Surprises at the Doctor

A certain someone desperately needs to go back on his meds.

This is not a matter of who is right or wrong about a given subject. It is matter of leaving your poor attitude, rudeness and lack of respect of others at the door.

I can think of four big surprises for me.

1. My first sports physical. Pull my pants down? Why are you touching me there? Cough? What the heck just happened?!?

2. I had to go for a drug test for a summer job. Doctor walks into the exam room, hands me a cup, then leads me down to the bathroom. He follows me inside the door, looks me in the eyes and says, "I have to watch you provide the specimen." Zoinks! Stage fright!

3. When I turned 40 I went to a dermatologist for my first ever full body skin exam. I had read a bunch of stories online about it and I was extremely nervous! After some preliminaries, the nurse that brought me back to the exam room starts going over some information and details about the exam. Just as she's handing me the gown telling me to take everything off, she mentions that they just started using tablets to take notes in their new Electronic Medical Records. She hasn't learned it yet so she will be bringing in one of the younger nurses to help train her. So the doctor, herself, and another nurse will all come in to look over all my skin. Intimidating and embarrassing!! I've never even heard of such a thing, and I'm into medfet! It sounded more like a "Dear Penthouse" letter.

4. My very recent physical exam was with a new doctor so I didn't really know what to expect. During the interview/ medical review he keeps telling me how much of a minimalist he is, won't do anything unless it's absolutely necessary. When it comes time for the physical, his last words as I'm climbing up on the table were, "Don't worry, I won't put you through the wringer." After an already very thorough physical, imagine my surprise when I hear him say he needs to do a hernia evaluation on me. I had actually started to get off the table thinking we were done. Of course he goes on to check my penis and testicles before giving me the turn your head and cough. Afterwards, he starts walking away, I again think we're done and pull up my pants. That's when he tells me he also wants to check my prostate. I'd never had a prostate exam before and was not expecting one that day, especially after the comments he had made earlier. I specifically remember leaning over the table with his finger inside me thinking, "His idea of wringer and mine are completely different. I'm pretty sure THIS defines wringer."

The recent discussion about the definition of a Physician Assistant has my mind ready to explode. These are highly trained professionals with advanced education. Sometimes I think certain folks here like to poke when they have no basis for doing so. It's not very respectable to say the least.

The experience that surprised me the most, was my appointment for allergy testing,

i suppose i such have realised it was going to be more involved than i had anticipated as it was at the main hospital,

on registering i was taken to what was more like an operating theatre than an examination room,

i was told to strip down to underpants and lie on the bed,

an ECG was attached, and a Defib / Resus trolley, & adrenaline right beside "just in case"

as each allergen was adnistered i was watched by the team of six medics, for any reaction, that lasted four hours,

until they said they were going to now test my known triggers, that was very scary, and i was thankful the resusitation gear was on hand, for it was needed, and i am here to tell the tale.

My knickers being pulled down. I was asked permission for them to be pulled down but it was a complete surprise to be asked. She didn't ask permission to pull back my lips she just went ahead and did it.

I've read this entire string and have to conclude that titles are not always properly descriptive. A couple of examples might be in order:

1. In academia you have assistant professors, associate professors, and (full) professors. Those assistant professors are NOT assistants to anybody, it's just their title.

2. To add confusion I did meet a woman who had a doctorate in nursing. She might be a nurse but within a teaching hospital she is addressed as "doctor". Moreover, she was an Associate Professor of Nursing.

3. My wife knows a woman who is an Associate Dean, but has no doctorate. She is addressed as either "professor" or "dean." The "professor" title is confusing because in terms of academic rank her lack of a terminal degree means that she is officially a "lecturer". Now my head hurts!

So long as you treat people with respect and don't make the mistake of looking down on them you can stay out of trouble.

@Westy

VERY WELL STATED

On my side I was surprised in my first gyno exam. At first, because my doctor is nearly 60 y.o. and the second time was when I was lying in the gyno chair and he was doing an exam of my hymen and asked that I was using tampons. I never before thought that tampons are smaller in my hole and that's why I got a normal exam with the smaller speculum.

Arguably I've probably been more surprised by things that weren't done that I was expecting. For example, I didn't get a prostate exam at my first physical after turning 40, and several doctors didn't even bother with hernia or genital exams after my college physical.

In terms of things I wasn't expecting:

1) Having pants undone and taken down and then turned over for a painful shot of penicillin at the pediatrician.

2) First dermatology baseline exam... I really didn't know what to expect, but figured it would focus on stuff that's exposed to the sun. So I was surprised to be put in a gown naked and to have had the doctor check genital and anal areas. That part was over and done before I knew it.

3) Minor outpatient surgery about 8 years ago... got to the hospital for the surgery and they had an issue with me not having had a pre-op physical (I had one from my GP a couple of months prior). They sent me to a doctor in the hospital for a pretty quick exam - only thing that was unusual was an EKG.

