14th September 2015 – 2 months on Testosterone

I can’t get over how quickly these 2 months have gone past, it’s gone so quick. I also started my new job as a breakdown recovery driver within a week of starting Testosterone and have been really busy with home life that time really has flown by.

I am using the Tostran – Testosterone 2% gel, which I apply every morning (my dosage is 50mg a day) which is measured by pump actuations so five presses on the pump. They also advise you to shower every morning before applying it, and it can be applied to the thighs or on the stomach.

Two months down the line and I am still struggling to find a routine around when to apply the gel, if I am honest I would go for having the Testosterone injection any day. It’s just time consuming as you have to plan ahead as to what time to get up as you have to shower before applying the gel and then sit for 20 mins while it dries.

OK lets jump straight into the changes that have happened so far:

In the first couple of days my voice started to feel sore as if I had a cold. Within a week or so I started to feel like something was rubbing in my boxers, I had a feeling what it was… but not this early surly? Oh yes my little man is growing. A couple of weeks later and I happened to be putting some washing on the line (as you do) and just happen to look at my arm and saw these little fine hairs growing on the inside of my arms, I went running to find Sarah shouting “look..look I have hair growing on my arms“, I look now and it makes me smile.

I have noticed that my skin on my face has gone really greasy and that I was getting peach fuzz on my face and it was really noticeable, Sarah got me to shave it off so that we can tell what was new growth. It felt like it was the first proper shave I had, I mean I had shaved it before but it felt different, and when I put the shaving cream on and I could see all the little hairs all over my face stand up and when I was shaving it it felt I was shaving against something rather than shaving something that was smooth. I did have to use a moisturiser afterwards as my skin was burning a little. My voice really hurts at the minute, like I can’t really shout any more as it pulls at the back of my throat.

It really is all about the hair – My facial hair is coming on nicely (at least one side of it anyway) there’s a few darker hairs coming through under my nose. My leg hair is getting thicker and darker and new hair is starting to come through on my thighs. The hair on my arms is joining up and is now starting to grow on the backs of my hands.

My body shape has started to change too, I noticed when getting dressed that my boxers felt like they didn’t sit right, as if something was stopping them from going high enough. It turns out my bum has changed shape and has started to lift.

Dr’s Appointment at the Laurels GIC

I also had an appointment with Dr McClelland at the Laurels on 17th July 2015, we discussed what I needed to do to lose weight and just have a general catch up. She also mentioned that it was my GP that had an influence on me starting hormone treatment as he said in his words “lets get this show on the road” as he saw no reason why treatment shouldn’t be given. If it wasn’t for him saying that then I would still be waiting for the lipid specialist appointment which is about a 7 month wait. She also offered to do some of my appointments over Skype as I live so far away.

I will be on the gel for many months to come because of my size and cholesterol but she did say worst case scenario, if my body was to reject the Testosterone I will still be put forward for top surgery – which is a big relief as I could cope to a certain degree with not having Testosterone but to have to live with still having my chest as well that would be really hard.

When we go down to the laurels we usually stay over at either Sarah’s mums or our close friends house, it breaks the journey up on the way back. Now they have been amazingly supportive with the whole transition and are really interested in how the whole process works, and when Steve comes round and greets me with a hand shake it’s like the icing on the cake it felt amazing to be so accepted, that its the little things like that that make the negative parts disappear.

My transition has not been the easiest and I have waited years to start hormone treatment but I will say this though no matter how long it takes you will get there in the end.