July 21 Tuesday, Moe's birthday

We were up somewhat early today to be at the hospital by 8:30 for my Muga Scan. What's fun, is to have a totally incompetent nurse try to give you an I.V. I could tell from the second I saw her she was incompetent. From the time she looked at my arm and didn't know where to look to find a good vein, I was in trouble. I showed her exactly where my best vein was and she said she couldn't find anything. I then told her not to stick me unless she knew for certain she could hit a good vein. She then said, you have really small veins. I said I don't know about that, but the nurses that know what they are doing are able to hit them every time. I then said, if you can't find them, then don't stick me. After another 5 minutes of screwing around, she stuck me. She then puts in the I.V., after that she realizes she can't get any blood to flow. She then wants to try to put saline in to see if it will flow. Well guess what, No flow, but a nice bubble in my arm full of saline.

The next thing she wants to do is put the I.V. in my hand. I've had more than one nurse tell me my hand is an easy stick. Guess what, she does stick me and gets some blood out but it took forever. As soon as she is finished she pulls the I.V. out and said she was going to have her superior come in to find a place to put the I.V. in so that later they can put my blood back into my body.

Now enter nurse #2, as it turns out she is not her superior, it's just another nurse who is more competent. She then goes into the same old junk I've heard before about, some days you can stick some people and some days you can't. The only people I hear that from are people who know the person before them was incompetent.

She then looks on the same arm that the other girl had stuck earlier and went exactly where I had told the first girl the best place to stick me was. It took her no time at all to find the vein and stick me. She then showed me where the other girl had stuck me and it was no where near any place I have ever been stuck. The way she showed me where she had stuck me was by showing where the bruise was on my arm.

Next I get to go back into the waiting room and wait for my blood to be analysed. After about 20 minutes this very young nurse come out and calls my name. I then follow her into a new room where I was to get the actual scan. I've gotten a scan there before, but this was a different room for sure. She was a very pleasant person and had me sit on the X-ray machine and she got me four pillows so I would be comfortable. She then lowered the machine and slid me into position. Well I thought she lowered me into the correct position. I then hear "Oh shit", and she went into another room. When she came back in there was another person with her and she started to move the machine all around and put me into another position all together. They talked for a few minutes and then the young nurse was back by herself. She didn't say anything, she just said she would be ready in a second.

Once she started the machine she started talking like a blue streak. I had a fishing shirt on so she started telling me about how she wanted to learn how to fish. I asked her if her boy friend or husband was a fisherman, she said, oh no, I don't have either. I just want to learn how to fish and how to clean them. After a few more minutes she wanted to talk about moving to Arizona and had I ever been there. I then explained I had and she wanted to know which town I liked more, Phoenix or Tucson. We then both decided that for her it would be Tucson. I then asked her where she was going to school and she told me and then said her mom was also a nurse and that she was the administrator in Lady, Ohio. I then explained that we owned the school in Antwerp and had turned it into an Assisted living and restaurant. She then got real excited, because she said her mom had just told her about a new assisted living and restaurant in Antwerp. She said, you know I'm not allowed to tell anyone about any of my patients unless they give me permission to do so. Can I tell my mom I met you? I said of course she could and tell her I said hello, and that she should be proud of her daughter.

We were finally finisher at 11am. Sharon drove me home and we loaded her up with the bread from yesterday and off she went to that restaurant and assisted living in Antwerp. She is now running both places since Elaine is in the hospital in Ann Arbor. I don't know what we would do without Sharon. She is my pillar