Who knew?

I have officially pasted my half-way point into my internship. Yes, in 14 more weeks, I will be eligible to take a registry and then I can, and will, write letters after my name that says "HEY LOOK AT ME AND HOW SMART I AM!!!!" But the other day, mama and I were discussing how my three tests I just took went and what my next rotation was going to be (blood bank: my favorite.) And she said "Who knew?" But really, who knew there were people that stored blood and gave it to patients in a more strict manor than any perscription that was protected almost better than money. Who knew that you could look at cells under a microscope and tell if a person has cancer or not, and who knew that I'd ever be able to do that. Who knew, that when my sister is concerned that her doctor really is a quack by trying to diagnosis her because she stinks, that they would have to ask me if you can smell strep (and yes, you can.. it kind of smells like wet hay.) No one in my family knew what a medical technologist was before now; and there are multiple people in the medical field in my family. Even though, I'm pretty sure at least three of them still think that I'm becoming a specialty nurse. But this past week I found myseld in a situation where I can look back and think, " well I'm glad that somebody knew."

Last week, was my last week in hematology where they diagnosis leukemia and run other blood tests. Late wednesday afternoon, the supervisor and assistant supervisor were reviewing slides like they do every day at the end of the day and they came across a slide from a 4-year-old. They were a little shocked at how immature the cells were on the slide, so they called the child's physician. The physician is an excellent doctor that really does pay attention to blood work but since he didn't see the slide, just the information that the machine sent out, he thought the child only had a cold or infection of some sort. But when the doctor saw the slide, he ordered a bone marrow biopsy, which is a really big deal for a 4-year-old. From the bone marrow biopsy, we were able to diagnosis this 4-year-old kid with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) of the B-cell lineage. I was really excited to see such an interesting case in my sort internship but also kind of wanted to cry because this was a 4-year-old. But my supervisor assured me that since this was a B-cell lineage which was a good prognosis (well, as good a prognosis as ALL can get.)

Who knew that I, even though I only added small amounts to the reaction in one step in diagnosis, could help catch a disease before it was too late and give a child a possiblity at a normal life.