Experimental Drug

I went to my doctor for my annual checkup. It seemed like nothing at the time. For the record, I am or at least was Joe Williams, a man of 55, but still in decent shape all things considered. I still try to keep fit, which isn't quite so easy when you have knee problems and lousy lungs. Still at about 6 foot and 175 pounds, was not too fat or thin. Starting to grey a little bit, not too surprising considering my age, but haven't lost too much of my hair.

So I get to the doctor's office and tell them I was there to see Dr. Josephson for a regular follow up. The receptionist told me that Dr. Josephson had a mild heart attack the day before and that an associate of his Dr. Romano was taking his appointments. If I insisted, they could reschedule me, but not likely for another three months. She said Dr. Romano seemed very competent and had been well liked by the patients so far.

I didn't really want to wait another three months, particularly since I wanted refills on a couple of prescriptions, so I said I'd see Dr. Romano. After waiting for about fifteen minutes, they measured my height and weight, then showed me back to one of the examination rooms. In a few minutes a nurse came in and took my pulse and blood pressure then used a peak flow meter to measure my maximum lung capacity, and told me Dr. Romano would be with me shortly.

A woman walked in the room and I figured she was a nurse or medical assistant, until she held out her hand and said, "Hi, I'm Dr. Romano." I shook her hand as my eyes bugged out and my mouth gaped open. Dr. Romano appeared to be 25, about 5' 6" and perhaps 120 pounds. She had blonde hair in a should length bob, with a beautiful face, a trim figure and what looked like it might be C cup breasts, though it was hard to tell through her clothing.

She told me to sit down and sat in a chair near me, then began looking through my file. As we sat there, I blurted out, "You look too young to be a doctor." She looked at me and smiled, then replied, "I'm much older than I look." She resumed looking at my file, as I sat there wondering if she could be thirty, though honestly she didn't look like she could be.

"Dare I ask how old you are?"

"About your age, actually."

"There's no way you could be a day over thirty."

"There is, but it's highly experimental, and rather risky. We tried early tests on lab animals and lost almost half of them in the tests. We're doing much better now, which is why we've tried a very few tests on humans. I shouldn't even be discussing it with you, though you would be a decent test subject."

"Why?"

"You lost about a third of your lung capacity, apparently from growing up and living around smokers. Beyond that, you have some knee issues that impede you somewhat."

"What does this treatment do?"

"We take DNA samples from the subject and use those to dope our drug. Then when we inject the drug, it causes the body to rebuild itself based on the original DNA. I had been in a car accident that took one lung, and damaged my kidney, spleen, and other things. I might not have lived for long without the treatment, but since I was on the research team, and was willing, I was the first human test subject."

"And you're my age?"

"I am. It restored my youth, and rebuilt my lung and other internal organs."

"And it could do that for me?"

"It does not always have the expected reaction. In test animals, a few reacted very negatively. When we tried a second dose to repair any damage, those animals invariably died. Some died just with a first dose."

"But you've done better with human subjects?"

"We've tried it on five humans. One of those died. We think we know why, but still it is risky."

"But someone who was willing to take the risk?"

"You see a potential fountain of youth, and you'd love to regain that youth, as I managed to do."

She looked at me, with a very slight smile. I was indeed thinking about regaining my lost youth, and maybe my lost lung power and get my knee fixed. "My parents are dead, I'm not married, and I have no children. I'm an independent contractor, so no one but me really cares whether I'm alive or dead. Give me a chance to get back what I've lost and I'd take it. What do I have to lose?"

She handed me a business card. "Think hard about it. If you still feel that way in a week, call me and we can talk further."

She wrote me out a prescription for my regular medication. I asked, "Is there a chance I could talk to you sooner?"

"Give it a week and think very hard. I should also have mentioned besides one in five dying, one in five had a very unexpected and unwelcome result. We can't guarantee any positive outcome." She got up and shook my hand, then left.

...

I sat at home, drinking a beer and thinking. There was a 40% chance I'd be dead or fucked up, if I did this. There was also a 60% chance I'd be young and healthy. Besides which, I really wanted to spend more time with Dr. Romano. She was one of the hottest women that I knew, and this treatment was a chance to get somewhere with her - a slim chance no doubt, but a chance.

