November 1971

Sally Jones and Sam Finch are finishing up a week long field trip to Columbus for the senior government class. The class had stayed in some dorm rooms at OSU (boys and girls in different floors).They got to see the capital building, attend a session of the state senate, visit some colleges, sit in on some classes, and go to COSI. Sally and Sam had even joined some other 18 year old students last night at a local dance club, under the watchful eyes of Mr. Williams, but still a fun end to the trip. They are all up early to get in a little more site seeing before heading back to Green Valley High.

Billy Cranston, approaches Mrs. Smith, one of the schools English teachers who had been there to help chaperon the students. Betty Smith was an older woman, but one of those teachers who was always approachable and kind of motherly. "Mrs. Smith, can you come and look at my roommate Jack? He's not looking very well. He was too tired to go out to the dance last night and this morning he's kind of puffy."

"Puffy you say? Well I'll take a look at him." Billy leads her back to his dorm room where Mrs. Smith can clearly see that Jack is not well as she puts a hand on his forehead.

"Oh dear Jack, you are burning up. I think that we are going to have to have a doctor check you out right away."

"I'm OK Mrs. Smith, I just need a little rest."

"Young man, I am responsible for you and I say that we will let a doctor make that decision. The school had made arrangements to have one available if needed. They even got trip insurance to pay for it. Come with me and we will give him a call. Billy be a dear and make sure that Jack's things get packed. Bring them to the bus if he is not back when you are boarding."

"Sure thing, Mrs. Smith. And Jack, do what Mrs. Smith says or I might have to tell Tina what happened to her blue sweater. The one that SOMEONE spilled bleach on."

Mrs. Smith snorts as she hustles Jack towards the room she shared with the other two teachers. She is surprised to see Mr. Williams and Ms. Miller already there with similarly sorry looking Tina. She did not mention the sweater.

"I see that Mr. Robinson here is not the only one that is sick. They both look like they have a sudden case of mumps. Have you called, who was it, Dr. Jacob yet?"

"I was just about to" said Ms. Miller, "Which one of us is going to take them? That should probably be the person to call."

Mrs. Smith volunteers. "I'll do it. I think that you two will be needed to herd in the rest of the kids. Let's keep them here until we know more. No sense in spreading the mumps and I bet dollars to donuts that a least some of the others have it too by now. Plus, I've had the mumps and can't get it from Jack and Tina."

She fishes out a notebook and pen from her purse and goes into the next room to make the call. The sick students and the teachers can hear bits of the conversation drifting back in snatches.

"Yes the group from Green Valley" "No, but they both feel hot to the touch." "Yes, swollen" "18, both of them" "Valley Care" "About 30 or so" "They have been sharing a couple of dorm floors all week." "OK." "Over by the hospital" "Thank you, we will be there as soon as we can."

She comes back in the room and addresses the students and teachers. "I spoke with Dr. Jacobs and he is arranging for one of the residents on call to examine you two. We will head over to one of the clinics by to hospital. It's closed right now but the resident will round up the keys."

Turning to the teachers, "We will need to cut out the morning sight seeing. Once they confirm it's mumps, they will probably want to have the class checked out. Dr. Jacobs is going to make arrangements with the school, the parents, and Valley Care. Sorry to stick you two with this, but I think that I better stick with Tina and Jack until we can get them checked out and home."

"Should we start back now?"

"No wait, Dr. Jacobs said that he might need to send some supplies back for Valley Care. Some gamma something. He didn't think that they would have enough on hand. He wants you to bring them back with you."

With that she herds Tina and Jack out the door for a short walk across the campus to the hospital complex where they stop at a door marked "Peds Intake". They are greeted by a tired looking young women in a medium length doctor's coat.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Samantha Lee. You must be the folks from Valley High. Terrible way to end a field trip, but I'll get you checked out." She says as she selects a key from the key ring to open the door. Locking the door behind her as she ushers them through a series of rooms tuning on lights as she goes, ending in a long room with eight bays separated by curtains, each has a sheet covered gurney as an exam table and various equipment for examinations.

"This is the room we use for intake exams for the peds ward. I would have preferred to use the out patient clinic for this, but that's being deep cleaned today so here we are."

"I spoke with your Dr. Green and she said that neither of you had any serious conditions and that neither of you have had the mumps before, is that correct?" She asked the two bedraggled looking teens.

"Yeah, that’s right" said Tina.

"Yep, chicken pox, measles, and a whole bunch of ear aches, but no mumps" said Jack.

