i saw the urologist for the follow-up today, and he admitted that he would be unwilling to do the surgery. his reasons were not well-founded; i think i was right about religion as the cause for refusal. but, i don't think that he is the only surgeon in the city.

so, i went and printed off the forms to take to my gp tomorrow. if i can get the forms filled out and the funding approved, i can worry about a surgeon afterwards.

the procedure is covered, and i just need to get two doctors to sign off. but, there's a twist: one of them needs to be trained in accordance with the "world professional association for transgender health" standards of care. that can't be that hard, though, right? this was supposed to liberalize access...

in fact, this is a lengthy training course. two years. it's not free, either. according to the wpath site, there are a total of two doctors in ontario that have these requirements, both in toronto.

so, before they liberalized access, i had to go to a special clinic in toronto. after they liberalized access, i have to go to specialized doctors in toronto. some liberalization.

i've sent out some emails explaining that this is fundamentally harm reduction to reduce the strain on my liver. i don't know what the reaction is going to be.

yet, it seems like i still have no access, here.

i don't see any reason why a doctor needs to have this training to recommend surgery. in the end, it's my liver that suffers - and the system that eventually pays to treat the cirrhosis, because it wouldn't give me the freedom to control my own transition.