Chapter 14
The Kids........
How would we deal with the children? Medically, it was no problem. Housing the children also was easy. How do you help the kids with the extreme mental stress of this situation? These children were ready to die. They were unusually easy to put very hard concepts to. In the case of both, they had accepted death. When it was decided to allow them into the program, it was with many concerns. It wouldn't be very easy.
Our location was not a very good thing for children also. We were in sin city. How could we not corrupt the minds of these children? We couldn't lock them up. We had to make life as easy as possible for them. We were going to be receiving some new children patients soon and something had to be done for them.
We were going to have to assign a mother figure to these kids. Someone who could help with the questions that these children were going to ask. As usual, I was going to be stuck with the job. Can you imagine me, ex-man and clutzy engineer/public servant, a mother figure to a bunch of sick kids?
But I had other duties. So I could not do this alone. Mrs. Erricson, wife of the presidents son and our distinguished guest volunteered. I was grateful. She was getting her new "sister" ready for the new world. She was planning to stay for a while. I hoped I could convince the Erricsons to stay in New Orleans. The Erricson's accepted us as their personal crusade and cause. You have no Idea as to how glad I could keep them (and my two favorite Secret service agents.)
Dr. Gurber was on hand when the first two kids arrived. They had their mothers and fathers in tow. The group also included a doctor from St. Jude children's hospital. They were extremely interested in how all of this was going to work out. (So were we.)
First day.....We did all the blood work. The kids were classic Kemo sickness with balding and frail appearance. One was female and one was male. They both had been room mates while at St. Jude. When the decision was made by the parents to go ahead with the program, they were to remain paired. Everyone was happy about this as while both were changing hysically, they could teach each other how to live. We would also make sure that an instructor/counselor would always be around to answer questions and help solve problems. We would have to teach both how to play again.
This was a big controversy with the hotel guests. Why interfere with the way these kids would grow up. They had a right to live the way they wished. Teaching the boy how to play with dolls went against my grain. But how would we give this to be new female the skills to live in the new world. We decided to let it happen naturally. If we forced a change in mind set, then it was going to cause undue stress. We were the first (as usual) to do any thing new. We were the experts in this drug.
John and Rebecca were great kids. They may be 12 and 10 but after talking with them, it was obvious that cancer had matured them to early adult. The very first day, after the blood work, we were going to give the first dose by injection. These little guys were sick and needed the drug in the fastest form. Before the drug was administered, I had to talk to the parents.
Johns parents were apprehensive to say the least. The mother was crying and saying that her son would be a freak. (My hackles went up, but I kept my cool.)
"Good morning folks. I'm Leslie . I run the hotel and facilities here. I came by to see if there was anything I could do to help you settle in."
"Hello, I am Gracie Parnell and this is my husband Arron. Dr. Gurber tells me that you will be involved with my son's education and reorientation. We would like to know something about you and your staff."
"Well, there is not much to our staff. We run a very small ship here and I am also chief cook and bottle washer. I run the place and do the jobs that doesn't get done by anyone else. The main thing you need to know is that I am one of the first patients to go through the program. I have been physically complete for 4 years now."
"Do you like boys or girls?" Gracie asked.
"Fair question. I was always straight. I like girls still. But, because I run this place, I have to deal with both gays and bisexuals. I do not make this a sexual issue. I prefer to let the patient in question deal with their sexuality as they want. We do not judge or guide here. We get people through a very difficult situation and give them the tools to survive in a very cruel world."
"We are greatly concerned with the sexual orientation of our son after the change occurs." Gracie said.
"We will not interfere with that. But you have to know that that is a major controversy here in the Clinic and we will be very careful in how we deal with your child. We are in uncharted territory and need to exercise great care." Both parents shook their heads in agreement.
The Girl's parents were a different matter. It appeared that they were almost ecstatic over the fact that their daughter would not die. But also that they always wanted a boy and the kid was a tom-boy anyway. That would help. The girls name was Rebecca and the parents were Tom and Gena Bartlett. Their questions were simple compared to the boy's.
We (The hotel and clinic staff) had decided to let both of the children play anywhere they wished. The children could go up to the top floor of the hotel and play. No one else was allowed up there with the security the president's son/daughter had. It was mutually agreed that the children could go up there and play. Bert and Ken both were regular features around the hotel and kinda wanted to help the kids out. We didn't discuss the other residents with the parents. After all, it was patient confidentiality.
We were going to open the program up to 20 children. St. Jude was sending the kids to us and some of the staff. This caused some problems. I had doubts about the amount of space here in the Hotel. The president's son was at the out transition point. (This meant that SHE was ready to leave.) But We were hoping to get them to stay the whole year. The public conception of the President's new daughter would be very interesting. She would not be a home body. I was personally told by Beth that she would not let her new "sister" be a stay at home. She would be very much in the public eye. She would be the unofficial ambassador of the program. I couldn't bare to see what the news media did to them.
