Ok thanks! Guess I was just making seem a lot more complicated than it was. I was looking around for doctors that handle gender change, but it never really gave me good results or would should me doctors located over 100 miles away. I'll start searching for endochrinologists and see what I can find. Thank you :)

yeah doctors that handle SRS are usually plastic surgeons and not ones that would be willing to handle hormones. Either an endo, or a general practice who knows about that will usually be the ones willing.

Thanks again! Yeah I started looking around a bit, but still really couldn't find anyone close. Or I just wasn't typing in the right thing. I dunno. I might email my therapist tomorrow and ask her for help in finding a good doctor. Otherwise, I have my work cut out for me in finding someone

well on the plus side, if you have to go to a doc who is not very close, once you are on them and stable (usually bout the first 6 months) you will only have to go to them about 2 times a year for a levels check and physical thing. I see mine only every 6 months for my new prescription, and like you mine is not local. My doc is about a 2 hour drive from me. Therapists, psych, hormone provider, and surgeon are the 3 things that are usually not something that is all that close by :P for me, 2 hour away, 2 hour away 2 hour away, and my probable surgeon will be about 20 hour drive away, thank goodness i will only have to go there 2 times period :P

Oi, sounds like a hassle. I get the surgeon thing being far out. Maybe I can get lucky and find one in Chicago or Indy or something. But, I think I mentioned earlier, I am a terrified driver. I have never driven on a highway or freeway before except once during the driving course. The map that showed my of local endocrinologists had many in Illinois, the closest to me was probably Mishawaka which is probably a 45 minute drive. But like you said, at least I won't have to go there too often after I start the hormones and everything.

I want to email my therapist, see if she knows anyone or a place to go. But I don't want to really bother her with a bunch of questions either. She's nice enough, she may help me, but she's probably a very busy person too. My best guess is that'd she be more able to help me find somebody during our next meeting, but that's a month from now. What do you think?

Ok well scratch the question I posed. I had been thinking for the past couple days what I would say in an email to her, so I went and emailed her. She got back to me about 2-3 hours later and directed me to the Center on Halstead in Chicago. So I went to their website and emailed them if they could point me in the right direction.

heheh sounds like it is slowly coming together. yeah the driving thing can be rough at times. I am not looking to a 20 hour drive after surgery (if i can ever save for it) something abotu driving and stitches.... yeah. anyhow hopefully that place will be able to help you out.

Yeah I can see that being an unpleasant drive. I guess the only good thing about it being in Chicago for me is I can take a train to get there. I'm sure it costs less than driving. But I don't know how much it costs.

But yeah, I contacted the Center on Halstead and they referred me to the Howard Brown Health Care Center. Now just waiting on them. I hope this doesn't turn into one big circle.

It shouldn't, they should know who to send you to and being its a healthcare center, i would think he is a doctor. If so then you should be fine.

Thanks, but since I haven't heard from then yet, I just went to Yahoo and typed in "Hormone doctors in Valparaiso,IN" it's given me a couple places to go to. Actually the first one that came up is like 10 minutes away. But's its a women's center. Not sure if that helps me much. But I'll keep looking. Thank you :)

heheh well just keep trying, really all you can do :D No barrier is unpassable.

Ok well I think I'm going crazy. Lol See I have found two doctors who are about 5 minutes away from me, that both do hormone replacement therapy. One is, coincidentally enough, my actual doctor. But he's 70 years old, and honestly, I wouldn't feel comfortable with him. But the other is 48 years old and a woman. However, she's an OBGYN and I don't think that's exactly what I'm looking for. Is it? I don't know.

And I just start freaking out every time I'm about to make a phone call, because I never know what to say on the phone. They don't leave email addresses so I can't contact them that way, which would be 100x easier for me. I'm a terrible speaker, so that's why I hate using the phone. I contacted my therapist again asking for her advice, as much as I hate to bother her. But probably won't hear from her until Monday. This is just really driving me crazy! I know once I get started it will be so much easier, but I just can't seem to find the right footsteps to actually get started.

Okay well, here's an update. I contacted an OBGYN's office about a week ago, but didn't get any response, probably because it was around the afternoon on a Friday. So I contacted them again before noon on Thursday. And got a callback later that afternoon. The assistant for the doctor told me should would give me some information on Friday. Well I got a call back from her about 2 hours ago, and she gave me some information.

