Added "eunuch" to my doctors form

[Hash (imported)]

I went to see my doctor for a check-up yesterday and the female desk clerk wanted me to check over a form that had all my information on it, date of birth, address, phone #, etc. It listed my sex as "M" so while reviewing it I added "eunuch" after it and told the woman at the desk that I wanted to include this in my description. She was a little shocked but she said o.k. I sat down and waited for my appointment. The woman at the desk left the glass window partially open and after a few minutes I saw her whisper to another woman in the office. The woman said, "Really, which one." Then she identified me. I could have gotten angry, but I felt good about it, I wanted her to know that I was a eunuch. This was a brave new day for me and then I was called in to see my doctor. Nothing to report, my female doctor knows that I'm a eunuch, she examined me months before. She's very compassionate and understanding. I'll never see another male doctor as long as I live. She wanted me to get an EKG, but the machine was broken. I told her I've been under a lot of stress, and that was all it took. We did talk about my hormones and she's monitoring mine. That's about it.

[Riven (imported)]

Good for you Hash,

I think you are very brave. It benefits us all if people out there get used to the idea that some of us aren't fully male, and don't want to feel ashamed about it.

[plix (imported)]

I don't suppose I'll ever understand why my experiences with doctors and gender seem to be the opposite of what most people on this board report. For me female doctors have been cold and distant upon learning of my eunuch/TS desires. Male doctors, however, have been understanding and compassionate.

The only thing I can think of is that either consciously or subconsciously the female doctors knew that I was not TS and/or eunuch, that I was just a man pretending to be, and that somehow this was off-putting. Of course, that theory doesn't explain why male doctors have been so willing to help.

An alternative and perhaps simpler explanation is that I just happened to choose a few conservative female doctors and a few liberal male doctors.

[kennath7 (imported)]

Hash

Congrats

That was brave step keep up the good work

And never be ashamed of who you are

[Kangan (imported)]

My family doctor (male) was surprised but congratulatory when I told him of my surgery and why I had it done. The female staff in his office know of my status since it is in my medical records. I'm going in for a routine exam next week. It will be interesting to see what anyone says (if anything).

[chilliwilli (imported)]

Hash,

Your so damn PIMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

But seriously, you are the man and good for you for pointing out the unacceptable mistake on their medical form.

chilli-

[JesusA (imported)]

Hash definitely is on the right track here. We ALL need to remind our care givers that there should be TWO open-ended questions on such forms:

SEX – What your body was at the time of birth. There are more than two possibilities.

GENDER – There are vastly more than two possibilities.

Both of these have significant implications for health care and any medical personnel serving you need to be aware of this important part of your medical history and background.

I’m trying to persuade my physician, who was formerly the director of the local office (more than 30 physicians) of a state-wide medical group, that all of their forms need to give these choices. I think I’m making progress.

[Beau Geste (imported)]

This calls to mind the passage in the Bible about "eunuchs from their mothers' wombs." I think this is sometimes considered to be a reference to individuals with undescended testes, but I would think that a small percentage of people are in fact born with a penis but no testes, and so could be considered persons whose medical records, from birth, ought to list them as eunuchs--simply because their medical status is different than that of the two genders usually recognized in medical records, and that could affect what kind of medical services and care they should receive.

[JesusA (imported)]

This calls to mind the passage in the Bible about "eunuchs from their mothers' wombs." I think this is sometimes considered to be a reference to individuals with undescended testes, but I would think that a small percentage of people are in fact born with a penis but no testes, and so could be considered persons whose medical records, from birth, ought to list them as eunuchs--simply because their medical status is different than that of the two genders usually recognized in medical records, and that could affect what kind of medical services and care they should receive.

Would that it were that simple. There are various estimates of the percentage of babies who are born other than the heteronormative “male” and “female.”

Just for the external plumbing that is generally used to make the initial determination that “it’s a boy,” or “it’s a girl,” there are about one in 1,500 births where "it’s indeterminate." For this was developed the Prader Scale, a seven-point scale ranging from clearly “female” external genitals at one end of the scale to clearly “male” external genitals at the other. Undescended testes do not count against clearly “male.” There is a great size range of the part that is considered “clitoris” at one end and “penis” at the other. The urinary opening can be anywhere from well below it to at its tip. The labial folds that are present in all fetuses can open into something resembling a “vagina” or be fused into something appearing to be a “scrotum.” There is a range for all of these.

The next consideration if the external plumbing is ambiguous is the chromosomal status. It’s generally thought that XX chromosomes mean “female” and XY mean “male,” but there are other variants as well (and XX and XY are not so simple either). About one in 500 births is “other.” The most common of these other types are XXY, XYY, XXYY, XXX and XO (where there is only a single sex chromosome). There are also conditions, such as Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia or Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, where the external plumbing is a perfect match for either “male” or “female” and the chromosomes are the other common sex. There are “mosaics” where some cells in the body have one set of sex chromosomes and other cells have a different set.

And there are many other possibilities and complexities before we even get to the gender complexity that’s inside the brain. A person can be born with matching chromosomes and external plumbing in either the XX/female or XY/male flavor and genetic and/or prenatal (in utero) influences that can produce a brain that is of a different gender. This leads to our MtF, FtM, and MtE varieties, as well as many other variants.

This is just an over-simplified introduction to the very real complexity of human sex and gender variants. There are thousands of academic papers trying to make sense of all of it. We still don’t understand far too much. In the only class on human sexuality that I ever took, the professor described the TWENTY-ONE discrete axes of sex and gender that had been discerned. Chromosomes were one. External plumbing was another. And there were 19 more. If there were only two possibilities on each axis, that would mean that there were two-to-the-twenty-first-power possible combinations of sex and gender – more than the number of humans who have ever lived!

An open-ended question, “What is your sex?” allows most people to put a simple “M” or “F,” but also allows that one in 500 or more to write in what they really are. “What is your gender?” allows for an even wider range of responses beyond “male” or “female.”

It’s about time that we all learned to delight in the entire diversity of humanity! It’s much more than just the race and ethnicity that’s generally considered in diversity studies.

[incuse (imported)]

I don't suppose I'll ever understand why my experiences with doctors and gender seem to be the opposite of what most people on this board report. For me female doctors have been cold and distant upon learning of my eunuch/TS desires. Male doctors, however, have been understanding and compassionate.

My experience has been mixed. I've told every doctor I've had. I don't want them to flaw a decision they make because I'm holding back information. Though, on forms I fill out, I mark M on them. I mention I'm a eunuch during the history taking doctors and nurses do. I figure that information is a bit more protected by HIPPA. I don't need a receptionist snickering over a form.

I've told 2 male GP's about my status as eunuch. One had no reaction, but did set me up a bone density test at my request, and the other asked if I wanted referral to a endocrinologist, only to back track and say I probably wouldn't want that since I was voluntary.

A female nurse taking history for me to see my male neurosurgeon ran out of the room after telling her I was a eunuch. Not sure what happened outside, not too concerned with it. The male neurosurgeon danced around the subject when it came time for us to talk. I could see he was definitely uncomfortable.

In summary: Male GP's ok. Neurosurgeons are just outright uncomfortable.

So far I've not had a situation where I needed my junk checked out, I suppose that will be my next big moment. Telling someone Im eunuch vs a doctor working on my junk are two different things.

It's probably several years down the road before I can survive a surgery of any kind that would have me being cath'd without dying of embarrassment.