----------------------------------- Chapter 10 -----------------------------------

The sound of the door opening brought Laura back to reality as the nurse returned with a small tray in her hand. She placed it on the bedside table as she looked down at her patient and said, "sorry it took me a few minutes to return, the doctor needed my help with a procedure. So are you ready to get started?" Although her words came out in the form of a question, Jo really did not expect, or receive, an answer as she walked directly to the prep area countertop.

Laura watched as the nurse took a tube of lubricating jelly and a red plastic container from a cabinet and placed them both, along with a box of tissues, on the bedside metal tray. Next, she reached into a box on the countertop and removed a pair of disposable gloves which she also placed on the tray.

With the equipment gathered, the nurse opened the container, and removed the thermometer. Tightly holding the instrument between her thumb and index finger of her right hand, she shook it vigorously three or four times; and then held it at her eye level and rolled it until she could see the line of mercury in the capillary. It must have been shaken enough because she set the thermometer down on the tray, and stepped over to Laura's side.

Laura noticed this thermometer looked different from ones she remembered as a kid. This one looked longer and fatter, and the bulb of mercury at the end of the instrument also seemed longer. Out of curiosity she asked the nurse about it.

Jo acknowledged the patient's observation and told her, "this is a different kind of thermometer that we use for rectal temps on adults. You're right; it is somewhat longer so we can put it deeper in the rectum for more of a core body reading. I'm not sure why the odd shape, it is a little bit fatter and it's actually a kind of an oval rather than round like we are used to seeing. These are made in Europe. Maybe that's just the way they make them overseas. Once it's in your bottom, you won't notice much difference, and I promise it won't be any more uncomfortable than a regular one."

"Now let's get you ready for this," Jo stated as she again lowered the sheet that covered Laura's bottom to about her mid-thigh. "Can you lift your hips just a little so we can slide your underpants down?"

As the nurse reached for the waist band of her panties, Laura very gently and slowly lifted herself off the table by the knees and elbows. "Ouch," she moaned as her movements were met with a sharp reminder of her injured butt. "I see I'm gonna' be moving slow for a few days." Jo agreed as she slipped the patient's underpants down her hips, over her buttocks, and down her legs, until they rested about halfway between the bottom of her butt and her knees.

Reaching over to the tray, the nurse picked up the rubber gloves, which she pulled onto her hands with a snap. Next, she opened the tube of lubricating gel, and squirted a glob of it onto the gloved fingertips of her right hand, and turned back to the examining table. "I'm going to thoroughly lubricate around your anus before I insert the thermometer," she added.

Lightly resting her gloved left hand on the roundest, fleshiest part of Laura's bottom, the nurse placed her thumb on one side of the butt crack, and her index finger on the other. "Relax your muscles," she requested. As Laura did so, Jo gently separated the buttocks so that she could clearly visualize the patient's anus. The nurse then carefully smeared some of the lubricant from her right hand onto Laura's tight little pink butthole, and started gently rubbing the lube in a circular motion into the opening. At first, this felt a little strange and her butthole puckered and clinched, offering resistance to the nurse's fingertips. However, as the nurse kept rubbing and Laura's butt muscles relaxed, the lubrication really began to feel good. Finally her sphincter opened and the nurse slid her gloved index finger into Laura's rectum up to the second knuckle. Jo kept her finger inside for just a few seconds, and then with a rotating motion, removed it. As she did, Laura made a little moaning noise, and her sphincter again closed with a wink.

"I'm going to get the thermometer, now," Jo said as she turned to the tray table and picked up the glass rod, then applied a liberal amount of lube all around the mercury bulb. Holding the instrument in her right hand, she again spread Laura's butt cheeks with her left hand. "Take a deep breath" the nurse instructed.

