After seven months on testosterone, I'm passing so well

File: shutterstock_37190596_crop380w.jpg (103KB, 380x250px) Image search: [Google]

103KB, 380x250px

After seven months on testosterone, I'm passing so well that I got a lot of double-looks and questions when presenting documentation for an overseas trip. I've identified as a boy so long and have used my chosen name for over ten years that I forget I'm still legally female and that my legal name is very feminine. All the paperwork and costs for a legalized name/gender change make me anxious but after my trip, I feel like it's going to be quite necessary soon. Does anyone have tips for making this process as painless as possible? One part that I don't like is that I will have to publish my legal name in a newspaper and I think that's so embarrassing cause it's really no one else's business what I do. Also I have a lot of medical debts I'll never be able to pay off because America is so great so will this cause them to deny me changing my identity? How will I be able to inform my employer, cause I live in a state where it's legal to fire someone for falling under the lgbt umbrella...