Chapter 7

When I opened my eyes and looked at the bedside clock, I saw that it was after 11am. The doc was not in the room. I got up and went to the bathroom, then out to the kitchen. He was sitting at the table reading a magazine and sipping on a coffee. I could see he’d found the coffee and figured out how to use my coffee pot - I have the kind with a permanent filter.

“Good morning, hon”, he greeted me. Sit down and I’ll get you a coffee. What do you take in it?”

“Nothing“, I replied.

“Doc”, I said after taking a sip. “You make good coffee!”

“Thanks, dear. How are you feeling?”

“Better than I was last night.”

“Number?”

“About 3 or so.”

“Which is 4 or 5 in Meredith-speak. I’m going to get out of your hair shortly, but I want you to rest for the remainder of the weekend. Karen will not let you do any chores, she says she knows how to keep you in line. Some day, I will ask her how she does it.”

“Haha, Doc.”

“I also want you to take your pain pills. They do you no good if you don’t take them.”

“Yes, Doc.”

“I'll put some more cream on your behind before I go.”

“Thanks, Doc. That stuff helps.”

“Good. I’ll leave you the tube.”

“Why do you have cream in your medical bag, Doc?”

The doctor’s face got a pinkish tinge as he blushed. “You never know when something will be needed”, was all he said.

We finished our coffee, then he took me down to the bedroom and had me bend over the bed. He lifted up my nightgown, exposing my buttocks. As he applied the cream to my ample derriere, I was aware of the fact that he could probably see more than when I was lying in bed and I was glad that he couldn’t see my flushed face.

When the doc was done, I started to stand up and he said “Not so fast, hon. I’m going to take your temperature, I want to make sure you are ok before I go home.” I groaned and found it strange that he will have taken it 4 times while he was here and each time, he had me in a different position.

While we waited for the thermometer to register, he said “Meredith, I’m going to try to get your next ultrasound moved up to ASAP. I don’t like the fact that you were in so much pain yesterday, even taking into consideration how much work you’ve been doing. I’ll see if we can get it in the next week or two.”

“Aw, Doc…”

“Don’t ‘Aw, Doc’ me.” This seemed to be becoming a regular exchange with the doc. “You will go when they have time for you, and you will come to my office for the results when we tell you to. Capiche?” He took the thermometer out and read it. “36.2, which you say is normal for you. Good.” He got a tissue and wiped the lubricant off of me and I stood up. “I’m going to wash my hands, then I will be on my way.”

While Dr Richards was in the bathroom, I went to the back porch and got a dozen eggs from the fridge. As I was walking down the hall toward the kitchen, he came out and I handed him the carton. “Here, Doc, take some eggs home. You seemed to really like them and they are better for you than caged hen eggs. More humane, too.” His face seemed to light up.

“Thank you, Meredith. I did like them a lot. I know I will enjoy these, too.”

“Let me know when you run out and I’ll give you more.”

Doc took his things out to his car and said he would come back to say goodbye. He would not let me walk him out to his vehicle. “You are to stay in the house today. Understand?” I nodded.

When he was gone, I cleaned up the bedroom and changed into some barn clothes. Then I went to the laundry room to put a load in the washer - I have it on the main floor instead of in the basement, it’s easier that way. As soon as I entered the room, I saw the doc’s pants and shirt hanging up to dry. Oh crap, he forgot to take them, well I might as well wash them with my laundry.

When I got the load in, I went out to the barn. Karen was just finishing mucking out the stalls. “I slept in”, she explained. “Sorry about that.”

“No worries”, I replied. “There’s no timetable it has to be done in. I wish they could stay out all night, the weather is warm enough but I don’t like that there’s been mountain lions seen in this area.”

“Hey, you aren’t supposed to be out here, Meredith. Dr Richards told me that you are confined to the house until he says otherwise.”

“When were you talking to him? And why were you talking about me?”

“When he called me yesterday and just now, when he was leaving.”

“You were talking to him this morning?”

“Yes, I was. I passed by the open barn door and saw him going to his car so I went out to find out how you are doing.” While I usually stood on the front porch to see visitors off, I didn’t this time. I was a little pissed off at him ordering me to stay in the house. “He said you gave him permission to talk to me about your medical situation.”

“I did”, I admitted.

“He told me all about your cyst and how he wants to take it out, but you won’t consent. And about how much pain you are in this weekend and that you are to stay inside and rest.”

“He can get bent”, I said as I picked up a broom and began to sweep the aisle. “My pain is better this morning. What else did he say about me?”

“That he cares about you and is very frustrated that he can’t get through to you that you need to do as he says.”

“He cares about all his patients. I’m sure I’m not the only one that balks at doing what he says.”

“How many other patients do you think he has where he goes to their home and stays overnight to take care of them?”

“I’m sure I’m not the only one.”

“Don’t be so sure of that, Meredith.”

“Why would I be the only one? Though it’s very unconventional for a doctor to do that or to give his patient a ….” I stopped in mid sentence, not sure I wanted to tell her about the two spankings and the rectal temps.

