How did you react knowing

I was just told at my pediatricians by the nurse after I had undressed to my underwear to get up on all fours and she would pull my undies down and put the thermometer it. It happened at almost all visits until I changed pediatricians at 9. It never felt embarrassing because I remember it done from age 3 on.

My reaction at the doctor’s office was a feeling of embarrassment. I was used to it. I got my temperature taken rectally at home and at the doctor’s until I graduated high school, but every time was new humiliation. Not as much at home. I’m not sure why, but in the office, the nurse would tell me to lie down and turn over on my tummy. I knew what was going to happen, but they always repeated the words, “I need to take your temperature, or you need to have your temperature taken. I guess they liked saying the word temperature. The embarrassment started when I had to turn over, and heightened when the thermometer was shaken down, and the Vaseline was applied, which was always an overwhelming amount. The worst part was having my underwear pulled down. Once the thermometer was in I always thought to myself when will this be over.

I don’t remember suppositories at the office, but got them at home from time to time. My mom was the main temperature taker, but if she wasn’t available my dad did it. They would have me lie over their lap, even as a teenager.

The biggest issue was the lack of any privacy. At the doctor’s office, doors were routinely left partially open or wide open. At home, if it was time to take m temperature, it could be done in front of friends, relatives, or my parent’s friends, whoever was around. I had to get used to it, but always hated it.

The same happened to me the nurse would tell me me lie on my tummy she would also say “ I need to take your temperature.’ She always lubricated the thermometer with a glob of Vaseline which she left the residue in by buttocks crack. One time the nurse left the exam room with the door cracked open.