Hulk Angry....Hulk Smash!

Yes. We have anger. We have increased irritability. I guess this means the testosterone is working, right?! Fan-tas-tic. The down side would be....more of "the mood swinging". So not nice. And because we have just begun the process, he is coming up on another CYCLE. Now these were horrific without added hormones, I am so looking forward to the head explosions that will occur with the double your pleasure hormone load. ( that was sarcasm, in case you missed it) And what great timing too! My mom and dad will be here in two weeks and neither one has had the pleasure of the new and improved Alex yet. I hate to forecast but I can see feelings getting hurt and misunderstandings galore. I'll be sure to keep a fire extinguisher on hand.

Thank goodness Spring Break is over! I am no cruise director and I tend to get resentful and just plain pissed off when I am DRIVING for 75% of the damn day. I can't wait till this kid gets a license and finally understands that the car doesn't run on magic. Gas costs money and money needs to be earned. I imagine his travels will be stymied once he has to buy his own magic. Hehe.

Nothing new or exciting this week. His next Shot will be the 28th. Only 3 more group therapy sessions ( which we are both happy about, for different reasons) and then he will continue to see his regular therapist probably bi-weekly. 

We bleached him blonde. Also, he decided he didn't want the snakebites anymore so he took them out.

Alex's re-play of the day

DJ Snake& Lil Jon ~ Turn Down for What!

You are hairy, like animal.

Alex: "Mom, is it wrong that I can't wait to get hair on my back??"

Me: "Yes, sweetie. That is oh so very wrong. LOL."

Today was Shot #2 of testosterone. Alex once again gave it to himself, I just supervised to make sure he followed the directions. Since Shot#1 we haven't seen much of a change. Sure, he's moody....but welcome to 16....not really able to tell if it has increased because of the shot or if it's just HIM. Increase in appetite? Sure, but let's just say...he ate like a full grown man prior to the treatment, so again...no way to tell. I've been attempting to get him moving as much as I can, whether it is a walk in the park or doing yard work , he isn't happy about it but knows why I'm pushing. 

He and Taylor are still together and it's been about a month now. She comes over at least once a week, it would be more but they live about an hour away.

Alex and I also Ran/Walked The VA War Memorial 5K on Saturday.

 So this is the first day of Spring Break. Wooohooo. Too bad we're broke. Story of my life people.

Alex's Re-Play of the Day.

Fiona Apple~ Sleep To Dream

Saturday. Yep, just Saturday.

Plastic surgery

Double mastectomy. It's part of the whole "transitioning" process for Alex. The conservative side of me is adamant about pursuing this avenue until he turns at least 18. The part of me that understands the extreme distress involved with having breasts wants to move forward. Alex's body dysphoria can be crippling and is a real source of depression and self-loathing. 
We are friendly with another FtM individual in the area who recently graduated from Alex's high school. He had the procedure at 17, before starting HRT. He is the one who gave me the doctors name  I shared in the above link. There is also a family in our Trans support group who have scheduled their 16 year old FtM to have the surgery this January. It's a hard decision. I have told Alex that we will consider pursuing this further AFTER the Trans Conference in June. There will be lots of information regarding the surgery available and hopefully some others that can assure me one way or another. 

Double mastectomy

I'm not sure that "bottom" surgery is something I need to worry about just yet. Many FtM individuals opt to keep their assigned genitalia. Not only because the surgeries available are crude and grossly expensive but because of the possible complications. Science has not really advanced enough to give a good result in this area. Loss of sensation was the biggest issue I came across in all of my research. And we don't want that, now do we!?

Well, there hasn't been much change since Alex received his first shot. He's still mood swingy and ALWAYS hungry but that's pretty much the norm here. I'm trying my best to keep him active so that he doesn't end up packing on the pounds. That will be very hard on his organs and mentally his self-esteem takes a nose-dive. It's difficult, cause he's still a kid and wants those nasty kid foods. I do my best to be reasonable but I end up feeling like the food police. The exercise Nazi. Nag, nag, nag. At some point he will have to take responsibility for his health, I won't be around. Scary.

Anyway, tomorrow we have our Trans support group picnic at the park. I look forward to hanging with them. Alex will get to hang out with peers and Joe will get some much needed exposure to other men dealing with similar issues. It's a win. I'll take pictures.