Printer-friendly version

Dear Reader,
This is the final chapter in my story. In this chapter I addressed some medical issues that I am by no mean and expert at. I did as much research as I could to try to keep the facts correct. However, if I took some license to maintain the story please forgive my transgressions.
MT

Life’s Pathways

By Melodie Thomas

Chapter 6 -- The Road Home

“Beep……Beep…….Beep…….Beep……..Beep”

I can hear the sound but I can’t see anything. Slowly I realize that my eyes are closed but they don’t want to open. Finally a sliver of light, then a little more, I try to bring my hand to my face but my arm won’t move. I feel panic starting why can’t I move? I try to lift my head and it rises a little. I see something, no, someone beside me.

“Where am I?” a whisper is all I can get out.

The person beside me moves toward my head, I feel their hands and they lay my head back down.

“Just relax” a voice says “you are in the Hospital, Mercy Medical Center. You are going to be alright. Just rest.”

The world goes black again.

XXX

“…. Mary sends her love and April is on her way here..”

I hear the voice, Momma’s voice but I can’t see.

“Momma?” the whisper comes

“Oh my God, call the doctor… Yes, baby, I am here” I hear Momma’s voice

“Momma?” is all I can get out again but now I can feel someone take my hand and stroke my head.

“I am here sweetheart, I am here” it sounds like she is crying.

Eyelids are fluttering, I see some light and it gets bigger. My eyes are open but nothing is focused, only shapes. The shape of a face moves over me and slowly comes into focus. It is my Mother and she is crying.

“Momma, where am I?”

“You’re in the Hospital Baby” She says with a trembling smile “Your Dad is here too”

Another face appears next to her, it is my Dad.

“Daddy?” I can barely get out the whisper.

“I am here Kiddo. Good to see you” he says

I try to reach my left arm for him but it won’t move. I start to panic and my Mom reaches my arm to hold it down.

“Just relax sweetheart. You have many tubes in that arm you can’t move it yet”

Another face appears over me, I don’t know him. Looks like a Doctor.

“Well hello there. Welcome back” the Doctor says

He then shines a light in my eyes and looks at some machines to my left.

“This is really good. You need to rest now but I think you are going to be ok” the Doctors states

My eyelids are getting heavy again and I can’t keep them open. The world goes black again.

XXX

I am running, running hard. My high heels are clacking on the rocks and my hair is blowing in the wind but my legs feel like they are made of lead. I have to get away, I have to run, he is after me. I look over my shoulder and Ron is chasing me and laughing at me. I can’t get away as he reaches for me…

My eyes snap open as the dream evaporates. It is dark but I can tell I am in a hospital bed. There is no one here that I can see. I have an IV in my left arm and there is some kind of machine hooked to me with a tube that is going into the left side of my stomach area. There is a window and door to my left and I can see the light in the hall way. I move my head to the right and see a chair in the corner but there is something in the chair. No wait, there is someone in the chair but it is dark and I can’t see clearly.

“Hello?” my voice comes out more as a croak.

The person in the chair moves towards me quickly as they enter the light I can see it is Rick.

“Rick?” I say as I lift my right arm

“Baby!” Rick says as he takes my hand and pulls it up to his very whisker covered face and kissed it.

“Is Mom and Dad here? I thought I saw them” I asked

“Yes, they are here. They are at the Hotel. I will call them but I need to get the Nurse first”

I nodded OK and Rick went to the door and signaled a nurse who came in quickly behind him.

“Hi there” the nurse said “Welcome back”

The Nurse took my pulse and temperature while Rick came back to my right side and took my hand again.

“Would you like some water?” the nurse asked “Dr. Jackson should be here soon”

I nodded that I would like some water and the Nurse pushed a hospital tray with a pitcher, plastic cup with one of those bendable straws, added water to the cup and held if for me to take a sip. She then nodded to Rick and left the room. Rick had pulled is cell phone out of his pocket and was making a call.

“Hello, this is Rick. Yes, she is awake. Laying here looking at me now. OK, see you soon.” He hung up the phone. “That was your Dad, they are on the way.”

Rick dialed another number “Lisa, Rick. She’s awake. No, Doctor has not been in yet. OK, see you in a bit”.

“What happened?” I asked as I motioned for more water.

