Extended well-child and well teen physicals

Boy 11 yo, North America, Called in for internal inspections in the 1960es

I am male. It happened in North America. Before 1970. 11 year old. Parents said I had a doctors appointment, no more explanation. My parents drove me to the exam at a health center.

All children with some kind of health problem seemed to be called in.

Preparations before the exam: I was not allowed to eat ome time before the exam. I got laxatives at home to clean out my stomach the day before the exam. I got a traditional enema before the exam to clean out my stomach. I was given a gown but was naked under the gown in the time I stayed awake.

They placed me upon a simple examination table. I got IV tube into blood vessels, in a leg. I got a blood pressure monitor wrappep around an arm or leg. I got electrodes on my cheast. I got anesthesia through a tube into my anus that had effect on my whole body. I got some numbing and lubricating cream injected into my urinary opening. The anesthesia made me relaxed, but I was conscious.

Exam with outer equipment: They performed an ECG, functional test of the heart function, with electrodes on my chest and other body areas. They took stomach x-ray pictures. They took x-ray pictures of my hip area.

Internal inspections: They inspected the inside of my urethra and bladder with a scope. The doctor explored my anus with a finger.

Arrangements after the exam: I had catheter into my bladder. I lay with my legs in stirrups some time after the exam. I lay naked under a blanket after the exam. I stayed overnight in a clinic ward until the catheter was removed.

The school I intended: I attended ordinary daytime school.

COMMENTS:

These kind of ordeals, where greater groups of children are called in for invasive exams taking a whole day or more, have a longt history, of which this is an example. The procedure seems to have been the same all the time, only that the equipment have got steadily more modern, and internal inspections made possible with the most modern equipment have been gradually added.

The experiemcer indicated that he got anesthesia through the anus. This is a method used sometimes. But in this case the anesthesia was most probably adminitered though the IV and contrast fluid for the stomach x-ray administered through the anus.