I was pointed at the following article earlier:

http://www.popall.co.uk/news/2000/pubpaysdamagestobannedsexswapdrinker.asp

( Original article under cut )

I'm pleased that the trans woman concerned won damages. However, the tone of the article is mightily offensive.

That this comes from a group of solicitors is deeply troubling, they ought to know better than to be apparently siding with discrimination against trans people.

The excuse given "…all businesses will now have to go out of their way to ensure they do not offend [transsexuals]. The effect will be more bureaucratic worry for firms already struggling with red tape…" is oh so reminiscent of those used when the race relations act was brought in.

It's not a bureaucratic nightmare to treat people like human beings, it's actually quite simple to treat people with dignity and respect. It's more difficult, time consuming, and ultimately expensive to treat folks like they are a lump of dogshit stuck to your shoe.

ETA: A bit of digging, as it's not immediately obvious, is that the article is from May 4th, 2000. However, the point still stands that it attitude of the solicitors is and remains unacceptable.

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you. They should be the first 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
4. 1984 – George Orwell
5. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
6. Animal Farm – George Orwell
7. The City and the Stars – Arthur C. Clarke
8. Tess of the D'Urbevilles – Thomas Hardy
9. Le Mort D'Arthur – Sir Thomas Malory
10. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
11. Mort (plus others) – Terry Pratchett
12. The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
13. Way Station – Clifford D. Simak
14. The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks
15. The Mill on the Floss – George Eliot

Read and weep Raped, tortured, and murdered for being trans.

Fired up a bit of software I installed a while back to evaluate and got a registration nag screen:



The dialogue box title makes me want to explain to the programme author carefully with a cluebat that it could cause offence.

This image doesn't explain my absences from most of my normal online haunts. It does however give an idea of some of what I've recently been doing, and that is getting out and about armed with camera and taking photographs.

I've now got quite a backlog to go through, so there will soon be a big upload happening.

What else? Oh, I'm finally hauling myself out of depression. The walking and photography has become tied in in the last couple of weeks with geocaching.

alice{A}

Today was the visit to the Chest pain clinic, my appointment was at 2:15pm, this is a quite irritating time for getting to the hospital by bus. The bus trip is just a smidgen over an hour and it is a half hourly service. It was a choice of being 40 minutes early or risking being late if the next bus was screwed up. Me being me and fussy about time keeping chose to be 40 mins early.

So, 12:20 saw me at the bus stop in town. In my bag I had my running kit as I wouldn't have liked to do an exercise tolerance test (ETT) in normal trousers. The bus was on time (yay!), mind you the route to the hospital feels like it goes halfway round the county. Found the clinic reception and reported in. I'd barely got sat down before I was called through for an ECG. Off came my top and bra and yet again a topless Alice is before a medical professional. as this was a proper full ECG there were sensors on wrists and ankles as well as on my chest and shoulders. As I'd had to take my tights off, I took the opportunity to change into running kit ready for the ETT.

Eventually, just gone 2:15 I was called by one of the sisters for a chat about medical history etc., this included height and weight checks. then it was back to the waiting area. eventually I was called through for the ETT. So it was off with my top again for yet another set of sensors. Thence onto the treadmill, the purpose is to monitor the heart over a range of stress levels. From a slow walk on a level surface through to a fast walk on a reasonable incline. As well as heart rate and ECG measurements periodic blood pressure measurements are done.

My initial BP was 120/80 and this peaked at maximum effort at 182/91.

They like to get as close to maximum predicted heart rate as they can (the consent form I had to sign listed all the risks faced in doing this), there is always the option of stopping the test at any point of course. For me using the usual formula 220-age this is a max of 171. By the time we were into the final phase of the test some 10 minutes from the start, and the most strenuous part of the test, I was still chatting to the techs, predominantly about horses, even though my heart rate was up around 174bpm.

The treadmill part of the test ends after 11minutes, and is followed by 5 minutes of monitoring during recovery, and after 2 minutes my HR was under 100bpm. Once they'd finished the recovery monitoring I was told that that was it for the day and I could go home. First stop was the loo to get changed - I was a bit damp with sweat - and then for the first caffeine of the day, a banana, and a bag of Cajun Squirrel crisps.

The trip back was uneventful, and is the same length, from getting on the bus to unlocking my front door, as the instrumental version of Nightwish - A Dark Passion Play.

Next week I'll find out if there is anything of concern. So, back to being in limbo.

Alice.

Today when I got in from Knutsford, there was a brown envelope on the door mat franked as coming from Leighton Hospital.

This turns out to be from the Chest Pain clinic at the hospital. It seems that Thursday afternoon is going to be spent there, starting at 2:15 with yet another ECG, and then an exercise test. There is also a warning that other tests such as an echo cardiogram and chest x-ray may be carried out if necessary. There is also a list of pills one has to stop taking 40hours prior to the appointment. Thankfully there is nothing on the list I'm taking on a regular basis. but still, it's cutting it a bit fine. I only got the letter just over 48 hours prior to the appointment. Fortunately I had nothing planned for Thursday.

Thursday itself is going to be a nightmare - no caffeine until after the tests have been done, and an hour each way to the hospital on the bus. So for getting anything done that day it is a bust.

The good thing is that the appointment has come through so quickly, I just want this out of the way as soon as possible.

The continuing saga of the neck continues...

I phoned the docs late this afternoon to see if the results of the x-rays had come through, to be told yes they had. They apparently show arthritic changes, no shit Sherlock... Just confirms what I thought. So, time to make yet another appointment to see the GP to discuss where we go from here. The pain hasn't settled, and I've just about had enough of the hanging around and just putting up with it.

Alice.

At 4:15 this morning I roused from sleep with very severe chest pains that radiated thought to my back, and changed in intensity with breathing. As these didn't ease quickly I got up and phoned NHS Direct, just getting the phone handset left me breathless.

On phoning NHS Direct I was put straight through to a nurse, who after a brief chat got an ambulance out to me. I'd barely got downstairs when the ambulance drew up outside the house. After a rapid gathering of my pills, bag and a few items of clothing — I needed more than a nightshirt with me, it was into the ambulance where they did ECG, blood gasses, blood glucose, blood pressure, etc. All seemed to be okish but the chest pain was still there, so they whisked me off to Leighton Hospital.

En-route they put me on oxygen, gave me aspirin and a sub-lingual spray of Glyceryl trinitrate. By the time we reached the hospital the pain had pretty much resolved. I was still wheeled straight into the "Majors" side of A&E.

There I was immediately seen by a nurse who did further ECG, BP, etc. I was then left until a doc was available to see me. In the meantime I just read through what was in my bag this weeks Pink News, the March G3, and continued the book I had with me. Eventually one of the docs checked me over and drew blood for additional tests. Once that was done I was moved to the Clinical Decisions Unit, there to wait for the results of those tests to come back, and for a further set to be done 2 hours later.

During the wait I was supplied with liberal cups of tea, but not permitted any of my normal meds. Eventually when the second set of test results came back and a final ECG taken, it was decided to discharge me as I am in no immediate danger. I have however been referred to the Chest Pain Clinic for follow up and ordered to take things as easy as possible for the time being.

I will quite honestly say that I was scared, and panicky about this chest pain.

Alice.