Things I am Learning

I work at a hospital - in the radiology department - on the weekends - in the middle of the night. Working at a hospital is very eye opening in many ways. Its a very different experience to become a part of a persons/family's tragedy/triumph. Lately there have been a few experiences that have weighed on my mind a lot. First of all, I've become very careful about what I say and where I say it, now that I've had co-workers have family members come in as trauma patients while I'm working in the ER. It's scary to think you might know the person you're helping and not even realize it. On the other hand, it's made me more aware of how blessed I am, and the things I can do to maintain a happy life. Like taking care of my health for instance, or taking care of my relationships with others.


One such instance happened some time ago. Working as a radiology assistant I get to take part in working in every modality in radiology. Especially at night.....especially because I'm a girl. Often I have to chaperon pelvic ultrasound exams, which is as exciting as it sounds. One night I watched a sonographer doing an ultrasound on a woman who didn't know she was pregnant. It was cute to watch the tech play a little game with her, explain to her what she was seeing and then say, "and that little pea right there is your baby" ;) This woman was obviously pleased, excited, as you'd hope most women would be. A minute later a knock came at the door, it was a nurse bringing down the patient's husband. The tech gave the husband the same show he gave the wife, showed him his little baby, and the man just stood there and said "oh". No look of shock, excitement, any emotion really, it broke my heart. I felt so bad for this woman, and vowed to never have a baby with someone that didn't want one, And to make sure I marry a man who has emotions dang it! What a special experience they could have shared together that was just an "oh" experience for him. I don't feel like I was able to really put down in words how significant this experience was for everyone in the room, needless to say it's had a huge impact on me.