Rick held the cup for me. “You became one very sick Princess” Rick said “The Doctor will have to explain it because I don’t understand it”

“Are you OK? You look kind of rough.” I asked

Rick laughed “I am not the one that is in a hospital bed and has been in a coma for a week and you’re worrying if I am OK? You are incredible.”

Rick had pulled his chair over and was sitting beside me, still holding my hand when my Mom and Dad came into the room about a half hour later. The Nurse had let me raise the back of my bed up a few inches so I could see better. Rick moved out of the way so Mom and Dad could get to me for hugs and kisses. Lisa showed up a bit later and the first thing she did was give my Mom a big hug before she got to me. I think fate helped me out with the decision on how to tell my parents. Doctor Jackson came in shortly after Lisa arrived and shooed everyone away from the bed.

“Well, hello young lady” Dr. Jackson said “I was worried that I was not going to get the chance to actually meet you”.

Doctor Jackson looked me over and took vital signs and asked the Nurse to disconnect a couple of the machines attached to me. I was left with the IV and tube in my lower abdomen. The doctor explained that the tube was a drain tube and needed to stay for a couple of days. He was not going into much detail today as he wanted to make sure that I was fully rested and awake because we had a lot to talk about. He said we would have a conference tomorrow morning but today I was just to rest and nothing but a liquid diet. He then reminded Mom, Dad, Rick and Lisa that I needed rest and they should consider that for visiting.

Mom sent Rick, Dad and Lisa to the cafeteria for breakfast and she would sit with me. My conversation with Mom was pretty one sided as I was still too weak to talk much. Mom told me they were so scared they were going to lose me and that Rick refused to leave my side for the last 6 days. She said she did not understand everything that was going on here but it did seem I had some very serious friends and that Mom and I need to have some very serious conversations. I was fading in and out of sleep all day long and don’t remember half of the conversation that I heard. I would be talking to Mom and the next thing I knew Mom was gone and Dad was sitting there.

The next time I woke is was dark again and the room seemed empty. I had just started to close my eyes again when someone came through door. It was Lisa.

“Hi little Sis” Lisa said as she came to my bed side.

“Hi, is everyone gone?”

“Your Mom and Dad left a few hours ago and we forced Rick out of here just before that. I have the guard duty tonight” She smiled.

“Hm, so I need a guard?” I teased

“No” Lisa smiled “We just didn’t want you to wake up and be alone is all”

I took Lisa’s hand “Thanks. So I guess my secret is out to the world now.”

Lisa sat down on the edge of my bed “Yeah, pretty much. Of course your Mom and Dad know. I have had a couple real long conversations with them. Rick had to explain what was going on to the Bosses at your work so they know what is happening. But I don’t want you worrying about that right now. You need to get better.”

“So I have really been here for a week?”

“8 days, actually and your folks have been here 6 of those.”

“How is Rick doing? I mean really doing?”

Lisa smiled “I have had a couple pretty good conversations with him too. Of course he went through the blaming himself where he thought if he was better to you none of this would have happened. Mostly he has just been here for you. You’re lucky; you might want to consider keeping him”

I smiled “Yeah, I just hope he wants to keep me”

Lisa squeezed my hand “Let’s just get you better first and then we can worry about the rest.”

Lisa and I visited for another hour before I fell asleep again. I woke up when Mom and Dad arrived the next morning. The room started feeling kind of small as we approached the 10am conference the Doctor has scheduled. Mom and Dad were there along with Rick and Lisa and about 10 minutes before the conference Abigail Russell came in. Abby came over and gave me a hug and I asked her if I was going to get charged for missing our appointment which generated some bad humor jokes. She told me that Dr. Jackson had asked her to join the conference this morning.

I had asked Lisa to get one of my hair brushes so I could try to straighten out the mess on my head and she was in the process of brushing my hair for me when the biggest surprise of the day came into the room, my sister April. I almost started crying when I was hugging April, I had not seen her in almost 5 years. Apparently someone had already briefed her on the situation because she did not seem surprised to see me and immediately took over the role of brushing my hair. I made sure she met Lisa, Rick and Abby. It also made me really wonder how much talking about me has been going on over the last week. I don’t think anyone in my family really understood how long my hair was until Lisa and then April started brushing it and I could not help but show it off, especially to my Dad.

