The last time I had a thermometer in my butt was three months ago in the local hospital emergency room. By the way, (I'm in my mid fifties), and this really happened.
My wife and I went to the hospital emergency room suspecting I was getting sepsis due to a urinary tract infection like I've had in the past. Doctors take sepsis very seriously. It was a typical ER admit for me, blood pressure, oral temp, change into a gown, and blood draws by nurses and lab techs. After waiting and shivering from fever on the table for around an hour, the doctor on-call for the night finally came in and sternly said to the nurse, "I need rectal temps on him." My heart jumped into my throat!
For those of you who think RTs are not still required or ordered, they are when you have a potentially life threatening illness, ER medics don't allow for an error margin; they want to know EXACTLY what your temp is, and rectal is that one only way to know for certain.
Upon hearing the Doctor's order, I immediately protested, to which my wife told me to "just be quiet." Except for my wife, my protest went totally unnoticed, if not ignored. The nurse rolled me onto my side and inserted the plastic sleeved probe, and yes she was young and nice looking. (Almost everyone is young when you're in your mid fifties). If I were making this up, she'd be the one I'd pick.
I was feeling very ill in order to warrant an ER visit, but by the time my RT was taken the second time, the IV Tylenol had kicked in, which allowed me to feel some relief, and the same embarrassment and raw exposure I hated and evidently simultaneously loved as a three to six year-old boy. I have a RT fetish, and I know damn good and well when and how it started. I never would have imagined it happening to me again at this age, but it did, and I'm glad it did after-the-fact. Even though it was a very traumatic thing to recently happen to me, it amazes me that it was still that adrenaline spiking.
After my rectal temp and blood workup, I spent six days in that hospital on antibiotic IVs. There were six days of oral temp taking with my vitals like they do every few hours so you can't get any sleep. There were no more RTs administered. I don't want sepsis ever again, but I'm hoping to get that same ER doctor next time. Due to health issues, I end up in the ER three or four times per year. I will keep everyone posted.
If I write any fiction on this subject, I'll state that it is. My health and medical life is weird enough without making it up.