I waited a week, then called Dr. Romano about the experimental drug. A receptionist answered the call and I gave her my name and told her that I'd talked with the doctor. She said Dr. Romano was tied up but would call me back. It was several hours later before my phone rang. The caller ID said it was a 'private caller'. I wasn't sure if it was her, or a telemarketer, but I answered.

"This is Diane Romano. You called me about the research."

"You mentioned it to me, when you were covering for Dr. Josephson. I'm one of his patients."

"I really should not have mentioned it. The research is quite experimental and rather dangerous still."

"What if I'm willing to take the risk?"

"You really should reconsider. The risks are considerable, including death and disability - far too great a chance of either for an otherwise healthy person."

"I've already lost one third of my lung function, and as I age, it's only going to get worse. And I have no close relatives. If that would give me the chance for a better life, I'm willing to take the risk."

She said we could talk further at the clinic, and gave me the address. She said she could see me at 2pm the next day. I slept poorly that night, thinking about the potential benefits, the dangers, and the chance to see Dr. Romano again. I got up the next morning, did some contract work until about noon, then ate lunch and made my way to the clinic.

I got there about ten minutes before 2pm and told the receptionist that I had an appointment with Dr. Romano. She told me to take a seat then got on the phone. About two o'clock, she asked me to follow her and led me to a small office where Dr. Romano was sitting at a desk working. She showed me in the room and closed the door. Without looking up the doctor told me to have a seat. She continued to work for a few minutes on a laptop computer, before she closed it and looked at me.

"It's Joe, isn't it?"

"That's right, doctor."

"Please call me Diane."

"Okay, Diane."

"Look, I'm very enthusiastic about this work - much too enthusiastic really. I know the risks, along with the potential from my own experience. On a few occasions that's led to me talking about it when I should have kept my mouth shut. I've been told so explicitly by our director of research, and my boss. It's easy to see the possibility of regaining youth and physical vigor, and minimize the dangers in your own mind. That's foolish and I've enabled that."

"I understand the dangers. If I had a family or even a serious relationship, I'd never give it a second thought. I don't though, and the potential for gain seems worth the risk."

"We need to give you a thorough physical. You can then talk to the director. He will have the final decision."

"Fair enough."

I don't think I've ever had so thorough a physical in my life. If there was anything whatsoever wrong with me, I think they knew it by the time that physical was over. At the end, I pretty much felt like I'd been run over by a train. After it was done, I sat down with Diane and her boss, Dr. Patel.

"Mr. Williams, you really should not be here. This is an early stage experimental test. We don't have formal approval to even test it on human beings. We got wavers for a handful of people who would have died without the treatment, but for an otherwise healthy person, it is out of the question."

"Do you really want me to go public with what you're doing here?"

"No one would believe you."

"Some would, and others would start to question. Do you want that sort of inquiry? I'd hate to do that to your research, but if you turn me away..."

We were sitting in a conference room with a number of windows. Dr. Patel got up and gestured for Diane to follow him, then asked me to wait. I could see them outside. Dr. Patel seemed very angry at Dr. Romano, and Diane was not taking it well. Dr. Patel seemed to do most of the talking for quite a while, then Diane made a few comments and they returned.

"All right, Mr. Williams, we will take you on as a test patient. You will have to sign a non-disclosure agreement. You'll also have to indemnify us against either your death, or disability, or any other untoward results from the drug. When you begin treatment, you will be here for at least a week, so you need to make any necessary provisions for the necessary time. Can you be ready for treatment in one week?"

"That should be enough time. I'll notify my employer that I won't be available for at least one week."

"Fine. We'll see you back here one week from today, promptly at 8am. Dr. Romano will get the agreements for you to sign. She is a notary and will notarize your agreement. We got some DNA samples from your physical and will use those in the treatment we prepare for you."

Dr. Patel got up and left, leaving Diane and I in the conference room alone.