About 10:00 the Doctor came in with a couple of other Doctors behind him. The Nurse had raised the head of my bed up about a foot so I was in a semi sitting position. The drain tube prevented me from going much higher. April had brushed my hair and laid it over my right shoulder since I could not sit up. Oh, by the way, I hate bedpans.

“Good Morning” Dr. Jackson greeted me “You seem to be looking better this morning”

I smiled “it’s amazing what a hair brush can do”

He smiled back at me “How are you feeling? Are you ready to have some serious discussions?”

“I feel like I have been hit by a truck” I smiled “but I really want to know what is going on so, please”

“OK, I would like to introduce you to two of my colleagues, This is Doctor Wilkes, our lead trauma surgeon and this Doctor Williams the head of our OB/GYN department.”

I am thinking to myself, why do I need an OB/GYN? Glancing around the room I can see others with the same question but no one asks.

Dr. Jackson looked around the room for a moment “The discussion we are going to have is quite personal. I have asked Dr. Russell to join us and I understand your parents but the rest is up to you”

I reached over my shoulder and took April’s hand “This is my sister April and Lisa and Rick are family to me so, yes, I would like them to stay if they want”

“OK, even though that wrist band on your left arm says Timothy and has an ‘M’, I have been told by your friends and Dr. Russell that you prefer to be called Tiffany, is that correct?”

I could not help but glance at my Dad, who didn’t look back at me and I could feel April’s hand tense a little. “yes” I whispered.

Dr. Jackson nodded “Then the first question I have for you Tiffany is, are these yours?” he had reached into his pocket and pulled out a pill bottle. They were my hormones. Rick or Lisa must have taken them from my apartment.

I looked down at my lap and nodded my head affirming his question.

Dr. Jackson tossed the pill bottle into the trash container next to my bed. He then took off his glass and laid them, with his clip board on the counter.

“I want to make something really clear to you. If it was not for the hard working people at this fine hospital your friends and family would be dressed in black and visiting you in the morgue right now. You had a massive case of Toxic Shock Syndrome, ulcerated internal organs the caused internal bleeding and we had to restart your heart twice before I could get you through surgery all because you choose to self-medicate”

My head was hanging and I had tears running down my face. I tried to pull my hand back but April would not let go of it.

“Is this necessary Doctor” I heard my Dad’s voice and the sadness in it made me cry harder. I have so embarrassed and hurt my family by putting them through this.

“It is necessary that this young lady understand the gravity of the situation. Had you gone to a medical professional they would have run blood test and found a problem and would have never prescribed this medication until that problem was resolved.” Dr. Jackson continued.

“So it was the pills that did this?” I asked through the tears

Dr. Jackson picked up his clipboard again “No, they were the catalyst, but they were not the cause. When you were brought in we diagnosed you with severe internal bleeding. We had no idea where the blood was coming from. We started immediate transfusions to replace the blood loss and ran an MRI to see if we could locate the bleeding. The results of the MRI scan were staggering. We did find the source which led to surgery to fix the bleeding and the confirmation of what else the MRI showed us.”

Dr. Jackson sat his clipboard aside again and looked at me. “Young lady, your case is going to be in the medical journals for a long time to come. You will be famous, but only to a bunch of us heartless doctors.”

As I looked at him he continued “You were born with two, completely functional, sets of sex organs, both male and female.”

I heard my mother gasp

The doctor continued “You are the perfect theoretical example of an inter-sexed person. Through my research over the past week I have not been able to find another case like yours. There have been cases where a person developed the secondary characteristics of both sexes but I could not find another case of a person with the perfect hormonal balance that you had.”

“What does that mean?” Mom asked

Dr. Jackson raise in had in the ‘wait’ signal “I know, I am taking a long time to get to the punch line, but there is a lot of information that needs to be understood so we know where we are going from here.” Looking back to me he continued “when a child reaches a certain age the brain sends a signal to the primary hormones in their system to start the growth and activity of the sex organs. This is called puberty. During puberty the sex organs start excreting their own hormones that begin the growth and development of the secondary characteristics of the given sex. In males that includes penal and testicular growth, muscle mass and facial hair. In women it means breast growth, enlarging of the hips and most obviously, the menstrual cycle. In your case, it appears, there was no primary hormone as both your Male and Female parts were equal, so your body didn’t know what to do, so it did nothing. Basically, you never went through puberty.”