As the official operations Chief of the "Hotel", it was my job to see that everything went as planned. This new program with the kids was going to be a bear. I had kids from range 7 yr. old to 15 years old. This lot was 11 boys and 9 girls including John and Rebecca. I was secretly wishing that the mix was more girls because it was easier socially and sexually for the girls. Socially, they would inherit the advantages of being male in a very male society. The boys however were going to become second class citizens. I had 9 sets of very upset parents who were going to be very picky as to what their new daughters were going to be taught. I needed help and didn't know where I was going to get it. Any of the male to female patients were suspect in their eyes because they were "Perverts". I took some offense to the term and pointed it out to several of the parents.
"What are these people supposed to do?" I asked. "Die ?" They usually backed off when they saw how I felt. I had the common sense to not let Billy be seen in the complex in her normal dress. (Outrageous) She was warned to keep it legit in the hotel. The parents would have a baby if they saw her coming. We were going to be very busy. Now I have to go into an explanation of how this drug was going to work on these children. It has to be remembered that the drug does a DNA level modification. Yes, Children develop the sex organs just before puberty and have a tendency to stay where they are. Dr. Gurbers magic bullet goes in and alters the cells individual DNA to the opposite sex. It was one of the most difficult things that I had to teach to all the children and parents. The children were taking every thing very well. After all, they could discontinue Kemo and grow back normal hair and not be sick all the time. The parents were over reacting and this was upsetting the children. All had to understand that when the first dose of this drug was administered, they could not go back. It was certain death and painful. More painful than they had before. John and Rebecca were beginning to stabilize and recover. The parents understood that there was no turning back after the first injection. It had been a week sense they had arrived. They needed the drug very badly and could not wait any longer. Rocky roads, here we come.
Socially, things were getting a bit strange in the United States and Abroad. Our clinic was the most talked about institution in the World. Yes, there were others. But we were the first and the best.
I frankly was a bit ticked with Tulane Medical and their constant interference in the operation of my hotel and nursing staff. I was going to Honor Dr. Gurber's wishes and cooperate with them.
Dr. Gurber was a billionaire and Billie was becoming famous in her own right. Dr. Gurber and Caroline were doing quite well together. I had not talked to either of them before the children arrived at the Hotel in several months. I had enough to do as it was. So we had a lot to catch up on.
Caroline was doing more zoo studies and coming up with very interesting findings. The sex change aspect of the drug was not affected. But by fine tuning the drug doses by blood work results, they could control the comfort level of the patient. The time of transition was unaffected.
Dr. Gurber was dressing more and more as a female. No one was questioning his sexual preference. The news media just figured that he was playing some kind of publicity game. He would arrive in a town as a female and when he arrived where he was going, he would change into the proper dress of a doctor. This served him well as he could move around without being accosted by the news media and special interest groups, most of the time.
Billie and Robert were getting on famously. Even though Billie was constantly out of town, the relationship between the couple was very good. Robert could have come to work for us anytime he wanted. But he had been with the same hotel for years and years. He was loyal and enjoyed where he worked and dealing with the tourists and all the characters in the quarter.
All the previous patients that had gone through the program were out there making a name for all of us. It was incredible how many people we had helped and from all the backgrounds they had come from. The perfect example was the President's son/daughter. By the way, President Erricson had come to New Orleans secretly to visit his new daughter. I had the chance to visit with the man and enjoyed a very long conversation with him.
Our little program was responsible for a lot of changes in the world. The Senate and the House of representatives had several bills in the works to fix all the discrimination going on. Several of the people themselves were Gems. We were the talk of the world.
Tulane security continued to harass Marilyn. They wanted desperately to get rid of her. So they always were coming up with some kind of problem they thought she couldn't handle. I was getting Bert and Ken to help (secretly) Marilyn fix the problems and keep the idiots off her back.
Marilyn desperately wanted to take the drug. She was still TS and didn't have the features she really wanted. But I kept telling her that until she got a cancer, it was useless. She was already taking Hormones and the drug would do nothing for her until there was something for the drug to react to. She of course knew all of this. But I know she was envious of me and the other girls who had the figures and body she really wanted.
We were so famous at the hotel that several of the tour groups began to run groups by the front lobby of our hotel. We had people of all ages and ethnic groups coming and going all the time. There was always some poor sole who didn't pass and was going somewhere when the tour people came by. If there were cat calls or problems, Marilyn or one of the other full time security people would do something. We even had details going into the quarter with the patients just to make sure that there were never any problems. We had a staff of at least 50 people full time and volunteers numbering into the hundreds. All would dress in an invisible manner. I even did it several times. Only problem was that everyone knew me and I could not hide my DD's or my figure. I looked just like Dolly Parton with brown hair. I didn't try it very much. But I always did get the attention away from the patients.
Now back to the kids. All of the children accepted into the program were mature beyond their normal age. After all, if you are going to die and know it, you are going to grow up allot quicker than a normal child. Therefore, it was not necessary to have to explain to the 20 children in the program that people were not very friendly to Gems. Even if we had no choice. Even though these kids were better equipped to accept the new role, they were still going to be protected to al level that normal patients would not.
