This is a true story about one of those times you hope you won't have to go through again. I was about 8 years old and quite healthy I thought. I was into sports and was on the city's swim team. I did have one problem though and that was I would spike a very high fevers for no reason. Mom took me to my pediatrician and he said that there was no reason for them. Then one summer I was struck with a fever and my Mom couldn't get the fever down below 101.0 .. I was then taken to another doctor that looked me over real good.
They made me pee in a bottle and he checked my hart, lungs, and so forth. He then placed me in a knee chest position and the nurse held me like that. The doctor explained what he was going to do but I was just not prepared for it.
"I'm going to put some lotion on your bottom now Katie I need for you to just stay as relaxed as you can."
I felt the cool lotion on my small hole and then he inserted what seemed like the biggest finger he had, up into my rectum. I screamed out and cried as the finger went deep inside me and twisted around.
"Mommy.....ouee...mommy," I yelled. He pulled his finger out and said, "OK its over now Katie ...you were a good girl."
That was the first, but not the last time that anything was stuck into my rectum. As the exam progressed my fever rose and I was soon laid flat and held to the table as the nurse took my temp for the second time, but this time in my bottom.
"I'm just going to put some lotion in your bottom and then put the thermometer in."
I felt my cheeks parted and I squirmed and cried as she pushed her finger in and out fast then the small glass rod. I quit screaming as I laid there and felt the rod sticking out of my bottom. When it came out it registered 104.6. I was then taken to the hospital and admitted for tests. The doctors just couldn't find out what was wrong.
At the hospital they poked me to take blood out and poked me to put fluid in, I hated every bit of it. They made me wear a gown that didn't cover me and wouldn't let me where my undies. I remember not liking the needle that they poked in my arm and wouldn't take out, it was taped to my arm and even though it didn't hurt anymore I was attached to it. All the nurses were nice and I can't remember there names. People swabbed my throat and looked into my mouth and ears. I was getting tired of it and with the fever I was also getting lethargic.
I remember laying in my Moms arms that night, she was sitting in the chair by my bed holding me. The nurse came in and my Mom said that I felt very hot. My Mom held me on my left side as the nurse stuck the glass rod into my bottom again. I was so feverish that I didn't really care. I then heard a lot of commotion and my Mom held me tight. I was not even aware that my Dad was also there.
I was rolled back over onto my left side and my Mom held me tight, I could hear a lot of people in the room as my cover and my gown was raised from my bottom. The nurse said something about an enema but I didn't know what one was or what they were going to do. My Mom had me wrapped around her body and held me there tight. I then felt something cold and big enter into my hole again and it went up into my bottom far.
"Oh Mommy stop ...oucheee...Mommy please..." She tried to comfort me as the nurse pushed something into me.
My Mom then picked me up and laid me on the bed. It felt real cold on the bed and I complained " Oh too cold...oh cold....cold Mommy...." I tried to get up but was held down on my tummy with my body spread out on gel filled type pillows. It was very cold on my over heated body. My bottom was thrust up by the cool pads as the thing was still in my bottom.
"Mommy it's cold ...Mommy I'm cold," the nurses now were covering me with the heavy cool pads and I shivered and cried as the cool touched every part of my body. My arms were spread out wide and covered and they even put a cold pad between my legs. I continued to cry as my body shivered. I was soon feeling something cold enter into my belly and I cried as the cold overtook me.
My belly was slowly being filled with cool water and then it would be released. This went on for sometime as my body slowly cooled off. I laid there on my tummy with my bottom in the air and I was soon feeling better and a little embarrassed at my position. "Mommy ....please cover me...I'm cold." I stated after what seemed like and hour or two.
"We're going to take the nozzle out of your bottom now Katie...try and be still." I heard the nurse say. I squirmed and cried as the big part of the nozzle past my poop hole. I then felt them take away the pads that laid on me and I was picked up from the bed by my father and the rest of the cold pads were taken from my bed and I was laid back down.