Doctor Jackson nodded towards Abby and she started to speak “I would need to spend a lot of time talking Tiffany to validate want I am about to say but this is my opinion of what would happen. Since the body was in perfect hormonal balance Tim/Tiffany would have gone through the majority of his/her life not knowing if he/she was a boy or a girl. There would have been equal responses and stimuli in both worlds. Could have been attracted to boys and well as to girls, would have participated in both male and female activities, basically would have not known the difference. Unlike many transsexual cases I have seen where someone’s mind was different sex than their body; this is a case where the body did not know what sex it wanted to.”

“So” Doctor Jackson continued “When you started to self-medicate with the female hormones the hormonal balance in your body was broken. Your brain sensed the new primary hormone and registered it was a bit late with puberty and sent an emergency signal to your organs to go into catch-up mode. As a result, over the last 3 months you have been experiencing an accelerated female puberty.”

“So if he had not started taking the pills everything would have stayed like it was?” my Dad asked and I flinched at the male connotation.

“No, I don’t think so” Dr. Jackson answered then turning back to me “The human body as a way of fixing its own imbalances and choosing a direction. Based on what I have learned from your friends, and I would like to spend some time talking to you about, over the past couple of years you have been exhibiting more and more female tendencies.”

I nodded my head.

“In my opinion” Dr. Jackson continued “the female side of your body was already developing into the dominate role and eventually your brain would have sensed the dominancy and initiated puberty anyway. In other words, you would have gone through this at some point in the future regardless, the pills just sped up the process.”

“Doctor” I interrupted “This is a bit over whelming but what actually broke in me?”

Dr. Jackson smiled “I don’t really use the term ‘broke’ because nothing ‘broke’ the body just tried to do what it was supposed to do but had a small problem. I said you had a complete set of female organs and that included the Ovaries, Fallopian tubes, Uterus and Cervix. What you don’t have is a Vagina. You actually have the start of a vaginal cavity from the Cervix but it does not go anywhere as you have a penis and testacies in the way. Your body reacted the way it should when you induced puberty. The Ovaries released and egg that traveled to the Uterus and waited. At the end of the 30 day cycle the egg was flushed away, meaning you had a menstrual cycle. However the flushed egg had nowhere to go and stayed trapped at the top of the vaginal cavity. This happened 3 times and you ended up with a pool of bacteria generating waste that attacked your system. That is what ‘broke’.”

Everyone started talking at once, trying to ask questions. Doctor Jackson held up his hands and waited. I looked at Rick and could tell he was paying very close attention to the doctor. He was also watching me.

When the room settled back down Dr. Jackson continued “Now, you have a very big decision to make because the problem will not go away by itself. You have basically two options. First we can perform a complete Sexual reassignment surgery and remove your male organs construct the vaginal channel to complete your female system. This will allow the body to continue to perform naturally and have a place for the discharge to go. You will have a monthly period. Or, we can do a complete hysterectomy and remove the female organs that would allow your male hormones to dominate and you would go through male puberty.”

Dr. Jackson continued “There are few things you need to consider…..”

I was not paying attention to the doctor, instead was looking at Rick who was also looking at me. I watched him for a minute then mouthed the words ‘do you want me’ to him. He smiled and nodded his head yes. I took my hand from April and reach it out to Rick. Without hesitation he rose from his chair and came to me and took my hand.

“Doctor” I interrupted without taking my eyes off of Rick. “I want to be a girl”

Everyone started talking at once until the doctor stood up and said he would give us time to talk and he, with the other doctors left the room. There were so many conversations happening at once that I could not keep up. Rick was still holding my hand until my Dad pushed between us. My Dad said he was going to put a stop to this madness; they were not turning me into a girl. I started crying, everyone was angry. Lisa tried to come to me and my Dad called her a perverted freak and told her to stay away from me. My Dad told Rick to get the hell out of my room and to stay away from his son. He repeated that he was going to stop all this. April told him he can’t stop it. I was of legal age and unless he wanted to get a judge to rule me incompetent. My Dad declared he would get a court order to stop this if he had to.

Suddenly my Mom screamed at my Dad “Randle Ringston, are you listening to yourself? That is our child in that hospital bed!! Don’t you think we should be worrying about her a little? Are you listening to yourself?”

