#porterbrook

So what a week, as you know I’ve been treading water with a lot of stuff recently but while none of them are completely sorted there has been definite progress.

The book, Born a Woman, is now up to 5500 words and making slow, but steady progress. I’m going on a long train journey in a couple of weeks so plan on putting a few 1000 more words on the count during the trip, alongside steady progress…

I’m assuming you’re the person who found a couple of my old posts of woe about not knowing which GIC to go to. Sorry for not answering sooner, my phone was bad at giving me notifications while I wasn’t on my laptop.

Yes I did. I’m gonna write down a lot of the process in case it’s helpful to you or anyone else that might read this. I know there’s not much info about for Sheffield.

So.

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Turned out my doctor had referred me to both Leeds and Sheffield at the same time. Leeds got back to me first (within about four weeks of the referral) to tell me that I wouldn’t be seen until the following tax year which would have been about now (April 2015). Sheffield took a bit longer (about another six weeks after Leeds) but my first contact with them was a load of paperwork that had to be filled out so I could get my first appointment. I filled that out and I then received an appointment in the post which was to be my first with the GIC for mid to late January. That was about a month after I’d received and posted back the aforementioned paperwork. So that’s about eighteen weeks from referral to first appointment.

After that my appointments were anywhere between three days to three months apart, though usually closer to monthly. It was the wait between seeing the doctor and him deciding to refer me to the mental health/psychologist doctor and subsequently receiving that appointment that took the longest.

So I had my first appointment with the Doctor where we ran through my paperwork and a brief talk of my then current situation and feelings. He deemed me okay to move forwards and he referred me to the psychologist.

This was where the biggest wait was, about three months.

I then had two appointments with the psychologist where we went over my history, current situation (work, study, relationships, feelings etc. and tw some minor probing into sexual/masturbation habits) and hopes for treatment. The first appointment was longer and more emotionally draining whereas the second just recapped to make sure she made accurate notes and finished off the hopes for treatment bit as some people might have changed their expectations between appointments.

I then saw the original doctor again who ran over some more bits with me and agreed to take my case forward to be diagnosed and referred for treatment.

While that was going through, I saw another doctor (who I semi frequently talk about on here (David)) who ran through hormone options and did a mental health screening (two or three computer based questionnaires) to make sure I was stable and not suicidal etc. I’m not sure what impact this would have on treatment but apparently mine was super.

I saw my original Doctor again about two days after seeing David who said the council/team whatever who considered my case had agreed I was trans and was to be treated.

I then had yet another appointment, this time with Kevan Wylie (who’s clinic Porterbrook is technically) who got me to sign the consent forms and let me pick what form of T I would take (along with also discussing top surgery briefly and letting me know that I was free to utilise the wardrobe and speech specialists). I chose nebido which he did try and discourage. He wanted to me to start on gel or weekly injections first but I had my reasons for refusing these which he said were logical and thus respected my decision. He also briefly mentioned hormone blockers but I said that David said I was too old for those which confused Kevan so on the note he wrote to my GP, he said I’d refused them which I hadn’t. I’d just said I didn’t think I would be allowed them so I’d advise you to be very clear at this point. He wanted me to start as soon as possible because I’d been part of the dicked over group who’d had the minimum appointments before hrt change from four to six so I’d been delayed (what he thought) unnecessarily. So he ran around to the doctors who generally administer the shots/show you how to use gel or the tablets for oestrogen users and got Kirstie (it’s either Kirstie or David who will have these appointments with you) to fit me in exactly a week later.

Kirstie was not happy at all about putting me straight on nebido but listened to Kevan and gave it me, but she did give me her personal number to call her on if I got any side effects which was cool. I got the side effects talk again here and she also had a random off topic talk about surgery cos I want to go abroad.

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So pretty much bang on thirteen months after my GP sent my referral I was having my first shot of hormones. That was the end of September and I had my first appointment at Sheffield at the end of January so that was a grand total of eight months wait and eight appointments which shows you generally aren’t waiting forever at Sheffield. Like I’ve tried to show above the biggest wait was the three months while waiting for the psychologist (I learned recently that she doesn’t just see people before hrt, surgery etc. but she sees some people who are vulnerable or in need of extra help, throughout their whole time at Sheffield which accounts for the extra wait time). So considering I had eight total appointments in eight months, and had to wait three for the process to properly start, it shows how quickly you progress if you’re a straight forward case without other difficulties.

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So yeah. I did go to Sheffield and I’m glad I did. What little I had to do with Leeds was always a pain in the arse and my gp found them entirely unhelpful while he appears to get on well with the doctors at Sheffield. I’ve found all the Sheffield doctors helpful, polite and easy to get along with (apart from one random locum I saw two months ago who I believe has been kicked out, hurrah) and would definitely recommend the clinic even if it is an arse to get to with it being nowhere near Sheffield train station. 

Side note, if taking public transport, catch the number 22 bus towards Nether Edge (First buses not Stagecoach) from the city centre near the fountains and the Winter Gardens, and don’t get off until the last stop. Then you just walk forward, take a left and carry on walking. It’s on your right up a bit of a hill. Easy once you’ve gone once but the first time is awful because it all looks the same round there.

So following my appointment with Dr Shetti last week he was happy to refer me for surgery.. Indeed he was basically happy to before I walked through the door and what I told him probably only re-enforced an already strong opinion. With my new sport of Roller Derby (see the Ditzy Roller Girl) I ticked a box for myself that I hadn’t been asked to by the GIC, but of course Shetti would see that as a…