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I didn't want to jack Sheldon's thread, so here's my collection of sad things from my job.
Kids
I learned pretty quick that I can never work for <Other Hospital System>--specifically the downtown location because they are connected to the children's hospital. Sick kids are hard. I remember scanning a 16 year-old girl with ovarian cancer and several kids under age 5 with pheochromocytomas (adrenal gland cancer). But at least with the sick ones, no one is purposefully hurting them. While I was a student at that hospital, there was a string of bone scans on kids under age 2 for "non-accidental trauma". That's a nice way of designating possible abuse cases. I went home some days literally sick at what I'd seen. One little girl, about 18 months, was a severe case. Whatever happened to her caused VERY obvious brain damage. CPS had taken emergency custody of the little girl and only her foster mom was allowed to see her. She was cute as a button and an absolute angel for us. Never fussed. Although we had to keep a close eye on her during the scan to make sure she was still breathing.
More of an annoyance than anything
Did a scan on an infant that took 2.5 hours. Baby was not happy and screamed the whole time. Parents nowhere to be found. Now, I get that when you have a sick kid sometimes you need a break. I should also mention Baby was on contact precautions. Guess who got to sit gowned-up and gloved-up for 2.5 hours trying to keep Baby's screaming to a minimum? That would be me. And what do wonder parents do when they wander back in? Sit with Baby and touch Baby with no protective equipment. Way to either catch whatever Baby has or make Baby even sicker.
Bone Scans
I almost hate doing these. I've had two cases recently where I had to force myself not to look at the pictures until the patients were out of the hospital because I wasn't sure I could keep my reaction under control.
First case was actually related to of one of the staff. His lung cancer had been missed until the disease was very advanced. The bone scan I did on him actually looked marginally better than the previous one six months before. Maybe it was wishful thinking. He passed away a couple months ago.
The second case was an elderly man with a history of prostate cancer. He'd beaten the cancer once before but was back because he recently had started having trouble urinating. Mets everywhere. I haven't heard any updates on this gentleman, but judging from his scan, if he hasn't passed away yet, he soon will.
OMG, how are you still walking?!
Did a stress test on this guy recently. The images are supposed to look like doughnuts and horseshoes. Here is a good example of what a normal scan should look like. This guy's pictures did not look like this. There was barely any tracer uptake at all. Without some serious intervention, he's not going to last long. I was shocked he was up and walking.
With cancer patients, we see them on a fairly regular basis. It's hard when suddenly they stop coming in. We always hope it's because they got better, but in most cases we know better. I've developed a rather twisted sense of humor as a coping mechanism. It got me fussed at by someone once who thought I was being cold and heartless (no, not a patient or family member, just someone I was talking to). Yeah, it may come off that way, but we medical professionals have to cope somehow.
Kids
I learned pretty quick that I can never work for <Other Hospital System>--specifically the downtown location because they are connected to the children's hospital. Sick kids are hard. I remember scanning a 16 year-old girl with ovarian cancer and several kids under age 5 with pheochromocytomas (adrenal gland cancer). But at least with the sick ones, no one is purposefully hurting them. While I was a student at that hospital, there was a string of bone scans on kids under age 2 for "non-accidental trauma". That's a nice way of designating possible abuse cases. I went home some days literally sick at what I'd seen. One little girl, about 18 months, was a severe case. Whatever happened to her caused VERY obvious brain damage. CPS had taken emergency custody of the little girl and only her foster mom was allowed to see her. She was cute as a button and an absolute angel for us. Never fussed. Although we had to keep a close eye on her during the scan to make sure she was still breathing.
More of an annoyance than anything
Did a scan on an infant that took 2.5 hours. Baby was not happy and screamed the whole time. Parents nowhere to be found. Now, I get that when you have a sick kid sometimes you need a break. I should also mention Baby was on contact precautions. Guess who got to sit gowned-up and gloved-up for 2.5 hours trying to keep Baby's screaming to a minimum? That would be me. And what do wonder parents do when they wander back in? Sit with Baby and touch Baby with no protective equipment. Way to either catch whatever Baby has or make Baby even sicker.
Bone Scans
I almost hate doing these. I've had two cases recently where I had to force myself not to look at the pictures until the patients were out of the hospital because I wasn't sure I could keep my reaction under control.
First case was actually related to of one of the staff. His lung cancer had been missed until the disease was very advanced. The bone scan I did on him actually looked marginally better than the previous one six months before. Maybe it was wishful thinking. He passed away a couple months ago.
The second case was an elderly man with a history of prostate cancer. He'd beaten the cancer once before but was back because he recently had started having trouble urinating. Mets everywhere. I haven't heard any updates on this gentleman, but judging from his scan, if he hasn't passed away yet, he soon will.
OMG, how are you still walking?!
Did a stress test on this guy recently. The images are supposed to look like doughnuts and horseshoes. Here is a good example of what a normal scan should look like. This guy's pictures did not look like this. There was barely any tracer uptake at all. Without some serious intervention, he's not going to last long. I was shocked he was up and walking.
With cancer patients, we see them on a fairly regular basis. It's hard when suddenly they stop coming in. We always hope it's because they got better, but in most cases we know better. I've developed a rather twisted sense of humor as a coping mechanism. It got me fussed at by someone once who thought I was being cold and heartless (no, not a patient or family member, just someone I was talking to). Yeah, it may come off that way, but we medical professionals have to cope somehow.
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