Today started with a visit to the hospital carpark where i found the breastscreen wa trailer. My appointment was at 8.30 and it was certainly autumnal to say the least but i was greeted by a smile and invited inside. Once inside i was asked to take a seat and fill in a form. It was the usual disclaimers which no one ever reads then came the “general information” part. First question, have you had a mammogram before? I thought to myself that i could face some questions about that but continued through the questionnaire. Sure enough when i gave the form the the lady she looked at it and asked why I hadn’t had a mammogram before since i am now the ripe old age of 58. I asked if she wanted the short answer or the long one, she said she was happy to have either but i opted for the short one and replied “because the service is not offered to boys regardless of whether they have breasts or not” there was a silence while she digested my answer which seemed to be going on far too long for me so i said “you get that I’m trans yes?” She said “well I hadn’t but now it makes sense” at that point the lady who had been before me came out of the room where it all happens and i was invited in. I was shown where to change and told to wait until i was called. It was only a couple of minutes before i was asked to join the radiographer. She said she just had to ask me a couple of questions before commencing the job, the usual full name, date of birth and address then she asked me if I’d had a mammogram before, i thought here we go again and sure enough after my answer she asked if there was a reason. I used the same reason as before but thought i would go straight for the second bit and said “you get that I’m trans yes?” She said “no, i would never have guessed” i was pleased with that and said “i have had gynecomastia since i was twelve though” surprisingly she didn’t know what that was so I explained, she was intrigued so i told her a little of my story, she asked if I’d had augmentation, i told her it was definitely not needed! The mammogram itself was not as unpleasant as I’d been lead to believe so whether she went easy on me I don’t know but she was happy with her work and said i could get dressed. I thanked her for her kindness and left the room. The other lady was on her own so i thanked her and said that I’d been looked after in a very kind and gentle way. As i left she said she would see me in two years time, job done!
On a different subject, i have mentioned before how much i love working for the Realestate company in town who give me a large percentage of my work nowadays. They are great to deal with and I’d like to think i am as valuable to them as they are to me so it’s a good partnership. Yesterday I received a work order to erect a gate across a drive at a nearby property. I decided to visit the property and meet with the tenant to assess what was needed. When the lady came out of the house she had a somewhat surprised look on her face but was very pleasant as she explained the problem. She then went on to say what a pleasant surprise it was to see a woman doing a job like this, I explained a little about myself and she was clearly very happy for me. Today, after some running around to find a suitable gate i attended the property to erect a post and fit the gate. It was a very successful job, all went to plan and when the tenant arrived home she was thrilled with the result. It just makes the job so worthwhile when clients are appreciative, most are but for this particular one it was lovely to get a very genuine thank you at the end of it. I am very lucky to work for so many lovely people!