It’s Pride Month, So I’m finally getting around to posting your AMA questions

I know everyone’s probably thinking: what’s Tyler been up to and where’s his update to the AMA for TDOV? Ok – no one’s been thinking any of that. So part of my new year’s resolution this year was to find more ways to be more visible and to help my community and as part of doing so, I’ve been a little less present here. I’ve joined the board of directors for Point of Pride, which as been everything I hoped for and more.

But I did want to circle back to some of the questions I got on TDOV, my answers and whatnot, some of which produced some interesting and thought-provoking chatter on my Facebook and gave me a bit to continue to think about in the future.

10 Months

So today marks my 10 month anniversary on T. It’s been a lot of the same changes. My voice is getting slowly deeper, which is nice. My muscles are still growing, which is nice and my body hair keeps darkening. My facial hair is finally starting to grow in something that resembles an normal pattern, which is super exciting because it had been patchy at best, especially on the left side. The acne on my face seems to be finally calming down some, but that may just as easily be my body adjusting to the change in the seasons as the testosterone – I tend to break out less in the winter.

A picture’s worth a thousand words, therefore this is a 20,000 word blog post

Wow…I don’t even know where to start. It’s been a while since I really had time to write last. Lots of things have happened and most of that is best told in pictures. So for the moment: pictures!

Six Months(!) Update and Ten Tips for Switching Locker Rooms

My fortune cookie from work Friday. It’s joined my other fortune in my wallet – “In a gentle way, you can shake the world”

I really feel like I need to get into a better blogging schedule. I’m not seeing my therapist as often and this usually serves as some pretty good “therapy” for me…that and the gym. I think I need to schedule myself some blog time every week just to get thoughts out of my head and down on paper (or cyberspace, as it were).

So first thing’s first – I just passed the 6 month mark on T! In that time, I’ve lost 2 pounds and about 2.5″ off my waist and added 1.75″ to my biceps. This is exciting for me because it’s a lot of progress in the direction that I want to go. The hardest part of this for me has been accepting that I won’t lose weight weight as long as I’m bulking up. It’s a tough mentality change from wanting to see the number on the scale going down, to being ok with it staying the same or even fluctuating up. I’m finally starting to see the body in the mirror that I’ve always imagined when I thought of myself. You have to understand that I’ve been over 200lbs since I was 16 and topped out at 265lbs right before my last knee surgery. I knew then that if I didn’t loose weight I was going to be rolling on teflon and titanium before long (that’s full knee replacement, FYI) and I wasn’t ready for that.

“Congratulations, now you’re Tyler” – 4 Months and Some Other Big News

I’ll get the “easy” part out of the way first…it’s been 4 months since I started testosterone. The facial hair is still growing in and the voice is, somehow, still deepening. I haven’t noticed a lot of changes this month; I’m definitely into the slow and steady changes point of the process. I’m feeling frustration at not noticing the changes nearly as fast as I’d like, but every once in a while I feel like “whoa”. Like these two pictures, just a month apart.

Damn It, Irene: Thoughts, Observations and after 2 Months – and pictures, of course

So I’m coming up on the 2 month mark. Pictures, as customary, later this week. I figured I’d take some time and kind of get some thoughts and updated out of the way.

First big news – step one for the legal name change is underway. I’m required to place notice in the paper for 3 weeks so that anyone who would like to object may do so. This is to avoid people changing their name to dodge debt. That first ad ran today, so I should be on my way to getting the name change finalized. I’ve decided on Tyler James. We’re hoping to have that completed soon. The company I work for is splitting into two companies soon and they’ll be reassigning email addresses. I’m hoping to use that as an opportunity to have the right email address.

I must-ache you a question.

So the voice change is officially official. We had a bunch of friends over this weekend to make our wedding invitations. Those came out awesome, thanks to everyone that came over and worked on those. It’s the first time I’ve seen most of my close friends since I started taking testosterone – they live in Virginia, so I don’t get to see them nearly as often as I’d like. They could hear the difference in my voice.

One Month T Update – Pictures & Thoughts

Sometimes I spend so much time making progress and then backtracking that I feel like I’m dancing instead of walking in a straight line.

So as I’d mentioned before, I’ve told my manager that I’m trans. Several of my coworkers also know… most of them in fact, by default of them being friends with me on Facebook. Today my team lead (fancy corporate talk for supervisor) asked my in front of one of my coworkers if I mided that she called my X-tina, because Christina was too much to type out most times. Before I could really say anything my coworker said “call her Tyler!” This secretly delighted my quite a bit, like the time my niece called me Aunt Tyler. They’re trying, right? I think it’s funny how the name change seems to be coming a lot easier to some people than the pronouns.

Updates and Whatnot

So Wednesday, I’ll be giving myself my second shot, so I felt like now would be a good time to share a few things:

First, no one mentions just how quick that first shot gets you. I took my first shot at 8am Wednesday and by 8pm, my throat had started to feel scratchy. It’s winter-time in the mid Atlantic and my job is LITERALLY talking on the phone for 8 hours a day. I chalked it up to one, or both, of those. The difference with this scratch is that nothing could make it feel better. Hot tea, cough drops, nothing. When I had my therapy appointment Thursday morning, her first reaction to this was “Wait… you didn’t realize it would start that fast!?” Aside from the initial scratchiness, which has largely subsided at this point, I haven’t noticed any other major changes.

Today I Learned to Poke Needles into my Leg

So it’s official. I gave myself my first injection today. I also talked to my manager, who was really sweet about it, and also reminded me that I had no legal obligation to tell her anything and did the sort of standard HR-y things.

The last week or so has sort of been a menagerie of feelings, not all of which I’ve been able to sort out. I’m hoping my therapy appointment tomorrow will help with that.