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By Rebecca, February 1, 2012 12:32 pm

Is there a difference between health care and healthcare? Between caring for one’s health and being subjected to the medical establishment, the industry of health, the clinical experience? Is there – or should there be – such a thing as queer healthcare?

“When was your last period?”

“Do you think you might be pregnant?”

“What medication are you on? Are you on birth control?”

Those questions, most recently (and repeatedly) asked when I was in the hospital in 2010 to get my gallbladder removed. Doctors came in and asked. Nurses came in and asked. More doctors. More nurses.

To some extent, I accept the medical necessity of such questions. From one perspective, they’re affirming: the person asking assumes I’m a cisgender woman, complete with uterus, ovaries, and the ability to menstruate and get pregnant. From another perspective, they’re oppressive: they are making assumptions about my body, my identity. And for trans men, the opposite may be true: they may be menstruating, pregnant, have gynecological problems that doctors won’t or don’t know how to acknowledge and treat.

Fitting in makes other people’s lives easier. We live in a culture that says “You can be anything you want! If you can dream it, you can do it! Reach for the stars!” But when you’ve reached, when you’ve become that thing you want, can only be that thing. Not more than one thing. Not one thing one day, and something else the next. Self identification is one thing, but ambiguity (perceived or real) is something else entirely.

Continue reading 'Health. Care. Healthcare.'»

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By Rebecca, May 6, 2011 3:55 pm

This morning I went to a panel at Howard Brown Health Center on a more complete and helpful picture of trans health issues. The conversation didn’t contain any revolutionary insights (yes, trans (and cis!) folks should be able to access medical health under an informed consent model, yes, there’s an overlap between LGBT health and reproductive health, and so on) but it did raise some interesting questions for me.

First, and something I’ve thought a lot about in the past, is the question of how to handle trans minors. As an educator and a trans person, I have a very conflicted view of this. On the one hand, as a trans person, I absolutely believe it’s possible to ‘know’ that one is trans before hitting 18. Access to medical care and hormones prior to 18 can make a huge difference in the ease and emotional success of transitioning. At the same time, as an educator, the idea of allowing teenagers to make such fundamental choices about their bodies worries me. I feel super hypocritical expressing that worry, since I would have been offended had someone questioned my trans identity (and, indeed, was offended when I had mediocre therapy support from folks who did question my identity). But what should the guidelines be for handling people who are not necessarily in a legal position to make their own decisions?

More broadly, the discussion got me thinking about whether or not healthcare is a fundamental right.

Continue reading 'Trans Health Panel at Howard Brown'»

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By Rebecca, May 10, 2010 3:57 pm

So I’m out of the hospital, finally. (Truth be told, I got out on Friday.) I have a few posts in the pipeline, but wanted to send out a quick “Hello” to reassure my adoring fan(s) that I haven’t totally forgotten about you.

Recovery is slow, and tiring, and boring. Mostly been laying around, though I did go to work for a few hours today. It was exhausting (not in a bad way, just in a “I haven’t recovered my strength” way) but it made me feel like I’m a real person and not just a TV-movie-watching couch potato.

I’m going to take a nap, but I do have an open question: What exciting story should I use to explain my surgical scars? I have four nickel-sized holes on my tummy, and need a good explanation.

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By Rebecca, May 5, 2010 11:04 am

Proof of hospitalization! This is from 2 days ago, though. I look MUCh less happy now...

Had six (count ‘em – SIX) gallstones out yesterday. The gallbladder is definitely infected, but it’s just a question of whether they’ll be able to take it out today or tomorrow (which is what I’m hoping for) or whether I’ll have to come back in a few weeks (boooo).

Interesting point of pride/embarrassment: I am apparently, out of thr 5,000 gallstone removals my doctor had preformed, the only one to REACH UP UNDER SEDATION AND PULL THE TUBE OUT OF MY THROAT. I have no memory of this (fortunately) but I had to be put totally under, something they rarely need to do for gallstone removal. I apparently REALLY don’t like things down my throat.

There goes my career as a deep-throat artist.

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By Rebecca, May 4, 2010 12:15 am

This is my gallbladder, Tim.

First, apparently it’s “gallbladder” or “gall bladder,” not “gal bladder.” Good to know.

Second, a little more info on what has been going on.

The gallbladder is used as sort of a digestive backup: it stores bile produced elsewhere and, when hard-to-digest food is introduced to the digestive tract – the gallbladder will send in the reinforcements. That means it’s useful, but not critical.

Gallstones are formed out of normal bile components that somehow solidify and get stuck in obnoxious (and potentially dangerous) places.

Continue reading 'The gallbladder has gotsta go!'»

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By Rebecca, May 3, 2010 4:40 pm

Almost a month after my recent visit, I’m back in the hospital. I came to the ER this morning with more abdominal pain, and they’ve since determined it’s a gal bladder issue. Tomorrow they’ll definitely be removing some gal stones, an possibly the gal bladder itself. I’ll them get out Wednesday or Thursday, hopefully.

If they decide not to remove the gal bladder this week (to let swelling go down) I’ll be back in 4 to 6 weeks for that.

More later (posting from my phone) but wanted to shoot out an update.

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By Rebecca, April 7, 2010 12:21 am

I went to the ER last night. About once a month for the last few months, I’ve been having really crippling stomach cramps and pains, between my belly button and my rib cage. They’ve been pretty clearly linked in my mind with eating lots of rich food – deep dish pizza, really thick soup, etc – and even though they hurt and suck, I’ve been able to take antacids and make them go away. The antacids took maybe 20 or 30 minutes to kick in, but when they did it was like turning off a light switch: the pain was gone.

Last night, though, I took antacids and Pepto-Bismol, and the pain just kept getting worse. Finally, at 3AM, after having been pacing and panting and rolling on my bed since midnight, trying to find a comfortable spot, I asked my roommate to drive me to the ER.

Continue reading 'A night at the ER'»

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By Rebecca, June 13, 2009 5:41 pm

This post from Questioning Transphobia came across my RSS reader today and I wanted to share it with you. From the post:

There’s no question that there’s very little empirical medical evidence available on the various specific health risks faced by trans women. And although these results are as depressing as they’re scary as they’re alarming – we’re at twice the risk of dying from heart disease or a stroke and eight times more likely to commit suicide – there’s no doubt in my mind that much, much more research in this area is needed urgently.

This makes me think about Cedar’s Cis Privilege Checklist

:

I expect that medical therapies offered to me have been the subject of rigorous medical studies & approval processes.

I expect that medical studies are being done to improve & approve treatments available for people with my conditions.

Because, as this study shows, neither of those points are true for trans men and women. I don’t know what the long-term effects of estrogen or testosterone blockers will be on my body, and very few people are particularly interested in finding out.