Chimera 46
I have always had 'The Dreams'.
Even back when I was in grade school, I remember dreaming about them. Even then, the dreams were familiar. The Dreams never scared me, but they did make me nervous when I did have them. Mostly because of the 'doctor's office' vibe they gave me.
The dreams were always the same. I would wake up and have the feeling that someone else was in my bedroom with me (
hypnopompic state
). Then I would wake up in a dimly lit space, laying on a soft, flat surface (
like a medical bed
). I would not be able to move (
like sleep paralysis
).
(Okay, sorry about all the medical terms, but it's how I cope with my condition. I label it and classify it, which helps me understand and realize that I am still somewhat human.)
When I would look around the new room, I could see medical-looking equipment that were attached to the smooth ceiling. The equipment would activate and hover over different areas of my body. And yes, I still had on my pajamas. No, there was never any pain. And why would anyone think they would need to 'probe' anyone? Sounds like some guy's sexual fantasy to me.
The only times I ever felt them touch me, I would wake up with a small red spot that would fade away over a couple of hours. That mostly happened on my arm or hand, lower leg, or foot. You know someplace I could easily explain away any marks.
As I got older, I even looked forward to 'The Dreams'. They seemed kind of fun sometimes; better than the normal, weird dreams I had.
Around the time I was thirteen, I was a bit surprised when the scanner started hovering over my lower belly. For the life of me, I could not figure out why they would want to look there.
There was never anything sexual about the dreams, they were like a doctor's visit, only better because I hated doctors.
(Now before I continue, I just want to clarify, why I hate doctors, and always have.)
For as long as I can remember, I have been poked and prodded. In the end, they diagnosed me with 46,XX/46,XY chimerism.
When mom and I moved to a new town because mom got a new job, I begged her not to make us go to any more doctors. She agreed, and I have not been back to one since I was seven, except to get shots and the normal stuff they do to kids. No more doctors looking into my 'condition'.
So, what is my condition? What is 46,XX/46,XY chimerism?
It is a genetic condition. For some reason, I have two full sets of genetic DNA, one XX, and the other XY.
Some say it's because I am a failed twin, (
I am my own brother and sister
), the DNA being merged together. What they do know is that two of mom's eggs were fertilized by different sperm, one XX and the other XY. After that, it's all speculation as to how it all gets merged together. But they do know it happens in the first few hours after fertilization.
Now, before puberty, I presented as a normal male boy with all the normal boy parts. All my life, I have always thought of myself as male.
But six months before my fourteenth birthday, I started growing breasts. I mean it's normal for some boys to get slightly larger breasts, especially if their estrogen levels are out of balance. There were even a few dreams where they scanned my chest, but for the most part, I never even noticed the changes until the day I started spotting.
I had never really thought about that opening just behind my testicles in front of my anus. I never bothered it because it never bothered me. It was just there like any other part of me.
That first day I found the spots in my underwear, I was scared. On the second day, I just used toilet paper stuffed in my underwear to keep it from staining them. Then it was gone.
The following month the spotting came back. Not knowing anything about all that, I had to ask my mother. She thought it was strange that I was asking about girls and menstrual spotting, but I came up with the excuse that I had heard two girls talking about it in school. She explained it all to me, even telling me how girls would clean themselves and how they would wear pads to catch the menstrual blood. That night, I found a small box of pads in my room.
The following month is when I started having bad cramping, and heavy flow days. That week, I had another dream, and they scanned my lower tummy. Ever since then, I have been quite regular and have only ever had light cramping, if anything. I did sometimes get some PMS symptoms, not all the time, but when I did, it was mostly just minor symptoms a few days before my flow started.
As for the emotional PMS symptoms, I never could tell if I had any of them. I mean with my normally extremely high anxiety and constant depression, how was I to know? All of the other symptoms listed fit me to some degree all the time, so I couldn't tell if I had symptoms, or not.
The only symptom I knew that I definitely had (
and still have
) was the crying spells. Normally, I could keep the tears in check until I am alone, but the day or two before my flow started, I would have to avoid all emotionally charged situations, or the tears would just start flowing. It was not like I could control it or anything, and it did not matter if I was happy, angry, or sad, the tears just started.
After I started getting my menstrual cycle regularly, I also started noticing all the other things happening to my body. Especially how quickly my breasts were growing. But with a quick internet search, I found out all I needed to know about binding, and with the loose sweatshirts or hoodies, no one ever noticed my breasts.
By the time I was eighteen, I had grown into my male body, as well. My voice had dropped, and I had started growing facial hair, as well as body hair. (
Chest hair around tits is not attractive.
)
But I was also having a lot of trouble hiding all my feminine parts with clothing. My hips had widened and rounded, and my hip bones now protruded forward on either side of my flat belly. My waist had narrowed considerably, giving me a pleasant feminine hourglass shape. My now-C-cup-sized breasts were next to impossible to entirely conceal, even with binding and loose clothing.
Now spending all of my high school years afraid of someone 'finding out' about my secret, really did a number on my head. I never dated, never even changed when there was even a chance of someone being around. I would even wear my gym clothes under my school clothes so I would not have to change at school.
My extremely high anxiety and constant depression did not help with my mood swings and social awkwardness. I even suffered from eating disorders and body dysmorphia on top of all my social anxiety disorders.
Although I am not sure I actually had body dysmorphia, in the clinical sense, because my body really was disfigured, it was not like it was all just 'in my head.'
So, you are all probably wondering what that eighteen-year-old, half-boy, half-girl, and totally crazy person looked like.