My tattoo and other stuff

At last!!! I have had my tattoo done.

I love it so much. The only downside is that I can't really see it that well but I know everyone else can  which is good. I wear a lot of vest tops in the summer and it sits right inside the straps perfectly. A thigh tattoo is next for me. The lady tattooist is designing something but I also have an artist friend who lives in Thailand and he has volunteered to draw something too. Hopefully I will have some choice.

Lucy has also had her thigh tattoo done. I think it is absolutely beautiful and she is chuffed to bits with it!

She is now planning extending the peony pattern on her arm to her shoulder and wants one on her foot. I'm not keen on her having too many more as I think that will be enough but it is up to her.

This week we knew for sure that the GP had properly changed Lucy's record..... she got a letter from the local health authority inviting her in for a cervical smear test! We did have a little smile.

She is still buying lots of make up and all lovely expensive stuff. Seems her and my daughter have similar tastes. She does spend quite a bit but needs to learn more how to apply it herself. The last couple of times I have ended up having to applying her eyeshadow and sort out her eyebrows for her. It is not she can't do it, I just think she is taking the easy option because I'm not there when she could do it herself. She also needs to practice more at home and take the opportunity of both our daughters being around to advise which she can do more now that she has her new job.

Lucy is still growing her hair but it is slow progress which I knows she finds frustrating.  It is at a real in between stage which is always awkward. It is quite long but still going out more than down. For work she is wearing a baseball cap to try to hide it a bit. Considering she is not full time at the moment I am surprised that no one has commented on her hair as 'he' has never had hair this long in the 16 years I have known her. Hopefully the longer it gets the extra weight will start to pull it down more. I think she is expecting her natural hair to look like some of the wigs she has but I doubt it every will, though when it is long enough she can consider having extensions. She also has hair growing in her small patch that was thinning which means the Finasteride must be working. At the moment it is fine baby-like hair but hopefully in time it will thicken up.

Facially I don't think there have been any noticeable changes but I swear her bum is getting bigger. She says that she doesn't sweat as much these days not that she was a very sweaty person anyway. All good signs that the patches are working.

Little steps......

Wednesday 5th October 2016 - THE DAY!

Today is THE day.... the day we have been waiting so long for. Today Lucy's meds arrived (late but still they arrived).

They got here at 12.55.... just in time (if only it had been yesterday) and I did spend nearly an hour sitting on the stairs looking out the window for the postman!!

Yikes! They are actually here!! You can imagine the excitement in our house. Lucy took a Finasteride tablet straight away and we hot footed it upstairs so I could apply the first patch.

So there it is! The first ever patch on her bum :)

After I put it on her first words to me were "have my boobs grown yet?" and we both burst into laughter.

She will apply the cream on her face tonight after she has had a bath and I will do some IPL on her legs for her.

So there we are. Today is the start of new beginnings. We have waited for this day for so long and here it is.

Medication ordered!

Would you believe it? About an hour and a half after I did my last update the email came through from Dr Webberley with the link to the online pharmacy to order the medication for Lucy. It also stated that we should receive notification from the online pharmacy that they have the prescription - as it is 8.30pm I doubt that we will get the confirmation until tomorrow but decided to go ahead and order everything anyway.

We were surprised at the cost of the items. The Evorel patches and Finasteride tablets were surprisingly cheap and not what we expected. However the Vaniqa cream was extortionate by comparison especially as it was only a 60g tube. We had a debate about whether this cream was needed especially as Lucy is using the IPL for facial hair removal. We decided that it is worth ordering at least one tube for now which will assist her facial hair removal until the IPL treatment starts to show. The 60g tube should last 2 months but the Evorel and Finasteride were dispensed in quantities enough for a month. Next time apparently 3 months worth will be prescribed.

So it is all ordered. We paid extra for guaranteed next day delivery. As it is Friday evening now this means that we will be guaranteed to get it all by Tuesday.

We are both very excited. Lucy wants me to put the first patch on her which of course I will be honoured to do. We are also going to take weekly pictures so that we will be able to document all the changes. We are sure they will be easier to notice if we do a diary record as I am sure for a while we will think there are no changes until we compare against the pictures.

Exciting times.

GP update and more

So, on Friday Lucy went to the GP to find out any update on the possibility of getting bridging hormones. It turns out the GP had had a discussion with the other partners of the practice and they decided that it was not something they would do. This is just such a shame as we feel that this particular GP really does want to help. Lucy has left him with some more information to read and share, and showed him a few more websites to look up however she has told him that if he still refuses to prescribe bridging hormones that she will go to the online GenderGP and will get them that way. He was not really happy about this and has said that he will contact Lucy back in a week. We won't be holding our breath on that one! Lucy also showed some pictures to him of us on our nights out and he said that he would not have recognised her.

She also had a discussion about her thinning hair (not badly on the crown of her head) and the drug Finasteride. This is the one she had casually mentioned to me a week or so ago. The GP has given her a prescription for it in for 1mg doses. He did hesitate as said there were some nasty side effects and Lucy told me to go and look them up which I obviously did (Lucy knew full well the contra indications). Well it appears that there are some pretty drastic 'potential' long term effects a couple of which could affect her after surgery but some that could affect her 'junk' now. It all just makes me very nervous and I don't know the percentage of people affected by the side effects however I do know there are several lawsuits against the drug company in the US due to start autumn 2016. Not very reassuring. I suppose some of the side effects are not a problem however for the moment while she still has her 'junk' we do make the best of things and it would be sad for this to stop before it has to.... if you know what I mean. It also looks like it is quite an expensive drug and we have to buy it on a private prescription although it is cheaper to get it in 5mg tablets and then cut the tablets into 4 giving 4 daily doses. The benefits of taking Finasteride for Lucy though would be great and I know she would feel happier if she was to take it. At the end of the day it is her choice not mine and I will support whatever she choses to do. Being totally honest, on this journey we are on all the decisions must be hers.

She has now decided that she will give up smoking when we go on holiday at the end of August. She was supposed to be giving up beginning of July however she feels it would be better to do it when we are out of the country for a week so different place and routines etc. It is so important that she does give up.

Last week she also came out to another passenger in her taxi. This lady worked in Milton Keynes which prompted a discussion about Pink Punters and ended with Lucy telling all and showing pictures. The lady was very supportive and positive. All good signs of Lucy getting braver.

She has also been to the bank to pay money in over the counter. No funny looks, no sarcastic comments, just plain old fashion customer service. The note on her account must be doing the trick at last!

And.... ta dah!!! This Saturday I was out of the house overnight with our daughters so Lucy was home alone for a few hours. At last she attempted her own make up and was able to be dressed at home for quite a while which I know she really enjoys. She took hundreds of pictures of herself all round the house and she did a great job on her make up. I'm so proud of her that she did this. She is definitely more confident about doing her own makeup after this and has come up with MORE stuff she MUST have (of course). She has decided from now on she does want to do her own make up but with me there to assist. She did mention that she had managed to poke the mascara wand in her eye about 6 times when trying to apply it. Now she knows why I hate putting it on other people so much!

We are now gearing up for Sparkle in Manchester which is only just over a week away (8-11th July). The hotel has been booked for ages, we have tickets for the ball on the Saturday night and have also purchased tickets for the VIP lounge which has a seated area, drinks waiter service to the table and much better toilets. Worth the extra money. It will be great for Lucy to be able to spend 3 days completely as herself. We know a handful of other people who are also going and we are both really looking forward to it. Now she is keen to do her own make up it will make it easier for me as it will need to be done twice a day with us being out and about in the day as well as the evening. Only downside is that I worry that Lucy will be on a bit of a downer when we come back.