I was asked about my stay in the Childrens Clinic by a private message now and much more often earlier, if I had navel exams there, too, if I must have navel hernia surgery, what doctors said about my outie navel and some questions more. So I try to give you the answer as detailed as i can remember.
I was sent into the Childrens Clinic after the exam by that public health doctor when I was 15 yrs old and I had to stay for more than three weeks there to clear up my sick abdomen for Crohns disease, abdominal tumor (!) and of course to clear up my ugly outie bellybutton too for a possible incarcerated navel hernia! In the end they found that I had a strong colitis and I got appendectomy during my stay, but no navel surgery, but many abdominal and of course navel exams, too.
The worst exam for me was done by a special gastroenterologist in the morning of the second day of my stay, what I won´t never forget, too, because it was so awful and painful for me. I was very often asked about these exams by the gastro-doc, to who my mom had to bring me after my stay at hospital regularly all three to four months into the Childrens Hospital. And I hated these exams at all, i didn´t liked the doctor at all, and one main reason was that he always examined my ugly outie bellybutton in such a thoroughly way!
But I will write about my very first exam by that gastro-doc. It was on the second day of my three weeks stay at the Childrens Hospital. In the morning I had a normal general exam by a paediatric doctor and felt not good in my stomach when I was back in my patient room and in my bed. After a while, the door suddenly opened again and another doctor and a young nursing student came in. The doctor greeted me and explained me that he is the special "gastroenterologic doctor" and that he wants to take me to another exam room for a further more exam of my "sick abdomen", he said. He took me only in my clinic pyjama and my pants - nothing else - accompanied by the nursing student to that exam room at the end of the Childrens section and on the way to that he often said "Don´t worry, I only want to feel your tummy" and repeated that again and again. How often he said that I got more and more nervous and felt more and more bad in my abdomen.
When I was inside the exam room, the doctor sat on his table and looked at some papers and then on me and ordered me to take of the clinic pyjama, so that I was standing there naked only in my pants. Then he looked at me, got a very critical view and suddenly said "Oh Michael, you look so bad and sick!" and added "So, I have to examine you very completely and intensively!" For some moments I was so depressed and felt so ashamed because the nursing student stand beside me and looked so worried. I was shocked when the doctor then ordered me "take off your pants, too", and explained me that he wanted to see me completely naked for the whole exam. I was angry about him because I felt like he was lying when he said on the way into the room that he "only wanted to feel my tummy". So, from that moment, I didn´t liked the doctor at all.
The doctor was totally uncontent about my clear underweight and that I look so extremely skinny and ordered the nursing student now to control my weight then, so she took me onto the scale then. Back from the scale, the dcotor also ordered me to stand upright in front of him, while he was rolling on his chair to me and took me on my arms by looking and inspecting me from head to feet, turning around and back, what I was used by the normal exams by our paediatrician. But the gastro-doc now looked much more closer and longer and also began to touch and palpate me with one of his fingers on many of my ugly looking moles and nevi, first on my armes, then on my breast and then on my abdomen, where I have some unusual and bigger ones, too. He was not content about them and asked me about my dermatologic exams, too. While he was inspecting my moles on my stomach, he took me then with his both hands on both sides of my stomach and began to press with his both thumbs on my stomach from the rib cage down to my genital region. On the half way I noticed that his eyes were fixed on the centre of my abdomen and he was eying very closely at my outie bellybutton now. I felt so nervous and ashamed at that moment, but was relieved, that he didn´t say any word about my clearly protruding navel. So my hope was, that he left my outie bellybutton alone and doesn´t examine it later. But that was a big error!
When he was finished by inspecting my moles and my abdomen, he suddenly took my penis and retracted my foreskin completely and inspected my penis and glans. He said then, I would look "completely underdevelopped" because I had no pubic hairs and my testicles and penis would have still been underdevelopped, too. I felt my heartbeat throbbing in my head. Then he ordered me to lay down on the exam table and started with the complete general exam from head to feet. In my opinion, he took so plenty of time for the whole exam, much more than all other doctors before, so I was so enervated about him, but also about the young nursing student, who watched the whole exam.
