A few things.

[agent_dani]

Officially have a consultation with Dr. P, scheduled for April 6. This is the other doctor (an endo, too) in the region who will prescribe HRT. I'm hopeful to finally get better progress as mine with Dr. H has been painfully slow - it's been an uphill battle with her to just get to the point where I get results and I know that if I were to ask for an increase it would be 25mcg/d (VivelleDOT/Estradot) as that is the only amount she's been willing to increase it for me.

Figured out something about my boss; he operates entirely on the negotiation method. The lesson here is to seriously pad my estimates, e.g. if it will take a week, start by saying it will take three, because if I say one, he'll try counter with one or two days, and half a week is the best I'll get from him. I may also want to try giving hours estimates as he isn't so willing to do so with those.

We ordered a lawnmower. We did have one, but it's a ZTR that will be complete overkill at the house we're buying (it made sense for the 2 acres in PA.) We went with a cordless electric push mower this time, the Neuton CE5. We'll be selling the ZTR.

I've had a considerable amount of work frustration of late. It really is microaggression crap - mostly petty, minor stuff that would be easy to ignore if not for the sheer volume and persistence (and that passive-aggressive crap really gets under my skin.)

Comments

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's more or less what I was getting at. :) I'd be absolutely thrilled by a similar public option in the US.

Even though scattermoon has been having such a prolonged and byzantine battle with the NHS, so I suppose occasionally someone still gets unlucky under that system, it's considerably better overall.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

I know all about Ellie's travails and think it quite wrong that CX still plays these silly games with people's lives and mental health. Pshrink (almost invariably male, you notice?) power games worry me deeply :o(

Luckily, I managed to pay for that element of things privately many years back........

[lietya.livejournal.com]

It is just indefensible, the shit they get away with. That combination of bureaucracy and power play is nasty. And yes, the horror stories I've heard have almost all been about men, too. (Although Dani's own therapist is female and ... problematic.) A certain type of man must find the temptation to exercise that kind of control over a woman's life just irresistible, and the system is set up so the assholes generally get away with it.

And that's one thing that's often overlooked in the argument about public healthcare in the US - going private is *always* an alternative. I'm glad you were able to take care of yourself if the NHS wouldn't. Similarly, we've been paying for HRT privately rather than touch insurance before she was legally listed as female (which was a couple months ago). I have to admit that I wouldn't mind not having to come up with $20K on our own, though. ;)

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

I was lucky that a favourite Great Uncle (a former WW2 bomber rear gunner) died and left me a little money at the right time.

I often wonder what he'd have though of what I spent it on £4k was worth a great deal more back then! :o)

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Very nice!

Hey, it made your life infinitely better... maybe he would have appreciated that. Amusing to think, though.

(By way of comparison, $20K is about 2/3 of my wife's yearly income. It's doable, but ouch.)

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

I know he'd have been glad that I became a historian and that was a bye product, so........:o)

It's a lot of money and as you say- ouch!

[agent_dani]

My therapist, endo (both existing and the new one) and GP are all women. GP is great, prescription matter aside.

[agent_dani]

My insurance, via my employer, is paying for it, but only because the plan administrator hasn't figured it out and isn't particularly motivated to do so - my state self-funds for its employees and hires a big insurance company to do the administration so the "we get to pocket the premiums" motivation is reduced for the company.

I expect that at some point in the process I'll end-up having to pay the full cost out of my own pocket because my state has classified transition as "cosmetic" and officially covers nothing. The exception will be if I get a differnt job first.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

'Cosmetic'?

Facepalm :oZ

[agent_dani]

Really. Same reaction I had when I asked my endo for AAs and she tried to convince me that I was one of the people for whom HRT didn't work...

[windrdr.livejournal.com]

There is always the option of my insurance.