"I'm sorry. I guess I got you in a lot of trouble."

"I know the potential for this treatment, and I know we need a lot more testing to work out all the issues related to it. You know you could be killed by this. Dr. Patel would not kill you deliberately, but right now he wouldn't be sorry if you died either."

She took me back to her office and had me sign more documents than I've ever signed at one time in my life. At first I scanned them, but very quickly gave up and just signed them. It probably sounds stupid, but really, I already told them if it killed me it was okay. How much worse could it be than that?

...

One week later, I was back at the clinic. I wasn't completely sure they wouldn't close down and move, but they were where they had been. At 8 am on the dot, Dr. Romano came out and escorted me back to a room. She had me take off my clothes and put on a hospital gown, then lie down on a hospital transport bed. I was surprised that she was doing this, but she told me they were doing bare bones research and had only minimal staff.

"Once you get the treatment, you'll be unconscious while your body rebuilds itself. It normally runs one to three days, though we had one very serious patient who was out for four days. After you wake, assuming you do, we'll need to run all sorts of tests and diagnostics on you."

"I'm ready."

"We'll put a feeding tube in your arm. We will also need to strap you down. We've had a few test subjects go into convulsions after treatment."

Diane strapped me down to the bed and put a feeding tube in my arm. She then held up a syringe.

"This is the drug for your treatment. Are you really sure you want to go ahead with this? This is your last chance to back out."

"Do it."

She stuck the needle in my arm and injected the contents of the syringe into me, and I lost consciousness.

...

I woke up very woozy, to find I was still strapped down to the bed. As I came to consciousness, Diane came into the room.

"Don't try to talk yet, and don't try to move. Take a sip of this."

She put a cup with a straw to my mouth and I sipped water. As I did, I realized just how dry my throat was. She was hovering over me with a very concerned expression.

"There was a problem with your treatment and you've been out for five days. I'm glad you're back with us, but the results of the treatment are going to be very different from what you expected. We had an emergency patient arrive not long before you were treated. There was a lab mix up and you got the treatment that was meant for the other patient. You have health and you have youth, but at a cost you won't like."

"What...?" My voice sounded strange, higher pitched.

Diane took a deep breath and shook her head. "The other patient was a woman. The drug rebuilt your body all right, but into the body of a woman."

"Oh my God. That can't be. You have to undo this."

"I told you up front that every test subject that was treated twice died. Every one. If we try to change you back, it will kill you, absolutely certainly."

"I'm stuck this way?"

"You are. I'm very sorry. We made it clear that the treatment could kill, disable, or change you in ways you didn't like. We'll help you as best we can, but we can't undo it."

"Is that why I'm strapped down?"

"We couldn't be sure that you wouldn't hurt yourself or someone else. And you did have severe convulsions as your body was rebuilt. If it's any consolation, you are a very beautiful woman."

"Beats being an ugly hag, I guess, but that's a small consolation."

I craned my head and looked down my body as best I could. I could feel longer hair on my head and could see breasts poking up from my chest.

"If I promise to behave, will you unstrap me?"

"As long as you behave. We do need to give you another physical - very thorough."

I nodded. Diane unloosened the straps and removed them. I sat up on the bed. As I did, I could feel my breasts, which had been somewhat flat on my chest drop down to a normal position. It felt very weird. I never felt my chest move like that before. And as I moved I could not feel a penis, which I was used to feeling as I moved about with little clothes. I slowly and gingerly swung around so my legs hung off the side of the bed.

"Can you stand?"

I stood up, though my legs felt a bit weak at first. As I moved, I could feel my boobs move and the feel was very disconcerting. Diane took my arm and helped me as I took a few tentative steps. With each step, I felt stronger and more self assured, though my body felt so very, very different.

"We never even realized this treatment could make this kind of change. I think we assumed it would kill the patient to treat them with someone else's DNA - particularly across genders. For a couple of days, we weren't sure you'd survive, but you hung on."

"And the other patient?"

"She got the correct treatment, a bit later than she would have and has made a full recovery. I can let you meet her later, if you'd like. For now, we can let you wear something a little less revealing, but we need to check you out."

