#pre operation

Step One: Selecting a trusted medical facility/physician.

This step was relatively easy for me given that my province has a medical and mental health center that specifically caters to the needs of trans people of all backgrounds. This center does not stretch across Canada and by extension, globally. If you have a family doctor, physician, therapist, etc. that you trust or know some other organization or trans group in your region that may have information, speak to them about it and get their input while looking online for recommended doctors/surgeons for whatever procedure you’re looking for.

Once you have a doctor/surgeon or even a medical office in mind, ask if you can set up a meet & greet to get to know them, get to know if your comfortable with them and explain what kind of assistance you are looking for. If you at any moment feel uncomfortable with the medical professional you will be dealing with, it's time to take your search to someone else.

In some situations, you may find yourself dealing with more than one medical professional.

Step Two: Pre-op examination.

Even if you're only going to receive hormones and have no desire to pursue anything else, they're going to need your medical record (if you have one) and some blood work to determine whether or not you're body can handle whatever stress and/or changes that come with it.

If you plan on taking testosterone and have a family history/personally experience high blood pressure, clots, strokes, etc, then you may not be eligible to take it out of risk for your health and safety.

I don't personally know what risks exist for taking estrogen, but if someone does know, feel free to let me know and I'll add it here.

I should add that being accepted for testosterone/estrogen is a far shorter process, and far more accessible than surgery if you have to choose between the two for whatever reason.

Step Three: Approval (*optional)

This step may be entirely regionally based, so I have no idea what it's applicability may be to other areas. Due to the fact that my surgery was government funded, I had to under go several psych examinations to ensure that I experienced Gender Disphoria (also known as gender identity disorder). This was not a one off process by any means as every step of the way I was asked about my gender identity and background concerning such. They want to make sure it's not just being done on a whim essentially and it truly beneficial to your health. I was asked by almost every medical practitioner at one stage or another what my experiences with gender were, how long I had maintained my "gender identity" and whether I was out about it.

I spoke to the medical organization's on site therapist and physician before being granted approval to undergo a full psychological examination by a psychiatric professional (who was really sweet and fantastic at her job). After my talk session with her concluded, I was sent to fill out a examination sheet with 50-100 questions on one of those bubble sheets they run through the machine before leaving for the day.

That sheet along with the psychologist's assessment was emailed to me to grant approval before being sent off to the government so that I may be approved for surgery.

I'm not certain if all regions require a psych exam before approving patients for hormone treatment or surgery, but it is something to keep in mind regardless as you may be asked some of these questions at any point.

I know this step can be terrifying for a lot of people, but as someone who is nonbinary and often feels disincluded in my "trans-ness", the people I dealt with were incredibly understanding and very willing to help. They listened actively and asked questions to gauge where exactly I fell within the spectrum, offering me layer upon layer of support. If you find that you don't receive this in your process, I urge you to try again and find others who will.

Step Four: Meeting your physcian/surgeon.

Meeting with your physician, I assume you'd be given and granted the dosage you require and given instructions on proper use, function, changes, cost, etc. as a result. (Again feel free to share your experience with this if you have such and I'll do my best to flush this out.)

If you are meeting your surgeon for the first time, then they will likely go over the procedure, ask you to remove your clothes to examine the area in which they will be operating and then let you know briefly what to expect as a result of the surgery.

They may give you a date on the spot, for me they explained that I would receive a date in the mail after 2-4 weeks.

Again, if your physician makes you feel uncomfortable or you don’t feel safe with them, I would suggest letting the person who referred you to them know (if someone has) before seeking out an alternative if possible.

Step Five: The Surgery.

This is a fairly long one and I feel like there's a lot of little aspects that belong here to give people important tips regardless what to expect going in and coming out so I'm going to make an entirely separate post detailing all of that and will link back here once I've done that.