Comic, 15 panels
Panel 1: Robin smiling as she holds up three fingers. She says "A little over three years in, one of the words I would use to best describe my transition is…"
Panel 2: Robin's expression becomes more irritated, her hands on her hips. She continues "...Waiting."
Panel 3: Robin holding up a vial of estrogen, saying "Waiting to get on hormones. Waiting on hormones to work. Waiting on a surgeon’s office to answer my calls. Waiting months for a consult."
Panel 4: Robin throwing pages off of a calendar "Waiting several more months after the consult for the actual surgery date. Waiting two more months for the new surgery date because insurance declined to cover at the last possible moment. Yes I'm still bitter about that one."
Panel 5: Robin wearing protective eyewear, holding a laser emitter to her arm, which is red in a large patch of skin, says "Waiting for the (expensive) laser hair removal to, uh... remove hair." Leaning in from the upper right, robin is holding an electrolysis probe to her face, which is dotted with burned spots, she continues, "Waiting through months of (painful) electrolysis sessions for it to finally start showing results."
Panel 6: Robin looking worriedly toward a map of the United States in various colors denoting their relative safety towards trans residents from a legislative standpoint, she says. "Waiting to see if courts will strike down any of the many terrifying anti-trans laws cropping up." A citation at the bottom lists the link to the map's source: https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/anti-trans-legislative-risk-assessment-cd3
Panel 7: Robin sitting slouched in an office chair, says "Waiting on another surgeon’s office to actually call me back. Waiting on another consult. Waiting on that surgery date I scheduled last summer that isn't for another eighteen months from now. Plus when you finally have surgery, it's not when you get what you want, it's when you start your recovery, which is another kind of waiting."
Panel 8: Robin leaning in holding her phone says "Ugh. That other surgeon’s office still hasn't gotten back to me, better give them another call." Robin lying on a examination table, with lidocaine cream on her face says "Time to lay on a table and get my face painfully prodded for an hour, again." Robin gestures toward her chest and says "Still waiting on some of those hormone effects other people seem to get…" Robin touching her jaw with a pained expression says "Don’t clench your jaw every time you remember that the 2024 elections are coming."
Panel 9: Robin pointing to a colored bar representing a timeline says"And I don't just feel the months or years of waiting now. There's also all years of waiting to even accept myself as trans. So tack on an extra couple decades to the timeline and–"
Panel 10: Robin shouts angrily "I'M SICK OF WAITING!"
Panel 11: Robin walks closer to the frame making air quotes with her fingers says "I'm sick of being told I'm so “brave” and “resilient”. I'm tired of having to be resilient."
Panel 12: Robin sits down on the panel edge, looking tired "…But no matter how sick and tired of it I am, it doesn’t make things go any faster."
Panel 13: Robin leans bak against the panel wall and says "When i hit one year of HRT, I did a comic about how transition had already been a huge positive for me, regardless of any desired physical changes I had not yet received. And that's still true. It is, without a hint of doubt, the best thing I have ever done for myself."
Panel 14: Robin pinches the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes, and says "And for all the trouble I'm having, I know I'm still very fortunate to even be transitioning. I'll be okay. I just- I..."
Panel 15: Robin opens her eyes and takes her hand off her nose, looking downcast. She says "I need a minute."