[Bolding added.]
Trans patients were called last week and informed their long-awaited top surgery had been cancelled to let more cancer mastectomies happen . It’s not their responsibility.
Our surgery is not cosmetic.
Transgender wait times are fatal and I #WontDieWaiting
20 comments
Mastectomies for transmen are, indeed, not cosmetic, and are very important for mental health to combat dysphoria. However, top surgery is not as urgently life-or-death as cancer mastectomies.
If your surgeries were cancelled outright, then I'm all for getting righteously outraged. If, however, they were temporarily postponed due to an unusually high number of cancer patients, then your patience could save lives.
Surgeries get rescheduled all the time, dearie. Those who risk dying NOW if they don't get the surgery are top priority. Those who are deemed to survive a couple of week might be rescheduled for a week later, if someone who risk die NOW comes into hospital NOW.
Uh...butting in line before cancer patients is pretty damn self-centered. They have a real life-or-death situation, you're having a hissy fit. Hang on, they'll get to you, but please don't make yourself sound like a selfish jackass in the meantime,
I'm sure you'll get over the wait, if you're happy when your surgery's done, checking it out, etc. In the meantime, patience is a virtue and be glad that YOU don't have a terminal illness.
So, as this is a subject that is incredibly dear to my heart, and I'm noticing a bit of anger, I'd like to chime in. I'm a trans woman, and I am very familiar with how most of this works.
After doing a bit of reading, this is absolutely out of context. Yes, anyone that says top surgery for transmen needs to happen before mastectomies for cancer patients is an idiot. That's not what's being said here. This is far more of a criticism of the NHS, which is notoriously horribly when it comes to trans care. For context, it often takes years of being on a waiting list before one can even access trans care including hormones or therapy, and then further years before one is even considered a candidate for surgery. These years are often filled with crippling dysphoria, and to have one's surgery cancelled, if not put off for further years can be a huge issue. Untreated dysphoria can and does lead to fatalities.
The point the poster is trying to make is not "screw cancer patients" but "screw people who don't think trans surgery is life saving and will cut NHS funding until the only mastectomies that can be afforded are for cancer patients".
So, aside from this person not deserving the hate they're receiving, I'd also like to add that basically telling people to "suck it up" is actually really hurtful and marginalizing, because it's what we've been hearing for decades used to deny us access to life saving care. Anywho, just thought I'd offer my perspective.
@Ceph
Even in context, this sounds horrible. Admitting that dysphoria can lead to emotional problems, that can cascade into suicide, I have to inform you . . . cancer is immediately and directly deadly. So . . . Toby can get the fuck over that.
If the problem is that years of delays may be topped by months or years more of delays because of this, then that is what needs to be addressed. Put in context, this is really even worse, because now it sounds more self-centered. He thinks only of himself, and doesn't think in any way of how what he sees is a bad system can be improved except that he gets his tits cut off.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
To post a comment, you'll need to Sign in or Register . Making an account also allows you to claim credit for submitting quotes, and to vote on quotes and comments. You don't even need to give us your email address.