Today was a good day to see a new patient because my morning schedule was rather light. In fact, with no appointments scheduled, I had taken time to do research on the massage therapists I am interviewing—I won't hire anybody without doing an extensive background check and actually calling all of the references. But I was relieved to get a drop in appointment to help pay the rent, and I like to take time to get familiar with new patients to provide optimum treatment.
New patients really take more time than a typical visit for a treatment on an established patient because there's so much I need to find out before I begin adjusting the patient's back. For example, if they've ever had a spinal manipulation before or if they've ever had surgery, and if the patient has been in an accident or is older, I need to get an X-ray to be certain that I can safely adjust his back.
Anyway, I walked in the room of a new patient and found a young man, his wife and twin babies, sacked out in their baby carriers. I had to look at the chart to figure out which I was seeing, and concluded that it was the new mom that needed treatment.
This is not uncommon. The birthing process often causes injuries to the lower spine, and getting used to caring for a newborn can be difficult.
The husband looked professional. He had close-cropped brown hair and wore an expensive pink silk tie with embroidered Japanese style flower arrangement climbing in the tie like it was a trellis. The wife also had brown hair cut short like Sandy Duncan looked in Peter Pan. In fact she looked quite a bit like Sandy Duncan; very petite with large blue eyes.
I introduced myself, first to the husband, and then to the new mother. I noticed that she was not wearing a bra and her swollen breasts were leaking a little, so the shirt she wore had transparent spots around the nipples. I tried not to look at that too much.
It was hard not to look because I could tell that normally she had a slight figure but because she was nursing her breasts were much too large for her frame. This gave the illusion that her breasts were larger than they actually were.
"I see you're here for a pelvic manipulation. That's not too surprising, considering what you've gone through not too long ago," I said, looking down at the chart.
"That's not really what we're here for, though. I think your assistant was confused when we were talking to her," said the husband.
"I'm here for a vaginal manipulation," she said.
I thought for a moment, trying to recall an instance when I'd ever been asked to perform this action while I wrote that on the chart.
"We're hoping you can do it right, Dr. Cho," said the husband. We've already been to three chiropractors this morning, and none of them has been able to perform this maneuver successfully."
This made me nervous. Would I be able to perform this treatment right, or would they leave my office disappointed again? I had never done a vaginal manipulation, so I didn't know for sure how it worked.
"Let's see. Before I start, let me perform an exam. Stand here in front of me."
The wife uncrossed her legs and stood up. In the moment between those two actions, I observed an uncovered, clean shaved pubic area beneath her short miniskirt. I was sort of embarrassed for even looking, but I just couldn't help myself.
The husband rose, too, and stood next to her as I checked the alignment of her shoulder blades and pelvic bones.
Then, I had her bend over and rest her hands on the exam table so I could check her spinal alignment. Her skirt rose and I saw her labia more closely. Semen oozed from her vagina and coated the lips. I couldn't help staring.
Not only could I see clearly that she had been sexually active very recently I could smell the mixture of warm semen and vaginal fluid. I began to wonder exactly what was going on here.