After the gastro-doc had examined my mouth, lymph nodes, auscultated heart and lungs in his very lengthily way, he put off his stethoscope and said to me "Now, Michael, I will come to your sick abdomen" and I felt like I could vomit at once, but I tried to hold it because that would be my ultimate embarrassment I could think about. And he told me in a strong voice that I should say immediately, if I feel pain, nausea and if I have to vomit, if he could read my thoughts?! I was really frightened of that it would happen again like it happened before by some other exams and felt so bad and nausea that I said at once that I feel really nausea now. The gastro-doctor answered "Yes I thought that It´s no wonder by your sick abdomen!" and I felt so depressed and really hated me and my stomach at that moment. The doctor began to inspect my stomach again and did nothing else than looking so interestingly and curiously everywhere on my abdomen for some time (I cannot say exactly how long but think between 1-2 minutes). After all his starring on my abdomen he asked me "And you didn´t had any kind of surgery on your abdomen?" and I said "no", but he asked back "really, with that sickly looking abdomen?!" He made me afraid when he said that! Then, he put on his stethoscope again and began to auscultate my abdomen now. I can´t say how long, for me it was an eternity and he put this cold metal stuff I think on every centimetre of my stomach from the right to the left side and from my rib cage down to my genital area. During that long auscultation, I noticed his eyes were fixed and starring again on my outie navel, what made me more and more nervous. In between that, he ordered me again to breath in and out of my abdomen and blow it up and down for a longer while, too. He upbraided me at the beginning, because I didn´t do that clear enough for him, but I hate doing that when I still feel nausea, because I get more and more nausea then! Really, after he was finished with all that hearing everywhere on my tummy, I thanked got that I could hold it, because I felt so nausea now, and I prayed that I could hold it for the rest, too. He took off his stethoscope and began to percuss with one or two fingers also everywhere on my stomach, which was uncomfortable, too, because it took also such a long time and when he did that up to my nipples, down to my genital area and also on and around my outie navel. It mostly sounded hollow, empty, flat and like I would have much air in my stomach, which was no suprise, because I got nothing to eat for nearly three days now; I only git infusions. When he stopped all that uncomfortable knocking on my abdomen then, he remembered me again in a strong voice to say at once when I feel pain, nausea and have to vomit. I was so afraid about that this could happen, I can´t describe! The doctor now laid one hand now on my abdomen and stirred few times on my abdomen now, suddenly I belched one time because I felt so nausea. He ordered the nursing student now to take a vomiting bowl at once and hold it beside me. Then he started with palpating on my abdomen, and I can´t describe like I felt during that procedure! For me it was an endless torture, because he palpated, poked and pressed so long everywhere on my stomach, that I cannot say how I managed it not to vomit! Ever and ever, I prayed to god that he would stop with that longest palpation of my abdomen I could think about until that exam, but he went on and on and seemed to press again at many places again and again. How longer it last how deeper he pressed everywhere in my abdomen, I didn´t feel really pain, but it got more and more uncomfortable for me, The worst thing was, that I got so extremely nausea. I can´t say how long he palpated my stomach, but would think it was between 5 to 10 minutes! When he stopped then after that endless time, I was so relieved, that I sighed for a little moment! I thought now he would have been finished with his whole abdominal exam, but when I sighed, he grinned and said "Oh, Michael, I´m still not ready with your abdomen at all! Now, I have to examine your navel, too, because you still have a complete outie bellybutton and a navel hernia, too!"
Oh, at that moment, I felt like I could cry at once and said something like "Oh, please not again!" or so. Suddenly, the facial expression of the doctor got very serious and then he said in a strong voice "Michael, there´s no way, how your navel looks and so far your navel sticks out!" and added "I think, you must be used to that exam by other doctors, too, with your gnarly outie navel!" I didn´t dare to say anything else now and was so down, that all my hope, he would leave my navel alone didn´t came true. O.k., I think, I was really naive to hope that!
So he began looking and inspecting on my outie navel now very closely and a longer time, too, spread the skin around my outsticking navel knot and took a special kind of tweezers then and poked with that on my outie navel knot! That was absolutely uncomfortable! But I didn´t want to say "ough" now. After a while, he started to touch and finger on my protruding navel, first carefully, then he began to press and poke on it with some more pressure until he suddelny - without saying a word before - tried to poked my outie navel as hard in as he could and hold it in for some more seconds! That hurt me really, so that I "oughed" although I didn`t want do that. But the doctor didn´t show any reaction to that, he started again and again by palpating carefully first and then poking my navel in as hard as he could four or five additional times! I "oughed" every time, but the doctor only said once "No way! That must be done by your conspicuous navel!" I felt so bad and nausea in my stomach like I could vomit totally in his face! My only hope was, my navel would stay inside when he poked it so hard in, but that never happened, it always popped ut at once. Then, he took my outie navel knot between two of his fingers, pressed and squeezed it around and around between his fingers several times. That was such a stabbing pain, that I began to cry, but the doctor also didn´t really took a notice of that. He pressed my outie navel knot in all direction and took it inbetween his fingers again and then suddenly tried to pull it as far out as possible! He also repeated that for five more times and I was screaming and oughing more because of that hard burning pain every time! I thanked God when he let my navel go then! But he was absolutely uncontent about my outie navel and my navel hernia and said that I must have more exams and maybe a surgery (but that was not necessary later!). But for the moment, I had such a burning and poking navel pain, that I couldn´t stand and walk upright afterwards. And, in my opinion, my navel stuck out a bit more after the exam than before, and I hated that totally and because of that this doctor, too.
The exam was not finished at all. Th egastro-doc did a genital exam and palpation of my penis and testicles, too, then I had to turn around on the exam table and placed on my elbows and knees. The doctor first percussed on my abdomen again from below, mainly directly on and near my outie bellybutton again, what was so uncomfortable, too, because my navel still hurt so! The last part of the exam was an anal inspection and then a rectal palpation (it was the second time ever, I got that) and on its end I got a fully erection of my penis, too. I can´t describe my embarassment and shame, when the nursing student gave me back my pants and clinic pyjama for dressing on and when she brought me back into my patients room. The girl said to me, that she felt some pain herself by looking at the thorough navel exam the doctor did to me; she added then "but I think that must be done in that way by your ugly looking outie navel"! I was all rund down after the exam and wished that I never had to see that doctor again. But that was also a wishful dream, that didn´t came true. After my 3-weeks clinic-stay, I had to see that doctor regularly for complete control exams, and he always examined my navel in that way! So this is the main reason, why I never wanted to go there, when my mom made the appointments and mostly had some trouble with me then; but she liked the doctor, because he was so thoroughly and examined always my navel so thoroughly, so she was strong to me and sometimes said "Michael, there´s no discussion, by your ugly outie navel!" That was a really hard time for me...