The very first program that we set up was a recreation and play program. Then we had to set up a school. I would not do this. I may be the chief cook and bottle washer, but school teacher was not a role that I was going to accept. They would have to get someone else.
Ben Carter was about half way with the transition from male to female. He was now past 6 months and was more woman than man. He resisted the need to dress in the female role to the bitter end. Only logic finally won out.
Ben was out in the quarter. I had met him in one of the local restaurants to have some coffee and chat. Things were going his way with his old job. He would be rehired as a New Orleans city policewoman. It was not his choice, but it was the best "he" could do. I had just finished a long day trying to get a teacher for the kids. I was worn out with people asking questions as to the condition of their children and who was qualified to handle the job of teacher. As usual, if something was going to go wrong, I was in the middle of it. A group of young adults had come in to the place and were being a bit roughly. Several had been drinking. They had spotted Ben and were checking out his braless chest. It was obvious that he was a Digem patient. They could always tell by the abnormal breast development that the M to F patients had. They started calling the poor man crude names and being obnoxious. Ben was staying very cool. Being a cop in a town like New Orleans gave these guys a high level of patience.
Ben was not going to be like some of our other patients. When the transition was over he would keep the same name and allow the sex designation to change. He was not the only one to do this. But this is a hard road for the unready. He would continue to dress male and not do the hyper-feminine thing that most of our patients chose to do. New Orleans had been assigning full time policemen and women to our Hotel. They were calling it the Center now. So there were always some of them around. New Orleans was getting world wide publicity over the facility and were more than agreeable to give a permanent detail to us. It would be more than likely that Ben would be assigned to us. I asked him about it.
"It doesn't matter. I am alive. I will have a job in what I like to do. So I can't complain too much. And I can work the special details dressed as a woman or a man. This ought to be interesting." he said.
I pointed out to him that he would learn to act and look like a female if this was what he wanted to do. So that was how I finally got Ben to give us a feminine name and enroll in the beauty classes. He, now she, would be a continuous hard case. He wasn't the first and She wouldn't be the last.
Bert and Ken would be great help to Ben. They weren't even in the program and both could out dress any of our current patients. It looked like they were getting a kick out of dressing now and I believe they were both now Full Transvestites. You could tell by the way they both approached dressing up. They were having too much fun. I noticed that they liked leather and the hard look. They both were dressed even while off duty. I rarely saw the male versions unless the detail required it. It was clinched when I found out through the grape vine that Bert had gotten a prescription for hormones from Dr. Gurber when he was last here. I kept that to myself as that would have caused poor Burt some grief from his co-workers. But Burt and Ken would be able to teach Ben what he needed to survive outside.
Cissy was beautiful. Carolines mother was obviously jealous. But the marriage was working out well. Before the transformation, Robert David was just a lanky average person. As Cissy, she was just like a fashion model. Tall and large breasted with a very nice face. Caroline was proud of how her father had handled the transformation. She was not very happy with how her mother had handled it though. Cissy was going to be quite a bit to handle though. Men were hitting on "her" quite a bit. Caroline's mother stuck to her new "sister" like glue. It was more like jealousy than concern. Who knows how people will react to the change of a loved one? Yes, they still loved one another. But the stress of the change was there. This was another rocky road.
It needs to be pointed out here that as a rule, we discouraged our patients from having intimate relations for at least a year after leaving our clinic/hotel. It was an emotional problem that caused many complications. These men had been changed into genetic females. In all ways, emotionally included, they were women. They had the emotional responses that women had and sex was one of the most powerful. It was too easy for a Gem patient to get emotionally involved with another person. If they were married, it was a little easier. But, these people got emotionally confused. I know of at least 5 patients who got emotionally involved with the opposite sex and were hurt. It became one of our endroctranation speeches. We didn't have the right to interfere with the personal life of our patients. But we did have the obligation to warn each of them that this kind of thing could occur.
Marilyn very rarely had to break up a domestic fight between patients and family in the Hotel/clinic. When she did, it was a wild one. I can remember this one family who had a M to F patient. I think those people fought constantly until they left our facility. Marilyn had to have a guard stand by on that particular floor of the Hotel just in case. They would start up right at bed time. Once, they even had to call in the "crash" team. They handled the tough security problems. I was always notified when this team was activated.
The guard had notified the front desk that there was a problem. A pair of men went to the room. There were these two women, totally nude, fighting each other over a piece of clothing. Being sensitive to the situation, they called the female staff. Before it was all over, both the men and women security people had their hands full. No weapons were involved, but there were fingernails and teeth. The clinic had to give tetanus shots to all the staff involved and both of the combatants. I had to personally chew out the two.
Now that is not to say that the F to M patients didn't have problems too. They had a heightened aggression factor due to testosterone. These fights were even worse. Women fight dirty. When a female to male Gem fought, it was dirty and almost to the death. We had quite a few of these fights where two patients had it out. It got to the point that when the two saw each other, it was war. The Hotel was a very hectic place.