My Dad stopped and looked at Mom for a few moments. I could see the tears in his eyes. He looked at me for a second then walked out of the room. April was holding me and I was crying into her shoulder.

“Please don’t let them stop me April, I want to be a girl, please” I begged

“Don’t worry little sister, I will take care of you, don’t worry” April whispered back.

Rick and Lisa had left when my Dad threw them out, when my Dad stormed out it left only April, Mom and me. Once they got me settled down we sat and talked for the first time where I could really tell them my side of the story. This was the first time I could openly talk to anyone in my family about what I felt growing up and how things have changed over time and what I was feeling now. Mom told me she suspected something because Carol had gone to her when we broke up and Mom had found my makeup bag when she and Dad visited me in College. We talked about Rick and Lisa and the other girls I had met. I tried to make it very clear there was no doubt in my mind what I wanted to be. I felt like a girl, I acted like a girl and I liked being a girl.

A few hours later I saw Lisa peeking through the window to see if the coast was clear. Mom signaled her to come in. Mom said she was going to find my Dad and have a long talk with him so Lisa took her place. Lisa and April were talking about the Transsexual issues and problems they all fight. Somewhere in there I fell asleep. When I woke up Lisa was sitting with me alone. Lisa told me that April was going to find Mom and Dad to make sure they understood that April was going to fight for my wishes and unless they wanted a split family they better find a compromise. A while later Lisa left to use the restroom and then I saw her outside my window and my Dad was there. My first thought was fear but then I saw they were talking and my Dad was hanging his head. They stood there for a few minutes talking when my Dad opened his arms to Lisa and they hugged.

My Dad came into my room and pulled the chair by my bed and sat down and looked at me.

“I’m sorry” was all he said I held out my one free arm and he came to me for a hug and he cried on my shoulder for a minute. He sat back in the chair. “I guess I am a pretty big jerk. I wanted to protect my son, but I forgot that you are my child and my job is to protect you regardless of your gender.”

I smiled at him “I am going to do this Daddy”

He slowly nodded his head “I know and I will be right there beside you”

He sat with me for a while until I was getting tired and needed to sleep. Dad said he needed to go find Rick and set things right with him. Daddy kissed my forehead as he left and told me he loved me. I went to sleep with a smile.

The next morning the entire crew had gathered in my room when Dr. Jackson came back. Dr. Jackson wanted to make sure we had had time to discuss and what the final decision was.

“She wishes to be my third Daughter” My Dad stood up and said “and it is my wish that you make that happen for her.”

My Mom gave Dad a huge hug and kiss and everyone relaxed. Dr. Jackson talked about some legal stuff and paper work that needed to be done and April stepped up with a list of all the things she had already started along with the names of the local attorneys she was working with. It is nice to have a sister that is a lawyer. Dr. Jackson said the surgery would have to be done soon as that was the only way the drain tube could be removed. However, he wanted to make sure I built up enough strength. Over the past couple of days I had not had a chance to talk to Rick. Even today he sat over in a corner because everyone else was by my bed. After the Doctor left, Mom looked at me and then at Rick and announced that everyone here needed to go to lunch for a few hours and leave the two of us alone for a bit. After everyone left, Rick walked over to my bed and did something that would have put me in a hospital if I was not already in one. He kissed me.

The next few days were filled with visits with family and helping April fill out paper work. I had a couple long conversations with Dr. Jackson and Abby. I think they were trying to fill in their research more than anything. One afternoon I found a rare time that I was alone as everyone had something else to do. I was just lying in bed watching some TV when I heard a knock on the door. I was totally surprised to see George Storms, ponytail and all walk into my room.

“Hey Kid” George said as he sat down “I hear you are having quite a time of it”

“Hi George” I smiled, I always liked George “it has been a rough couple of weeks. I guess you know what has been going on?”

“Yeah, the Hulk keeps me pretty informed on things. He’s a good guy”

“Yes, I know” I blushed

“I understand that you do” George smiled “I guess I am going have to start calling you Missy Jr.”

I blushed again “George, I have missed and I am going to miss a lot of work”

“Yep, you have been gold bricking here in this luxury resort instead of taking care of business.” George paused “Don’t you worry about that none. You won’t get vacation for a while but your position will still be there.”

“Is it going to cause a problem with my surgery?”