Just before inserting the instrument, Jo rubbed the bulb end of the thermometer over Laura's anus in order to apply some of the excess lubricant onto her butthole. The glass felt cold and caused the sphincter to once again pucker and wink in a rather humorous fashion. Once she had applied the lube, she placed the tip of thermometer directly against the anus and applied gentle pressure, causing the sphincter to quiver a bit and then suddenly open to welcome its intruder. Laura was immediately overtaken by the pleasant emotional rush caused by the thermometer passing through her rectum as the nurse very slowly inserted the glass rod almost its entire length into her butthole.

"It's in place; now we wait about five minutes for it to register," Jo announced. Having inserted the thermometer rather deeply into the patient's butt, the nurse kept her finger tips on the instrument the entire time they waited to ensure that it remained in position.

As she lay there, Laura realized that the thermometer in her behind felt wonderful, in both a relaxing and highly erotic way. From time-to-time Jo rotated the thermometer to keep it deeply inserted. The twisting of the instrument in her rectum sent what felt like small electric charges all through Laura's nervous system. She was really enjoying this rectal temperature taking. And the best part was, she was going to get to do this two times a day at home.

The five minutes were up way too quickly as Laura felt the nurse release her grip on the thermometer, leaving a good portion of the glass probe's length buried in her backside. Without Jo holding it in place, the instrument moving freely in her butthole was very stimulating. In fact, she found it quite entertaining to toy with the device by gently tightening and relaxing her butt muscles around it, causing the thermometer to wiggle about in her rectum.

The nurse quickly brought an end to Laura's play time when she grabbed a couple of tissues from the tray and turned back to the exam table. She once again spread the patient's butt cheeks with her left hand while announcing, "Alright, let's get that thing out." Jo noticed a small amount of fecal material mixed with lubricant work its way out of Laura's rectum as she removed the thermometer. She cleaned the instrument with a tissue, read the temperature, and recorded it on Laura's chart. 103.8, she wrote and indicated on the chart that this was a rectal reading. While she was charting the reading, the nurse asked Laura if she had been constipated lately.

"Yea sorta'," the patient responded, "I've been going, but it seems like ever since I've had this crud, not a lot comes out when I use the bathroom."

"You probably should have mentioned that before," Jo said.

"Sorry, I guess with all my other symptoms we were discussing, I just forgot about it," Laura answered.

"Tell you what, I'm going to check and see if you have a blockage of some kind in there," Jo told Laura, "if you do, we need to find that out before I give you the suppositories, if your rectum is blocked, it could prevent the medicine from being absorbed."

With that, Jo picked up the tube of lubricating gel from the tray and again placed a glob on the middle finger of her right gloved hand. She spread Laura's butt cheeks wide apart with her left hand, and rubbed the lubricant around her anus with the right hand. "Take a deep breath for me," Jo requested as she deeply inserted her finger into Laura's rectum.

The nurse’s finger entering her body sent Laura into erotic orbit as she relaxed and softly moaned with sheer ecstasy. "Ohhhhh," she cooed; which the nurse incorrectly interpreted as a sign of discomfort.

"I'm sorry, dear," Jo answered, "this won't take but a minute."

Laura wanted to tell the nurse there was nothing to be sorry for and to take all the minutes she wanted – but she thought better of it before she spoke.

While probing around in Laura's behind, the nurse discovered normal feeling stool in the rectum, which she was able to displace with her finger. She also felt a little resistance, possibly due to some fecal build-up much deeper in the bowels. As she was all too quickly removing her finger, Jo noticed that the middle finger of her glove had a light coating of feces. "It feels like you might have some accumulated fecal material in there," Jo said as she took some tissue and wiped the excess lubricant from Laura's anal area. "But it's high enough in the rectum that it won't prevent us from using the suppositories to reduce your fever. We'll mention it to the doctor and he will probably recommend a laxative for you, at least to take while you're on medication."

Jo removed her gloves and tossed them in a medical waste receptacle. "Have you ever had a suppository?" she asked as she returned to the table and opened two foil packets, each containing one bullet shaped dose of acetaminophen.

