Cindy Johnson, a junior at Three Hills College was feeling miserable. The cough that had been bothering her all week, was getting worse and she was pretty sure that she couldn't drag herself to class today. Worse yet, she would not be able to get to cheer leading practice.

Her professors were pretty reasonable and would not mind her absence as there were no tests scheduled this week. Dr. Miller had even told her yesterday that she looked like "something the cat dragged in" and that she should take a couple of days off to get better.

Coach Myers, however was a bit of a hard ass and would probably want a doctor's note if she was going to miss practice. And to be honest, she probably should see a doctor so she dug out her little phone book to get the number for Dr. Jones. But when she made the call, she got a no longer in service message.

"That's odd." She thought after trying the number 3 times to make sure that she didn't miss dial and checking the yellow pages. Not knowing what else to do, she gave her mother a call.

"Hi mom."

"No I am not calling for money, but I'll take some. (cough cough cough)" She said rolling her eyes as she completed their customary joke.

"Yeah, that's why I called. I've had a cough all week and it's getting worse."

"Yes, I was trying to make an appointment with Dr. Jones, but the number is disconnected."

"What do you mean, he retired? No one told me."

"Are you sure you gave me the letter? Fine, but what am I going to do today? I am going to need a note for missing cheer practice."

"Dr. Taylor? I can't do that. I'm 20 and I haven't see her since for years. (cough cough cough)"

"Fine. Fine. I'll do it. But just for this time. But if I die of embarrassment, it's your fault."

"I will. I will. Right after I get off the phone with you. Love you too. Kiss dad for me. And tell aunt Ellen I said hi."

Cindy stared at the entry for Taylor Pediatrics in the yellow pages for five minutes trying to get her courage up. She had been seeing Dr. Jones, a GP, for almost 6 years. Going back to Dr. Taylor was humiliating. Still, she felt like crap and since she needed to see someone today.

She swallowed her pride and dialed.

Jill: "Taylor Pediatrics. This is Jill. How can I help you?"

Cindy: "Hi. Hi. I'm Cindy Johnson. I used to be a patient of Dr. Taylor until I moved to Dr. Jones, but umm. Dr. Jones retired and this is embarrassing I don't have a doctor and I have a cough and a fever that keeps getting worse and I need to see someone. And my mom said that you might see me even though I'm 20 since I am still in college. (Cough cough cough)"

Jill: "That's OK Cindy. We've had quite a few returnees from Dr. Jones and we even take the Three Hills student insurance. Let me just see what we have available on the schedule."

Cindy: "Thanks. It's (cough cough cough) just so embarrassing."

Jill: "Nothing to be embarrassed about. It sounds like you should be seen today. Dr. Taylor's schedule is full, but the nurse practitioner Joan has a slot open at the end of the day. It's at 4:30, but it might run a bit late as it's at the end of the day, but try to get here by 4:15 so we can update your paper work. She will have a student nurse practitioner working with her. Is that OK?"

Cindy: "Yeah. Joan is nice. I will see you at 4:15. Thanks"

Jill: "Your welcome and I am sure that Joan and her student will get you feeling well soon."

A few hours later, Cindy is sitting in the waiting room shivering and trying to turn invisible. It was bad enough that she had to ask her roommate for a ride. (Fortunately, Alice had not thought it was too odd, she just said "Damn, that reminds me that I really need to get a doctor.") She was just hoping no one would recognize her.

Then she saw Tom Mason and his girlfriend Jade ... Jane... no June. "Oh my God. What if he sees me? I can't have people knowing that I went to a baby doctor." She thought as she turned her face away and tried to sink into the floor, not putting together that his presences meant that he or June had seen Dr. Taylor too.

When Anne calls her name, Cindy hurriedly gets up, hoping to get out of the waiting room before Tom or June notices her. She gets through the door and into the hallway before stopping for a coughing fit.

"You're really feeling bad there aren't you?" Anne said, looking concerned. "How long has this been going on?"

"I've been tired and coughing since Tuesday, I think? With a little fever, 100, 100.5. But I've been feeling worse and worse all day. Shivering and sweating."

