I was 10 years old, I was in the hospital for appendicitis surgery, and every evening around 7 o'clock a nurse would come in to check the temperature of all the patients (that was the hospital's procedure).
There were maybe 8 boys in the ward, and the older boys would be given the thermometer to take their own temperature under their arms, while the younger boys would be made to turn over on their stomachs to have a thermometer inserted into their rectums.
On the first evening spent in the hospital, I remember that the nurse came, she stopped first at the beds of two or three 6-8 year old boys whom she turned over and inserted the thermometer into their rectums, then another three or four older boys followed who received the thermometers in their hands to put them under their arms themselves, and finally she came to me with the last thermometer left in the cup and to my surprise (who was already with my hand outstretched to receive the thermometer to put it under my arm myself), she smiled and told me that I had to turn over on my stomach...
I remember that I was particularly ashamed that I was treated like the younger boys, especially since there was another boy in the ward who was also about 10 years old and who had also received a thermometer to put it under his arm himself.
And to make my shame even greater, there were still visitors in the room - about two mothers and two older sisters of other boys, who were smiling witnesses to this whole procedure...
I stood facing the wall for over 5 minutes out of shame, but I couldn't even keep my ears from some giggles...
That's how the first two days in the hospital were. The operation followed, and after the operation I don't know if it was just because it was another nurse's turn or if the procedure said not to lie on my stomach and touch the operation, but while I was in the hospital for two or three more days, I was also allowed to take my own temperature under my arm...