The nurse came over and told me to get onto my side, I cried and told her " No," my Dad then held me on my side as the nurse pushed something up into my bottom, she did that twice and I cried each time. I later found out that she was giving me suppositories to keep my fever down.
The next day I was taken to some treatment room and they put a needle into my back. I hated this and it hurt real bad. The needle didn't stay there but the hurt sure did. They were looking for meningitis when they did the lumbar puncture. I was also taken to the X-ray room and pictures of my belly and my chest were taken. My fever stayed at around 100.0 all day even with the medication they gave me.
Later that day two nurses walked in and the one explained to me that they needed to put a small tube called catheter up into my pee hole to drain my bladder. She showed me the catheter and it was real small compared to what they put into my bottom. I later found out that I hadn't peed as much as I was taking in so they would have to monitor my urine to make sure my kidneys weren’t shutting down.
My Mom and one nurse's held my legs wide apart and bent at the knees with the palms of there hands holding my feet. Something like the stirrups that women have to get into now but I was held by my Mom and a stranger as my bottom was exposed.
" OK Katie your going to feel some real cold medicine on your bottom," I jumped a little as the nurse took my small privates and held them open and swabbed me with cool medicine. It didn't hurt, it was just cold.
" OK honey I'm going to put the tube in now I want you to take a deep breath in and blow it all out for me real hard," I took the deepest breath I could and when I started to blow it out I felt a burning and stinging going up my pee hole ...."OUEEEEEE......OUEEEE....OH....OUEEEEEEE.... IT HURTSEE....OH IT HURTS.....TAKE IT OUT OUEEEE.." I yelled and tried to get away but was held tight. "Oh please take it out I need to go pee ......pee real bad"
" No you don't Katie remember I told you that it will feel like you need to go pee...but this catheter will do that for you"
I was crying as she taped the catheter securely to my inner thigh. " Mommy please take it out it hurts," The nurse covered me up and said a few things to my Mom and left the room. I remember my Daddy coming into the room and I asked him to take the thing out of me. " I hate this place...I want to go home," I cried.
A few hours later my fever took another jump and after the nurse took my temp rectally, another nurse came into the room with a cart full of the gel pads that would cool me down. I was again placed in a knee chest position and a tube stuck up my butt and I was covered with the cool pads. The cold water flowed slowly in and out of my belly. I cried as the cold made me shiver and I cried for my Mom to take me home. I remember the only thing sticking out from the gel pads was my bottom.
That night my Mom rocked me to sleep in her lap, as I cried and wanted to take out the catheter that was in my pee hole. That night late or early the next morning I was again covered with the cool pads and given cool enemas. I was very unhappy and wondering why I was being tortured. I remember telling my Mom that I would be a good girl from now on if only she would take me home.
The next morning I was taken back to the X ray room and they took pictures of my head and showed me the pictures. They looked funny to me, but my Mom said that they hadn't found any reason for my fever spikes. I was then given something white and chalky to drink. It was suppose to taste like bubble gum and it did a little but mostly it tasted like chalk. I was then X-rayed again and went back to my room for lunch. I had only been given liquid for my meals.
"Mommy why can't I have something to eat, I'm hungry." My Mom said that the doctor wanted me to just have things to drink. I felt all right when the fever was down not feeling real sick like a tummy ache or sore throat, I would just get a high fever and lethargic. I hated to have the tube in my arm and in my pee hole. I cried almost all the time. The nurse came in and explained to me that she would have to give me a few soapy enemas...she said that they wouldn't be cold but there would be a lot more water for me to hold.
I cried and struggled as the nurse set up the bag and I was held down to the bed with my bottom in the air, I didn't want anymore of this...I just wanted to go home. The nurse lubed my butt hole and slid in a big nozzle. She started the flow of water as the other nurse held my ankles and my arms so that I was in a knee chest position. I remember it felt nice at first and I stopped struggling, but soon my tummy started to ache and cramp. I cried as the nurse massaged my tummy. This went on for a long time and I kept yelling, "I have to go #2...please I have to go to the bathroom." The nurse helped me to my feet and she held her finger in me as we walked to the bathroom. I remember going a lot into the bowl.
