Lots of change

I sent Helene Cote a quick text yesterday telling her that at almost 64 years of age and 4 years into retirement, my life as an out transgender person is going well. 

She was so happy to receive the news because as one of the sexologists within the McGill University and Montréal General hospital affiliated gender clinic, she deals with a great many of us at every age and stage of progress. 

I was one of the few that did not move on to some form of medical transition. 

I told her that social transition is possible for older people but not easy; no form of significant life change ever is. 

A few years ago she had me participate in a small forum of both male to female and female to male patients where I was the only one not on a hormone regimen. 

Some of the younger people would pass perfectly under the radar since they began so early. 

I dropped out of a program I was approved for fearing I would succumb to medical transition in my mid 40's to do my own psychological heavy lifting in understanding both the subject matter and myself. Helene has told me numerous times that it's the most fearful ones at the outset that tend to have the most resolve in the end and transition. Conversely, the more Gung Ho at the outset, the more likely they were to drop out.

This is likely because the fearful understood the gravity of some of the challenges they were potentially facing.

Not to mention that the head of the program at that time was an SOB in his 70's who (a la Blanchard) mostly saw the patients as defectives rather than as members of the human mosaic. 

Needless to say, lots of change since then; both in society and within the program itself.

Both, I am happy to say, in the right direction.