The early tests with Rick Plunkett's blood had been surprising and didn't fit with what they knew on the surface as it was strange reaction. She was thankful that he was willing to stay for the time it took to run some preliminary tests on his blood, even if it took up most of the morning. And the test results Kathy Tucker's diagnosis of Klinefelter syndrome (XXY) could be a potential answer for it, as it did produce an extra X-Chromosome in males, but it still left that that Y-Chromosome there that typically the werecat or werecheetah strains of the were-virus would hit, be rejected by, and would then kill the person. Having the extra X-Chromosome wouldn't remove the Y-Chromosome, and that would create problems. Kathy knew that well, and wanted to make doubly sure that there would be no trouble for Rick.
"We got all the test results from Yvette Smith handled, Doctor Tucker," came a report from one of her nurses.
"Both the ones the Mayor's office asked for and the ones Frances Twist asked be performed again?" Kathy Tucker asked again.
"Yes, ma'am," the nurse answered, "we got it done first thing this morning... but you had guests when we got them done and I didn't want to disturb you."
Kathy nodded, and rubbed her fifth month swollen womb, "It's okay. Just my husband and a friend of his dropping by for a visit."
"To talk to Junior?" the nurse asked to Kathy with eyes at Kathy's midsection.
"No... more that his friend has had interest in joining were society," Kathy answered, "but wants to be female as well..."
"Moon Lake's never had a problem with transgendered people," the nurse told her.
Kathy nodded, "Yes, but the young man wants to be a werecheetah."
The nurse's eyes widened, "Like me?"
"Yes, like you," Kathy nodded, "which in theory shouldn't allow for it because your strain of the virus won't react well with his Y-Chromosome. But his reacted strangely."
The nurse looked at several of the computer screens where Kathy had tests running on Rick's blood and on the mixed samples of Rick's blood and a werecat's blood that the hospital had on file. In this the nurse noted some of the oddness in the initial results. There wasn't the massive and rapid cellular decay that had typically been displayed and expected in these sorts of tests. She then looked over at the paper records of the Chromosome test that had been run on Rick.
"He has Klinefelter syndrome," the nurse said in a low voice, "XXY..."
"Yes, which has screwed things up with what we know," Kathy gave a sigh, "Normally things happen that the cells break down so rapidly that it would kill a human male, thus why we've always urged you and the werecats to be careful with human males... That extra X in his chromosomes might be allowing for the transformation to start in his blood samples... but there is still a Y in there. Having Klinefelter syndrome doesn't make that Y go away."
Kathy then turned to check some of the samples again. She started with the newer ones, which for the moment weren't reacting any different from the ones taken earlier. These tests weren't complete however, and had more time to run.
"You wouldn't actually think that this could mean that the virus could fully change someone's gender, could it?" the nurse asked.
"I've never heard of it doing that, and experience would lead me not to believe that," Kathy answered as she looked over to the nurse who was moving to some of the older tests that Kathy had taken, "but then I don't think we've ever had issues with someone with Klinefelter syndrome actually asking to become a female were-beast... and blood testing on those who have had that syndrome have noted that their chromosomes have gone from a XXY pre-transformation to a standard XY post-transformation. So we've never exclusively tested how werecat or werecheetah strains would affect someone with Klinefelter syndrome. Moon Lake's transgendered have all opted for the surgery, not trying to truly alter their genetics."
"And now we have someone who wants to test that," the nurse commented, "lucky your husband brought him here. It'll either save this guy's life or will be a revolution in were-genetics. I can't believe it's possible in some cases that we could actually change someone's gender."
Kathy nodded and looked along the screens while the nurse looked to a microscope where the initial mixing was. She didn't fully know that Rick's blood would have reacted the way it did, and while she didn't think the Y-Chromosome would allow that transformation, she couldn't argue that the initial results weren't doing what they were doing. That raised the very real possibility that in some cases a full gender transformation was possible. She continued checking the newer results to see if there was anything different.
