality of our lives
idk. i told my dad about this years ago, and my dad said he couldnt understand choosing that. but i could. and i hope hes still out of the hospital. i hope he never goes back