4) Not at the doctor, but getting medicine for cough and chest congestion in suppository form while visiting family in Canada when I was a kid.

At the urologist office I did not expect him to want to check my bladder. I had to strip from waist down and lay flat on table. The doctor had a syringe with a numbing lube in it. he grabbed my penis and proceeds to insert syringe into my urethra, it hurt a bit from the force i could feel it running ovrr he waited a minute and then proceeded to insert a thin tube with a camera into me. It hurt really bad and did not think he would stop. he was able to look at the screen to see the camera. He said the MRI does not get a clear picture of the bladder. Not sure if removing it was any better.

Went in for a sore throat.Then to my surprise it was a Female Nurse Practitioner. She asked me when I had my last physical and I said I could not remember. I was asked to drop my pants and under ware . She proceeded to check me for a hernia, and then did a Rectal Exam and a Prostate Exam

I do not know if that qualifies as "At Doctor", but while I was at the hospital with severe pain in abdominal area, I was surprised when nurse inserted 2 or 3 suppositories in my anus to reduce fever as I was not allowed to take any food or liquids orally.

Nothing major, but I’d say the first time I had to take my trousers off and pull my underwear to the side when I went with a sore leg.

I was quite young the first time and had absolutely no idea what was happening. I wouldn’t have even known that there was a pulse to feel there.

Being in my underwear and having to expose some of my public hairbwas completely unexpected

It was a surprise to me just because I had never been in a position like this before -- I was admitted to the hospital a little over a year ago for an infection on my back. After sitting in the ER for hours and hours, they finally decided I needed an extended stay there, so they wheeled my bed upstairs up to the hospital ward, and of course they told me to completely undress and put on the gown that was waiting for me up there (I had on a gown in the ER but only had my shirt off, still had pants, socks and shoes). I take everything off, put the gown on, put the little anti-slip socks on, and climb into bed, pulling the covers up and over me.

About 15-20 minutes later two nurses show up (one male and one female) and they announce they need to do a full body skin exam. They peeled the blankets back, took my socks off, and lifted my gown up above my waist -- so now I'm totally exposed from the waist down while people are feeling up and examining every possible inch of my body. I definitely wasn't expecting that at all, and it was a bit thrilling (in spite of feeling ill) to be treated like that. After looking at the lower half, I had to take the gown off so they could exam the upper half. They laid the gown down over my lap though so my groin wasn't still exposed, though they had to take a second look at something in that area so I had to show it again. Then I had to roll over on my stomach so they could look at my backside, and my bare butt was out in the open for several minutes.

In addition to the two nurses, my husband was in the room, though it wasn't a huge issue for him since he sees me naked all the time, it was still pretty unexpected to be naked in front of 3 people in a room, also with the door open where anyone could just potentially walk in at any time too.

About 15-20 minutes later two nurses show up (one male and one female) and they announce they need to do a full body skin exam.

The same thing recently happened to my uncle. He had a procedure done on his heart for afib (don't know what it was) and had to spend the night in the hospital so they could monitor him. According to him, that evening he was watching tv in his room when two "cute young girls" came into his room and shut his door. They told him that they needed to examine his skin for any open soars or other issues. They told him to stand up, turn away from them and face the window, and take off his gown. He kept asking them, "Who put you to to this, this has to be a joke?" He said they got right up behind him and both gave him the once over. It was dark outside and he says every light in his room was on, so anybody in the adjacent wing of the hospital looking into his room would have gotten a good show. The girls then instructed him to turn around and face them, they then inspected the front of his body. During all this they had him raise his arms and feet and other movements. He said he was completely humiliated. I thought it sounded like it would have been a great situation to have experienced!

I recently had surgery at the same hospital I previously posted about my uncle. After I woke up in recovery, there were two nurses taking care of me and getting me ready to transfer up to my room. Towards the end of their routine they come over to the foot of my bed, one on either side, and begin taking off my stylish blue hospital socks/booties and those inflatable cuffs around my calves. The one nurse tells me, "We have to check your feet and legs." One takes my left side and one my right, they proceed by moving my feet and knees around to look at as much as they can while I'm laying there in bed. The whole time their faces are only 1-2 feet away from my body the entire time, although they do keep it rather dark in the recovery area. Once they reached the bottom of my gown they come up and fold down my gown exposing me above the waist. As they are doing this, one said "We have to examine your skin." Faces still about a foot away from me, they begin looking me over moving my arms around to get a better view. Suddenly one grabs my gown away completely while the other said "We're just looking at your skin." So I laid on the bed completely naked while these two strangers stared at my genitals from about 2 feet away. That's a very humbling experience. Next they instruct me to roll on my side so they can check my backside. I could feel two sets of hands helping me roll over. Soon I heard one say "That's far enough. Ok, all done." And then they roll me back, put my gown on, and begin piling on the blankets. Soon they were taking me up to my room.

There were some times as a kid when there would be shots I wasn't expecting, so that was always unpleasant, but the one time which stands out in my mind, I've written about on other threads before.

