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Posted by Susan James
November 12, 2005
Filed in Society Girl's Personal Blogs
682 views
Two days after I had words with the administrators at Charing Cross, I received a letter. Nothing to do with the surgery, of course, but an appointment for 22nd December to see the shrink again. Oh joy.
I phoned them today, got an answerphone, so relatively politely declined to make the trip three days before Christmas, and asked them to call me back as per their instructions. Pity I cannot take phone calls during the day, innit!
Below, I include a copy of the letter I sent to them this week.
Dear Dr.
As you will no doubt be aware, I recently received yet another invitation to come and visit you in London. By the time you receive this letter, you will also be aware that I have had to decline, as I have far more important things to do three days before Christmas. If you have children, you will realise that they come before anything else. I will be rescheduling the appointment for early in the New Year.
Rest assured that this will make absolutely no difference to my situation. In fact, you will be delighted to hear that nothing has changed since my last visit. Or the one before. Come to think of it, there have been none since I first came to the clinic.
The referral for surgery that you finally put through (after I chased it up, nothing had been forwarded) some months ago has also proceeded exactly according to my predictions. I have had to make numerous phone calls to attempt to unravel the administrative ‘red tape’ in which my case has become ensnared. I said at the time that if an application for funding were put through to Torbay PCT, they would say they have never heard of me, as the original referral was from Exeter. Sure enough, that is exactly what happened, and they have asked for the original documentation. I was not entirely surprised to find out that all the paperwork seems to be spread out over the south of England, and the left hand doesn’t even know where the right hand is, let alone what it is doing. Your clinic co-ordinator Paulette has once again been most helpful, and is trying to sort out the whole mess. This is the second time I have dealt with her, and on the previous occasion she was friendly, helpful and efficient. A first for the clinic, I might add. So far this time, she has already repeated the first two, and I expect her to achieve to third. Please pass on my thanks to her.
In conclusion:
As far as I am concerned, there have been no changes to my intentions or desires or requirements since I first made contact with my GP over six years ago.
There has been no progress towards my surgery since I last saw you, apart from that which I have initiated.
I have been most fortunate in having a large and supportive circle of friends to assist me up in getting up each time I have received another setback. Without them, I doubt you would have been reading this now, as I would simply have been another statistic on your records. And I’m not sure if I can do so for much longer.
Or, to put it another way;
GIC. “Good morning/afternoon.”
Sue. “Good morning/afternoon.”
GIC. “Anything to report?”
Sue. “No, any progress?”
GIC. “No. See you in x months.”
Sue. “Ok, goodbye.”
GIC. “Goodbye.”
Maybe you see it differently?
As far as the NHS is concerned, there have been no changes to their pedantic and obstructive attitude, and there is still very little assistance for anyone approaching them with a gender identity problem. Nor does there appear to be anyone with more than superficial knowledge of gender dysphoria out side of the group of sufferers. There seems to be an attitude that if enough obstructions are placed in the way, maybe the patient will go away or somehow be miraculously cured. Believe me, even simple transvestism is with you for life, and this goes far deeper than that.
I am seriously thinking of setting up a counselling service. All those involved in the transgender scene that I have spoken to say I have done them more good than all the qualified shrinks. At least they go away with a positive attitude, feeling good about themselves and that they are still a valued member of society. So please do me the courtesy of conceding that I may just have an idea of what I am talking about. Especially as I know it from the perspective of one who really has been there and done that.
My apologies if I seem to be getting at you personally, but you are the first line of defence, and should take ownership of the case. I do find it difficult to express myself in a clear and lucid manner after a very early start, and a long and tiring bus journey, and putting my thoughts on paper achieves this far better.
Yours...
Says it all. Reply may be interesting.
Sue.
