This story begins in a small rural community during the WWII years in the Midwest. This takes place at a small community hospital operated by a religious order where the nurses wore long, floor length white voluminous uniforms with a very elaborate headdress with just their faces visible.
My sister had acquired some problem with her ‘female parts’ and as my father was away working for the government most of the time mother was the sole source of parenting.
One morning I heard my mother and sister in the bathroom, lots of loud talking and crying by my sister then they came out and mother announced that we were going to town. The trip to town which was nine miles away on a gravel road that was bumpy, rough and slow but finally we arrived in the little village and drove directly to the hospital.
Inside we went. It was common practice at this institution to announce to the desk clerk, another of the religious order in black, what the difficulty was and mother, who was quite fastidious, leaned over the counter, motioned for the clerk to come close and whispered something in the clerk’s ear. She nodded her head in that all knowing, understand the problem way and rang a bell.
A nurse appeared quickly in the long uniform, had a quick conference with the clerk then came out to us. She talked directly to mom and stated that we would follow her to a ‘treatment room’.
Mom asked her about me, male, but only 4 years old. This did not seem to be a problem and I dutifully trailed along with the nurse, mom and my sister to the ‘treatment room’.
I had not been in the hospital before. The strong smell of alcohol was everywhere, the Sisters of Mercy traveling up and down the halls carrying all types of equipment including red rubber hot water bottles as well as hypodermic needles which I knew nothing about at that point in time.
Quickly we came to the ‘treatment room’ and my sister was instructed to go behind a curtain where the nurse gave her other instructions which I could barely hear but sounded like “take all your clothes off and put this on.”
Mom sat down on a straight back chair and I sat on the floor beside her both of us looking at a leather covered table or bed I didn’t know which on a high (by my standards) stand.
Soon my sister came out in this white sheet I thought and the nurse had been busily bustling about opening drawers placing things in a large white pan much like a cake pan only the sides were lower. The nurse instructed my sister to climb up on the table/bed and sit on the edge as the nurse had some things to do to my sister.
Because of the small size of the village with the small hospital, a doctor was not in residence at all times, this being an early age in medical development in the Midwest. Physician Assistants were not ‘invented’ yet.
However there was a Senior Nurse who on many occasions acted quite similar to a GP doctor and actually delivered babies, did minor surgery and other things that would not be allowed today. I would guess that this nurse had a Bachelor’s Degree in medicine and she commanded considerable respect from the fellow staff of the little hospital as well as the community, since she was really the only fully trained medical professional this community had.
I could see my sister was scared, she was slightly trembling and had a very pale look about her. She was 14 years old, with developing breasts and her body was beginning to fill out in the hips with a very attractive figure in all.
The Senior Nurse swept into the room with a very unforgettable sound, a sort of rustling sound. She asked my mother what the problem appeared to be and mom unabashed indicated to the nurse, ‘vaginal drainage’.
Wow, I thought. What is that big word ?
The Senior Nurse stated quite clearly, “We will do a thorough examination, determine if there has been penetration here or not, take ‘samples’ for examination at the Lab then determine the treatment necessary.”
Penicillin had just been marketed, otherwise the standard treatment of sexual transmitted diseases was usually pretty nasty : sulfur, mercury and other agents were tried to combat the STDs of the day.
With that said the Senior Nurse turned to the other nurse, gave her some instructions which I couldn’t hear and departed the room. The nurse asked my sister to lie back on the cushions of the table. Out of the end of the table came what looked vaguely like stirrups. The nurse adjusted them upwards and outwards. The nurse asked my sister to slide to the end of the table and place her feet in the stirrups which my sister dutifully did.
By now she was tearful and showed some reluctance but mom got up, went over to her and sternly stated that my sister had better do as told or she would regret it. The nurse strapped my sister’s feet to the stirrups, then placed a strap over her tummy and one across her shoulders firmly attaching my sister to the bed/table.
What a sight, my sister, breasts jutting upward covered by the white sheet looking thing with her feet strapped in these stirrups and sticking way up in the air spread apart.
