I am not sure if beginning with this opinion slash story is the right way to start this out, but I am going to swallow my nerves and just write it anyways.
As many close to me know I am a transgender male. I have not been medically transitioning for very long, but the journey has been arduous to say the very least. Let’s just jump in headfirst, shall we?
The health care system is not prepared for the influx of transgender patients that require proper health care. My personal account of this began around December of last year.
In the beginning, my injections were being administered by a trained professional except when Christmas holidays came along. When the holidays arrived, there was no one that was available to do my injections and there was also no one around to train me how to administer them myself. I called my doctor in a panic and left her multiple messages. Finally, she got back to me and told me that a nurse would be calling me back to book an appointment for the next day.
The nurse called me a couple of hours later.
“Do you have all of the necessary equipment?”
Wait…what equipment? Was I building a house?
“No, I don’t.”
“Oh okay. Well grab a piece of paper and I’ll give you a list of things you will need, then I will give you a set of directions to follow. I’ll also give you a YouTube video to watch before you try it for the first time.”
Wait…is this for real? Am I really going to have to do this without instruction?
“It’s just like pressing a needle into an orange…”
Do I sound like a person that has done that?
She gave me the instructions and I picked up the necessary “equipment” as she so eloquently put it.
I watched the video, read the instructions a thousand times and did my homework. The first injection I ever had to administer on my own I struck an artery in my left leg. We all know what happens when an artery is even remotely touched. It was like a scene in a horror movie, except the horrible thing was I was all alone. The only thing you need to know about that is I turned out okay without any major repercussions.
Unfortunately, the beginning of my story is not so uncommon. We all have some version of blood on the living room on the floor and an emergency room. We all sing the same song somehow.
Beginning steps are being made. I have a friend in nursing and they required her to go to a seminar on transgender healthcare. That’s the problem. It was one seminar in four years of schooling and bam! You are allowed to treat transgender patients. We all have to handle transgender patients with care because we all respond to treatment differently. There is no generalization that will help treat a trans patient.
But as a great instructor once said to me, I’m not bitter (thanks Pete).
-D.H