Update 11-24-09

First bit: Surgery

Okay, so I know I promised more info about my top surgery three months ago. But here's the low down now.

I'm scheduled for my top surgery on December 30th at 7:30am. It'll be down in San Francisco and performed by Dr. Michael Brownstein. I won't go into all the gory details, but basically it will be a double mastectomy. You can read the specific details on Dr. Brownstein's website.

My parents and I are flying down there the afternoon of the 28th. I'll have one appointment on the 29th to just meet with Dr. Brownstein and go over the details of the surgery with him.

Laura will be joining us on the 30th shortly after my surgery gets over.

The operation typically takes 2 1/2 - 3 hours. I'll be at the hospital for a few hours following the surgery, and head back to my hotel the afternoon of the 30th. I'm told I probably won't remember very much of this day (can't say I'm surprised).

My parents need to head back on the 3rd, but Laura will be down there with me through the rest of my stay.

If everything goes well, I won't see Dr. Brownstein again until January 4th at which time the drain tubes will be removed. Two days after that (Jan 6) I'll see Dr. Brownstein one last time to have the sutures removed.

Laura and I will head back up to Washington on January 7th.

I'll still have to wear a binder for two weeks following the surgery, but after that I should be done with binders for good (Finally!)

Second bit: Documentation

Most of you know already, but I thought I should post it all the same. On October 10th I got my WA state ID to officially list me as male. That makes this my fourth ID this year! It must be some kind of record. Anyway, the next step will be my birth certificate. I'm going to wait until after my surgery to change that as I'll also be able to change the gender marker on my Passport and with the Social Security Office at that time as well.

Right now, I'm not sure where Laura and I are, legally speaking. I think I need to change my birth certificate to list me as male for us to get married, so by default our domestic partnership should still be valid. However, I can't find anything anywhere that actually lists documentation requirements for getting married (and believe me, Laura and I have both spent hours looking).

Third Bit: General Transition updates

My voice is continuing to drop, but at a much slower rate at this point. I have several recordings I need to upload.

Although, I realize this may be TMI, in generally I'm getting hairier. More arm hair, leg hair, stomach hair, well you get the idea. My facial hair is finally starting to fill in as well, which I'm very excited about. I've been taking photos of my facial hair every now and again just to document how it's growing in. I'll post the photos soon. I think they're a little silly looking since I really had almost no hair at all on my face prior to transitioning, but it's fun to see it change. I'd ask you all not to laugh, but I know you all better than that.

I have my last counseling appointment December 8th. I'm also due to have my testosterone levels checked shortly.

Okay, I think that's all for now. I'll try to write more often.

Voice Clip 11: 8-12-09

Here is my 11th voice clip. For the previous 10 clips, please see my post from yesterday, August 11th.

Clip 11: August 12th, 2009 - 9 weeks on T

Voice Changes 2.0 - actual sound clips

Okay, so here are the first round of sound clips. I've been doing recordings once a week since I started T. The first clip is from before I started T, just so I'd have a point of reference that was completely pre-hormones. I try to do my voice recordings every Wednesday morning after I've taken my testosterone shot, so there will be a new clip for tomorrow as well.

The first recordings are a little rough and the volume varies a bit initially. At that point I was still figuring out how to use my microphone properly.

This is my first attempt trying to post sound clips, so please let me know if they don't work for some reason.

Clip 1: June 1st, 2009 - 10 days pre-T

Clip 2: June 11th, 2009 - 1 day on T

Clip 3: June 17th, 2009 - 1 week on T

Clip 4: June 24th, 2009 - 2 weeks on T

Clip 5: July 1st, 2009 - 3 weeks on T

Clip 6: July 8th, 2009 - 4 weeks on T

Clip 7: July 15th, 2009 - 5 weeks on T

Clip 8: July 22nd, 2009 - 6 weeks on T

Clip 9: July 29th, 2009 - 7 weeks on T

Clip 10: August 5, 2009 - 8 weeks on T

Update 8-3-09

Wow! So, it's already August. What the heck happened to the summer. There's so much I still want to cram into it. Sorry, just surprised at how quickly it's gone by...

At any rate, it's been a while since I've posted. There hasn't been a whole lot to post in regard to changes. My voice is continuing to drop. I know I said I'd be posting my voice clips soon, and I haven't, but I will... promise. All told, they're not very interesting anyway. Just me saying the same thing every week. Plus, since they're weekly, the change is heard very gradually (with a couple exceptions).