What an experience for a young man. I had had enema sessions with mom being the ‘nurse’ and doing the treatment on me so this activity was very new and very interesting. I carefully edged myself along the floor to get a better view of what was happening.
I was looking at my sister’s bottom, could see that there was a very considerable difference between her bottom and my bottom. There was an extra opening in her bottom which was in plain sight.
The Senior Nurse came back in now covered by a large white apron which appeared to be made of latex rubber. She had a mask over her nose and mouth and had removed her headdress and replaced it with a white cap covering her hair and ears.
The nurse went to a drawer, pulled out a pair of red rubber gloves and assisted the Senior Nurse in donning the gloves, each went on rather difficultly and were firmly pulled up tightly ending in a snap about half way up the Senior Nurse’s arms. The nurse brought over a very large hooded light, switched it on and aimed it at my sister’s bottom.
My sister had a look of shear terror on her face but appeared to be gritting her teeth. The Senior Nurse sat down on a little stool with rollers under it and moved between the upward thrust legs. The Senior Nurse gave instructions to the attending nurse who handed her a large magnifying glass which the Senior Nurse used to spend considerable time studying my sister’s outer vaginal lips.
The light was moved closer and the Senior Nurse took her finger and lightly parted the vaginal lips carefully continuing to inspect very closely for what I later learned was ‘penetration’.
After a thorough inspection of the outer lips the attending nurse moved the stirrups which my sisters feet were attached to a much wider position and this opened the vaginal lips up and I could see my sister’s vagina clearly.
There was a milky substance at the entrance of the vagina and the Senior Nurse took a long swab and soaked up the milky substance and gave the swab to the attending nurse who smeared the swab on a little piece of glass and left the room with it.
The Senior Nurse waited until the attending nurse returned then asked the attending nurse for ‘lubrication’ at which the attending nurse produced a toothpaste like tube and out of it came a clear jelly like substance which the Senior Nurse smeared about her rubber gloves. With two fingers the Senior Nurse parted the opening of the vagina and now took a flashlight and peered inside my sister.
The attending nurse held the flashlight as the Senior Nurse peered into the spreading vagina and looked closer with the magnifying glass. Satisfied with what she had found the Senior Nurse stood up and asked my sister. “Have you been with a man ? Have you had intercourse ? What have you been doing ?”
My sister quivered and seemed to shrink back into the cushions of the table protesting all the time no, no, no, no. After a brief Gestapo-like interrogation the Senior Nurse sat back down, reached over to the little table next to the stand and took a metallic thing which looked like large duck bills.
The attending nurse again produced the white tube, the jelly was spread on the ‘duck bills’ and then much to my surprise the Senior Nurse took the instrument and placed it against my sister’s vagina and started to slowly slip it in, just inching it in very very slowly and opening up the instrument as it was being inserted.
My sister was in tears but gritting her teeth. “Hymen ruptured,” I heard the Senior Nurse state, and the duckbill instrument was inched in further and further.
“Aha ! This explains it,” was the exclamation from the Senior Nurse. “Forceps please.”
The attending nurse was caught off guard and rushed to another drawer and came back with another instrument which opened and closed and looked somewhat like scissors.
The Senior Nurse took the instrument, did some adjustment to the ‘duck bill’ upon which my sister flinched only a little but enough to get a reprimand from the Senior Nurse. “Hold Still !!”
The new instrument was shoved through the now open wide duck bills, the handles flexed and then the exclamation, “I’ve got it !” and the scissors/forceps were withdrawn with a strange looking lump of now milky white cotton.
My sister screamed in pain as this was being removed and I could tell that it must have hurt her a lot as my sister was tough as a boy. The Senior Nurse stood up with the ‘prize’ and asked my sister : “What is the meaning of this ?”
My sister was in tears but her story was she had been talking with friends at school who had told her about the new feminine hygiene product that was placed in the vagina (Tampax). They provided her with one, however not with instructions. My sister deciding to try out this device had inserted the tampon, shoved it in as far as she could, unfortunately rupturing her virginity and continued to pack it into her vagina until it was wedged tightly against the cervix of her uterus. The string she tore off the tampon before inserting it and with the pain of the ruptured hymen did not want to ‘dig’ up there to try to get the tampon out.
