My initial disclaimer for this post - "I am writing and expressing these thoughts in a neutral manner and all of this is based on my personal experience only" ...
Forging positive relationships with doctors and surgeons during this process I can see is not always easy, my challenge, how to best conduct oneself when I know I"m smart enough to be a doctor (I just decided not to do medicine), I'm know I'm completely sane and know exactly what I need! Convincing surgeons of this appears to be challenging sometimes purely based on the fact that gender swap is a foreign concept...I wonder if this is a component of a medical degree? I truly wish it was more so!!!
What's lead to this post is a fairy simple situation that I find myself in...I went and saw the surgeon that is known to work with trans people regarding chest re-construction and I won't be seeing her again. My intelligence was insulted numerous times and I was 'told' that 'this is the way I work'. I'm quite fine with this as there are many plastic surgeons listed on the 'Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons'.
As almost what one could consider a 'gift of grace'...I just received a random FB message from a stranger who read my feature in Madison this month, offering complete support, along with a suggestion of a GREAT plastic surgeon that did her breast reduction surgery a number of years ago. I just rang this DR and asked if they would be willing to have an appointment with me. Short answer was "no he/she doesn't do 'that'" but this doctor does (aka the one I will NOT be going to - see above!). I explained that I wouldn't be seeing this person and was after another opinion...so they are getting back to me with any other recommendations they can think of".
This was all polite and helpful so no complaints at all with this service...this puzzles me though, really what is the difference here between a female wanting a breast reduction from D cup to B cup...to me currently who wouldn't even probably fit a A cup to go to flat chest?
As the article mentions I'm not entirely sure that with more time on testosterone, gym work and removal of estrogen producing organs that I'll need anything anyway, but being a curious being I want to speak to another surgeon about it...what's the big deal that I'm changing from a she to he?!
This is all!
Perhaps also fair to note as a friend has pointed out, I am sure there are some different technical aspects involved in reducing breast tissue vs creating a flatter masculine chest...being a surgeon who specifically focuses on this region of the body, I thought one would be open to at least a discussion about it, perhaps for surgeon efficiency & speciality this is not the case...fair enough too.
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