Phallo by opportunity?…

The subject at hand…

So I’m sitting here of course mulling over plans as I do once or twice a day. Revisiting a few ideas and notions that I’ve tossed to the bottom of the pile as other things in my mind took precedent over them. I’m looking into small business insurance as I begin to move forward with employment within my company. I would like something that would covered everything we will all need and use to full advantage. This let me to thinking about coverage of SRS and what this may or many not implicate in my future plans to pursue phalloplasty. Where cost becomes a non factor and skill is the only thing that is inforced there becomes an inner battle over what is deemed as personal best.

I will be looking into getting insurance but by doing so this opens up options for me that were not previously obtainable. Such as higher cost surgical teams. Now one thing I can say is that there is only ONE reason I would stay in the US for surgery, as time goes on I will explain more about this. Seeing as though my company is internationally traveling I do not see why I would not be able to find such coverage for international surgery. But it does leave the mind to wander about possibilities of pursuing a forearm phalloplasty, which though undesirable by scarring very desirable in many other ways. I often find myself at this lingering cross-road of to do or not to do. Certain fears of dexterity issues plague me constantly, I mean if I was not trying to pursue a serious medical career then it would not bother me as much. I feel if there was some issue with my hands and wrists then I would be forced to lower my expectations of further career choices and possibly only be a regular medical specialist. Which by no means am I saying that’s bad just not something I wanted to do. I digress, I suppose in order to truly gain traction in life there are sacrifices one must make in order to get to where they need to be. If by chance the latter does happen the I see myself honestly becoming an NP over MD as I honestly feel NP do spend more quality hands on time with the patients then a majority of MD‘s. I will still be able to legally practice medicine, have a practice, and treat patients in most of the same manners MD‘s do. It just really sucks that it has to happen that way but if it does I know it was just meant to happen and for a good reason.

As state above my reason to stay in the US would be a new Dr, Dr Crane. Though there is no work to be shown knowing who he has worked with does put me at much ease when it comes to his surgical abilities. People ask me why I do not care if I see results, well frankly there will always be someones first and to get where I need to be I do not mind being that first at all. I know plenty of people who are a surgeons first and have phenomenal results, the feeling and faith I have in his abilities are the same way i feel when I think of Miro which is a very calming indication. I’ve spoken with him already via phone and have a consult set up with him for Feb out in San Fran which I am very excited about as I will be spending my 25th birthday in San Fran. He will be doing MLD phalloplasty with a bit of personal modification to appease my needs. Hopefully we can get this done in one step as the majority of the work is already done for him (hence why I had meta first makes sense now huh?).

I will be getting a scrotal fusion to make the scrotum appear a bit more natural, as well I will be getting my 18cc testicular implants taken out and replaced with 22cc to allow a bit more hang time. As they sit nice now but I know would be too small for the aesthetic look I am aiming for. If I could get some low hangers that would be totally awesome lol. But I will talk more to him about that when the time comes. I will also be getting secondary urethral lengthening to the tip, knowing that he is a urologist has me at serious ease. If I had one HUGE pet peeve with US surgeons doing bottom vast majority ARE NOT urologist which really bothers me. One of the main reasons I went to Miro besides many other factors. I will also be getting a modified glansplasty as I have a very specific outlook on how my penis will look and that’s what I will settle for as I know it is possible in every form. Phallus size is something I get to choose but a modest 5.5 x 5 is what I am aiming for 6 in at max length. Most people forget how freaking big a phallus actually is especially those only packing with 3-4 inches. I was also VERY happy to hear that I will be able to retain my ability to ejaculate, though not the range I have now I will be very optimistic as I never knew I would have the ability in the first place!

Things are really on the up and up and I’m so freaking happy. Just as before nothing but faith has gotten me here so I continue to keep the same mind frame and time frame for phalloplasty to happen. I already know it will just waiting on the funds to fall in place as working with insurance will be a breeze and Dr. Crane has already stated he will do what he needs to help to get this covered. In my case things can be easily be covered so now its just getting the insurance to do so. I have that feeling I had prior to meta and I can say its a reassuring feeling. I can also say taking this time and having meta first for me was the best route I could have taken.

Some people can just jump right into phalloplasty and be fine but others never take the time to understand that it is NOT just surgery but an event that will change your life and how you do things FOREVER! If you are not mentally, emotionally, and physically ready for something like this it will take a toll on you. This is something I knew many years ago and the position i was in previously was not a place where I would have been able to have a good recovery without fear, pain, stress, or worry. So for me this was the best thing I could have done for myself, as well to allow for situations where I could pay little to nothing to arrive. Which has done just that and I am soooo ecstatic about things! All my efforts are finally paying off and I am one more step to DONE!

I have thought a lot about the after surgery and thought to myself, “what will be my drive?”. I am glad that I have Gateway Trans* Health up and running to allow me to maintain that drive but now in the sense of helping others to get where they need to be. I really honestly enjoy watching others reach the point in their life that will complete them or bring them one step closer to completion. I can not wait until I get to the point that I can actually open a clinic here in TX and start to assist those in need; even though I know I will have a span of national or even international scale. I want it to be a place that people from all over the world will want to come to in order to receive care and affordable care at that. Maybe one day I can self fund the clinic so that care will be minimal to the client so hopefully by then healthcare in the country will be better so that any remaining fees can be taken care of so then it would be free in every instance. And even if not free next to nothing at all. I can not wait to get to that point but for now I make sure to keep things going steady, I am happy I have been able to make some people’s lives different already and know I will have the chance to help many more. It is a good feeling and one I would not trade for the world EVER!

