"Jeanine Lewis?" the polite receptionist behind the counter called, looking out over the last few people in the waiting room.
An electric shock rocked through Jeanine's stomach as she glanced up from the magazine she had been pretending to read. After a quick sigh and a halfhearted swipe at her dark brown bangs hanging down in her eyes Jeanine stood and walked towards the desk. She glared accusingly at the clock on the wall that had only a half hour left until the office closed. Only thirty minutes and she could have had a real excuse as to why she hadn't made her appointment today.
"Jeanine?" the young woman asked?
"Ye.." Jeanine started before clearing her throat, "Yes."
"Right through there, the nurse is waiting for you," the receptionist said with a sympathetic smile as she indicated a door to the right of the desk.
"Thank you," Jeanine replied as she walked through the door, the sinking feeling in her stomach making her queasy.
Sudden images of the last three months flashed through Jeanine's mind as she looked around the interior of the doctor's office. How happy she had been when she had been hired at her new job, the excitement and challenge of the first few weeks as she fit in with her team, even the stress of meeting that first critical deadline on the project she had been assigned. She didn't remember exactly when she had found out that she needed a complete physical as part of her new employee orientation package, it had probably been one of the countless asinine corporate emails that she automatically deleted, but she did remember when she had found out that she would need a 'female' exam as part of her physical. She had been in this very same office and had nearly broken down in tears.
"Jeanine?" a petite nurse with dirty blond hair and a slim build asked.
"Yes, ummm," Jeanine glanced at the nurse's name tag, "Tracy."
Tracy smiled and pointed towards the wall next to the door, "We just need to get you weighed and measured and I can take you back."
Jeanine nodded jerkily and slipped out of her shoes. She had worn crocs just for this reason and was soon standing on the scales trying to concentrate on the rough, almost painful texture of the no skid surface on her bare feet instead of the queasiness in her stomach as Tracy adjusted the metal bar so that it just touched the top of her head.
"Fifty nine point four kilograms and 158 centimeters," Tracy said as she filled in the appropriate spots on a form.
"Ok," Tracy said with a smile when she had finished, "This way please."
Jeanine slipped her crocs back on and followed Tracy in a daze, her stomach doing slow somersaults as she was led past the nurses' station scattered with personal pictures and children's crayon drawings. With her anxiety building by the moment Jeanine was led down a narrow, sterile hallway and past room after identical room filled with paper covered beds until she nearly ran into Tracy's back.
"Here you go," Tracy said, handing over a neatly folded powder blue gown and gesturing through yet one more door into the exam room.
"You'll need to get undressed including your underwear and put on the gown," Tracy continued, "I'll be back in a few minutes to check on you and take your blood pressure."
Jeanine nodded and stepped into the examination room. She jumped at the loud click as Tracy shut the door, looking around the cold, impersonal room as her stomach cramped painfully. Jeanine hated having 'female' exams, hated them with an unreasoning terror and shame that bewildered her. Above all she hated the humiliation of having a total stranger touch and look at her most intimate place.
But another reason, a reason that she couldn't even admit even to herself was the arousal that a stranger's touch and inspection caused her to experience.
Jeanine realized she was clutching the powder blue hospital gown to her chest and forced herself to place it on the narrow strip of paper that covered the cheap upholstery of the exam table. After a deep breath Jeanine kicked out of her crocs before slipping the sweatpants down past her hips. The baggy, two sizes to big sweatshirt she'd worn was next as she hastily pulled it over her head, her pageboy haircut tumbling back into place. Jeanine had planned her attire the same way she'd planned wearing her crocs, cloths that she could easily and quickly get out of and more importantly put back on after her ordeal was over. She was grateful that there wasn't a mirror in the room and with a last look at the exam room door Jeanine unclasped her bra and slipped her panties down to puddle in a small heap on the floor.
Jeanine was humiliated to see how damp her panties were and hastily picked them up before placing them on the bottom of the pile of clothes that she made on a wooden chair next to the waiting room exam table. Jeanine quickly unfolded the hospital gown and slipped it on, covering herself up but still feeling naked and exposed. She didn't even try to tie the strings or make sure her rear was properly covered, but only folded the back closed before sitting down on the exam table. She tried to hide a smile as the unreasonable part of her mind insisted that all hospital gowns were intentionally made to show off a patient's ass at the most embarrassing moment possible.
Jeanine sat quietly, unconsciously swinging her bare feet and listening to the sound of her heartbeat and the soft whir of the ventilation duck in the silent room. This close to closing there was hardly any sounds of commotion outside the room at all. The occasion distant voices she could hear would build in volume before fading away as some stranger walked past the exam room. Jeanine felt her heart racing each time one of those voices passed and she thought someone was going to enter.
A soft knock caused Jeanine to jump as the door opened without any betraying voices on the other side and Tracy poked her head into the room.
"All set?" Tracy asked, entering the room without really giving Jeanine a chance to reply.
Tracy began to bustle about, taking a blood pressure cuff off a metal rack and placing it on Jeanine's exposed arm and pushing a button. A white box made a loud beep before starting to hum and Jeanine felt the cuff tighten as Tracy removed a tray from one of the cabinets lining the room and placed it on the counter. The white box made a pfht sound and the pressure on her arm where the cuff squeezed eased a bit as Jeanine tried to see what was on the tray. Another pfht and a pressure lessened again before Tracy walked over to the white box to watch. Jeanine finally got a good look at the tray Tracy had placed on the counter and her heart began to race as she saw the shiny stainless steel torture device she hated more than anything else. The specula seemed to have a place of honor in the center of the tray next to the individually packaged swabs and miniature tubes of lubricating gel.
After another pfht the pressure on Jeanine's arm suddenly relaxed as the white box let out a beep and Tracy double checked the numbers before writing them down on her chart.
"One forty nine over ninety three," Tracy said in a concerned voice, "That's a bit high.
"Your previous visit was fine so did you eat or drink anything unusual today, maybe a little stressed over something?"
"No, I..." Jeanine began before shaking her head and starting over, "Maybe just a little stressed over work."
Tracy nodded as she took Jeanine's wrist and looked at the clock on the wall.
After Jeanine watched the second hand sweep around the clock in one complete cycle Tracy made another note on the chart.
"You're heart rate is around ninety five beats a minute," Tracy said as she put the chart on the counter next to the tray.
Jeanine shrugged, keeping her eyes firmly on her toes before mumbling a response.
"I'm always a bit nervous for these checkups."
"That's normal," Tracy said with a smile, "Just relax and Dr Bradshaw will be with you shortly."
"Dr Bradshaw?" Jeanine managed to squeak as the unfamiliar name registered.
