So, on Monday I had my quarterly appointment with Dr Bouman at the Nottingham Gender Identity Clinic (or GIC) for short. I kind of look forward to these appointments. They act as little markers in my mind. I now have three months until my next appointment but it'll be here before I know it. The fact that it's a week before Christmas means that it'll be here extra quick lol. Anyway, we had our normal catch up on how things are going. The upshot is that he's very happy with how I'm consolidating this gender role. My transition has definitely been smoother than most seem to get, that's true. One of the questions I had was about surgery. Recently the surgeon local to this area, Dr Tim Terry in Leicester, retired suddenly. This has left things a bit messed up so to speak. Now there are only two surgeons in England performing GRS (Gender Reassignment Surgery), one based in Brighton and one in London. With all of Terry's patients being refered to the two remaining surgeons there is now a backlog. It could mean a 2013 op date for me rather than 2012 as I was hopping. The other thing of course is that I'll have to go to either Brighton or London for what is a huge operation. I'd have much rather have been at Leicester which is a lot closer to home. There's not a lot I can do about it though so I'll just have to get on with things like I normally do. Another thing we talked about was relationships. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't interested in being in a relationship. Is the time right though? Psychologically it is as I've settled down into a female life. My body may not be the finished article yet but that can't be helped. Dr Bouman pressed me about what I would do should I meet someone I liked. Would I tell them straight away? The truth is that I'd probably have to. You put Emma Jewkes into Google and my Google profile is first on the search list followed by my Facebook profile. This blog is forth on the search list. There are a few of the topics I've posted to on the support forums on the first page too as well as my Twitter profile. I've made such a big footprint on the internet that it'd be practically impossible for me to hide certain things now. It's my own fault I suppose but in all truthfulness I need someone who is going to be ok about the whole transgender thing.