Blog 41 A Few More “Wake-Up” Stories In Nuclear Medicine

(I might be a little older in this picture, but I have run out of younger ones!)

(Real on-the-job training)

During the time that I was Floor Supervisor, my job was to float around to everyone, assisting when I could, and trying to keep order and flow of patients. One day, I was making rounds when I passed a curtain and heard two pops like a pellet gun and then a splatter of fluid onto the floor. I opened the curtain and saw blood all over the floor. The technologist was holding the patient on his side while more blood just kept coming out. I immediately yelled out to call a code blue.(for an emergency) Since blood was still spewing out of his mouth, I ordered everyone to stay back, but to get sheets and towels!

The code team arrived quickly, and they took over. Our duty then was to keep record of all actions, the time it was done, and the results. The Head Doctor did not take long to realize the man was considered “DO NOT RESUSCITATE” so he stopped the code. We had to stand and just watch the man bleed to death. We found out that he had aneurysms in his aorta from the heart. When he asked our guy to get him a bedpan, he apparently applied too much pressure and two of the aneurysms burst (causing the popping sound I heard and he simply choked to death.) After the emergency was finished and we got things clean and sterilized, I let the tech go home for the rest of the day.

(A sleeping patient)

We averaged between 35-45 patients a day. The navy had a system that taught everyone to do the EXACT same thing and order on a study that I used all through my career. This allowed one person to trade off to another without having to explain much. We could look at the screen and know PRECISELY where the first tech left off. I was running films through our processor while another tech was getting my next patient started.

When I came out of the dark room, I noticed my camera was empty. I looked in the waiting room and my help had gone to get our chief technologist concerning the fact that our patient was in a wheelchair and looked like he was sleeping. I watched as our chief appeared to be talking to the patient as he calmly pushed the man out of the waiting room and into my area. He immediately called a code blue, moved the patient onto my table and began CPR. The man had literally died in our waiting room while everyone in there just thought he was sleeping. I was so amazed to the calmness my chief displayed to keep order in the department.

(Watch out what you say about someone!)

Once we had a young patient that we had to do studies on for four days in a row. She was in a coma from a car wreck and was not expected to survive. We were following her to determine if she had an infection somewhere in her body. Every day, we would stand by her bed doing the study. Most all of us worked with her and each one would be talking to another about how useless this study was for her since she was going to die anyway. After the fourth day, we never saw her as a patient again. We all had assumed that she died.

One day, about four of us were in the office when this beautiful lady came to the window. When I asked to help her, she said, “You don’t know who I am do you?” I replied that I did not know her. She asked ,”Do you remember a patient that you did many studies on a few months back?” I said, “Of course I do! It was a very sad thing for us to do!” Then she said, “I am that patient!” We all gasped and I said it was amazing that she survived! All she said then was, “I wanted to come back and tell everyone of you that even though I could not respond, I heard EVERYTHING you said about me!” She even quoted some of the things we said. Then she said, ” You all should be ashamed for your attitudes and be more caring, because if she had believed even half of what we said she would have given up. She turned around and left after that without giving us a chance to apologize.

Wake-up call! I never forgot that lady and I NEVER talked about my patients after that. I learned to put myself in their position and treat them the way I hoped I would be treated.

(closing on a funny note)

When I first started Nuclear Medicine, when someone had a mastectomy, they would use slide-in silicon prosthetic cups that blocked the radiation from their body to being seen on our film. So, we had to always ask the patient to remove them. Now, if you know me well, you know that I gesture with my hands while I talk. One day I had a very bussomed lady for a bone scan. I had a rehearsed speech that I would step out and close the curtain and let her remove their breast prosthesis, then open the curtain to let me know she was ready.

During that part of the speech, I would find myself holding my arms out and cupped to demonstrate what I needed. This woman did not blink an eye while she simply reached into her shirt grabbed a cup, pulled it out and placed it in my hand, Then she reached in and grabbed the other and repeated the same thing. I am standing there in shock with these two melons in my hands as the lady casually went to my table and laid down. As I just stood there with them jiggling in my hands, she snapped, “I’ve done this before, son. Let’s get going!!!!! With my mouth on the floor, I laid them down, went to the camera and did as I was told!