“A what?”

“Never mind.”

“Come on, tell me. We’ve never kept anything from each other before.”

“I can’t”

“Why not?”

“He could lose his license if it got out”

Karen gasped “He didn’t ….”

I knew what she was getting at. “No, we didn’t have sex. Get real. He’d never be interested in me. And I‘m certainly not about to do the horizontal mambo with my doctor.”

“Oh, you are talking about the spankings? He told me about that.”

It was my turn to gasp. “He did?”

“Yes. He was so upset that you were ignoring his orders, he felt he had to spank you to get through to you.”

“Yeah, he told me that. He better find another way to ‘get through’ to me, one more spanking and I’ll complain to his licensing body.”

“You will not. I know you, if you were going to file a complaint, you’d do it now.”

She was right. I would waste no time in doing it, if I was so inclined. If it was any other doctor, I would be raising holy hell, but for some reason I did not want to get Dr Richards in trouble. And I don‘t know why, but I liked him, even though we were so different, and I considered him a friend, in a professional kind of way.

I did not tell Karen about getting wet while getting spanked. Despite what she thinks, she does not need to know everything. I was still trying to figure out why that would happen. It’s not like I enjoyed being put over his knee and having my ass tanned.

“Karen, I’m going back to the house”, I said after I swept the barn floor. “You don’t need to worry about evening chores, I can do them.”

“You will not. I promised your doctor I’d do them until he cleared you to. If you come out here tonight, I’ll break that broom over your head.”

I sighed and left the barn. I wanted to see my horses and give them some loving, but they were way down at the other end of the pasture and I did not feel like walking that far, so I went back to the house.

A week and a half later, I was sitting in the waiting room of the ultrasound dept. of the local hospital. Dr Richards had done as he said he’d do and got my appointment moved up. He had called me every day since that Friday night to find out how I was doing. My pain was minimal now, and I thought he was fussing about it too much. But he wouldn’t listen to me when I said he didn’t have to call and he insisted on being there for my scan. It was scheduled for last appointment of the day so that he would not have to reschedule more than a couple patients. I looked at my phone to get the time. 4:15. Still 15 minutes before my appointment.

He had finally cleared me to take care of my own horses the Friday after he was at my place, and it was great to feel useful again.

Just then, the door opened and the doc came walking in. He smiled when he saw me. “Hi Meredith, glad to see you didn’t skip”, he said as he sat down beside me.

“I figured you’d probably give me another spanking if I did skip. My tushie has finally recovered from the last one you gave me.”

“I may need to check that out, hon. I’d like to be sure.”

“You want me to drop ‘em now, Doc?”

“Haha, Meredith. I’ll check it next time I see you in my office. Or sooner if I have cause to go out to your place.”

A technician appeared and called my name. We got up and followed her to the u/s room. She introduced herself as Sandy and said to me “I see you brought a friend. Part of this scan involves a wand being put in your vagina. Are you okay with him being here for that?”

“Oh, yeah”, I replied. “He’s my doctor, he’s seen it all before.”

“I’m the referring physician”, the doc piped up. “Dr Richards” They shook hands. “I wanted to make sure Ms Kingsley showed up, as she has a habit of not doing so. I’d like to stay and see the scan as it happens.”

“Sure thing. As long as the patient consents.”

“I’m fine with it”, I said. “Can we get on with it? My bladder is about to burst.” I had been told to drink an ungodly amount of water and not void for two hours prior to the scan.

I was directed to lay down on the table. The tech turned the light off, then raised my blouse a bit and pulled my pants down to expose the part of my abdomen that she was going to be ultrasounding. I knew what to expect, so had worn pants that were easy to push down. She squirted some cold gel on me and started pressing down on my pelvic area with the wand. I looked at the screen but couldn’t make anything out, so I watched the doc who was watching it intently.

When the tech got to the area of my bladder, I thought I was going to have an accident. Geez, these medical people are sadists, I thought. She moved on to my left pelvic area. When she hit the spot where it hurt, I winced. Doc looked at me “You ok?” I nodded. He looked back at the screen. I watched his face change from looking interested to looking concerned. Oh shit, I thought, what is he seeing? He moved closer to Sandy and said something to her in a quiet voice. She replied in an equally quiet voice. I couldn’t make out what either of them were saying.

Finally, it was over and I was able to go empty my bladder. When I got back to the room, I was instructed to remove my pants and panties for the trans vaginal part. The tech had transformed the table into a chair-like structure. After I removed my lower garments, I sat down and laid back. “Ok, Meredith - I’m going to place this wand in your vagina”, she said, holding up the wand for me to see. “It won’t hurt but might be uncomfortable at times. Could you please open your legs further?” I did as requested and she looked at me and shook her head. “I don’t think there’s a good angle here. Would you be okay with using stirrups?”

“Anything that gets me out of here as soon as possible!”

“Can you hold the wand for me?” Sandy asked. “I’ve already put the cover and the gel on, so I can’t set it down.”