After collecting throat swabs from both, she puts short hospital gowns on the beds of the last two bays and says "Well, looking at you two, I am pretty sure that those swabs will be positive for mumps, but I need to check you out to be sure and to see how serious it is. I have to check you all over, so I need to you to each pick a 'room' and get completely undressed, everything off, and put on the gown. The opening goes in the back and you don't need to tie them."

Mrs. Smith says "I'll just stay here on the other side of the curtains dears so you can have some privacy. Ask for me if you need someone to hold your hand." as she sits on the chair in the third bay.

Jack and Tina look at each other and then go to bay one and two and begin undressing. Tina removes her shoes and socks placing them under a chair in the bay. She pulls her dress over her head and places it neatly on the chair delaying the next step. Turning her back on the open end of the bay to minimize her exposure, she removes her bra, and then slips out of her panties. She blushes deeply as she stands naked in the bay with only cover on three sides. She quickly fumbles her way into the gown and sits on the exam table.

Jack, trying not to remember that his girl friend Tina is getting naked on the other side of the curtain, decides to get things over as fast as he can. He strips down quickly and is just turning around to get his gown when Dr. Lee walks around the curtain. Dr. Lee helps Jack into the gown and leads him over to a scale that is in the common area.

After noting his weight, she directed him to hop up on the table and took his pulse and blood pressure. “Hold out your hands please”, she says and pinches the skin on the back of his hands. She frowns slightly at the time it takes to snap back. Slipping his gown off his shoulders, she listened to his heart and then moved her stethoscope over his back telling him to "Breath in, breath out". Next she has him bring his chin to his chest and curl up to test his neck for stiffness.

Jack was just getting relaxed as the doctor pulled his gown up and walked over to a jar marked "clean" and selected a thermometer. "OK Jack, I need to check your temperature now, rectally. It's hospital policy. Please lie down on your belly."

Jack flopped down on his stomach, letting his gown fall open. Having gone to Valley Care all his life, he was used to having his temperature taken in his butt. It bothered some of his classmates, but not him. It was just something else that doctors and nurses did.

Dr. Lee was happy to see Jack lying prone as she walked over carrying a thermometer resting in a packet of Surgilube. She approved of the hospitals policy of taking rectal temperatures on all patients under 21. (In fact, she would be comfortable with taking rectal temperatures on almost all hospitalized patients no matter their age.) However sometimes older teens like Jack and Tina would object and make a fuss. She was glad that Jack was compliant.

With her left hand she spread Jack's buttocks apart wide until she could see his anus. Carefully pointing at his belly button, she placed the tear shaped bulb against his anus, noticing it tighten up. After a couple of seconds, she saw it relax and gently slid the thermometer in and inch and a half and then released his buttocks.

She paused to observe Jack, laying there with the red tipped thermometer peaking out between his cheeks and then said, "Jack, can I trust you to lay still there like an adult, while I get Tina's weight?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm used to this."

She then got Tina and led her out to the scale. Mrs. Smith turned her head to the side as Tina's gown opened revealing a perky, pale white bottom.

As Tina turned around to go back to her table, she turned a little pink as she saw her boyfriend Jack laying there bare bottomed with a thermometer sticking out. She turned a little pinker thinking that she would soon be in that position herself. Unlike Jack, she had moved to Green Valley at 14 and had been quite embarrassed to be demoted back to the rectal thermometer just after finally being moved to the grown up mouth thermometer a year or two before. (Worse yet, her mother was one of the "if it good enough for the doctors it's good enough for home" type.)

Going back to Jack and pulling the thermometer out, Dr. Lee read "103.6. Stay in that position, I am going to give you something for that fever right now." She goes over to the supply cabinet pulling out a 1000 mg Tylenol suppository, gloves, and some lube. She runs the suppository under some cold water.

Jack is a little confused. He has never gotten fever medicine as a shot. It has always been a pill or that ickly purple liquid when he was small. Then he sees Dr. Lee and has no idea why he has to lie face down for that big white pill she is bringing.

"Sorry, but this area is mostly used for pre op exams, so there are no oral meds. I going to have to give you a Tylenol suppository. That's like a pill but it goes in your bottom, the same place I took your temperature." With that, she spreads Jacks buttocks again and pushes the suppository up into his rectum as far as her finger will go.

Jack gives a little "eep" as he feels her finger slide up into his bottom. He has had his temperature taken imnumeral times, but he has never felt anything like this. It feels much fuller than any thermometer and her finger goes in much further. After an eternity (about 20 seconds), Dr. Lee slowly withdraws her finger brushing across his prostate as she does. This new sensation leaves Jack with a problem common in young men and he adjusts his gown carefully as she tells him to sit up.

Discarding her gloves, Dr. Lee checks Jacks ears, nose, and throat. She then carefully feels his very tender jaw and neck, finishing with the lymph nodes in his armpits. Then comes the final part. "OK, just a quick genital check and we are done. Hop down and pull your gown up to your chest for me.