Deciding to skip the scale, Anne led Cindy into the same exam room that Tom had been in and asked. "When did you take your temperature last? And what was it?"

"This morning, around 9:30. It was 100.5." Cindy said. She added "Orally." after a questioning look from Anne.

Well, let's get you ready for Joan. Can you get undressed for me? You can leave your under cloths on, but take off your shoes, jeans, and top. Then hop up on the exam table and I will get your vitals."

"Here comes the first couple humiliations." Cindy thought as she sat down on one the chairs to start untying her shoes. She always hated having to get undressed to her underwear for exams. At least at Dr. Jones, she got a gown.

After removing her shoes, she pulled off her top, reveling a beige bra covering perky medium sized breasts. Taking a deep breath for courage, she unbuttoned her bell bottoms and pulled them off reveling tiny green panties that did not come quite up to the top of her butt crack. Although looking across the room at the dreaded rectal thermometer in it's cylinder, she knew that they would be coming down soon.

With a sigh and one more coughing fit, she sat on the exam table feeling the crinkly paper under her soon to be bare butt.

Anne looked at Cindy with two concerns. First, the girl just looked awful. Pale and shaky. This looked to be more than just a cold that needed a note for school. The other thing was that she remembered that Cindy had not always been the most ... cooperative when it came to temperature taking and that she was sure that the girl would not be eager to return to rectal thermometers after several years of oral ones.

Well, best start with the easier bits, Anne through as she took the 20 year old's wrist to feel her pulse. Mmmm 118. That was high, but maybe she was just nervous.

She wrapped a blood pressure cuff around the girl's arm and pumped it up. She did not like the numbers that she got back, 92 over 61, just over the low blood pressure cut off.

"Your blood pressure is a little low and your pulse is a little high. Are you having any trouble breathing?"

"The air is a little soupy, but don't worry, I can breath through my nose long enough for you to take my temperature." Cindy said hopefully, even though she knew it would do no good.

"Now Cindy, you know Dr. Taylor's rules. That's not going to matter for where the thermometer's going. It's been a few years for you, but I'm sure you remember the routine, so go ahead and slide your panties down and get into position." Anne said firmly.

Cindy had an argument about how she was twenty ready, but the look in Anne's eyes told her that it would not fly. Defeated, she laid down on her side facing the wall and slid her panties down.

It was so humiliating. She was an adult. A college junior. She shouldn't have to have a thermometer shoved up her butt. It's not like she was going to bite it, even if her teeth where chattering. The only thing that was keeping her from crying in humiliation was that she was lying on her side, not face down. It felt more adult, even if it left her exposed front and back.

Anne was glad to see Cindy on her side. She did not want to have to argue with her. Because of Dr. Jones's retirement they had gotten a number of returning patients, some of whom had argued about being "demoted" back to rectal thermometers.

"I'm going to lift your cheek and then insert the thermometer." Anne warned Cindy and then placed her left hand on girl's right butt cheek and lifted. She then inserted the Vaseline covered thermometer with one swift practiced motion. Releasing the girl's cheek, her right hand held the thermometer and rested against the girl's buttocks. She glanced that the time on her watch and let her left hand rest gently on Cindy's hip.

Cindy felt Anne's hand lift her buttock and gave a little gasp as she felt the thick thermometer penetrate her. She tensed up, but relaxed a bit when she felt Anne's hand lightly resting against her butt instead of cupping it like she was going to squirm. It was still ridiculous. She felt humiliated laying there practically naked with a thermometer up her butt when she had another coughing fit.

Anne tightened her grip on Cindy's hip until the coughing fit stopped. "I know that you don't like going back to a rectal thermometer, but I'm sure that you can see why now isn't the best time to have a breakable glass thermometer in your mouth."

"Mmmm maybe." Cindy grudgingly admitted between chattering teeth. Still it made her feel so ... so...

After a couple of more minutes, she felt Anne lift her butt cheek again and slowly draw out the thermometer. "You can pull up now." Anne said after the additional humiliation of giving her bottom a wipe with a tissue.