“Sure.” I took it from her and she got the stirrups out and put them on the chair. “I’m going to have you lay back a bit”, she said as she adjusted the back. Then she put my feet in the stirrups.

“These are higher and wider than I’m used to”, I remarked.

“Would you like mine to be that high?” Dr Richards asked. Thankfully, the room was dark, which hid my blush.

Sandy inserted the wand and once again, the doc’s gaze was on the screen. I winced a couple times as she turned it a certain way which made it hurt. It was very uncomfortable when she was pressing on my bladder and that part seemed to go on forever. I couldn’t read anything in Dr Richards’ face this time.

Afterwards, Doc and I walked out to the parking lot together. It was about 5:15pm. “Want to get a bite to eat?” he asked. “Or do you need to get home to feed your animals?”

“Only if you tell me what you saw on the ultrasound”, I replied. “Karen is doing the feeding for me, so that it won’t be later than their normal time. They are spoiled and get impatient when their food is late - both Jessie and the horses.”

“It’s a deal. I‘ll tell you what I saw”

“Ok, but nothing fancy, I’m not dressed for it.”

“Where would you like to go?”

I thought a moment. “How about that roadhouse on the edge of town?”

“I’ve never been there, so I don’t know if they have good food”, he replied.

“I’ve been there numerous times, it’s really good. But they don’t have fancy dishes, hope you like burgers and fries.”

“You are going to give me coronary artery disease.”

“Remember what I said at my place, Doc? Everything in moderation.”

“Ok, I’ll meet you there. Or do you want to go in my car and I can drop you off here later?”

“I’ll take mine, as the restaurant is on my way home.” I felt an urge to cough, but tried to suppress it. Knowing Doc, he’d be all over me if he heard me cough. I couldn’t, though and sure enough, he commented.

“Are you ok, dear?”

“Yes, Doc. Just a tickle in my throat.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I am sure. Let’s go, I’m hungry.”

When we were seated at the roadhouse and had given our order, I said to Dr Richards “Ok, Doc, what did you see on the u/s screen?”

“Hon, your cyst has grown a bit. Sandy said it’s 10.6 cm now, it was 10.3 last time.”

My heart sank. I was so certain it had shrunk since I was having a lot less pain. “How can that be, Doc? My pain is not nearly what it was.”

“You aren’t minimizing your pain, are you?”

“No, Doc. It really has been much better.”

“Then I don’t know why it would be larger. The body doesn’t always do what we expect it to do. Hon, will you please let me take it out?”

I sighed. “You know my answer, Doc. Let’s talk about something else and enjoy our dinner.”

Just then our orders arrived. I was having a burger and fries, the doc had ordered liver and onions without the onions, mashed potatoes and veggies. I resisted the urge to tell him just how vile I felt liver was.

We had a pleasant conversation about my horses, his work and current events. It was really nice to sit down with him and not be at odds with him over something … well, not counting the brief exchange about surgery. When we were done the meal, we had a decaf coffee and talked some more.

The waitress brought the bill and I picked it up. Doc’s hand was on mine in a flash, stopping me from looking at it. “I’ll pay, hon.”

“Doc, I’ll pay. I’m perfectly able to.”

“That’s not the point. When I ask a lady to go for a meal, *I* pay.” His eyes had that look that he gets when ordering me to do something in his clinic. I knew it was pointless to argue.

“Ok, then I will get the tip.”

“No, Meredith. When I say I will pay, that includes the tip.”

Doc walked me to my car. “Thanks for dinner”, I said.

“You are welcome. I really enjoyed it.”

“Me, too. Oh, Doc, just a sec. I have something for you.”

I opened the car door and reached over to the passenger seat to grab a bag sitting on it.

“Here”, I said as I handed the bag to him. “I figured you’d be getting low on eggs by now. There’s a dozen in there for Ms Jamieson, too. I’m over run with them. Oh, and I‘m sorry, I meant to bring the clothes you left at my place, but I forgot!”

“Thanks, hon. You’re right, I am getting low. I’ve been eating too many. Don’t worry about the clothes, I have lots of them. Are you booked in to see me about the ultrasound results?”

“Yes, for next week. But do I need to come in? You just told me what you saw.”

“Yes, but that isn’t official. I’m not a radiologist, so I will see what the report says when I get it. Please keep the appointment.”

“Ok, Doc. I’ll see you next week.”

“And I will talk to you tomorrow. After what I saw in there, I am not going to stop calling you every day.”

I sighed. “Doc, you worry too much.”

“I can’t worry about YOU too much, Meredith.” He leaned over and gave me a kiss on my cheek. “Take care of yourself, hon.” I was too shocked to reply.

Dr Richards held on to my door as I got in my car and did the seat belt up. When he was sure I was completely inside, he shut it and I rolled the window down. “Bye, Doc”, I said. “I’ll see you next week.”

“Bye, sweetie.”

I had a half hour drive home and couldn’t take my mind off what Doc had told me about the cyst. It was growing! Damnit, I do not want surgery, I thought. Weird that he kissed me, but it was sweet, too. He really needs to ask Ms Hottie out. He deserves to have someone to dote on.