Jack does as he is told but turns bright red and mumbles, "sorry", as he realizes that he is still at half mast.

"Nothing to be sorry about. It is a normal bodily response in young men." She says as she prods his groin and palpates his testes. "All done. You can drop your gown and sit on the table."

"You definitely have the mumps. After I examine Tina, I'll give you some medicine to help jump-start your immune system. Just lie back and rest." She says as she fills his chart and heads over to Tina's side.

"I hope that I haven't scared you too much with Jack's exam Tina." she says as she starts to check Tina's ear, nose, and throat. Noting the tenderness in Tina's jaw, she then gets out her stethoscope. She gently pulls Tina's gown down to the waist, revealing the young woman's perky breasts and slender waist. Dr. Lee places the bell of her stethoscope at the base of Tina's left breast, listening for heart and lung sounds. After moving all over the eighteen year old's chest she moves to Tina's back telling her to "Breath in, breath out". The then pulls the gown back up and takes Tina's pulse and blood pressure.

“Hands out please.” A quick pinch test shows that Tina is dehydrated too.

"OK. Now touch your chin to chest and bend forward like you are rolling up into a ball. Does that hurt?"

"Yes. No. Maybe a little."

Then came the part that Tina was not looking forward to. "I still need to get your temperature Tina. Please lie down on your belly." Tina was not fond of rectal temperatures. She knew that all her friends and classmates had their temperatures taken the same way, but it always made her feel like she was being treated like her 10 year old sister. Had she not heard Dr. Lee tell Jack about the policy, she would have tried to talk her way into a mouth thermometer. But she rolled over, carefully keeping the gown in place to cover her butt while she could.

As Dr. Lee turns back to Tina with thermometer, she notices that Tina is not as relaxed as Jack was and hopes she won't be one of the fussy ones. She pulls open Tina gown exposing her tense pale butt. "I need you to spread your legs a little and relax your bottom honey. This won't hurt; it's just a thermometer."

Inwardly Tina sighed. She spread her legs a bit and tried to relax. It was only a thermometer. She felt Dr. Lee spread her buttocks and then felt the cold tip of the thermometer on her anus. After a few seconds, the greasy thermometer slipped into her rectum and she felt a hand settle on her bottom.

As Samantha spread the teen's bottom open and inserted the thermometer a regulation two inches, she decided that she need to assert a little more control. Satisfied with the placement, she cupped Tina's bottom with her hand and applied a little light pressure. Consulting her watch, she settled in to wait.

After five minutes, she parts Tina's buttocks and slowly pulls out the thermometer. "104.0. I am afraid that you are going to need a Tylenol suppository too." she says as she goes back to get another suppository.

Returning to the table and prepared for an argument, she is surprised to see that Tina is lying on her left side with her gown open, knees bent, and looking relaxed. "I'm ready for the suppository Dr. Lee" Tina says.

Samantha lifts Tina's right cheek and puts the lubricated suppository against her anus. After a couple of seconds, she pushes the suppository as far up into Tina's rectum as her finger will go. She pauses with her finger in Tina for 20 seconds to keep her from expelling it and then slowly withdrawing it.

As she peels off her gloves she say, "You can turn over on your back now. I have to say that you took that well. You seemed a lot more bothered to get your temperature taken. Most people are the opposite."

Tina shrugs as she rolls over. "I know that it may seem silly, but I feel like I am being treated like a kid when I have my temperature taken that way. With suppositories, well everyone gets those from time to time, even my folks. It doesn't reflect on how they see my maturity. They don't embarrass me like having to have the baby thermometer."

"Well Tina, you don't need to be embarrassed by getting your temperature taken. It's not a baby thermometer. It's just a rectal thermometer. In the hospital over there, there are plenty of grown ups getting rectal temperatures every day. We just try to pick the method that gives the best reading for you. OK."

"I guess." Tina says, not really convinced.

"Well there is just a couple of more things to examine. I need to check your lymph nodes and your ovaries. I have to pull up your gown now, but don't worry, this will just be an external exam." With that she folded up Tina's gown exposing her from her chest all the way down. Dr. Lee quickly felt in Tina's arm pits and along the sides of her breasts. Next she turned to her abdomen, feeling deeply for her ovaries while watching Tina's face for signs of pain. Finally she gently spread Tina's legs and palpated all around Tina's groin.

She then pulled the gown back down covering Tina. "You can sit back up" She said as she pulled back the curtain dividing the two sick teens so that she could address them together. "Mrs. Smith, you can come over now."