Staring at the thermometer, Anne said "Oh my. 103.4. That is quite a fever you have going. No wonder you're shivering. Have you taken anything for it yet?"

"103? It was barely over a hundred this morning. I haven't taken anything." Cindy said as she pulled up her panties before sitting up.

Just then the door opened wide and Joan, the practice's nurse practitioner, walked in followed by a man that Cindy had never seen.

"Hello Cindy. It's been a while since I've seen you. I hear that you have a nagging cough that you need checked out and maybe a note for missing class or work?" Joan said.

"Yeah. It's mostly for cheer leading practice. My profs are pretty (cough cough cough ? ... pretty chill. One of them even gave me some grief for coming to class sick." Cindy said with a little smile.

"Well, we can give you a note. You definitely look like you need some rest, but we do need to examine you first. This is Sam, by the way. He is nurse who is studying to be a nurse practitioner. He will be examining you today with me helping."

"Great. The one good thing about going back to Dr. Taylor was not having a man examine me, now I'm having a man examine me." Thought Cindy.

Taking the chart from Anne, Sam notices the high fever. "This is a pretty high fever Cindy especially if you were only at 100 this morning? How long have you been sick? Has it suddenly gotten worse?"

"I've been coughing on and off all week and feeling tired, but not to bad. Last night and this morning, especially, I was feeling really tired, but I never had much of a fever, like 100, 100.5 maybe. But I have been feeling worse and worse all day. I've been shivering and the air has been getting thick and I've been more and more tired. I had to get my roommate to give me a ride here." Cindy seemed to run down with this.

"Any vomiting or diarrhea? Any problems taking pills?"

"No, I can keep down food. Haven't been too hungry through." Cindy said weakly, adding "I can take pills through."

"Anne. Could you get some Tylenol for Cindy. 1000mg and some water to take it?" Sam said.

Turning back to Cindy, he grabbed and otoscope and said, "Let's have a look at you. Can you open up wide?"

Sam starts by shining the otoscope light into Cindy's mouth, commenting "Throat is is a little red, but I think that is mostly from coughing. Tonsils look normal."

He then tilts her head so that he can check each ear and then look up her nose. Sam says "Ears are clear. No redness." before putting the otoscope away and feeling her throat and underneath her jaw. "Lymph nodes are a little swollen."

Cindy is thinking, "Maybe this won't be too bad" when Sam drops the next bomb shell. After getting out his stethoscope he reaches behind her to unsnap her bra. "We are going to need to remove this for the next part of the exam."

To her embarrassment, he casually slips the bra off of her, leaving her naked except for socks and her tiny green panties. Already red faced from the fever, her cheeks turn a little pinker. "Great, now this man I have just met took off my bra." she thinks.

To Cindy's embarrassment, his hands reach into her armpits and then work to the sides of her breasts. "Does this feel a little swollen to you Joan?" Sam says as he guides her hand to Cindy's left breast.

"Now I have two people feeling me up." Cindy thinks as Joan repeats the exam and says "Yes, they are just starting to enlarge. I think this is a sign of the infection getting worse today. Check her heart and then do a thorough check of breath sounds."

At this point, the door opens as Anne returns with Tylenol and water. Cindy is quick to cover her breasts until the door finishes shutting. Cindy has a little difficulty swallowing the pills, but manages it with the water and a couple of tries.

"Sorry. I have trouble with big pills." Cindy says.

"That's OK. As long as you can take them. You probably would not like the other route, even if it does have some advantages." Anne said with a bit of a grin.

Cindy shuddered. Her big brother had been sick with vomiting last year. She remembered him complaining about all the "pills shoved up my butt at the ER".

"Let's listen to your heart and lungs now." Sam said putting the stethoscope bell just over the top of her left breast where he listened for a few seconds before moving it to the right and then under her left breast.

Then Sam put a hand on Cindy's back and put the bell of the stethoscope just over her left breast. "Take a deep breath in and let it out." Sam repeated this over and over as he moved the bell of the stethoscope all over her chest.

