Hello again.

Well, Cliff and I took the trip to see the dreaded Dr B on Thursday. I'll let Cliff offer his unbiased opinion of the 'interview' first.

In his own words, "A complete waste of ****ing time, and a complete waste of both my and the NHS' money. Dr Barrett is a total *ssh*le. What he had to say was completely irrelevant, and he knows f*ck all about transgender".

Please excuse the language, but he feels quite strongly about it.

To be accurate, all Dr Barrett said was a repeat of the last time I saw him. He talked about the fact I need to lose weight, and to stop smoking, and tha the surgeon will tell me so when I see him. Last time, when he also said that, he also said he would be referring me for surgery, and we all know how far he got with that. Now he knows I am going to see them next week, which he was unaware of until I told him, he decided to simply repeat himself. He never reads his own notes from previous sessions, nor any added by other departments. It was therefore rather good fun to inform him about my implants. He asked when they were done, and I had to say August to December 2005.

Did I mention that this time he had two students with him? Well, I think they realised quite quickly that all I was doing throughout the 30 minutes we were there (yes that was the sum total of his interest) all I was doing was taking the mickey out of him, with backup from Cliff.

So, sum total of visit? Zero. Zilch. Nada. Nothing at all. Not even a negative result, just that I have to go to satisfy his petty ego.

I did hear over the weekend that a F2M friend has also had similar run-ins with him as well, but is now past it and will be losing his 'top' in about March. Then he needs to see him once more, in about August to get discharged. Hope I can say the same. I know I will have to go up once more, to see their tame endocrinologist about the hormones. Apparently, we can't take the blood tests down here, give them the results then prescribe. No, I have to travel up there again. Guy Fawkes had the right idea, just the wrong target!

So, off to the surgeon next Friday. Hope that is a little more productive. Though how it could be less, I really don't know.

Sue. XX