Ultrasound Fun by Lindsay Hays

Well, it’s time for the next ultrasound trainee in the family. And the lucky one that’s next in line is Rhett. Yesterday was his second time practicing, but of course he’s been hearing about it his whole life. He, as I was, is being trained by his parents. It can be a ball of fun… And I’ll just leave it at that. 😊

So here we go. As I wasn’t there, I’ll just make up some commentary to go along with the pictures.

First up- Best case scenario…

“You ready to get started Rhett?” Aunt Bon asked excitedly.

“Sure thing, Mom,” Rhett says enthusiastically.

“So first thing I do is palpate right?” Rhett asks.

“Yes! Way to remember!” his mother replies proudly.

“I have my transverse process and good contact, can I hit save now?” Rhett waits expectantly for the answer….

Aunt Bon reviews the image and confirms that it looks wonderful! Whew, 30 seconds and they’re on to the next animal!

“What’s Lindsay complaining about? This stuff is easy.” Rhett comments at the end of the day.

“Whatever,” I say back to him in our imaginary conversation. 😊

Or, it could have gone like this….

“Smile for the camera Rhett!” Aunt Bon says.

“Mom, it’s freezing cold out, you don’t need pictures.”

“Lindsay told me to take some for the blog, now just look happy.” He still wasn’t smiling. There is a stare down involved.

“Fine.” He smiles for one second, but Aunt Bon has trained for this her whole life. And with perfect timing she snaps a wonderful picture.

“This isn’t looking right.”

“Did you remember to palpate? It’s the most important step. ALWAYS’s start with that. If you don’t, you’re going to get sucky images every time,” Aunt Bon critiques lovingly or not so much.

“Geez, thanks for the encouragement,” he replies sarcastically.

Ok, now we’re getting back on the right track.

“That better, Mom?”

“Yes, much.”

Things are getting tense. Rhett’s got to get it right. Patience is running thin, and time is ticking. He sweeps by the perfect image a few times (every new technician does). Aunt Bon is standing by biting her nails so she won’t holler “freeze!”.

“Hallelujah he hit the freeze button,” Aunt Bon thinks to herself.

“Well, how is it?” Rhett asks.

“The intercostals are beautiful, but medial end could be better and the lateral end is slightly cut off. You can work on that for the next one. This one has taken 4 minutes and 30 seconds too long.” Aunt Bon lovingly criticizes once again.

“Ok.”

“Lindsay’s right about this not being so easy.”   Right Rhett??? (Also, me adding to the conversation in my head.) 😊

Notice there is no smile at the end? Scanning for the first several times is really a humbling experience. 😊

Now, this was completely made up. The first one is dream land, and the last one is dramatized. I would expect the day was somewhere in between the two.

Hopefully you enjoyed reading it! At the end of the day we must enjoy the quality time we get to spend with family, no matter the situation. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. Oh, I’m just kidding, it is a blessing to be able to learn from parents!

Until next time,

Lindsay