Then Sam moved her back, repeating the same exam. To Cindy's chagrin, he kept one hand over the center of her chest while he did this. At a couple of points, he asked Joan to have a listen.

"You can go ahead and put bra back on Cindy." Sam said as he jotted some notes in her file.

While he was doing this, Joan gave Anne a note and quietly asked her "Could you pull this from the medicine closet and ask Dr. Taylor if she could join us for a moment?" She handed Anne a second note for Dr. Taylor.

Cindy was feeling a little better to at least have her bra back on, but was a little leery of Joan and Anne's whispers. "Oh well", she thought, "I figured that I was in for a sore butt. She probably sent Anne after a big needle."

Sam cleared his throat and said. "Cindy, from you symptoms and listening to your lungs, Joan and I are pretty sure that your cough has turned in to pneumonia. That's a serious infection of your lungs."

"So what ... a prescription or (cough cough) a shot or something." Cindy asked.

Joan spoke up, "We are going to be giving you some antibiotics. I am concerned about the sound of your lungs and how fast you have gotten worse today. I am concerned that you will get worse before they have a chance to work. Are you living alone now? Can your folks look in on you."

Not liking where this was going, Cindy said "I have a room mate. She gave me a ride here." Reluctantly Cindy added, "She is going home for the weekend tomorrow. My folks are visiting my aunt Ellen in Jersey."

"Mmmm. I would not like you to be alone. Let's see what Dr. Taylor has to say." Joan said as a middle aged woman in a white coat entered the room. She was followed by Anne who gave a small covered basin to Sam.

Glancing at Cindy's chart, Dr. Taylor says "It's been a while since I saw you Cindy. I hear that you are not doing well. I have to say that you look kind of rough. Can you tell me what is going on?"

Cindy repeated her tail of the last few days, stopping to cough a few times. Joan added in a few details about her findings.

"Mmm. Could you take your bra off? I want to listen to your lungs myself." Said Dr. Taylor as she got her stethoscope out.

Reluctantly Cindy took her back off and Dr. Taylor repeated the exam. After finishing, she held Cindy's head and looked closely at her lips with a little frown.

Shifting to her best 'Mom voice" Dr. Taylor looks at the half naked woman and says "Cindy, I am very concerned about you right now. Both of your lungs sound terrible. You have what we call double pneumonia. I am especially concerned that it has progressed so much just today."

"We ARE going to give you a shot to help with your breathing and shot of antibiotics, but I want to put you in the hospital for a few days for observation and treatment. I know that you might not want to hear this, but I think that it is safest thing for you."

The two shots did not make Cindy happy, but hospital? She had never been in the hospital. "I I .. Are you sure. It is just a cough. Why do I have to go to the hospital? Won't the shots make it go away?"

"They will help, but it will take time and you might get worse before you get better. If that happens, I want you somewhere where you can get help. And, I am sorry about this, but you will probably need daily antibiotic shots for a few days and maybe some oxygen to help you breath."

"Look at me Cindy. This is serious. You're 20, so I can't make you do this. You need be an adult and do the thing that is best for your health even if it is not what you want to do. OK?"

Looking at the doctor and the others in the room, Cindy felt very vulnerable. Taking as deep a breath as she could, she said, "OK. If that is what you think is best, but I don't know how to arrange that. And I will definitely need a doctors note if I am going to miss that much class." She said with a small smile to hide her fear.

"Don't worry about that. I'll arrange for you to be admitted while Sam gives you your shots. Do you have someone who can drive you to the hospital?"

"My ... my roommate Alice probably can.... She was going to pick me up when I was done here. She might be in the waiting room already." Cindy said quietly.

"OK, Sam will give you your medicine while I arrange your admission. And get your note. You're doing the right thing Cindy. I'm proud of you. And you will be better in a few days." Dr. Taylor gave Cindy a hug before exiting the room.

As Dr. Taylor left the room, Sam walked over to the nearly naked woman with a small syringe and an alcohol wipe in hand. "This shot is a steroid Cindy. It will help calm the inflammation in your lungs to help you breath. It's very small, so I am going to give it to you in your arm. Can you let your left arm hang loose?"