Just a waiting game now and good wait at that. Considering the fact that my 25th birthday is soon to come up I believe I am making good speed in life. I know once I get a bit more funding for GTH I will be hiring employees and taking a year sabbatical from traveling/assisting to go back to school to get my LPN. Once I obtain that I can get my BSN online just need to take the bridged program. Not too sure as of now the route of physician I will be but I know I will be one that will change the face of transgender and intersexed care.

Heck it seems so far away but I know for a fact its really right there in front of me…

Salaam

Serbia Becomes a Hub for Sex-Change Surgery

An interesting article from the NYC Times looks like they are finally seeing what we have been saying for years! I am so glad to have used one of the Serbian teams, it was actually the best decision I have made in my life and I have NO regrets what so ever!

 

BELGRADE, Serbia — Twenty years ago, newspapers here jeered that transsexuality was an act against God. Today, people are coming from around the world to Serbia for sex change operations, which are now subsidized for Serbs by national health insurance.

“It is surprising that a conservative, patriarchal country is becoming a center for sex change operations, but social attitudes are slowly shifting,” said Cristian, a transgender activist from Belgrade who was unwilling to give his last name.

Nearly 100 foreigners and Serbs have undergone sex reassignment surgery in the past year, and the numbers are growing, according to the Belgrade Center for Genital Reconstructive Surgery, with candidates coming from France, Russia and Iran, and from as far away as the United States, South Africa, Singapore and Australia.

Serbia is becoming a transgender surgery hub, experts say, in part because genital reassignment surgery is costly, controversial and complicated and is shunned in many other countries in the region, including Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece and the other countries of the former Yugoslavia, according to Dr. Miroslav Djordjevic, a professor of urology who leads the Belgrade Center.

Even in medically advanced Western European countries like France, some surgeons complain that they cannot get proper training or that they are even rebuked by colleagues for performing sex reassignment, prompting many transgender people to go to Belgium for treatment. In Britain, where the procedure costs about $15,000 and is covered by the National Health Service, 143 such operations were performed in 2009, according to British news reports.

Dr. Marci Bowers, a gynecologist in San Mateo, Calif., who has performed 1,100 sex reassignment operations over the past 10 years and is herself transgender, noted that in the United States, a global center for sex changes, only about five surgeons were performing the operation regularly. She said that social conservatism and a lack of surgical skills in many countries, combined with surgeons’ fears of potentially catastrophic complications, were promoting the growth of transgender tourism.

Foreign patients say they are attracted to Serbia by the price tag of about $10,000 — compared with $50,000 or more at some clinics in the United States for the more expensive female-to-male procedure. Cher’s transgender son, Chaz Bono, recently told the radio personality Howard Stern that he hoped to come to Belgrade for the surgery.

Sociologists say the more accepting attitude toward transgender people in Serbia signals the first glimmers of a shift in a country where conservative currents still run deep.

“We are the children of two parents: one is the Orthodox Church, the other is communism,” said Dr. Dusan Stanojevic, a pioneer of sex reassignment surgery here.

He said transsexuality was so taboo in the former Yugoslavia that it was not even mentioned in medical textbooks. But a surgeon, Dr. Sava Perovic, began performing the operations in 1989 after being approached by a man suffering from gender identity disorder.

Word quickly spread and Dr. Perovic, who has since died, attracted a legion of patients, as well as fellow surgeons drawn by the challenge of an exceptionally difficult procedure. More than 20 years later, sex reassignment surgery has become a surprising niche here, with four medical centers specializing in the procedure.

In Serbia, the surgery is performed in a single six-hour procedure, saving the patient from the trauma of multiple operations. Complications can include postoperative regret, functionality problems or infection.

To qualify for the surgery, a patient needs two letters of recommendation from psychiatric specialists attesting that he or she is suffering from gender identity disorder, in which a man or woman identifies better with the opposite sex. At least one year of counseling and one year of hormone therapy are required before the surgery.

Daniel, a 25-year-old lawyer from St. Petersburg, Russia, came to Belgrade in May for the surgery after he said he failed to find a suitable surgeon in his country. The surgery and treatment have been so successful that Daniel, who lifts weights regularly and likes to sport facial stubble, betrays few signs that he was once female.

Asking that his last name not be used for fear of being hounded back home, Daniel said he had known since he was 10 that he was male in a female body. When he was 18, he said, he told his family that he was a lesbian, even as he realized that physically becoming a man was his ultimate goal. He said his grandparents, both physicians, refused to accept it, saying he had a disorder of the brain.

“I came out twice, first as a lesbian, then as transsexual. That made it easier,” he said a day after having the surgery. “Russia is extremely homophobic, and coming to Serbia was easier for me.”

Serbia, which became a candidate for European Union membership in March, will hold a gay pride parade this year, activists say. The move is significant, because last year the government canceled a planned gay pride parade after the previous year’s was disrupted by violent clashes during which protesters threw gasoline bombs at armed police officers while chanting, “Death to homosexuals!”

Advocates said they were determined to show that the country was overcoming past prejudices nearly 12 years after Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown. The subtle change in attitude, they added, is also reflected in popular culture.

Last year, a surprise film hit in Serbia was a dark comedy called “The Parade,” in a which a gay veterinarian and his homophobic friend, an ex-paramilitary man, travel across the former Yugoslavia in a pink Mini and recruit war veterans to act as security guards for a gay pride parade in Belgrade. The film, which adroitly plays on stereotypes only to puncture them with an underlying message of tolerance, was among the highest-grossing films in the country’s history.

Cristian, the transgender activist, said he and his wife seldom encountered discrimination, even though in the past he had been taunted and had even received death threats for being different.

For all the challenges of being transgender, Cristian said, being brought up in Serbia in the 1990s had bred a certain resilience. “When bombs are falling from the sky and people are at war,” he said, “sexual identity is not your main concern.”

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