"Uh... Doctor Tucker," the nurse spoke, her voice a bit more nervous.
"Yes?" Kathy asked as she looked in at another of the newer tests that she'd run.
"You might want to take a look at this," her nurse spoke.
Kathy looked over to where the nurse was and noticed wide eyes and a nervous frown on her face. That concerned Kathy, but she approached and looked into the microscope. And there on the slide she saw what her nurse was alarmed by. The cellular decay was now there and and beginning to advance. There were clear signs of transformation but the cells were also beginning to decay and was doing so slowly. She gave a sigh and stepped back.
"A good thing he came in to get tested," the nurse commented, "but... if the decay is there... wouldn't you have noticed it at first?"
"I should... and it didn't happen at first," Kathy answered, "I'd figured something like this would happen because of his Y-Chromosome... but the initial tests didn't show that reaction."
"But it's there in the older sample now," the nurse said clearly, the hope in her voice gone.
"Yes," Kathy nodded, "at least with that small sample."
"Why?" the nurse wondered, "shouldn't that reaction have happened sooner?"
"In theory, yes," Kathy answered, "and based on what we've already known... yes. But the initial... it's the extra X..."
"Doctor Tucker?" the nurse asked.
"The extra X in his chromosomes slowed the reaction down," Kathy spoke, "if you were to transform a woman, your strain of the virus would recognize the XX-Chromosomes and being the transformation. But someone with Klinefelter syndrome has two X-Chromosomes but is still male. They tend to look more feminine than normal males as a result of having that extra chromosome, but the Y still marks them as a male and that CAN'T be changed."
"What does that have to do with my strain of the virus?" the nurse questioned, "if it started to transform his blood sample... shouldn't that mean that things would progress to transformation?"
"The virus can't tell the difference between XX and XXY," Kathy answered, "it finds the second X and that leads to the signs of transformation... and likely slows its binding with the full chromosome... which means that the cellular rejection is delayed because it."
"He hasn't been clawed, has he?" the nurse asked.
"To my knowledge, no," Kathy answered, "Frank just brought him down so I could show him this... but the expected reaction was slowed."
"What if he does get clawed?" the nurse asked, "the fact that the transformation starts in his case, exposing to a different virus strain wouldn't work... as you and your husband can't turn ME into a werehorse anymore than I could turn YOU into a werecheetah."
"If we get another rogue... or he does something stupid..." Kathy looked at the most recent tests which hadn't shown the signs of decay yet, "the only thing we can do to take a normal woman's blood, isolate the XX-Chromosomes and pump them in through an IV in a saline solution and hope for the best."
"What?" the nurse asked.
"The delayed reaction can't be stopped once it starts and while the transformation is in progress," Kathy answered, "the only solution we'd have is purely theoretical that by introducing more normal woman's chromosomes to his bloodstream that we might be able to get them to bond with his cells. As they all bond, that might allow the transformation to complete itself... IF it happens."
"Would that make him female?" the nurse asked.
"I wouldn't think so... at least not completely," Kathy answered, "Though it might make the more physical signs of Klinefelter syndrome in him more apparent... any breast development he's had would be larger and his penis and testicles would be even smaller but still present."
Kathy then turned for her purse, and went for her cellphone, "I'd better warn Frank to talk with him for warning that some of the end results aren't that good... If he gets himself exposed by accident or deliberately decides to... I don't want to be responsible for an accident... especially when the only treatment we'd have is entirely theoretical... with no real clue on what the results would be."
"Could we test the newer samples with such a solution?" the nurse asked.
Kathy figured that it might, but that would also require more tests than the ones she had scheduled and would also require more samples from Rick just to make sure.
"Go ahead with that," Kathy urged, "but we're not going to experiment on a human being."
It might take a few days to be fully certain, but based on the delayed reaction in the initial tests, things didn't look that good would only mean more work to confirm things in one way or another.