This story is fictional based on simple true facts. All characters are at 18 years of age. I do not use editors so there may grammatical errors and misspellings, please overlook them.
In the summer when I was 18 years old, I worked for a liquor store, it was my first job I had. I worked 40 hours a week and was on my feet all day or night, depending on which shift they scheduled me. At that time, labor laws were very lax so I didn't get breaks or a real lunch.
After working there a few weeks, my ankles would occasionally swell to the point that it was difficult to put my work shoes on. I just thought it was because I never had to be on my feet for over 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. But then, my wrists and my first and second knuckles of a couple of fingers on each hand would swell and would be hard to bend too. I looked up the symptoms, and they pointed to gout.
Not wanting to deal with the joint stiffness and pain, I went to see my doctor. He examined me and really couldn't tell what my issue was because I didn't have any of the symptoms at that time. He said that it was unusual for someone my age to have these joint swellings so he was going to send me to a specialist to see if he could diagnose my health issue.
A week later I had an appointment with the specialist my doctor referred to me. I arrived, checked in with the receptionist and filled out the typical paperwork. There was only one other patient in the waiting room, she had already filled out her paperwork and was waiting patiently.
About five minutes had gone by and a patient exited from the back part of the office and stopped at the receptionist desk and said, "The doctor wants to see me when he gets my test results."
The receptionist, Annie said, "I'll call you as soon as we get your results and make an appointment then."
The patient said, "Okay."
Just then, a nurse came from the back and said, "Jane, we are ready for you now."
So the lady waiting, got up and went to the back with the nurse.
I was waiting for almost an hour watching the TV that was in the waiting room when Jane had come from the back and stopped at the reception desk. Jane said, "The doctor wants to see me again in a week."
I took a glance at Jane and she looked a little disheveled and flush, but she had a smile on her face. I thought maybe she had a treadmill test or something, but didn't think anything else of it.
A couple minutes later, the nurse, Lori came out and said, "Ken, we're ready for you now."
I got up and met her at the door leading to the back. She asked, "How are you today? We're sorry for the long wait, but we needed to perform some extra procedures on the previous patient."
I said, "I'm doing fine today, but not so much my symptoms are around."
Lori said, "Well hopefully Dr. Jones will be able to help you."
She led me into this big room that had a big desk, bookshelves and a few areas that had exam tables that were separated by folding walls. Lori had me sit in a chair in front of the big desk and said, "The doctor will be with you in a few minutes."
As I waited, I looked around the room and the exam areas and thought how odd it was to have a layout like this.
A few minutes went by and the doctor entered the room, brushing his hair back and looking at his clipboard. The doctor was in his 50's, very distinguished looking and tall, about 6'3" with a thin build. He announced himself, "Hello, I'm Dr. Jones, it's nice to meet you, Ken."
I said, "It's nice to meet you."
Dr. Jones said, "I'm going to ask you some questions and get a family medical history from you to get started and try to get an idea of what your health issue is. Then, I'm going to give you a full body exam, then draw some blood and see what's going on internally. Sound okay?"
I said, "Sounds good to me."
The question and answer session lasted almost a half an hour. He was very thorough and detailed gathering information so he could try to determine what my condition was.
After the doctor was done asking questions, he said, "I'm going to leave the room and my nurse will bring in a gown that I want you to change into, then I will start the full body exam."
He walked out and Lori brought in the gown and said, "Ken, you need to get completely naked and put this gown on with opening to the back. You can go behind this portable over wall here." As she pointed to an exam area nearby.
I took the gown from Lori and went behind the wall, got undressed and put on the gown.
Lori said, "You can have a seat on the exam table and wait there."
I waited a couple of minutes when Dr. Jones came back into the room. He walked over to a cabinet and grabbed a box that had his supplies and basic instruments in it, then walked over to exam area I was in.
The doctor said, "Okay Ken, I'm going to get started. I'm going to check your vitals, listen to your heart and lungs first."
After doing all the typical preliminary exam items, he said, "I'm going to check your skin for any weird discolorations, unusual bumps or odd shaped spots or moles. I am going to check every inch of your body."
I said, "Okay, that's fine with me." Not thinking anything of it, knowing that he wants to be very thorough with his exam.
He summoned Lori, "Nurse, I need you to hold this light for me so I can get a good look at Ken's skin." It was a hand held portable light that lit up specific areas that the doctor was examining.
Dr. Jones told me take my gown off and lay on my back. I shed the gown and climbed onto the exam table and laid down. Lori stood by and watched me get naked and climb onto the table, I could tell that she was checking me out to see what my body looked like. Then the doctor grabbed the gown and spread it over my crotch area to cover me up initially.
The doctor started the exam with my head and face, then worked his way down my arms, then down my torso. When he reached my waist, he went down to my feet, then worked his way up each leg. When he arrived at my crotch, he said, "I'm going to need to remove the gown now."
