Blog 40 A Few More Early Navy Corpsman Stories

( The Night of This Party)

(Another slip up!)

My life changed drastically when I was stationed in San Diego. I was deliberately trying to not act on my sexual encounters. But, on this night, Stella, (the lady in the picture) had invited a guy friend to come. We all had too much to drink. People left at different times, until it was just her friend and me.

After talking for another hour, I suggested we buy another six pack and go back to my apartment. Well, one thing led to another and I caved in. The guy spent the night, and things happened again. I was depressed for a few days. I just counted it as a another slip up. It was a nice night, but we never did it again, even though I saw him every week on the base, it was never spoken about after that day.

I realized that when I got drunk, I tended to have those feelings. If I was by myself at the end of the night, then I found myself hanging outside “bars” to pick someone up for the night. More than 80 percent of the time, it was successful. And the the next day, I would feel horrible. I felt God was watching over me trying to wake me up, but still making sure I was okay. If God was not in my life guarding me, My life could have gone a 180 degrees.

(Marine boot camp patient)

When I was in charge of the lab one day, I had a “Marine bootie” as a patient. He remained in attention after I told him to sit down. When asked again, he said, “SIR, marine is afraid of needles, SIR!” (It was required for them to call everyone sir/ma’m) I assured him he would be fine and to sit down. I got his medicine ready to give him.

I talked to him to keep him calm and got the injection done. I turned around to place the radioactive syringe back in its case when suddenly, the marine popped up into attention and said, ” SIR, marine is going to pass out, SIR!” I threw my syringe to the case and turned around just in time to catch him and get him to the floor. I got Stella to get me a cold rag and some water. We got him to come back awake and watched him until he was back to normal. I had him stay on the floor until he was not dizzy. He sprung up and said, “SIR, marine would like to thank-you, SIR!” Then, suddenly he passed out again. This time we placed him on a gurney and had him rest until I told him that he could get back up. If he had just stayed seated to begin with, probably he would have been well.

(Things do not always go well)

I love medicine so much! The feeling of knowing that you are helping people when they are sick just cannot be explained. But, sadly, Nuclear Medicine works with critically ill patients, too. I would say that 40% of our patients have cancer, 40% of them are heart patients, 10% are thyroid patients, and 10% miscellaneous. I had the honor of being a friend to people that I knew were fighting for life and trying to keep them in high spirits when they came to see me. All the while knowing that they would not be coming to me much longer. And, sometimes, I was the first to know a miracle happened.

When I was doing extra duty in the Hospital and Emergency Room Admission Office, I have two vivid memories that helped me grow in what my responsibility was meant to be…….

One night I was sent to the ER to admit a woman to the hospital for a GI bleed.(I already had mine, so I did not think it was that serious.) When I went to her, she was in a sitting position and very alert. While doing her admit information, I told her about mine, we joked about it, and laughed at other things. I went back to the office and was finished with her paper work. I called the ER and told them the paperwork was ready and they said they did not need them any more because she died! I was in shock for the rest of the night. I could not believe I had laughed and talked with this woman just minutes before this. WHY?

On another night, I was working until eleven, and it was around ten. We got an ASAP from the ER to admit six sailors that got trapped in a compartment of a ship that was full of chlorine gas due to an explosion. I went to the chief nurse to get my patients names. I opened the first curtain and walked in announcing who I was and why I was there. I got no reply.

I checked his pulse and air and felt nothing. I immediately stepped out to the nurse and said, “I think this guy is dead!” She replied, “I know! They all are dead!” My job was to get enough information to admit them to the morgue. They all had dog tags and wallets, but we could not call their relatives until they had been notified officially by the Navy. After that, they would allow us to call and get the information we needed.

It was so hard to make those calls! I had to call mothers and fathers, wives, and other relatives who were JUST told that there child, husband, or anyone else had died. It was hard! I found myself praying, crying, consoling with these people. We did not finish until past two in the morning. Again, I was shocked! But, I did not sleep when I got home, I stayed awake reading my Bible trying to find reasoning to this incident. These were young men that had a full life ahead of them. Only God knows why they died so young.