She handed me a gown that at least covered my ass, unlike the standard backless gown. She helped me take off the backless gown and put on the other one. I got a good look at myself and my boobs as I changed. I was about 5'4" and about 115 pounds. I had brown hair that came down to nearly my shoulders. I was surprised it had grown so long in five days, but I guess it was no less shocking than the rest. I had a nice trim figure and shapely hips, and my boobs had to be at least a C cup. I basically saw nothing but pubic hair in my crotch. If I'd had more time and Diane hadn't been there, I'd have checked out my pussy, but was reluctant to do so now.

"Do you feel strong enough to walk, or should we use a wheelchair?"

"I feel better with each step, let's walk."

They poked and prodded me in more ways than I'd ever been before. Diane told me they needed to do a pelvic exam with a speculum and said Dr. Patel could do that. I asked her if she's do that instead. She said she was no gynecologist, but I told her I was still uneasy about those body parts and would rather have a woman touch me there than a man.

"Hell. This is so new, I haven't even seen or touched myself there yet."

She smiled at me, and for just a second I thought she might kiss me, then she resumed her professional demeanor. She used a mirror during part of the exam so I could see myself and see what she was doing as she examined me. I could see her use the speculum to spread the lips of my pussy. It felt very strange to have something go into my body there and in that way. It was weird, but at the same time, it felt pleasurable. The fact that it was Diane touching me there seemed to make it more so.

"You have an intact hymen. I'm not surprised, it did that to me when I was treated. I guess there's nothing quite like losing your virginity a second time, though it would be a lot different for you the second time, I guess."

I think I blushed. Diane smiled and told me she now needed to do a digital examination as well. She pulled the speculum out of me. I could feel her fingers across my labia, gently stroking them and spreading the labia as she slid a finger inside me. I could feel myself getting wet down there as her finger explored the outer parts of my pussy. It was all I could do to keep from gasping and panting as she did. She finished her exploration and pulled her finger out, which was a little disappointing, but them this was supposed to be a medical exam, not something truly intimate.

Diane told me that the tests showed that I had ovaries and a uterus and that everything connected up right. She also said their DNA tests showed I now had XX sex chromosomes in each of the cell samples they tested. I was now fully and truly a woman.

"I feel responsible for what happened to you. If I hadn't mentioned the treatment to you, you'd never have insisted on it and never have ended up like this."

I wasn't quite sure what to say. I knew for sure I had a woman's body, but I still didn't feel like a woman. When I looked in the mirror, I saw a very beautiful sexy woman, but that didn't feel like me.

"Look, it's going to take some time for you to get used to living as a woman. We want to run a lot more tests, which will take several more days, but that doesn't mean you have to stay here every minute. If you'd like, you can stay with me. I can show you a bit about living as a woman, and bring you back here for tests each day. And honestly, I want to keep an eye on you and make sure you're handling this okay."

"I'd be staying with you?"

"I have a little one bedroom apartment, not too far from here. We'd have to share a bed, but it is king size."

A week or two before, I'd have loved nothing more than to share a bed with this woman, and now she was offering exactly that. Yes, now I was a woman, and I didn't know how much of a difference that would make to her. Would I turn down a chance to share a bed with her? No way.

Diane told me she cleared it with Dr. Patel and said she had some clothes that would fit me. Obviously the clothes I wore to the clinic wouldn't do any longer. She brought a bag with some clothing into the room, then told me to take off my robe. Oddly, I felt a little shy at that. Yes, she'd had her finger up my pussy during my gynecological exam, but somehow this seemed less clinical and more personal.

"Let's get you cleaned up too."

She had me lie down while she shaved my legs and underarms. She trimmed the hair around my pubes, but didn't shave it. Diane pulled a pretty pair of lacy pink panties out of the bag and gave them to me to put on. I slid them on, but almost felt more exposed than when I was naked. She then handed me a lacy pink bra that matched the panties. I put my arms through it and Diane helped me fasten it in back. She then gave me a form fitting, knee length black skirt to put on. I looked at the skirt and looked at her.