transponderings

So many things I should be doing. Stuff just seems to keep coming at me – even though I’m not working at the moment. Since I ought to have tons of free time, I thought it would be easy to write a little blog series on GRA reforms. But all that legal stuff is so tedious and really wears me down – and other people have done a much better job of covering it elsewhere. So – quick confession – if you’re following that series, it’s going to get a little snappier and more personal. Sorry if you were the person hoping for an in-depth analysis of the finer constitutional points raised.

I didn’t plan to write a ‘four-month HRT update’ either, because I didn’t think there would be much to say. So apologies for slipping back into a clichéd trans blogging rut. Right, that’s enough confessions and apologies. On with the post.

No longer itching for hormones

Last time, in the exciting story of Anna’s adventures in hormone-land, I talked about my Evorel (estradiol) patches and Gonapeptyl (triptorelin) injections and their disappointing shortage of effects (side or otherwise). Since then, I have switched from the twice-weekly Evorel patches to daily sachets of Sandrena gel, which thankfully don’t irritate my skin – so that’s a big improvement anyway! (I don’t know yet if it will deliver an increased dose of estradiol, though.)

Yesterday, I had my fifth injection of triptorelin. If you’ve been following closely, you’ll have worked out that it was in my right buttock. Having said that, I’d probably rather you hadn’t been thinking too deeply about my buttocks (and counting them like sheep as the months go by). If you do have to think of my buttocks, though, I hope you will think of them as idealised, platonic buttocks and not as they exist in the real world.

So that’s the four-month mark – a whole third of a year. (Well, nearly – it’s actually only 31.2% of a non-leap year, but who’s counting? Oh, you are.)

A hairy moment

In the past month, I’ve had some more of that breast tenderness and possible increasing firmness (there’s definitely something going on there, even if it’s imperceptible to the naked eye). Still no libido – still happy with that. Still no real psychological changes – less happy with that, but I can’t cry about it.

One striking thing I noticed, though – which snuck up on me quite unexpectedly – is a marked change in my body hair. I had been shaving the front of my torso regularly for a year or so, but was a bit slack at keeping it up over the Christmas holiday period. Occasionally, I would just shave my chest because it was going to be partly exposed. Anyway, I realised after a while that although my chest still needed to be shaved, there was actually nothing to speak of on my belly at all! Something was happening!

And then when I mentioned this to someone, they asked if I had hair on my fingers, for some reason. I knew that I had a few clumps of wild hair between my knuckles, which I had never bothered to shave or epilate, but I had a look and I just couldn’t find it!

Now, it turns out that in direct sunlight, at the right angle, I can see, on both my belly and my fingers, a very faint, fine, downy kind of hair. I assume this is the legendary vellus hair that I’ve heard talk of and only dreamt of seeing. Who knows, perhaps other parts of my body will follow suit in due course!