George smiled “Sweetie, I hired you for what was between your ears, not what was between your legs. So unless they are planning a brain transplant you’re not going to bother me any.”

“Thank you George” I said “Thank you for understanding.”

“Oh I don’t know if I would call it understanding. One of my Boys is a gay as a songbird. I don’t understand it but he is still my boy, and I still love’m. People will be what people are and as long as they are good people it is ok with me. You and Hulk are good people.”

A week after I woke up in the hospital, Dr. Jackson stopped by my room when I was alone. He told me he thought I was strong enough now to go through the surgery and he would like to schedule it for tomorrow. We needed to get this tube out of me. I asked him to explain to me more about what happened. He told me that my body was trying to absorb this little toxic waste dump that had been created in my body had resulted in a case of blood poisoning that pretty much affected every organ in my body. Heart, kidneys, liver, stomach, spleen etc. were all affected. The enzymes were attacking my stomach lining and that is what caused the blood vomit. He admitted he had no idea what the long term effects were going to be or how much damage had been done. We then discussed the sex change surgery as he explained to me that even though I had a fully function female reproduction system the likelihood of me actually conceiving a child was near zero. The majority of the toxic waste had been sitting right on the Uterus and the
level of damage was major. He did not think it would ever support a fertilized egg. Even if it did, he told me, that the bone structure of my hips showed a strong masculine influence and there was no birth channel.

The next morning at 8am, through hugs and kisses from my family, I was rolled into surgery one last time to say good bye to Tim forever. April had finished all of the paperwork and she had a hearing the first of next week to legally have my name changed to Tiffany Jane Ringston and my legal identity changed to female along with the request to issue a new birth certificate. From a pretrial conference with the Judge, and the amount of medical data we had, the hearing would just be a formality. I woke up later that night with my Mom sitting beside me and the drain tube gone from my side. I really wasn’t that coherent but I do remember smiling when my Mom called my Tiffany. I guess Ron did one good thing for me, he gave me my name.

The Doctor told me the operation went well. The only issue was they normally make the vagina from parts of the penis and since my penis was so small they did not have much to work with. Multiple tests and MRIs showed the vaginal channel was open to the Uterus so things should be working as they were designed to. I remained in the hospital for another four weeks as they were still battling the infection and wanted to be extra cautious that the drainage through the vaginal opening was working. I was able to get out of bed three days after the surgery and slowly started increasing my mobility. Lisa brought my makeup kit to me and it felt so good to be able to do my makeup and not be afraid of being seen.

April stayed for a few more days after the hearing but she had to get home to her husband and promised she would come back to see me. Before she left, April cornered Rick in my room and told him if he did not take proper care of her sister that he would have to answer to her. Watching a 6’ 2” football player cower down to a 5’4” woman is a sight to see. So was seeing the same woman hug your boyfriend and ask him to please take care of me and him agreeing he would. I had many phone calls with Mary but with her husband being a Doctor and now 3 kids to care for she just could not get away. Despite the earlier issues, my Dad’s reaction after the surgery was like he had always had 3 daughters and there was no doubt I was his third daughter. I know it was hard on him and I know he made some mistakes but I will love that man until the day that I die. You should hear my Dad and Rick talk about football now.

During my last week in the hospital I was going out of my mind with boredom so I ask Rick to see if there was any work from the office that I could do here. I was totally surprised the next morning when Patty Welch, Rick’s assistant showed up in my room with my laptop and briefcase. This was the first time anyone from work had seen Tiffany. I spent an hour talking to Patty about my nervousness of going back to work and being accepted. Patty told me I was being silly, sure there would be a few that would have trouble with it but the Secretaries were already working on my welcome back party. I was not nervous to be seen in public, only by those that knew Tim. Just something I had to work through. The last week in the hospital I was actually able to do some work and spend some time on the phone with Kathy Green.

On the day I was released from the hospital I had been there for a little over 5 weeks. My insurance was going to love me. Rick brought my clothes to me and helped pack me up and took me home. Lisa had arranged a small party at my place with a few of the girls and they welcomed home the new woman in the world. After the round of hugs and kisses I sat down on the couch and Rick sat next to me and put his arm around me. For the first time in my life I got to lay my head on his shoulder and discovered there was no other place on earth I wanted to be. After the girls left it was just Rick and I and we talked for quite a while. He was touching me, holding me and kissing me and I was in heaven. There was no such thing as a sex life as I still needed to heal and there was still a lot of discharge coming out of me.

