Not in Texas

Chapter 6

Sunday was a lazy day laying in John's arms. Dom was gone, and Vicki was entertaining downstairs.

On Monday, John drove her to the doctor. The white receptionist at the front desk smiled when she say him.

"Hello, Mr. Williams. How is your mother?"

"She's great," he said, putting his considerable weight on top of the counter. "I have a new patient for you."

"Yes, I saw. Does she have her ID and insurance card?" she asked. Susan gave the woman the ID card and she scanned it under a red beam. She handed back the card along with a tablet. "That's the patient information forms."

"We're paying cash," John said. "And I need you to do me a favor."

"Anything for you, dear."

"Meredith is a new student at UNCC. She misplaced her immunization in the move. I was wondering if you could help us out." He winked at her.

"Oh, of course. I assume everything's up to date?" He nodded. "We'll have it for you when you check out."

"Thank you so much, Claire," John said, moving toward the waiting area. "You ready for Christmas?"

"Mmm hmm. You know how much we love your gift baskets, Mr. Williams."

Susan sat down and started tapping through the questions. She had actually never filled out medical forms, though she had been to a doctor before. She found the questions very intimate though. She asked John, "Why do they need to know how many partners I've had?"

"So they can estimate your risk for STIs."

"I would never get those."

He looked at her skeptically. "It's all there for your protection. And it's reasonably private. Don't mention Texas but be honest about your medical history."

Before she finished the questionnaire, a nurse called her back. She told her she could finish it after she took her blood pressure and pulse. The nurse, a white woman, asked, "It saw you're here for a physical and birth control, is that right?"

"Yes."

"Are you currently sexually active?" Susan shrugged. "What are you using for birth control now?"

"I'm...not using anything."

"OK, if you're having penetrative sex you're going to want to use prophylactics and do regular testing." She leaned over to look at the tablet. "Were you born female?"

"I'm sorry?"

"The doctor's going to ask about your sexual history and do a pelvic exam. Have you ever done that before?" Susan shook her head. "I'll be in here with him. It's OK, darling, lots of women haven't done this. You got some good people with Mr. Williams' family taking care of you."

"OK." The nurse tapped some numbers into a computer and walked to the door.

"Take off your bottoms and sit on the paper blanket. I'll be back with the doctor." Susan went back to the questionnaire, anxious and frustrated.

The doctor came in after knocking on the door. He was an older white man with thinning hair and glasses. The nurse followed rolling a cart with objects on it. "Meredith, I'm Dr. Cloninger." He shook her hand firmly and looked at his tablet. "Are you new to the area?" She nodded. "So we're going to do a physical. I'm going to ask you some questions, we'll do some tests and I'll examine you. Is that OK?" She nodded again, and he looked through the tablet again.

"I understand you have autism. When was that diagnosed?"

"I don't know."

"That's all right. Have you taken any medications for related symptoms? Anxiety, depression, OCD, ADHD?" She shook her head. "No concerns about that right now? How are you feeling?"