It was an employment physical, with a med student observing, and my doctor thought it was going to be pretty quick, just checking vitals, and filling out the form I brought. It turned out the med student knew someone close to me, so we were chatting.

Then, as the doctor was going down the form he realized they were asking for more. He said I could keep my shirt on, but take off my pants and underwear, and bend over the exam table for a prostate check. With the med student looking on, the doctor slid a lubed finger inside me and felt around. Then, he handed me a tissue to wipe the excess lube.

Afterwards, the doctor went back to filling out the form, while I stood there with my hands on my hips, naked from the waist down, for a minute or so, not sure what was next. The med student noticed me just standing there and got the doctor's attention. He said I could get dressed again.

I remember feeling rather shaken by the experience. One moment I'm casually chatting with the doctor and med student, and the next I'm undressed and being probed internally in front of them, and then left standing there, still exposed. I think what bothered me more than anything was wiping in front of these two afterwards. A little difficult to remain so casual as before, after that.

Another experience from a medical situation which, while disturbing at the time, has been endlessly arousing to think back on ever since.

My older brother always teased me that my shots would be given via a giant needle the nurse would have to carry over her back. Not really a surprise, but I was relieved that didn't happen.

He came back in and said "you need a prostate massage". He put a couple if fingers deep in my rectum and rubbed for a good while. Soon I shot cum all over the exam table.

Just curious. What was the CPT code for that?

Just curious. What was the CPT code for that?

Good question. I was guessing that there wasn't such a code, but I searched and sure enough there is:

8E0VX1C

https://coder.aapc.com/pcs-code/8E0VX1C

Imagine that.

Good question. I was guessing that there wasn't such a code, but I searched and sure enough there is:

8E0VX1C

https://coder.aapc.com/pcs-code/8E0VX1C

Imagine that.

I wonder if anyone has ever gotten coverage for that.

I wonder if anyone has ever gotten coverage for that.

I believe submitting that code causes alarm bells to ring at the insurance company. Literally, alarm bells ringing. I can picture it now.

During my last annual exam, at the point where the genital exam is normally performed the physician left me covered and explained in some detail how “we don’t need to worry about testicular cancer anymore because you are past the age where it is a concern”. So without a genital exam he had me roll onto my side and bend up my knees for the rectal swab for GC/Chlamydia, the anal pap, and the DRE. I was relieved that I escaped the genital exam as it has always been the one part that I dread the most. After the swabs and DRE the physician asked me to roll onto my back. He changed gloves and I thought he was simply finishing up putting the lids on the tubes with the swabs. Instead before I realized what was happening he had moved the gown and was conducting the usual thorough genital exam. I was surprised as I assumed by his comment and by him skipping it in the normal sequence that I wasn’t getting one. The only differences were that he did it out of his normal sequence and that he wore gloves.

@dustydave said

Went in for a sore throat.Then to my surprise it was a Female Nurse Practitioner. She asked me when I had my last physical and I said I could not remember. I was asked to drop my pants and under ware . She proceeded to check me for a hernia, and then did a Rectal Exam and a Prostate Exam

That's rather unusual when you go in for a sore throat.

@dustydave said

Went in for a sore throat.Then to my surprise it was a Female Nurse Practitioner. She asked me when I had my last physical and I said I could not remember. I was asked to drop my pants and under ware . She proceeded to check me for a hernia, and then did a Rectal Exam and a Prostate Exam

You must be quite a stud @dustydave to have affected that Female Nurse Practitioner that way. It sounds almost like a play exam.

First enema.

Saw blood in the toilet, went to the doctor without thinking about what they’d do because I was just hoping it wasn’t cancer. First thing the doctor does is tell me to go with the nurse for an enema. My first and still only enema. She had to give me two actually. Doctor then did sigmoidscope and anoscope.

Well it's not from a procedure, but my biggest surprise was that I got a skin infection from sleeping on the couch in a hospital room.

My family relative was admitted and I had to stay to be with them.

It is a top class hospital in US and everything seemed so sterile and clean, but I was shocked at the possibility of bed-bugs kind of infection that I picked up from there.

My first rectal exam. It was during a regular pelvic exam with a new doctor. I had no idea it was going to happen until he asked if he could do it. I was too embarrassed to say no.

Also, thinking I was going to make it out of a physical without the hernia exam and as the doc is wrapping up and leaving he turns around and says “oops! We forgot one last thing”

One that stands out for me was when I was 19 and referred by my GP to an ENT specialist because I had resistant wax in my ears. Expecting just an ear syringe, I quickly found the specialist first wanted to thorougly check every cranny of my nose and throat (including, I gather, my Eustachian Tube entrances - for which he used a long-stemmed mirror inserted behind the back of my throat). Being a sensitive lad with (even then) a bit of a medfet re doctors, I felt vaguely humiliated by this unexpected 'invasion' by the specialist. - Ken