Chapter 22

Breakfast on Tuesday was curtesy of my 'break the healthy eating habit' rule and although I say it myself rather nice bacon and mushroom omelettes with grilled tomatoes. It was part of my sneaky plan to make Litara want to invite me back.

Serena and I planned our day carefully as tonight would be our last in this luxurious apartment before catching the coach back to Cardiff on Wednesday morning. We were going to do some serious touristing on a jump-on-jump-off open-topped double-decker bus tour . I know at 18 I should be too old or too young to enjoy that sort of thing but it sounded like fun.

What I didn't expect was for Serena and I to find ourselves in the company of four 18 year old American boys doing a dash round Europe. I mean Evan, George and Andy back in Cardiff were 18 but we'd all grown up together which made it ok so I hadn't realised how utterly stupidly boys that age behave! Our first attempt to dump them at Trafalgar Square failed when they followed us as we changed buses so in desperation we dived into Selfridges on Bond Street safe in the knowledge that no self-respecting teenage boy would be caught dead there - it did however cost Serena the price of a new handbag which was too conveniently on sale.

It was 2 pm by the time we arrived to take our ride on the London Eye and, as much as I enjoyed that and indeed the whole morning, by then I'd had enough.

"The difference between us in London and Litara in London is that she always has a dolphin" Serena sighed as we stepped off the wheel..
"A dauphin? Like a French prince?"
"No a dolphin like a porpoise!" and Serena was running.

It must be 3 miles to Harley Street from The Eye but we walked it and still arrived early. There is just so much purposeless or porpoiseless sightseeing you can do when in the back of your mind is the thought 'Is he going to tell me I'm dying?'

Serena waited for me in reception while I entered the doctor's office and took the offered seat. "Mr Pitt? Please be straight with me: Am I dying?

"Charles, please. Good god no, you're not dying. Have you been thinking that?"

"Ever since Dr Edwards said he wanted to cut me open."

"Ah Dr Edwards. His diagnosis of you as an XX male was correct in as far as it went and surgery would possibly have expanded and improved the diagnosis but while not harming you, maybe not improved your prognosis. His difficulty was that he only used one source of DNA, your blood. From yesterday's biopsies we now have examined 4 different sources and have found 3 distinct and very different sets of DNA"

"Does that mean they've mutated and I've got cancer?"

"Not at all. In addition to the compromised but not dangerous XX(y) cells that were found in Dr Edwards original blood tests, you have what appear to be both normal XX tissue cells and XY tissue cells. Your body appears to be built like a jigsaw puzzle picture created from 3 different jigsaws. There is a word for this originally used to describe a mythical creature. That is a chimera .

"I think I understand what you're describing but what does it mean in real terms for my future?"

"Well the first thing is that it doesn't demand any immediate surgery to remove bits of you so breathe easy there. I see that although you presented as male when young you now present as female and there seems to be no problem with that. Would you say the change was for emotional reasons or because of difficulty in passing as male?"

"Originally it was my appearance that prompted the change and that was less than 3 weeks ago but now it feels in some way more… natural."

"I imagine if you were to revert to a male presentation there would be difficulties but there is that choice which shouldn't be given up lightly or I believe too soon. That brings us to fertility which is at the moment not evident. Comparing the blood test results taken 18 days ago with those taken yesterday your testosterone levels have remained low and œstrogen levls dropped from a high level. Tell me have you noticed any mood swings over that time?"

"Maybe a bit weepy at times… Are you suggesting I've got PMS!?"

"No, of course not but changing hormone levels do produce mood swings among other things and I'd like you to keep a temperature chart measured each morning before you get out of bed.

Hormone levels are what have to be primarily considered in the near future. It is possible that a testosterone supplement might kick your own testosterone into production and it would probably make you in time look more masculine however that would soon stop any chance you might have of female fertility. Conversely, if we do nothing your own œstrogen will destroy any chance of male fertility you might have if it hasn't already."

"When do I have to decide? In a few day I am sailing to Spain and expect to be gone 3 or 4 weeks."

"That should be fine but you will need to see me or another doctor in a month as eventually there is a small chance danger of internal bleeding your are not plumbed to deal with."

"Mr Pitt? Charles? Is there any real chance of my having children?"

"I'm sorry Miss Williams, but as a man almost certainly not. As a woman there is a faint but very real possibility you might become fertile."

I looked at this man whose expertise was all I had to go to decide my entire future and liked the way he hadn't offered certainty. I trusted him. "Please call me Venus and thank you for your efforts . I would appreciate a copy of your findings and prognosis for the company and won't forget to take my temperature. Hopefully I will see you again in a month."

"Before you go Miss Williams. Venus. A word of advice. We've talked about this as though it were normal and it isn't. There are new advances being made daily in genetics but so far I have not heard of a single other case like yours. Research scientists would love to get their hands on you and if you become fertile and your situation were to become public knowledge the media frenzy would be huge. Please be careful."