My sister had been beside herself as to what to do, she knew that mom was very sensitive about such things and with the ‘virginity’ thing being of premier importance around our house my sister knew that she was doomed. She had actually thought of running away or other nasty things.
Fortunately she had sense enough to not use sharp objects in her vagina. However the tampon remained wedged in and as the days wore on (2-4), things got more difficult until my sister had to talk with mom. That had been the conversation held in the bathroom prior to coming to the hospital.
I could see relief spread across mom’s face. The Senior Nurse seemed much relieved as well and became more compassionate towards my sister. The Senior Nurse told my sister that an infection had developed and the results of the lab tests confirmed that it was a bacterial infection, not an STD. The Senior Nurse told my sister that she would receive an injection of penicillin and other medical procedures here at the treatment room. Then vaginal suppositories would be sent home for further treatment to stop the infection and heal the vagina.
The Senior Nurse indicated to mom that she wanted to see my sister in seven days for consultation and sexual education about women’s bodies. Instructions were given to the nurse and the Senior Nurse departed the ‘treatment room’. The nurse then busied herself in making arrangements for the treatment. She left the room for a few minutes then returned with a hypodermic syringe which had a white substance in it.
The nurse loosened the straps on one foot and loosened the straps across the tummy and shoulders, then ordered my sister to turn on her side. The nurse swabbed my sister’s butt with an alcohol swab then stabbed the needle into my sister’s butt, emptying the syringe in a quick motion.
My sister cried out in pain but the nurse told her to keep quiet. The straps were tightened, the foot returned to the stirrup and the nurse then brought over a wheeled stand and a tall rod upon which things could be hooked on. This was brought to the side of the table near my sister’s hips. The nurse put on a pair of rubber gloves with a snap and removed the duckbilled instrument from my sister’s vagina. The nurse went out of the room and soon returned with a very big bulging red rubber bag. It had a slight curl of steam coming out the open top. On the bottom of this bag was a long hose and a clamp on the hose. The bag with contents was hung on the stand next to my sister’s hips.
A little table was pulled out of the table that my sister was laying on and the nurse placed a bedpan on the table directly below my sister’s hips as a section of the table had been removed to expose more of my sister’s hips and thighs. The nurse went to a drawer, removed a strange looking device which had a red rubber bulb on it and a short length of red rubber hose terminating in a white one inch diameter nozzle about six inches long. All this was attached to the rubber tubing coming from the bag and once installed the nurse squeezed some of the jelly on the nozzle, smeared it around thoroughly then told my sister to hold still as she was going to receive a ‘medicinal douche’.
The nozzle was unceremoniously inserted into my sisters vagina and that must have been uncomfortable. My sister squirmed quite a bit as the large white nozzle was being forcefully inserted into her vagina.
When the nurse was satisfied that the instrument was firmly in place she put one hand on the rubber bulb and snapped the clamp with the other hand.
The bulging red rubber bag jerked and the nurse began a very determined pumping action on the rubber bulb while holding the nozzle in my sister’s vagina. A dark colored water began to pour out of my sisters vagina. This continued until the red rubber bag was completely deflated and a sucking gurgle was heard.
The nurse then removed the pan and emptied it in a nearby sink then removed the nozzle from my sister’s vagina. She opened another drawer, removed a triangular package, tore open the cellophane covering and a large white suppository emerged. The nurse opened my sister’s labia with one rubber gloved hand and inserted the large triangular suppository deeply into the vaginal opening. The nurse then removed her rubber gloves, took the straps off my sister’s feet, tummy and shoulders and told my sister to remain on the table for a few minutes with her legs tightly closed.
The nurse returned with what looked like rubber pants, adult size and a very large feminine sanitary napkin. The nurse asked my sister to open her legs, the napkin was applied to the appropriate place and the rubber-pants were pulled up. My sister assisted in pulling them up, tightly holding the napkin in place. The nurse gave instructions to both my sister and mother as to how the continued treatment should proceed.
My sister then got off the table, got dressed and we all departed the hospital. Mom and my sister had quite a discussion on the way home.
(to be continued)