My experiences with pediatric urology from the time I was just under 3 years old -- up until just before my eighteenth birthday -- definitely play a part in my MedFet and I'd be curious to hear from anyone else who had even tangential experiences.
I was born with an undescended testicle and related inguinal hernia, which were corrected surgically when I was about 2.5 years old. While I have only a few memories of the experience, these are among my earliest memories, if not the first. I have flashes of the hospital stay, the other boy in my room, the bright lights of the OR. I don't have any memories of exams leading up to that, having surgery explained to me, or any fear of what was about to happen. It's for these reasons I believe this important event cemented my earliest memories.
The surgery itself unlikely prompted my MedFet, but the subsequent activities did. Following the operation, I can remember my parents often talking to other relatives about my ordeal -- in detail. Even at that age, I knew that the area in question was "private" and felt a form of embarrassment at having so many details disclosed. I even have at least a few memories of my mom pulling my underwear down far enough to show the incision. While this is invasive of a child's privacy for sure, it should be noted that my extended family is full of RNs, so medical conversation was a common theme at nearly any get-together. Use of laxatives was also openly discussed, and most of the women in the family readily administered suppositories to us. Not only did my mother give me several memorable suppositories, at least once one of my RN aunts gave me one while babysitting. That was the most traumatic as it was an adult sized suppository when I was very young. Of course this event was talked about jokingly at least a dozen times as I was growing up -- my modesty never considered. I also remember one RN aunt coming to my house when my elderly grandmother lived with us to prepare and administer an enema. I can see her running the warm water in the bathroom and stirring a white bar of soap in the clear bag (as a nurse, she probably brought a hospital-grade cath bag rather than the typical red device).
To get back to the main subject, undescended testicles and hernias were routine in the early 80s but followed by surgeons much more regularly and further into the child's life than I believe they are now (correct me if I'm wrong). I was treated at a university teaching hospital and had quite regular exams until I was around 9 or 10. At each visit, the urologist surgeon who performed my operation would come into the room, chat with my parents for awhile, and then get down to business. After removing my underwear entirely, my testicles would be examined in detail and the doctor's long fingers would probe my small inguinal canals to ensure neither side showed a hernia (likely a good measure since I've experienced two additional inguinal hernias later in life). I also remember at some point during the visit, a nurse would tape a pediatric urine collection bag over my genitals until a sample was collected. This was done until I was old enough to fill a regular sample jar.
As this was a teaching hospital, the exam was often started by one or more of the doctor's residents. They would come into the room and each have a go at examining me before turning it over to the physician. This meant double or even triple the ball rolling and canal fingering a normal boy would experience. Horrifying at the time, but oh how I'd love to experience that now!
As I neared puberty, but not yet into it, the strangest experience was the use of an orchidometer to measure my testicle size not only against each other, but to the norm. These sizes were marked in my chart and I never saw them. The experience was of course recounted, in front of me, to relatives.
My last two appointments were after I'd begun puberty, and for the first one I was terrified the whole two-hour drive to the hospital that my parents would have a full view of my now hairy genitals, which they'd not seen since my modesty made me begin hiding genitals entirely once those changes became visible. Much to my relief, as an expert in children, the doctor could surmise immediately that I was at that age and kindly asked my parents to step out of the room for my exam. That's the only memorable part of that penultimate exam beyond the usual checks.
For my last visit, shortly before my 18th birthday, I was nervous going to the hospital for a different reason. Within the year preceding the appointment, I'd developed an inguinal hernia on the other side. I had a lot of embarrassment and shame around anything that went on "down there," and definitely didn't want a repeat of my sex organs being the topic of conversation everywhere I went. I was also nervous that through operation and recovery, I wouldn't avoid a situation where my parents would have to see me nude one way or another. I figured a urology specialist would have no trouble discovering it (the hernia was easily reducible at the time), but he did not. Two residents came in to examine me and for the first time, I experienced an exam lying on my back, on a table. I recall wearing boxer shorts pulled down to my ankles and having each of them feel my testicles and perform the perfunctory hernia exams. I was careful not to cough too hard, and I suppose based on my history they were more focused on the original side than on the opposite. When the surgeon came in to check their findings, his exam was much faster and the hernia went undiscovered by him as well. I lived with the hernia until my mid twenties when I finally had it repaired. It had become a fairly large scrotal hernia by then, sometimes difficult to reduce, and the large rupture required a large patch that has left that side more tender even twenty years later.
Well, if you've stuck around to the end of this tome, I'd be so interested to hear any others' experiences you've lived through or had a child experience. I'm curious how undescended testicle repairs were managed long before the 80s and also more recently. Thanks!