The Truth About Antonio

The Truth About Antonio

by

Kathyg.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Antonio clutches Rita's hand tightly as she opens the door to the
Family
Practice Clinic and leads him into the waiting room. Rita signs him
in
at the Reception desk and they both take a seat.

"Darling, the doctor must look at your rash. It is as simple as
that.
Stop being such a baby."

"You're right." ,says Antonio, looking down at the floor.

Rita pats his hand and reaches over for a magazine.

"Antonio Santini?", says the receptionist.

"Yes, I am Antonio."

"Follow me, please."

The receptionist leads Antonio and his wife into the doctor's
office.

The doctor shakes Antonio's hand. "Sit down Antonio. What seems to
be
the problem?"

"Doc, can you take a look at the back of my neck?"

Antonio turns around and points to the red rash.

"It looks like dermatitis. I recommend applying calamine lotion
as
needed."

The doctor writes up the case while talking to Antonio and his
wife,
taking notes for his chart. "Antonio, I notice that you have never
had
a complete physical exam. If the clinic is to be responsible for
you,
more information about your medical history is necessary."

"As you leave the clinic today, Antonio, please stop by the
receptionist's desk and make an appointment for a complete
physical."

Antonio's face turns stone cold white. Rita looks down at the floor
but
says nothing to the doctor.

"What is the matter, Antonio?

Antonio begins to cry and shortly after, he begins to sob
uncontrollably.

At this time, both the doctor and nurse usher Antonio and Rita into
a
nearby exam room.

"I am confused, Antonio. Tell me, honestly, what is the matter? Don't
be
afraid to tell me."

"Let's take a look, shall we? Rest assured, whatever it is that
upsets
you, it will stay here in this room."

He leaves the room while Antonio undresses for the examination and
puts
on a gown. When the doctor returns, Antonio is sitting on the
exam
table sobbing. As the doctor opens up the exam gown, his concern
turns
to shock. It seems that Antonio is suffering from profoundly
deformed
and ambiguous genitalia.

"You are brave to come here today. I am so sorry."

"Thank you, Doc."

"I am here if you want to talk."

After a while, he stops sobbing. "You don't know how relieved I am
that
finally someone other than myself and Rita knows about this."

"Tell me, how was it like growing up? Painful, I imagine, right?"

"Yes. Very painful. You see, I am Italian and I grew up in the
neighborhood. You know how it is. This deformity has affected me
terribly. I walk around being ashamed and shy because of my body
image.
You can't imagine what it was like going to school. I had a
wretched
adolescence being constantly teased by my Italian classmates and
friends."

"Antonio is a good husband to me. We don't have any children but we
love
each other for forty years. Isn't that saying something?"

"Yes, Rita. That says alot.", replies the doctor.

In the back of the doctor's mind is this question: "What is the
cause
of Antonio's deformity?" This question intrigues him so much that
he
orders blood and urine tests, a chest X ray and other tests are set
in
motion. He adds a Buccal test where a tissue sample is taken from
Antonio's mouth and sent to the cytogenetics lab to determine
gender.

Antonio shakes the doctor's hand. "You have no idea how grateful I
am
for your understanding Doc. Maybe you can find out why I am the way
I
am."

"We will do our best to find out, Antonio."

"Thanks, Doc. Goodbye."

"Bye, Antonio."

"Does it really matter, darling?", Rita says.

Antonio hugs his Rita and they leave the clinic.

Several days later, all the lab results are back and everything
is
within normal margins except the Buccal Test. Indeed, Antonio is
genotypically female (XX). Within an hour, the doctor consults with
a
member of the hospital's Ethical Committee on this question:

"Should we tell Antonio the results of the gender test?"

The doctor sit across the desk from each other and consider all
the
factors of Antonio's case.

His age is 61 years old. Outwardly, he dresses like a man and
looks
likea man. He shaves his face daily. He has been married for 40
years
to the same woman with no children. It is a good marriage and
despite
Antonio's wretched adolescent experiences, he and Rita seem
happy.

"What would you say to this man?"

"Nothing can be changed. He has to live with whatever results we
give
him. We must be delicate. I don't believe that Antonio would be able
to
grasp the complexities of his case as well as many other factors.
He
has a strong relationship with his wife Rita."

His colleague advises: "Like the old saying goes,'If it ain't
broke,
don't fix it.'"

They both laugh. "Ain't that the truth!"

"I feel more harm than good would come from this by telling Antonio
the
truth. This could harm his marriage."

"Doctor, there is another problem. What do we do about the facts?
The
medical facts of Antonio's case? His genotype is medically
relevant
information and should be part of his history in some way. At
this
clinic, all medically relevant information is kept at the
hospital's
mainframe computer."

"This is a real concern. Parties might access the information and
ultimately violate Antonio's privacy.

What can we do to protect Antonio's privacy?"

"We would have to code this information in such a way that his
privacy
is not jeopardized by prying eyes."

"Very good."

To this day, Antonio does not know that he is really a "woman".