I couldn’t eat if I wanted to. I was so nervous, wondering what was going to happen. My appointment was at 8:30 and I gave myself plenty of time to shower and get ready to make my trip to the doctor. I called a long time family friend to pick me up at 12:30 , which is when the nurse said I should be all done and ready to be picked up. I left the house, hopped on the bus and got to the office with a few minutes to spare. I made my way into the doctor’s office and was greeted by the same cheerful receptionist.

“Good morning Ricardo!” she said as I approached the window. I wished her a good morning as well as she asked me, “Are you ready?” I told her I was ready as I would ever be and she handed me a cup of water and a tablet. “This is step one in the four steps of your intestinal prep. It will start up by cleaning out your upper GI”. I quickly took the tablet and threw out the cup. She advised me to have a seat and wait for the nurse. Not much time went by as the nurse opened the door and called out, “Richard”. I got up with my already tense stomach starting to bubble a little as I followed her into the exam room.

I walked into a procedure room that had some older looking equipment (think 70’s 80’s style) that looked to be well preserved. The nurse handed me a gown and instructed me to take off everything but my socks and put on the gown. She advised me if I had clean white underwear on (she said the doctor was particular) , I could leave it on for now to keep what little privacy I had and I took her up on the offer. As she left the room, the nurse instructed me to get changed, lay down on the table and relax. I told her I would try to relax…

It must have been a few minutes but it felt like an hour. The nurse walked back in and went to the cabinet and pulled a glass thermometer from a jar of alcohol. She shook it down and then opened a jar of Vaseline. She dipped the thermometer in the jar, approached me and said to turn over on my belly. Well she must have seen the shock on my face and went into an explanation. “The doctor needs to maintain a steady core temperature during the procedure. The best and simplest way to monitor it is by taking a rectal temperature. It also stimulates bowel movement and we want you as clean as possible inside” I rolled over and felt the nurse open the back of my gown. She pulled down my underwear mid thigh and then I felt the cool sensation of the thermometer as it was inserted in my rear end.

She set a timer on the wall and asked me to hold still as she complemented me for being a good patient since almost everyone complains about having their temperature taken that way. I let her know I was grateful for her and the doctor taking care of me and if this what they needed to do in order to do that, then I would comply. For the next five minutes I laid down still as the nurse checked the position of the thermometer a few times (it felt good). When the timer beeped, she took out the thermometer, wiped off the Vaseline and wrote the temperature on my chart. As the nurse pulled my underwear back up, she said I have a slight fever and she said she needed to tell the doctor. She picks up the phone and says,” Doctor I am with Richard in treatment 3. He is running a temperature of 100.4, rectal.” She listens intently as the doctor states her orders. “OK Doctor, I will get that going now, continue with the prep?, OK, will do”. The nurse said even though I have a slight fever, the doctor advised her she can give me some medication to stabilize my temperature. She excused herself and left the room.

I got on my back to relieve the growing heaviness in my stomach and again after what seemed like forever, the nurse returned. This time she carried in a little tray and set it down on the counter. I heard a small tear and she turned toward me with a needle. She said she needed me to roll over again for the medicine and again, I complied. This time I felt my underwear go down again, followed by the cool alcohol as she rubbed it on my rear end, followed by the needle as she injected me with the medication. It was fairly painful but not as bad as the ones I got when I was a kid that used to drive me to tears. She pulled out the needle, rubbed the site with alcohol again and pulled up my underwear, again thanking me for being a good patient. She said I could roll back over and relax as they got the next step of the bowel cleanse ready. I did but immediately noticed a painful little knot where she gave me the needle. Oh well.