By Antiggonous.
I admit I struggled getting this piece started.
Not to pat my own back, but it’s hard to celebrate personal wins when my community is obviously suffering.
Nonetheless, I feel stories like mine should still be told – examples of how support systems we fought so hard for actually work and work well.
I transitioned socially and medically significantly sooner than my initial time-line I developed for myself in a rural suburb of NE Ohio.
I saw peers my age already in the middle of their transitions, making uses of the resources available in the greater Cleveland area.
When it seemed so easy to do, no fighting the system, no giving up my life as it was to live as I needed; I said, that really could be me right now.
Getting an appointment with Metro’s Pride Clinic felt a little convoluted, still is admittedly, I had to reschedule my usual follow up with my provider on the phone instead of on myChart.
But at its worst, it was just a hold as I was transferred to a special line just for the clinic.
I got to start HRT on informed-consent, which was mindblowing at the time. I didn’t need other people to prove to my new doctor that this is what I needed, I was trusted to know myself.
Unfortunately, I was uninsured, so I paid out of pocket for most things.
When I needed assistance, I had to schedule an appointment with Metro’s financial office. I provided proof of income through work and school, and had most of my medical debts forgiven.
It was both easy and hard. As helpful and kind the woman I was working with was, it still felt terrifying to be doing this alone as someone just freshly deemed an adult.
HRT was somewhat affordable, mostly as the means of administration I was using was the cheapest available option (and the standard treatment).
But as the years went on, I found it more and more difficult to give myself injections.
I know now that I am insured, getting another form of treatment would require hoops of proof of need and prior auths that I’d been thankfully spared by my care provider since 2019.
I’ve never had to submit much of anything myself outside of documentation for Top Surgery, which was standard for approval from the surgeon anyway. At the time I was on medicaid, and since I was unsure of my future, I decided to get surgery while I was on medicaid.
Though I didn’t get my choice of surgeon, due to working exclusively through metrohealth and what surgeons took medicaid, I got my surgery for nothing out of pocket.
Free top surgery.
To this day I still am overwhelmed at the privilege of that. Knowing the articles and blog posts and social media rally calls to sort out funding for people’s care.
I was also getting all of my HRT at the time for zero dollars out of my pocket.
Even now I am getting insurance through my work.
It’s so stupid, isn’t it? That something anyone may need to just function is stuck behind a paywall.
Even moreso that people might be forbidden to even get that care, just because someone else doesn’t like it?
I wish my straightforward, simple, affordable experience was universal.
It helped me so much to be a person again, to contribute to my community, to live without suffering.
It was possible, and it should remain possible. We only need people who live their lives with compassion and empathy in charge of our care.
We need people to support us in the challenge of even getting that care.
We need to continue to advocate for ourselves and those like us.