“A man doctor, hmm? I think we have one around, but I should tell him a little bit about what’s going on.” She tried to be as gentle as possible with her questions, but did need to get information out of him before dragging a doctor in to see him. “Is it a personal issue?”

“Very. Hasn’t been a woman other than my wife seen my privates since I was a private. World War Two, you know.”

“Gotcha. Is it OK if I check your blood pressure and pulse first so I can tell the doctor I did my job?” Gina asked, and pulled out a BP cuff.

“Sure,” he said, and held out his arm, but remained standing beside the gurney.

“You’re running a fever. Did you know that?” A temperature was a warning sign of something wrong. The flush to his cheeks didn’t look good, and his pulse was irregular. Another sign of trouble. This man definitely needed some help right away. Something in her, some finely tuned nursing instinct, told her there was more to his story.

“Yes, ma’am. Been feeling poorly for some time now.” He shook his head in disgust. “Just thought it would go away eventually, but it hasn’t.”

“What did you think would go away?” she asked, and busied herself with her paperwork, hoping that by keeping her eyes averted he would tell her something that he couldn’t say while facing her.

“I’ve got swelling where there shouldn’t be any. My thigh and…groin are swollen something awful,” he said, shifting his weight again.

Gina removed his shirt and put a patient gown on him, but he kept his pants on. “Can you sit on the gurney, or is it too painful?” Hopefully he could at least lie down and relieve some of the pressure on the groin area. “If you can’t sit, I can help you to lie down, which probably will be more comfortable for you.”

“I’ll try,” he said. After removing his trousers while keeping his modesty, Gina assisted him into a reclining position.

Mr Jones was sweating and breathing hard after getting onto the gurney. As a precaution she gave him oxygen. “Sometimes oxygen can help with the pain,” she said, and connected the cardiac monitor and automatic blood-pressure cuff as well. One glance at the heart monitor, and she was certain that he was as stable as she could make him for the moment.

“I’ll take anything at this point,” he said, breathed deeply and then closed his eyes. The wrinkle between his brows deepened.

“Let me see who I can find for you.” Hurrying toward the nurses’station, she almost collided with Dr Ferguson in the hallway. “Doctor? I’ve got a situation I could use your help with.”

“Sure. What’s the trouble?” Thomas asked, putting aside the chart he was reading and focusing on Gina.

“I’ve got a patient who’s requesting a male physician. He’s apparently very private and wouldn’t allow me to examine him properly, but he says his groin is swollen, red and painful. He’s also feverish, tachycardic, and in extreme pain. He can’t sit very well.” Gina hesitated as she watched him digest that information. “I think there’s something seriously wrong with him.”

“Anything else?” His blue eyes searched hers, his expression unreadable.

Gina swallowed, uncomfortable with his piercing regard. “At this point, no. That’s all I’ve got.” She knew she should have had more information to give him, but right now the patient needed the doctor’s input.

“Lead the way. Any family with him?”

“No, but he is married.” Gina led Thomas to the patient.

They entered the cubicle. “Mr Jones? This is Dr Ferguson. He’s going to do a more thorough exam.” Gina backed out of the way and pulled the curtain around them. “I’ll wait outside to give you a bit more privacy. Call me if you need something.” Gina tugged the curtain closed.

“So, what seems to be the trouble, Mr Jones? The nurse seemed to think it was of a…delicate nature.” Thomas observed the man’s flushed cheeks and glanced at the monitor, confirming Gina’s assessment of stability.

“It is,” Mr Jones said. “I have a…um…condition. It’s too painful. I held out as long as I could, but I just don’t know what to do about it anymore.”

“Oh, I see. Well, how about I take a look?”

Thomas gloved up, preparing to examine the patient. When he eased the gown away, he cringed and tried to keep all expression from his face. Good God. He took a deep breath as he assessed the man’s affected areas. The groin and upper thigh were red, the skin inflamed and hard as a rock. The left testicle was the size of a grapefruit. “What happened here?”

“I fell and a few days later this is what showed up.” Mr Jones shook his head in disgust, but even that small movement seemed to give him pain.

There had to be more to the story than that. “You fell?” That wasn’t what his gut was telling him had happened to Mr Jones. Thomas’s suspicions were more along the lines of malignancy. The man might have a trauma as well, but that wasn’t the only thing wrong with him. Thomas sighed, knowing this wasn’t going to be an easy case. But then, easy cases rarely interested him. He liked the intricacies of complicated cases. He knew he should go into hematology or infectious diseases, but his heart was in emergency medicine and the excitement it brought.

“Tripped over the damned cat. Guess I need to get my eyeglass prescription changed, too. Didn’t even see her.” He winced as Thomas continued the exam.

This was no injury from a fall. Instinct and years of experience told Thomas it was much more than that. The lymph nodes in the left groin and tissue in the upper thigh were swollen, firm, red and painful to the touch. With a sigh, he stood upright. “I’d like to run some tests to figure out what’s going on and see if we can’t make you more comfortable with a little medication.” This wasn’t going to be a simple fix or an easy diagnosis. He was certain of it.

Thomas stepped outside the curtain, but he didn’t have to look far for Gina.

“So, did you figure out what’s going on with him?” she asked, and walked along beside him to the nurses’station.

“Unfortunately, I left my X-ray glasses at home today.” He picked up the chart and started writing. “Give him some morphine.” Thomas shuddered, sympathetic to Mr Jones’s plight. “Then complete lab work-up, X-rays, CT scan, urine culture and blood cultures. We’ll also probably have to set up a referral to the hematology- oncology team as well. Have the secretary find out if they can see him today. This looks pretty urgent.” Thomas scribbled quickly in the chart as he rattled the orders off to Gina.

“You think he’s got cancer, don’t you?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“I think he has advanced cancer, and doesn’t have a clue. Tripped over his cat and believes that brought on this condition,” Thomas said, and shook his head.

“Denial is a very powerful coping mechanism,” Gina said, thinking about her own situation with her parents. “It gets people through a lot of tough situations they couldn’t deal with otherwise.”

Thomas didn’t respond for a moment, but studied her wide, expressive eyes clouded with concern for her patient. The woman was gorgeous. Tall, slender, with curly red hair pulled back into a clip that somehow managed to almost contain the mass. Yeah, he’d seen that before. Not going near that again, no matter how attractive the package. Once was enough for him. Keeping things professional was his best strategy with the budding attraction he was starting to feel for Gina. “Are you asking me not to be judgmental?”

“Yes. For just a moment.” She bit her lip, hoping she wasn’t leaping off a cliff here.

“Well, you’re right,” he said, and scribbled some more on the chart, then handed it to her. “But I still think he has cancer.”

“Thank you, Doctor.” She nodded, sending the mass of curling ringlets bobbing.

“Thomas, please.”

She gave a quick smile. “Thomas, then.” She took the chart from him. “I’ll get started on these right away.”