She could barely make sense of her surroundings when another short, older, female nurse was at her side and grabbed her tightly at her elbow.

“Name?”

“…Mia…White…” she stared agape at her surroundings. There must have been fifty hospital beds within the room, maybe a third of them occupied by women in various stages of undress in their street clothes and short hospital gowns. No one looked anywhere near as alarmed as Mia felt herself.

“Date of birth?”

“Nine, ten, ninety seven.”

“Reason for visit?”

“I thought I was getting a mammogram…” she said dumbly as the nurse walked her along a wall of the room and stopped in front of a cart with a bunch of compact machines, cords and probe attachments piled upon it.

“No mammogram today,” the nurse said as she hooked her arm around the cart and pulled it towards her. “Given your breast concern, paired with your family history, and the fact that…” she double checked the clipboard in the arm not grabbing the cart of machinery, “…You’re new to this hospital and insurance system, your insurance has insisted on a full internal scan.”

Mia swallowed hard, but dumbly continued in the same path as the nurse between the rows of hospital beds. Where the fuck was she?!? What kind of hospital was she in right now?!

“You can undress from head to toe,” the nurse stopped in front of an empty bed at the far corner of the room. It was only the barest relief that there weren’t any others in the beds around the one they had stopped in front of. “The techs and doctors will make their way around to you when it’s your turn. We’re running a bit behind schedule today and have had some difficult patients for gynecology, so you could be here longer than what you were initially told when you scheduled. Do you have anywhere you need to be in the next three hours.”

THREE HOURS?!? Mia simply stood with her mouth wide open in response.

“I’ll take that as a no… I hope,” the nurse said, parking the cart next to the bed. “Undress. Your clothes can be stored in one of the cubbies at the front of the room there…”

She had to walk NAKED across the entire expanse of the room?! She furtively looked around to try and catch a subtle glimpse of the other women in the space. She didn’t see anyone fully nude… except as her eyes scanned back in the direction of the nurse in front of her, she did catch a glimpse of a woman lying flat on her back in the opposite corner currently undergoing a manual breast exam… Surely this couldn’t be legal. This entire situation had to be rife with privacy violations…

”Do I get a gown or anything?” Mia asked sheepishly. About half the women in the room were wearing them…

“Maybe for the gynecological portion of your scan, but not right now,” the nurse replied brusquely. Mia’s heart jumped into her throat.

“I’m sorry… what?”

“What?” The nurse asked back.

“Gyn…” she swallowed hard, “What gynecological portion?”

The nurse rolled her eyes - actually rolled her eyes! - and glanced toward a corner of the room with a simple white curtain pulled out from the wall.

“Your insurance has ordered a FULL INTERNAL SCAN, you will be receiving a transvaginal ultrasound once it’s your turn. However, we’re very backed up today with gynecology and there’s a bit of a wait. I would suggest you comply when its your turn since the gynecologist on call today doesn’t like combative patients. It’ll be your ticket out of here and shouldn’t take much longer than 5 - 10 minutes, depending on the findings. A nurse will be by periodically to check on you if you need anything and take you over to the stirrups once it’s your turn.”

With that, no further questions granted, the nurse quickly turned and walked back towards the doors of the room where another one of the ten waiting women were waiting their turn for entry.

Mia sat on her assigned bed and crossed her arms over her chest. No way was she getting undressed now if she was going to be waiting THREE HOURS. The room slowly filled with more women - none of them looked nearly as alarmed as she felt. How was this normal? How were these other women not kicking and screaming their way out of the room? Why wasn’t she?? She sat and thought deeply about that for a few minutes, not realizing that one of the nurses in the room was moving closer and closer to her and her bed.

“Number 17, Mia White,” the nurse stopped in front of her legs and Mia’s gaze shot up from where she had been staring at the floor in front of her.

“Is it my turn?” Mia asked expectantly.

“Undress! Why are you not undressed yet?” The nurse asked harshly.

“Oh…I…”

“Undress!! You’ll be seen shortly and if you aren’t ready, the doctor will push you back to the end of the line again.”

“But… do I get a gown or anything?” Mia asked desperately.

“Not for the breast ultrasound, maybe for the pelvic, but that’s up to the discretion of the gynecologist. Undress! Head to toe!” The nurse walked away - due diligence done for now - and Mia slowly stood to her feet and began to peel off her pants and top. No way was she taking off her bra and panties. Especially not if she wasn’t to be afforded anything to cover herself with. She folded her clothes in her arms and slowly walked across the room towards the cubbies the first nurse had pointed out to her. She didn’t dare make eye contact with anyone else in the room, but she practically felt every single pair of eyes on her as she made her way to the cubbies then back to her bed.

She sat back down, resolute that the next time she had a breast concern, she was absolutely going to a different hospital system. No question. She crossed her arms over her chest again and shivered slightly as she waited, and waited, and waited for someone to return back to her for her to have her turn.