"Jack, Tina. You both have the mumps. The strain that is going around is a virulent one so I am going to give each of you an injection of gamma globulin to help jump start your immune systems. Hopefully this should prevent the worst of the effects and help you get better soon."

"I'll be back in a few minutes with your injections. Please stay here and stay in your gowns until I get back."

"I'll keep them entertained until you return", said Mrs. Smith.

About ten minutes later Dr. Lee comes back trailed by one of the RNs from the peds ward, John. She grabbed John because he is one of the best nurses in the hospital at giving injections. When she was just starting as an intern and was going to give her first real shot, one of her senior residents pointed out John and said "Do what he does."

"I have your shots here Jack and Tina. It's kind of a big dose, so I had to divide it into two shots each. I have brought nurse John here to help me so that we can give you both shots at the same time, one for each cheek. I know that sounds scary, but it will make it hurt less. Trust me, I've had these shots myself."

Making a quick judgment, she turns to Jack and says, "Let's do you first. I need you come back to the other table and lie down on your belly."

Jack gulps, but gives Tina a smile and walks over and lies on the other table. As John pulls the curtain for his privacy, he feels the cool air on his bottom as Samantha pulls his gown open.

"OK Jack, I know it's hard to do, but I need you to relax as much as you can. I won't lie. These shots will hurt, but it will hurt less if you can relax." John said as he arranged Jack's legs and started cleaning a patch on his buttock.

Then he heard John saying, "Big stick on 3. 1 - 2 - 3" and he felt stabbing pains on both sides of of his butt simultaneously follow by a burning sensation as the thick medicine was pushed it. It was as bad as the time that he had gotten the paddle from the coach, but his pride keeps him from crying out in front of his girl friend. Then the needles were withdrawn and band-aids applied. As he feels Dr. Lee gently rubbing his bottom, the pain begins to dull a little.

They helped him sit up and get covered. "Well that was new. I've never gotten two shots at the same time, just one after the other." Speaking up a bit so that he was sure that Tina could hear, he said, "That hurt, but I've had worse." hoping that would calm her.

Tina was sitting up fretting when Dr. Lee and John came around the corner. She didn't like shots and these sounded bad. She didn't mind that they were going in her butt. She had asked for a shot in her arm once and had decided that they hurt a lot less in her backside. But she had never had a man give her a shot back there. And two at once!

Then she caught a glimpse of the needles. Her eyes went wide and she started breathing faster. "Those look really scary. Could ... could I have Jack hold my hand?"

Seeing that the girl was on the edge of panic, John gave Dr. Lee a little nod and a shrug. Trusting in John's experience, she said. "Jack, would you mind holding Tina's hand to help calm her."

Jack walked around the curtain to the head of the table, careful not to limp. "Sure thing." Taking Tina's hands in his he says, "Just lay down and try to relax. It helps. It will be over in a minute." Tina is still a little shaky, but she lies down keeping her attention on Jack."

Samantha and John quickly uncovered Tina and cleaned their targets. Each bunched up a buttock. John was positioned to control her legs and Samantha her back if the girl jumped. The Dr. Lee said, "Take a big breath and let it out slowly. Big stick on the count of three. 1, 2, 3" and on three the each darted the big needles into Tina's glutes, causing the girl to take in a gulp of air.

As they pushed in the thick medicine, Tina whimpered and squeezed Jack's hand tight as the pain spread through her backside. Finally the pain stopped spreading as John and Dr. Lee removed the needles and applied band-aids. She twinged a little as John rubbed her bottom, but it did make her feel a little better.

Dr. Lee helped Jack into the chair and John helped Tina sit up. Both were looking the worse for wear between the mumps and the shots.

Dr. Lee called Mrs. Smith back into the bay and addressed the three of them. "I was planning to offer up beds in the empty peds isolation room for Jack and Tina to say in while you arranged transport, Mrs. Smith. And I would normally suggest isolation and rest at home."

"However, Jack and Tina are sicker than I anticipated. They are dehydrated and could really use some IV fluids. I am also concerned about the level of their fevers and the little bit of stiffness in their necks. This is a nasty strain of Mumps that has been going around and I think that Jack and Tina need some extra care to get over the worst of it."

"Jack, Tina. I have to go talk to my senior and your parents, but I am going to admit you to the hospital for observation for a couple of days."

“Can we stay together?” Tina asked, not liking the idea of being all alone in the hospital.

“Yes, I can arrange that. Actually you will probably have to be together. We need to isolate you from other patients and we only have one isolation room left on the peds floor right now.”

Tina and Jack sat together on the gurney quietly holding hands as Dr. Lee and Mrs. Smith went to use the phones at the nurses station to make arrangements.