Volunteering Blog #5

Today was the 4th week of volunteering at the CT scan. I opened the office doors and there was Jason, Sharlene, and an unfamiliar one: Donna. She was really nice too, so the vibes were great, even though Deb wasn't at CT scan and in the ER. It was funny how Sharlene had to treat the crazy, and whiny patients, while Jason had the behaving, mature ones. One the patients would only cry and pout when we walked in the scanning room, and when we left, she would be calm as an angel. Another patient had to have an IV done and a urogram scan. It took her 20 minutes just to scan, and she was grunting and yelling. The technicians tried comforting her, but could not. We left her alone and eventually, she remained calm.

As usual, we chatted about many topics, including gardening, food, cars, and my favorite: past memories. Our conversations about our past was what tied us together. What started as a lame conversation starter became into a lively discussion on anything on our mind. Communication was what made each shift a good one.

I scanned a lot of documents due to how busy the day was; I was constantly in and out of the room escorting and talking with the patients. Jason showed me how to do an IV, he taught me the "airplane method" where you stick the needle in like how a plane lands. You slowly insert the needle at an angle for the least pain. The patient handled it well so observing at that time was no problem. A lot of the nurses in the imaging center, began to recognize me as "one of the triplets". I guess word spread around that department. "They're triplets and they're going to be dentists!" they tell everyone. After my shift, I met of the nurses at the cafe and said, "Hey, how you doing?"

"Great, I was just talking about you guys [me and Cara was there at that time]; I said how we got volunteers who are triplets!"

ps: I think Deb really likes me cuz all the other technicians imply that, so.... I guess that's good to know