[AnnieBL]

Yesterday I and my wife had a joint session with our nurse practitioner. I've been trying to get an appointment with my urologist since early july' so I prepared a note for the NP to pass to the urologist outlining some of my concerns, including those relating to the changes in my body due to low T (among other things), specifically my breast development and the drastic atrophy of my penis and testicles, and loss of muscle. I also thought it was time to take the bull by the horns and tackle the issue of my changes head on, since each of the three NPs we have seen over the past 20 months has carefully avoided any reference to my breast development. My specific question for the urologist was whether my now very small and soft testicles represent a health hazard (there is said to be an increased risk of cancer, but whether this is really something to worry about I don't know). To avoid the risk of him simply prescribing testosterone, which at this stage I definitely no longer want, I made clear that I was generally quite comfortable with the changes since I had always wished that I'd been born a girl. She read it, and commented on some of the things I had said, but still carefully avoided the subjects I have mentioned above. THis seemed the to be the most minimal way of introducing my GI, but of course is less than the whole picture. My wife said that she (the NP) was probably embarrassed (and also, gratuitously, that I would make an improbable girl anyway).

By some coincidence, the syndicated 'Dear Abby' column in our local news paper this morning was relevant and probably of interest to many of our married members. A link is
http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/
but if this doesn't work, Googling 'Dear Abby' shoud produce it -it is the column for December 18. My wife commented that sometimes Dear Abby comes up with sensible answers, and I have to agree.