You picked a clinic. You filled out the intake form. You have an appointment on Tuesday. The most common email we get the week before that appointment is some version of "what do I even bring?"
This is the checklist we have been sending. It applies to both of the clinics on our Health & Wellness Resources page — Grassroots Healthcare and Diversity Family Health — and to most other informed-consent practices in Oklahoma. The specifics of what gets prescribed will obviously depend on you, your bloodwork and your clinician's judgment; the prep below is the boring infrastructure that makes the appointment go smoothly.
What "informed consent" actually means in this room
Informed consent is not a loophole or a shortcut. It is a model of care endorsed by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's Standards of Care, version 8, in which a competent adult who understands the documented effects, risks and irreversibilities of hormone therapy can consent to it without a separate letter from a mental health provider. The clinician still does a clinical interview, still orders labs, still monitors you. They just do not require you to be referred by a therapist.
In practice that means the first visit looks a lot like any other adult primary-care visit, with one extra long conversation built into it. Plan for 60–90 minutes.
What to bring
- Photo ID. If your ID still has your old name and gender marker, that is fine; this is exactly the population the clinic was built for. Tell them what name and pronouns to use — most practices write it in their chart even when your legal documents have not caught up yet.
- Insurance card (if using insurance). Diversity Family Health accepts most major insurances; Grassroots Healthcare operates on a sliding scale. If you are paying cash, ask in advance for the visit fee and the lab fee so there are no surprises at checkout.
- A list of current medications and supplements. Include dosages. Anything that touches the liver (long-term acetaminophen, certain antifungals), anything anticoagulant, and anything hormonal already on board matters here.
- A short personal medical history. Specifically: any history of blood clots, stroke, heart disease, hormone-sensitive cancers, liver disease, kidney disease, migraines with aura, or significant mental-health history. Bring your immediate family's version of the same list if you know it.
- Any prior labs from the last 12 months, if you have them. They will probably re-run baseline labs anyway, but priors are still useful context.
- The questions you actually want answered. Write them down. The single most common feedback we get after a first appointment is "I forgot to ask the one thing I cared about most." A small list in your Notes app fixes this entirely.
What bloodwork is typical at baseline
You do not need to memorize this section. It is here so the lab order at the end of your visit does not surprise you. A typical informed-consent baseline draw for someone starting feminizing or masculinizing therapy includes some combination of:
- Complete metabolic panel (kidney, liver, electrolytes, glucose)
- Lipid panel (cholesterol, triglycerides)
- Complete blood count
- Baseline sex hormones — total testosterone, estradiol (sensitive assay if available), often LH and FSH
- Prolactin — particularly relevant before starting estrogen
- Hemoglobin A1c if there is any family history of diabetes
- STI screening may be offered on the same draw, depending on the clinic
If your clinician is following the WPATH SOC-8 or the UCSF Transgender Care Guidelines, you can expect follow-up draws every three months for the first year, then every six months for the second year, then yearly. Diversity Family Health follows that cadence almost exactly.
Questions worth asking out loud at the appointment
- What is the starting dose you would recommend for me, and what are the realistic options if I want to adjust later?
- What changes from this regimen are reversible if I stop within the first three months? Six months? A year?
- How do you handle prescription refills — pharmacy of my choice, mail-order, or in-clinic?
- If I want to bank gametes (sperm or eggs) before starting, where do you refer for that, and what is the typical cost in Oklahoma?
- What is your protocol if my labs come back outside the target range?
- What do I do if I miss a dose, run out, or travel?
- Who covers me if you are out of office and something feels wrong?
One thing we always tell people: the answer to "should I be on injections, patches, pills, or pellets?" is usually "let's start where it is most likely to work for your life, then iterate." There is no single correct route, and switching routes later is normal medicine, not a failure.
The day-of logistics
- Eat something beforehand. Some baseline draws are fasting, but many informed-consent clinics intentionally do non-fasting first labs so the appointment is less of an ordeal. Ask when you confirm the appointment.
- Hydrate. It makes the blood draw easier.
- Bring a person if it would help. A partner, a friend, a parent — anyone who can sit in the waiting room and drive you home if you are anxious. They do not need to be in the exam room with you.
- Leave 30 minutes of buffer afterward. Some people walk out elated, some walk out emotionally flat, some need to sit in their car for a minute. All of those are normal.
After the appointment: the first prescription
If the clinician prescribes that day, the script will typically be sent electronically to whatever pharmacy you nominated. Some folks find the first-fill cheaper at Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Company than at the big chains; that varies by molecule and dose, so price it both ways before you commit to a pharmacy.
If you are using insurance and the script comes back with a prior-authorization hold, do not panic. Call the clinic's front desk; almost every informed-consent practice has a person whose entire job is shepherding gender-affirming PAs through. It usually adds three to five business days, not weeks.
A note on cost, just so the numbers are not abstract
At time of writing, Diversity Family Health's uninsured rate is roughly a $70 office visit and $80 for the supporting lab. Grassroots Healthcare offers a free 15-minute consultation and a sliding-scale structure beyond that. Both numbers are on our Health & Wellness Resources page; both can shift, so confirm with the clinic when you book.
If something feels off
Two weeks in, three months in, a year in — if something about how you feel changes in a way you did not expect, call the clinic. That is what they are there for. Most lab anomalies and most adjustment requests are routine and get handled at the next 90-day check. The few that need faster attention also get handled faster when you do not sit on them.
Questions we did not cover here? Email help@transpireok.org and we will either answer them or point you at someone better qualified to.