"I'm pretty sure as a kid my mom gave me some for constipation," Laura responded. "But I know what they are and where they go," she added.

"Good," the nurse said as she pulled on a clean pair of gloves. "Just relax your butt muscles and then squeeze hard when I tell you to." After squeezing a small glob of lubricating jelly on the fingers of her right hand, Jo once again spread Laura's butt cheeks wide apart with her left hand, and rubbed lubricant around her anus. She then picked up the first suppository with her right hand and applied lubricant to the tip of it as well. "Relax your butt," she requested and gently pushed the suppository through the sphincter until the entire bullet was just inside the anus. Then in one quick motion with her finger, she pushed the suppository through the anus and continued pushing until the entire length of her middle finger was buried in Laura's rectum. The nurse moved her finger around for several seconds as she seemed to be placing the suppository in a particular position, then she said, "Now squeeze your butt muscles as tight as you can while I bring my finger out," the nurse instructed, "that will pull the suppository a little deeper into your rectum."

Although it was initially painful because of the injections, Laura did as the nurse requested and tightly squeezed her butt cheeks as the nurse's finger slowly passed through her tightened rectum. "Ohhh Wow," she purred as the combination of intense pain from the shots and the finger passing through her tightened sphincter muscle released a rush that launched Laura to new heights of euphoria.

Again, the nurse read Laura's uttering as an expression of discomfort and assured the patient, "Just one more to go."

Laura was in anything but discomfort as she returned to reality and told the nurse to go ahead with it.

Jo repeated the procedure with the second suppository; but this time she seemed to finger probe inside the patient's rectum for an additional several seconds and took longer to position the object, which Laura did not mind at all. Again, the nurse told her to squeeze her cheeks tightly as she removed her finger; and again, Laura experienced the euphoric rush she hoped for.

Jo discarded her gloves and as she reached for the waistband of Laura's panties said, "Well, I think we are finally finished." Without having to be prompted, Laura gently lifted her torso off the table while Jo pulled her underwear over her much abused bottom.

While the nurse was gathering equipment and discarding disposables from the bedside tray, she told her patient, "you can lie here a few more minutes; or if you're ready, I can help you get up, if you think you need some assistance."

She laid there for no more than a minute watching the nurse, and then said, "no sense putting it off, I gotta' get up sooner or later, might as well start now." Jo stepped over to help as Laura lifted her body slightly off the table. Jo removed the pillows she was laying on and then helped Laura painfully roll to one side and use her arms to push up to a seated position on the edge of the table.

"You OK?" the nurse asked.

"Yea, I'm fine, Laura answered as she sat on the table edge for a minute or so before attempting the next maneuver. Every movement of her bottom caused a stabbing pain and the throbbing seemed to magnify several fold. When she eased herself off the table her legs were a little shaky and she had to support herself for several seconds before she could take a step. The first forward step was excruciating. The sharp pain made it impossible to take normal steps, but Laura managed to shuffle over to the chair and retrieve her pants.

The nurse completed her clean-up tasks and with the equipment tray in hand, asked, "Is there anything you need me to do before I leave?"

"Not really," Laura answered, "I just need to do this slowly."

The nurse nodded in agreement, but before she left the room told Laura, "Call me if you need any help. When you're ready come out to the nurse's station and find me. I'll show you to Doctor Sharp's office. He wants to talk with you about your treatment regimen and follow up procedures before you leave."

Stepping into her jeans was not easy or comfortable, but Laura continued with her task at hand. Every required movement - lifting her legs, bending or twisting at the waist, buttoning her jeans - was met with a sharp, intense jolt of pain. After several carefully executed movements her pants and belt were finally in place, zipped and snapped.

Laura stepped into her sandals and walked around the room a few minutes to loosen up her pants and move her butt muscles a bit. Walking became easier. No less painful, just a little easier to do; although there was a slight, but obvious, limp to her step.

Checking herself in the mirror before leaving the exam room, Laura gathered her belongings and slowly walked to the door.