From Code to Courage: A Q&A with Thea on her transgender journey

Meet Thea Hutchings, a talented software developer at Tend who shares her inspiring journey of embracing her true self.

Transitioning at 35, Thea brings valuable insights into the evolving landscape of transgender healthcare, addressing the unique challenges she has faced and overcome.

Outside of work, she enjoys knitting, sewing, and designing creations for 3D printing. Join us in this Q&A as Thea opens up about her experiences, offers advice for others in the transgender community, and discusses her personal approach to health and wellness.

Q1 Could you share a bit about your journey and what inspired you to embrace your true self?

I decided to transition at 35, and like a lot of people I've talked to who started later in life it's more about acceptance by society rather than an individual decision. I've known that I'm transgender since my teens, but through the 90s and 00s the process was designed to be extremely hard to follow and I was given a lot of misinformation.

After a big change in my life in the late 2010s I looked in to it again and it had changed to be much more accessible, focusing on supporting the person and finding what was best for them, rather than trying to make a psychiatric diagnosis.

I do wish I'd had correct information sooner. Transitioning has really helped my mental health. I'm far more relaxed and open about myself than before and I feel like I'm finally living rather than just doing what everyone expects me to do.

Q2 What are some of the unique health challenges you’ve faced as a transgender woman, and how did you overcome them?

I think the most unique health challenge is re-learning how your body reacts to everything. The lower metabolism from changing hormones alters many things, including alcohol tolerance, medication effects, and even diet.

I just followed what my body was telling me and worked with my GP to adjust any medications as required. It's a learning experience, but knowing that it would happen helped me notice things that were changing. The hardest part has been adjusting my diet, you get used to eating a certain amount over the years and having to consciously reduce takes some doing.

Q3 How important has healthcare accessibility been in your transition journey? What changes would you like to see in the healthcare system to better support transgender individuals?

Healthcare accessibility has been very important for me. Getting access to hormones requires a fair few appointments with a doctor, pre- and post-initiation blood tests, and follow up tests once established on gender affirming hormone therapy. This can be quite costly when seeing your GP rather than a public specialist, and the specialists often have long waitlists.

I think having resources for a practice nurse or counsellor to talk with someone considering transitioning would be a great start. Having someone who can go in to the details of GAHT, the clinical process, and what changes to expect without needing an expensive doctor's appointment would be a real help for people wondering if it's right for them.

I would also like to see more resources and clinical guidance available for doctors outside specialist clinics. While the specialists clinics have really good knowledge they have long waitlists, and giving GPs the guidance to start GAHT without waiting for a specialist, or at least to get the initial lab tests done so you  don't need multiple specialist visits, will help. 

Often doctors who are willing to help are working off older guidelines because the newer ones don't seem get through to the front lines.

Also another change I'd like to see is the health system being able to update someone's details consistently and correctly! It's so frustrating when your GP has your name etc correctly set up, then you go to the pharmacy or the lab test centre and it's wrong there. Even worse, it can be correct one time, then the next it's wrong again! It took three years for Awanui Labs to get my details correct.

Q4 Can you share a positive healthcare experience that made you feel seen and supported?

When I'd just started GAHT the pharmacist saw the script and asked if the name and title they had on file were still correct. The way he just treated it as a normal question and update to my records was really great!

The same can be said for the practice administrator who had to battle the changes they'd made being undone several times. They understood how frustrating it was and explained how the system isn't truly connected, so it's up to every provider to update themselves. This really helped me understand how difficult it was for them as well as me.

Q5 What advice would you give to other transgender women about taking charge of their health and wellness?

First, find a support group, there are ones on Facebook, Discord, and in person. People who have been through the process will be able to help you with understanding the changes and how to communicate them to doctors. They can give you a lived experience most of the clinicians cannot, which really helped me.

Secondly, find a doctor you're comfortable talking to. They don't have to have any particular knowledge about transgender health, just be willing to learn or seek out advice from those who do. You'll be seeing them a lot at the start of your transition, so if you're not able to discuss issues with them you'll have a harder time.

Don't be afraid of changing GPs if you're not working well with them, and your GP might be able to recommend a local practice with more transgender healthcare experience. Your health has to come first.

Q6 How can healthcare providers improve their services to be more inclusive and supportive of the transgender community?

Putting pressure on their software providers to properly support changes to name and gender would go a long way! Also being able to correctly manage health screenings - for example a trans woman on hormone therapy will need mammograms, but a cervical smear will be hard to complete!

Also training about using preferred names for those who haven't done the legal change yet, and using pronouns from the patient's file rather than assuming them. I haven't experienced this myself but I've heard of it happening a lot.

Q7 What are some misconceptions about transgender health you’d like to address?

I think the biggest misconception is that transgender healthcare is new or experimental. Gender-affirming surgery has been performed since the 1930s, making it almost as old as modern antibiotics (1928). Hormone replacement therapy has been used for transgender healthcare since the 1950s, before ibuprofen was invented.

Like all medical care it has improved and changed over time as understanding has grown, but transgender health care has a long and established history.

It does move slower than other fields, just because there aren't that many people and the effects take years, but all the hormones and other medication needed are used far more frequently outside transgender healthcare so the side-effects and risks are very well established.

Q8 What are your favourite low impact exercises that are gentle on the joints?

I've got in to virtual reality fitness games! They have the environment to actually get me doing exercise frequently which is way better than the gym, and are a lot of fun.

Q9 Do you have any meal prep tips that save you time during the week?

I've actually started using My Food Bag. Having someone else work through the meal planning is a real help! I have tried other services, but I prefer the flavours from My Food Bag.

I also tried online planning services, but I didn't find one that accounts for seasonal availability in New Zealand that had meals I enjoyed, but there's a lot of choice out there these days!

Q10 What’s your night time routine like to help you get enough sleep?

A nice mug of hot cocoa :)

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