We left at 5 a.m. in the morning to head to Houston, TX for our son’s first Gender Doctor appointment on the 17th of September. We had a hour and a half drive. It was raining so bad that we could barely see out of the windshield. You see, We live in South East Texas and got slammed by Tropical Storm Imelda between the 17-19th of September. It took us almost 3 hours to get there because of the weather but we made it.
We find a parking spot and all get out to head inside. We walked in the front door to be greeted by the front desk to tell us where to register. Once we got to the front of the line to register the clerk asked what his preferred pronouns where and preferred name. They gave us paperwork to fill out and told us to go to the third floor.
Alex (my son) did not really seem nervous at all. I was. How would this go? What will they say? Will they believe him because of his age? He is 13. These were my thoughts as we entered the elevator. Is this the right thing for him? What if he regrets this? Floor two. What if he hates us after this? What if he does not get the answers he is hoping to hear?
Third Floor. *Elevator Dings* We all walk out with clipboards in hand. I walk up to the desk. The man behind the desk says to just find a seat and fill out the packets and hand it in when you are done. We all sit. Alex is filling out his paperwork and I am filling out mine.
What is your child’s birth name? Preferred name? Pronouns? Age? Address? Insurance? Family history? So many questions. So many emotions. Then I look over as Alex is filling out his form and it hits me. It hits me like a ton of bricks. Why am I questioning all of this? He looks so confident. No issues. He is not even nervous! He finishes up his paperwork and continues to play on his phone.
As I walk up to hand them my paperwork I go over all of our conversations we have had about this. This isn’t new for him. Hell, at this point it isn’t new for me either. This is something my husband and I have talked about for years. The fact that we already really knew! We know that this is his true self. We will do anything to support him.
Then, his name is called! ALEX **last name**. He jumps up and heads that way. We follow his lead. Which is honestly the only thing we can do is to follow his lead. We walk in the back and they are checking his weight, height, blood pressure and then bring us into a room. He sits on the bed and starts to play on his phone just relaxed as could be.
**Knock knock** The door swings open and the Doctor walks in. She is tall and beautiful in relaxed clothing. She doesn’t look like a normal doctor we are use to. She shakes our hands and sits down and jumps right in. She told us how the appointment would go. It is an hour long and she would be asking a lot of questions. She talks super fast!! Asking all sorts of questions. What’s going on? How long have you felt this way? What part of this makes you uncomfortable? Do you want *insert 1,2 and 3*?
She is covering everything. All of my concerns are gone. She hands me a handful of information to help us or for anyone in the family that may have questions. The wealth of information was amazing! Different websites to help with research and learn everything we can. Tells us he will need to go back downstairs to do blood work to check his levels.
His next appointment will be later this month. That appointment we will be discussing the next step. All in all it was a really amazing experience. Everywhere we went in the building from front desk, check in, Dr’s front desk, nurse, Dr., lab’s front desk and lap tech were all very nice, supportive and all used his preferred name. He felt so calm and confident… until it was time to draw blood. LOL
But seriously, I am so thankful that we found such an amazing Clinic to help with this next stage in our lives. I say ours because we will never leave his side. Alex will always have our support! ALWAYS!!
Trans-Parent 