Blog 39 My Twenties Continue

Scan0008 ( These pictures show that my siblings were busy growing our next generation, which in my twenties begot five boys and one girl!)

( Tragedy hits me during my training)

During my training, I was always being a scapegoat to pranks and jokes from the real technologists. For instance, once an in-patient came to us in a wheelchair instead of a stretcher. She was an elderly woman who was only wearing a hospital gown. When it was time to put her on the camera table, I called for assistance in lifting her because she was unable to stand and move on her own. When the two techs arrived, they suggested that I get on the opposite side of the bed. They would lift her to me, and I was to put my hands under her and pull her onto the bed.

When they got into position, they suggested that I lean over the table in case they could not get the patient completely over the bed. I did what I was told, but realized that they were going to lift her from each of them grabbing an arm and a leg, instead of one holding her legs and the other from her arms. They counted to three and lifted the patient as I leaned completely over the bed. When they did this, they deliberately spread her legs and brought her right into my face. The catch was that the woman was not wearing panties. So, I got a full close-up of the woman’s anatomy between her legs directly in my face. They put her back into the wheelchair and began laughing so hard about giving me a flash of her. Thank God the woman was not aware of what they did, and they finally lifted her correctly and we got her on the bed. Things like this always happened.

I was about 6 months into my training, when one weekend I ended up in the emergency room with SEVERE abdominal pain. It felt like the pain I had when I got the bleeding ulcer the year before only a bit more painful. Well, it turned out that I had a bowel obstruction that was strangling my intestines. I ended up in the hospital with emergency surgery to cut out the dead intestines and connect them back together. When I saw the surgeon while he was making rounds, he told me that when they opened me up, they realized that there was gangrene in my intestines so much that they literally pulled out my entire intestines and rummaged through it all cutting out the gangrenous areas. By the time they were through, I lost thirteen inches of my intestines. I was in the hospital for a week getting rounds of antibiotics to assure they cleaned it all out.

Afterwards, I was given thirty days, again, to recuperate and heal. When I came back to training, I had missed about six weeks. They allowed me to finish my training only to be told that I had missed too many days and would have to repeat my second phase all over again. I felt that I was extremely ready to become a full technologist and the chief agreed, but it did not change the outcome. When the next class of students came, there were four of them. It made the ratio of students-to-technologists uneven. So, the chief placed me in the technologist side as a trainer, while I was considered a student. I was so disappointed, but it put me in a great situation that I was able to be in controlled as the lead student and allowed me to study for my second class test, rather than repeat the book work that I already had done. By the time I really graduated from school, I finally qualified for a promotion. as well. I ,also, was given the highest student award as first in my class.

The situation, also, allowed me to apply to stay in San Diego as my base. I already had my apartment. The same one that I had next door to my landlords, and my San Diego “Grandparents”! They did not increase my rent from when I was there before. They were just as glad that I was back, as I was happy to be back. I went back to mowing for my 94 year old neighbor at no cost, and she always invited me to come in for tea and she would tell me so much about her life and what it was like growing at the end 0f the 1800s and early 1900s. She was so intelligent and I enjoyed learning from her.

By the time I was ready to choose my active duty station, we had three technologists being discharged or re-stationed, so there were spaces available for me to stay in San Diego. I was chosen to stay there for the rest of my career. Oh, poor me. I spent a total of four and a half of six years in that “horrible” town of San Diego. Many of my Naval friends got stationed there. too. What were the odds? We all were very happy. If I had not been set back in my schooling, this would not have happened.

(My brother, Darrell, made a visit.)

Darrell came to see me for a week and I tried to make his visit special, but I did not have the time to take off work, so I had to cram everything in the evenings. My friends, Janice and Patty, went with us to a club to go dancing. At this point we had been friends for about three years. Well, everyone but Darrell had a little too much to drink. The girls were getting free drinks from many other guys. (less money out of my pocket!) However, A certain song came on and Janice came and asked me to dance, so I did. When the song was over, they immediately followed it with a slow song and we decided to dance to it. Right in the middle of the song, Janice and I looked at each other and before we knew it, we were kissing! (French!) It just happened.

We decided that the girls were getting too drunk, so I rounded them up. Janice came with no problem, but Patty was in the center of a few guys. She did not want to leave and I told her that she came with me and needed to leave with me. The guys confronted me and dared me to take her. Seeing this, Darrell,(twice my size) stepped in and said she was leaving. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulders and she began kicking and she threw one of her shoes off. The guys followed and Darrell and I stood together and said we were leaving. We left, (without her shoe) and I was very proud of Darrell.

I had my Brat , so Darrell and Patty rode in back, and Janice and I were in the front. Janice started yelling that she was hungry for a Big Mac. But, the only thing opened was Jack-In-The -Box. Janice kept yelling that she did not want a Jumbo Jack that she wanted a Big Mac. I said one more time that she could not get one. Janice yells at the top of her lungs, “Then lets get the hell out of Dodge!” And we left. We did not talk about that night for probably three weeks. But we did not lose our friendship.

(continue in Blog 40)