The next few months saw life getting back in to a routine. I am avoiding the use of the ‘normal’ here because with my life I am not sure what normal is. Tiffany was welcomed back at work and my name on my desk was already changed. There were a few people in the office that did not take well to Tiffany but thankfully they were few. It felt so good to wear and dress or skirt and blouse to work every day. Routines turned back to what they were before I got sick except now everyday was Tiffany and there was nothing to hide.

It took over six months for my ‘period’ to end and I had monthly checkups with the Doctors. They slowly started taking me off of the medications and monitoring my body. I was told that it appeared my ovaries were full functional and I did not need hormone replacement. My breasts have continued to grow and right now I have a full ‘B’ cup and expect them to get larger. Rick and I finally ‘happened’ one night. It turned out more like a comedy act the than some highly charged passionate affair. He was frightened that he was going to hurt me and I was frightened of entering a new path in my life. I was 25 years old and still a virgin. We got it accomplished and, as they say, practice makes perfect, we are practicing.

Rick finally proposed to me on my 26th birthday. We went to dinner at the same restaurant where I had met Abby and was so embarrassed, Rick said he wanted to create a better memory at that restaurant than the one I had. He succeeded. The wedding was planned for that fall and my Mom, Mary, April and Lisa became the wedding coordination team. As the wedding was getting closer there was something left that I needed to fix and I needed to talk to Lisa about it. I discussed with Lisa and she agreed that I need to do this and she understood. I told Rick what I needed to do and he agreed to go with me.

Rick and I flew to Mom and Dad’s place and they put us up in the spare bedroom. The next morning I did a little research and found what I needed. That afternoon Rick and my Dad went out for a few beers and to shoot some pool. I borrowed Mom’s car. I drove to the address and parked out front, sitting in the car for a few minutes to build my nerve. Finally I got out of the car and straightened my skirt. I was wearing a gray skirt, red blouse with a gray jacket and red pumps. I walked up to the door and knocked. A few seconds later the door opened.

“Hi Carol” I said with a smile

“Hi” She responded with a puzzled look “Do I know you?”

“You use to. My name is Tiffany Ringston” Carols hands went up to her mouth. “You use to know me as Tim”.

“Oh my, Oh” Carol started

“Carol, I just came to say I was sorry” I said as a tear formed in my eye “I am a few years late with this but I am sorry”.

“Oh God” Carol said as she stepped into my embrace.

We talked for hours in her living room that afternoon. Carol was now married with a 4 year old boy who was currently out with his Father. I told her my story and how Tiffany came to be and that I had always regretted what I did to her and I had to come make it right.

“And what is that?” Carol asked pointing at the diamond on my left hand.

I smiled “I am getting married next month”.

Carol was laughing “Oh how things change. That is incredible!”

“Yes it is. He is here, in town, if you would like to meet him”

“I would love to. I will call Frank and see if you can drop our son at my Mom’s and we can go tonight”.

“That would be great” I smiled “And Carol, I would like to know if you would be my Matron of Honor at my wedding”

Carol had a look of shock as she covered her mouth and her eyes started to tear up again. “I would love to Tiffany, I would love to”

Rick and I flew Carol and Frank up for the wedding and when Carol met Lisa they acted like long lost friends. Lisa had heard about Carol many times and when Carol found out how much of a role Lisa played in my life she said it was not right and that Lisa should be my Maid of Honor. I asked them why couldn’t I have both, and both is what I now have.

Tomorrow afternoon at 1pm I will become Mrs. Tiffany Leerner, a title that I never dreamed I would have. The last 26 years of my life has taken some interesting turns along the way. Things didn’t turn out perfectly for me. Though I can have sex with Rick, the only satisfaction I get from it is being close to Rick. I have never been able to obtain an orgasm. Over the last couple of months I have had some kidney issues and have been given some medication for it. The doctors are hopeful they can stabilize them. But through it all I have made some wonderful friends and I have a wonderful family. I can’t help but wondering where the next 26 years will take me.

---

If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudo!
Click the Good Story! button above to leave the author a kudo:
And please, remember to comment, too! Thanks.