I'm starting to grow facial hair (and more body hair in general). It's actually been coming in for a little over a month now, but as with teenagers, there's nothing impressive to see just yet. I have been taking photos every one-two weeks right before shaving, just to have a documentation of how quickly (or slowly) it's growing. It is growing sufficiently enough, that if I don't shave, it just looks really stupid. Mostly it's blonde, soft, wispy stuff, though it is coming in pretty densely. Kind of a weird combination.

I've also started talking to a surgeon about getting top surgery (chest reconstruction). His name is Dr. Brownstein and is based out of San Francisco. His website is www.brownsteinmd.com if anyone is interested in checking out his work. He answers a number of questions about surgery options and procedures, and also has a good collection of patient photos for those who are curious what the results look like.

There are two types of top surgery, one is called keyhole, the other is a double mastectomy. I will be getting a double mastectomy. There are several reasons why I think this is the best option for me, which I'll go over at another time. The most important reason is that keyhole surgery is really only an option for transmen with very small breasts (i.e. size A or smaller.) I'm not a size A.

You may be wondering, "Why all the way down to San Francisco?" Good question. There are probably a couple surgeons up here who will perform chest reconstruction for FTM's but they don't have nearly the experience of Dr. Brownstein, who's been doing FTM chest reconstruction for over 35 years. In fact, he's one of the most experienced surgeons in the country. A friend of mine also got his surgery from Dr. Brownstein and is pleased with the results. I'm pleased with the results too!

Right now I'm looking at either December 30th as a date or January. We'll have to see what works out in terms of scheduling, since I know both my parents would like to be there and I know I would appreciate the support. I'll go into more detail about my surgery as I find out more information. For now, I just invite you to check out Dr. Brownstein's website.

Voice Changes 1.0

My voice has started to drop. I wasn't sure initially, since I didn't hear any change until after working my booth at the Seattle Pride Festival on June 27th. I almost talked myself hoarse. For the first couple days I just attributed the change to the festival. Certainly, some of it was the strain on my voice from the Pride Festival, but not all of it. I think I can safely say at this point that my voice is starting to get lower and roughen a bit. I don't know how low it'll go. There are many transmen out there who's voices don't drop very much, but rather who's voices just get gruffer. Of course, I also don't know how high their voices were to begin with. Ultimately, it's all just up to our individual biology.

I actually noticed a difference in how my throat felt within a few days of starting Testosterone. The closest feeling I can liken it to is how your throat feels when you're about to lose your voice from a cold or from yelling a lot. But there was none of the discomfort of having a cold or having talked my vocal cords raw. All told it was a bit of an odd feeling. I don't know if this is how it feels for cisgendered (non-transgendered) men when they go through puberty. If any of you remember how it felt, I'd be curious to know.

On a related note, I'm going to start posting my voice recordings shortly. I'm trying to find a way to upload them or embed them into these posts so you can listen to them. At the same time, I want them to be secure, so not just anyone can download them. If anyone has any suggestions on this front I'd appreciate them. As far as I can tell Blogger (the blogging tool you're viewing right now) lets you upload videos, but not sound clips.

That's all for now!

Chaz Bono

I'm sure some of you have already heard or read about this, but I thought I'd share, just in case.  Chastity Bono (Sonny and Cher's child) has started the process of transitioning from female to male and now goes by Chaz Bono.  There are several articles available online, all say more or less the same thing.  All the articles I've seen have been pretty respectful of his decision and his privacy.  I don't usually follow celebrities very closely, but this is actually a pretty major development for awareness of trans issues in mainstream media.  Chaz is the first celebrity (that I'm aware of) to transition.

Here's one of the articles from People Magazine:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20284698,00.html

Starting T

Yesterday, I started taking testosterone.  There's really not much to tell about this, since it's pretty straight forward.  I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, during which my doctor walked me through how to self-administer the injection.  I'll be injecting .5cc once a week.  1cc every other week is a more common dosage, but it can lead to more significant ups and downs in mood.  I've opted to play it safe with the moods and just poke myself twice as often.

Obviously there won't be any changes for a while.  My voice will probably be the first change that I or anyone else notices.  I'm going to be recording my voice each week.  However, I won't post any recordings online  for about another month, since there won't be any changes to be heard any earlier than that.

Anyway, just thought I'd share with everyone.  In many ways, this is the biggest step in transitioning.  More than any surgery I might get down the line, the testosterone will be responsible for most of the changes I go through.  I'm very excited to be starting on this journey finally.  I'm glad you all get to watch the proverbial grass grow with me.