Belly Literary Universe (part 2)

Camilla's Clothes Part 14: Check up

"Excellent," Doctor Logus said, and encouraged Camilla to cover herself back up. He pulled off his gloves, wadded them up, and tossed them into the trash. "You're recovering excellently. Scarring from surgery should be minimal. You're healing very well."

"Hah, that's the first time anyone's ever complimented me like that." She said

"Well at this point it seems that the toughest part of recovery is over. You still have a ways to go, but you're out of the woods," He said, smiling.

Camilla sighed. "Thanks darling."

"From here on out, you should follow up with your gynecologist. Their expertise will be more valuable in your recovery. I've tried to make sure I charted everything with as much detail as possible."

Camilla nodded. "What about the gene stuff? I know we've gone over it before, but I wanna hear what to look out for again..."

"It's no problem. You're still feeling fine?"

"Yeah..."

"Then you shouldn't be worried. Truly, if you feel anything out of the ordinary it should be cause for concern. But really, I'm assured that the treatment has been advanced a lot in the last decades. Your cells are constantly dividing to replace old and worn out cells. This happens at a different rate for each type of tissue, so the changes should happen slowly over years. How much do you know about math Camilla?"

"Hah. Enough to work with clothes and money. That's about it."

"So it will happen at a logarithmic rate. So a lot of changes will happen fast, and then the rate will slow down. So the genes will be active in your skin and fat cells first and then slower dividing cells next. What that means for you is that if something doesn't feel right, you should get medical assessment right away, just to be safe. But the longer it is the less likely you are to have problems."

"That doesn't make me calmer, Doctor. So if I eat something funny? And feel queasy? I should be worried?"

"No no no. Nothing like that. It's hard to say specific things to look out for besides the obvious. Lumps. It's normal to have heart flutters as the changes happen, but if they start happening a lot, or last for a significant duration, then you should get checked out. Complications like that are exceedingly rare now. You'll be safe, Camilla. I promise."

"Alright. But what about - you know - with my new organs?"

"You should be safe to use them once you reach the end of your first new cycle. That may take a little time as your body adapts to the hormones again, but by that point you should be safe."

"Okay okay. Good. I worry I'm getting ahead of myself. I don't even know for sure this is all going to work." She said looking down at her lap.

"Like I said, you're out of the woods, Camilla."

"I know, it's just that I met this guy, and he's pretty nice. Really nice actually. He's even put up with my post surgery orneriness. And whenever something nice happens it's always gotta be followed by something dumpy. That's just how life is."

Doctor Logus pressed Camilla's hand between both of his. "It's okay to be worried. It's natural. But you're healing well. You have every reason to be optimistic.

"Well I guess I'm worried about that next step of starting a family. Zach - the boy I mentioned - I think we're on the same page. But I'm worried that things will fall apart..."

"I'm no family planning expert. And I know that I don't need to lecture you on safety or responsibility. We talked about all that in the lead up to the surgery. But you're both adults. You both get to make this choice. You should talk about it. Even more. You need to be clear what you want, and be clear on what he wants too."

"You're right of course... Thank you Doctor..."