First off she told me it's usually best to contact the doctor who will be performing the surgery so they can lead your path in a sense. She told me about Marci Bowers, which I'm sure some of you may be familiar with. I went on to her website, and just sent her an email not too long ago asking where do I start. I know I probably won't get an email from Marci herself, but I'll take whatever help I can get.

I go back to therapy on April 9th, and I'm glad I won't be going back empty-handed. At least I'll have some information. But I'm glad all the frustration of finding a doctor and all this is for the most part over. Though, I'm not too pleased that I'll have to travel to San Fran to get there. I hate flying. But heck, I'd finally be able to get out and see California. Who knows, maybe since I am unemployed I can get a job out there or something. Though I've been told the standards of living are ridiculous.

well I don't know if Marci will do hormone therapy or not, She is a plastic surgeon by trade, but maybe. I looked her over for SRS, and where she is one of the best in the business, she is also one of the most expensive. The doctor i am going to try to go to for SRS is about 10K less and a friend of mine had him do hers, so I have a good recommendation and he will do top as well which Marci won't. So in my case i may be able to get breast augmentation as well as SRS at the same time (not sure though cause of the time under anesthesia) and It will be about the same as it would be for Marci to do just the SRS. You'll have to let me know what she says about the HRT. I highly recommend you read the Standards of Care from WPATH. They are the guildlines for treatment that the reputable doctors follow and so knowing what you will need to have done is important. For instance, before SRS you have to have lived fulltime and worked as a woman and been on HRT for no less than 1 full year. You also have to have 2 letters from mental health professionals atleast one of which is a psychiatrist asserting that it is appropriate given your case. The therapist is only step one. Example below from my run so far.

Decided to find a therapist and selected one based on a great deal of research. Went to my appointments (he is a 2 hour drive away so these were handled via teleconferance after the initial few and i have to go there once a year for face to facr) regularly and eventually he gave me my letter for HRT. From there i selected my MD who would handle the HRT. Again this one is about 2 hours away, so i went up, chatted with her and she prescribed them. I had to go back a couple months later for level checks and all and now i only go once every 6 months for a levels check. I lived like that for about 1.5 years slowly coming out to those i knew and at work since i am transitioning in place. Once I was completely out, then came the legal name change. All the while venturing out as female off and on being the real me, working on my voice, going to my appointments for therapy, electrolysis and aquireing clothes, makeup and so on. Learning what looked good on me and what didnt. After the name change I got my license officially changed to female (where i live you can do that before SRS, some states you cannot) and am workign on my passport now (waiting on my birth cert with the new name). Now that i am "full time" my timer for the one year starts. Note that I still use the mens room at my work, but that is because my work has not decided what to do with me yet. Hopefully that will change.

So long and short, its a process. It will be a long path with lots to do between beginning and end. Take your time, get your footing save money and just keep going. I am now 3.5 years in and looking at atleast another year. it takes time.

Thank you for that. Helped me understand a little better. As for Marci, I was suggested to her by a medical center in my town. She was really just where I went first. The person I spoke with at the medical center said it's best to start from where I'll be having SRS and working backwards. Now I haven't actually decided if Marci will be my surgeon. I just emailed her practice seeking help. I got an email back from Robin who gave me a list of people in Indiana that do gender therapy. So I contacted two of them on that list, and one of them responded back to me saying she works alongside a doctor that does HRT. (The other therapist has yet to respond). But in that email she asked if I wanted to start seeing her and that she does her sessions on skype if you're not in the area.

Now I don't mind doing skype, it's just I live at home and wouldn't really want my parent's overhearing the conversation. Plus I'm already seeing a therapist and wouldn't be able to afford her unless insurance covered everything. But Robin did tell me all about how you have to use hormones and live as a female for a year. And that you need 2 letters of recommendation. So I emailed the gender therapist saying I'd love to see her too, but I just can't afford it yet. I haven't heard back from her since.

Out of curiousity, where do you plan on going for SRS? If it's cheaper for me to go there instead of California, I'd much rather go that route. Plus like you said, it may be better since you can get top and bottom done too. All in all, I'm not too concerned right now since I'm still in school for another year and I was told it would take a couple months before I could even get the nod to start hormones.