"Hun? Oh, OK." Cindy said broken of her thoughts about hospitals. She tried to relax her arm. She hated shots, but she did not want to make a fuss, especially since Sam was giving it to her in her arm.

Sam firmly gripped Cindy's arm and wiped off a patch on her shoulder. "Take a deep breath in and try to relax." he said as darted the needle in to her deltoid muscle. Her face clenched a bit as the needle went in, but she stayed still and silent. She felt a little rush as the medicine went in and then he withdrew the needle and put on a band aid.

"That wasn't too bad, was it?" Sam said with a smile.

Rubbing her arm, she said "No. but I am guessing that was the easy one."

"I'm afraid so. I'll be as gentle as I can, but the penicillin is going to hurt more. It's a bigger shot so it needs to go in your bottom. I need you to slip out of your panties and roll over on your tummy." Sam said, holding what looked like a huge needle.

Eyeing the needle Cindy was reluctant to get naked, but she also didn't want Sam to pull down her panties for her. Cindy took a deep breath and pulled her panties down to her ankles exposing herself to Sam and Joan. She then quickly turned over to cover what she could.

Joan and Sam stepped to opposite sides of the table and Joan placed on hand on Cindy's back and one on the girl's right thigh. Cindy was 20, but these shots hurt and she was not sure how the co-ed would react. Better to be safe than sorry.

Cindy felt a fresh flush in her cheeks as she felt Joan hold her her down. "God. I'm 20. It's not like I'm going to try to hop off the table and run." she though as she felt the cold alcohol as Sam cleaned her cheek.

"Try to relax now. Turn in your toes and take in a deep breath. Big stick in 3 2 1" Sam said and then plunged the needle into the coed's pale white butt cheek.

Cindy gave an eek as she felt the much worse stabbing pain from the much thicker needle. She felt Joan grip tighten on her and press her down as she said "Take a deep breath in and blow it out slowly. This part hurts."

"This part?" Cindy thought as she tried to relax as she felt a burning pressure start to build in her bottom as Sam pushed the thick medicine in. As the pain built, her breathing became a bit more ragged and she was about to let out a sob when the pain stopped spreading and she felt Sam press a cotton ball to the wound.

As he put a bandaid on the poor girl's bottom, Sam said. "Sorry about that. That's a rough shot and big dose, but the lidocaine mixed in should start taking the edge off the soreness soon."

Cindy just nodded as Joan helped her sit up, wincing only a little as her bare butt took her weight. She had even forgotten that she was basically naked in front of everyone until Sam slipped her panties back on and up her legs. "Lift up for me" he said as he gently slid them over her bottom giving her a little over back.

Helping her slip back into her bra, Joan said "Take your time getting dressed and putting yourself back together. Anne will be here to help you and take you back out to the waiting room where you can wait with your room mate while Dr. Taylor gets your hospital stay arranged."

About an hour or so later, Cindy was trying to get comfortable in Alice's car as they drove down the highway towards the hospital. Dr. Taylor had given Alice instructions for where to take her and had suggested a stop at their apartment for Cindy's textbooks and a few other supplies. Alice had evilly promised to talk to Cindy's professors to let the know what was happening and get Cindy her assignments to "keep her from being bored while laying about the hospital".

After giving up on the radio, Cindy said "Ugh that was so embarrassing going to my old baby doc, but I guess I needed to see someone. At least I'll be with an adult doctor in the hospital. No more butt thermometers for me."

Alice was silent for a moment and then said. "Ummm you are still 20 right?"

"Yeah, I'm still 3.2 beer girl for the next 7 or 8 months. Why?" Cindy asked.

"Well, do you remember when I had my appendix out last year? About 4 months before I turned 21?"

Her fever had made her thinking a little fuzzy, but Cindy was getting suspicious and a little anxious."

"Well I went to the same hospital that you are going to and since I was only 20 they did not put me on a normal adult floor. You see their policy was..."

Cindy sunk lower and lower into the car seat as she heard what she was in for.