So I had to have surgery for cataracts in one of my eyes Wednesday and I was a little concerned not only for the operation but how the staff would treat me. I was at the eye surgery center for a hospital where they refused to treat a trans woman in the emergency room about 5 years ago.
I had to be there at six in the morning so a friend stayed over at my house so we could leave at 5:30 AM.
I changed all my paperwork to “Female” many, many years ago, so I a couple of weeks ago I get a call from the hospital for pre-admission and she asked questions about insurance and medical history. Only once did she ask, “And you’re a woman, right?”
So Wednesday morning we arrive at six and sit there in the waiting room until they called my name, the receptionist didn’t blink at all when I sat down. They brought me back the preparation room, as I was laying on the gurney the doctors came by, the anesthesiologist asked his questions, the nurses took their readings and during the entire time they used the correct pronouns. Not just in front of me but I could hear them talked over at the nurse’s station.
I fell asleep in the prep room and woke up when they rolled me into the operating room and boy the drugs they give you! You don’t care that they are cutting the lens out of you eye and then vacuum the pieces out.
When I was coming out of the anesthesia the anesthesiologist was talking to somebody and he said that there were no problems, she was sleeping when we wheeled her in to the operating room.
Today when I went for a follow-up exam the doctor asked who was the person that brought me to the surgery center yesterday, I told him a friend. She’s a 6 foot trans woman like me.
Oh, and the operation was a success.
A couple of weeks ago I did training with a trans man at a local hospital.
I had to be there at six in the morning so a friend stayed over at my house so we could leave at 5:30 AM.
I changed all my paperwork to “Female” many, many years ago, so I a couple of weeks ago I get a call from the hospital for pre-admission and she asked questions about insurance and medical history. Only once did she ask, “And you’re a woman, right?”
So Wednesday morning we arrive at six and sit there in the waiting room until they called my name, the receptionist didn’t blink at all when I sat down. They brought me back the preparation room, as I was laying on the gurney the doctors came by, the anesthesiologist asked his questions, the nurses took their readings and during the entire time they used the correct pronouns. Not just in front of me but I could hear them talked over at the nurse’s station.
I fell asleep in the prep room and woke up when they rolled me into the operating room and boy the drugs they give you! You don’t care that they are cutting the lens out of you eye and then vacuum the pieces out.
When I was coming out of the anesthesia the anesthesiologist was talking to somebody and he said that there were no problems, she was sleeping when we wheeled her in to the operating room.
Today when I went for a follow-up exam the doctor asked who was the person that brought me to the surgery center yesterday, I told him a friend. She’s a 6 foot trans woman like me.
Oh, and the operation was a success.
A couple of weeks ago I did training with a trans man at a local hospital.
Brava!
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