New podcast episode: The Medical Stuff
Added 2021-09-06 23:47:34 +0000 UTCDear friends,
It's been almost a year since my last episode. What a year! I'm sure it's felt like several years (or decades?) to many of you, too. I hope you are healthy and thriving, finding your way through these challenging times. I hope you are safe and surrounded by love, and I thank you for hanging in there with us, for all these years, through all our ups and downs. I also thank you for your patience with my long silences between episodes.
The lispy little three-year-old you once heard telling her mother that she is NOT a boy and explaining the vital differences between fairies and princesses (if you've forgotten this critical distinction, see Episode One), is now 13 years old and just started 8th grade. Where did the time go? We have arrived at the end of one era of our lives (her childhood) and the start of the exciting new phase that is just beginning: Her adolescence and budding womanhood. I'm so grateful to you all for being part of this adventure so far, and I promise to keep you updated on the next chapter, if and when I can (which means when my daughter says it's OK).
For now, she has authorized me to share what's happening with puberty and the first steps of her gender-affirming medical care. She is joined in this episode by one of my heroes - Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy. I think they make a pretty amazing team. I hope you agree.
Episode XXXII: The Medical Stuff
For years, people have asked me what I would do when my daughter hit puberty. Was I going to let her do... “the medical stuff?" Well, right after the pandemic struck, so did puberty. And this is what my daughter (and her mother) decided to do.
With love and gratitude,
Marlo
p.s. I am not charging patrons for this episode. <3
Comments
I'm listening again and it's about secrets and fear. I have my own deep shame from this toxic alloy. It wounds and destroys and it hides in secrets. As I'm writing this it occurs to me that sometimes the only real choices are between different kinds of pain. Joy comes of its accord but pain to some degree you can choose. I hear both in the Podcast, and it seems to me your choices have been the best that anyone could make. You are a loving mother. Yvonne
Yvonne
2021-09-14 23:07:25 +0000 UTCHi Marlo, I'm 56 and writing from Ireland so it's been a long time since I experienced the feelings you and your daughter are navigating. It was a different world and there wasn't any space for the feelings I had. It took me decades to even begin to open space for myself. Listening to your podcast is poignant. I was afraid of the voice I hear your daughter speak in and I don't remember having the conversations you two have. I have no idea if my parents knew how I felt. If they did they would have struggled to find the space too. From my experience the legacy of untreated gender dysphoria in childhood is self reliance and remoteness. The self reliance is good for sure but I think I'd have that anyway. The remoteness less so. So I think you are both doing the right thing. I've been opening space for the last twenty years and I am accepted by those around me. More than I accept myself. I learned the skills to contain myself but I didn't learn to be a girl. It's OK, I make my way, I'm loved but I missed an awful lot of lessons. In my life I have a rule for regrets: I did what I could for who I was at that time. I think that's how we all are and I'm not unhappy but the experiences of your daughter make me wistful for my childhood. It really was another time but I know her voice almost like my own as it was then. So thank you for this gift and if you ever come to Ireland let me know. I live beside the Atlantic. In the summer it stays bright until late in the evenings and you can swim and kayak and do whatever you want. Yvonne X
Yvonne
2021-09-14 19:28:02 +0000 UTCIt’s so great to hear your voices again. Arohanui (much love) from the other side of the world to you both ❤️
Fran McEwen
2021-09-11 10:09:06 +0000 UTCThis is so informative, especially the exact details by Dr. Olson-Kennedy on how blockers work! 👏 Thank you so again for sharing so much information, thoughts, and feelings, about your journey. I am also very grateful to your daughter for continuing to share so freely.
Anna Nguyen
2021-09-08 20:29:41 +0000 UTC+1 to everything Leah Carey said. I can't remember how I first discovered HTBAG, but it's always moving and heartwarming to hear from you and your daughter about her journey as a kid and your journey as a parent. And if I'm not mistaken, her voice is full of relief and comfort when she talks about her blocker and the prospect of hormones. How wonderful!
Nathan Jones
2021-09-08 10:06:14 +0000 UTCLove this and the wait was totally worth it. Also just pre-ordered the book :) all the best to you and your girl
Alice Shi
2021-09-08 01:20:02 +0000 UTCWhat an amazing episode - I'm grateful that your daughter was willing to share, and I'm grateful to you for taking her wishes into consideration. As for not charging patrons for this episode - TAKE MY MONEY!!!!! PLEASE!!!!! :-) xoxoxo
Leah Carey
2021-09-07 19:31:56 +0000 UTCThank you all for the kind words and wishes!!!
Marlo Mack
2021-09-07 18:25:07 +0000 UTCThank you very much for the new episode. Wish your daughter love from the listeners.
Gaven Ray
2021-09-07 16:28:13 +0000 UTCThank you so much for recording, and to your daughter for allowing you to share. Hope everything goes well on the blockers. It’s a lot to navigate as a young person, and I’m so glad she has you and others to be there for her. X
Lorna
2021-09-07 10:34:55 +0000 UTCI love to hear this. You are both, you and your bright and insightful daughter, such wonderful people!
Jannike Molander
2021-09-07 01:55:54 +0000 UTCI listened this morning—it was lovely to hear your voice again, and to know your daughter's heading in the direction she wants to be. Thank you to both of you for your generosity in sharing this journey with us.
Mackenzie Walton
2021-09-07 00:22:10 +0000 UTCThank you!!!!!
Marlo Mack
2021-09-07 00:02:42 +0000 UTCThank so much for sharing, both you AND your daughter! An excellent and moving episode. As usual. <3<3<3<3<3<3
Marijn van der Waa
2021-09-06 23:50:38 +0000 UTC