This was repeated and I squirmed and cried the whole time . I then laid in my Moms arms while she sat in the chair. They came and got me to go to X ray and I went, nothing bad had happened to me in X ray, but this time was different. I was placed on the table and explained that I needed to have a tube put up into my bottom. I started to cry and fight as soon as I heard what was to happen. I wasn't going to let them do that to me again. " No ..I don't want it in my butt...." My Mom tried to calm me, but it was no use. A nurse came in and told me that if I didn't do as I was told I would be given a shot to make me calm down.
"I don't care I don't want it up my butt.....I don't want anything up my butt again," I cried. The nurse came back in and did give me a shot while the X ray guy held me down. I then felt very tired but was still awake.
"OK Katie your going to feel my finger in you…just relax." I felt the mans finger on my bottom and then push up inside me. I cried out as it stretched my butt hole wide. My Mom held me and talked me through it.
I then felt something bigger go into me and I yelled, " Oueee....oucheee....MOMMY ..Ohhheee I got to go to the bathroom...MOMMY ....I'm going to go by accident." I then felt something being blown up inside me and I cried and screamed again that I needed to go. I then felt something cool start to go into my belly and I cried some more. "OK Katie ...I need for you to be a good girl and stay real still for me so I can take some pictures...OK..." I sniffled and cried some more and said, "OK..." in a very timid voice.
He placed me on my side and I asked him " Please don't put anymore up my butt," he assured me that he wasn't going to stick anything more up there. He then left real quick and came back. I again felt something going into my belly and I cried as the cool white thick fluid filled me. " I gotta go real bad...Mommy" She helped me into the new position and said "Just hold on baby...you need to try and be a big girl and stay still." I heard the click from the X ray machine and I felt my tummy get real full.
"But I don't want to be a big girl ......I want to go to the bathroom and go HOME......NOW..." I cried. From then on a man stood holding me down in the positions that I needed to be in. The hole thing was horrible as the thick stuff flowed into me and I felt like I was going to explode. I was then led to the bathroom and the man took the thing out of my butt and all the white stuff went into the bowl. I was then led to my room, where the nurse and my Mom struggled to give me two more enemas to clean the white stuff out of me.
People continued to come in and take blood and give me fluids in my arm. I cried and struggled each time they tried to do something to me. I cried about the tube in my arm and the tube in my pee hole and how they kept sticking things up my bottom. My temp was being taken hourly to see how quick it would rise. I found out later that my temp would go from 100.0 to 106 in less than an hour and they just didn't know what was causing it.
That night I was placed in the cool pads and given enemas twice. My Mom told me later that the whole thing was making her sick after a while, and that Dad was getting quite upset that the doctors couldn't find anything. The next morning I was given a shot and taken to a special X ray where they inject a dye into your thyroid and it shows up on the X ray. I slept through the whole thing.
Back in my room I awoke to being in the cool pads and my Mommy told me that they had found out why I was having fevers. I stayed in the hospital until the next morning and the tubes were taken from my arm and out of my pee hole. I was then allowed to go home but I had to take medicine every day.
My Mom continued to take my temp often at home and I would have to be placed in a cool tub of water and given a cool enema when my fever spiked. I was given suppositories every morning and at school I had to report to the school nurse for my rectal temps, If I had a fever over 102.0 My Mom would come get me from school.
I later found out that I couldn't have the nodule taken off my thyroid
until I was 13 or 14. I remember going back to the hospital, and I was
scared to have the surgery but wanted to stop having my temps taken 4 or
5 times a day. I never felt bad or sick but I would really get grouchy
when it came time to get the "cool down" I called it. I no longer take
the thyroid medication that sometimes helped my fever spikes. I did get
used to the enemas and now try and take one at least once a month. The
ones I give myself now are nice, warm, and relaxing. I wonder if I would
have ever gotten into enemas if I didn't go through that experience.
by KJP
