Job Shadowing

            I loved job shadowing. It was very cool because I was right up in the action. I job shadowed with the Godfather of APA’s, Joe . He’s the coolest guy. When I first went to job shadow, I dressed professionally, I brought a note pad and pen and had a lot of pre-written questions to ask. I figured this was standard procedure to have all these things. Apparently not, but it was impressionable. All three APA’s that worked there remembered me with the notepad and questions, while one histotech (and future classmate) remembered me as the girl who almost biffed it walking down the freshly waxed hallway with my cute dressy shoes. First impressions: check.
       

Diverticulitis

I saw the coolest stuff that day and I didn’t faint which was really good. I saw diverticulitis of the sigmoid colon-and yes, I had to google what diverticulitis was, I saw a knee cap which made me feel like there wasn’t quite enough oxygen in the room (bones makes me queasy) *side note: I now know that it actually wasn’t a knee cap (patella) but the cartilage between your femur and tibia-it still makes me queasy! What didn’t make me sick was learning that you can tell the difference between rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis (my mom had R.A.). I also saw a full breast removed for cancer, lots of placentas, moles, a stomach with ulcers, numerous unidentifiable pieces of tissue, and a man’s toe-which I didn’t actually didn’t look at as I was still a little traumatized by the knee cap.
           I was one of the lucky few to be able to get into the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s office for a job shadow. (You have to know people-I feel so cool!) I got a call Saturday afternoon telling me to be there at 8a.m., I was gettin’ in! Yay for me, right? I was more than a little nervous. I’d only seen one dead body up close in my life and we all know that was a traumatic experience. What was I going to see, green rotting flesh? Serial killer murder victims? Needing to make an even bigger impression on this guy, I still dressed up even though, hello-green rotting flesh! I had even more questions than before. So, I arrive and sign in. The receptionist was very nice and clearly deals with new people all the time, so she had a relaxing way about her. She told me a story of how there has been only one day in like 20 years where WCME has not had an autopsy to do. You see, the city of Detroit is in Wayne County, and if you have ever seen the movie “Goonies,” you know that Detroit has the highest murder rate in the country. So this morning, we had plenty to see. I met Dr. B., “the man.” First thing he says to me, “if you’re gonna faint, sit down. If you’re gonna puke, sit down.” Sitting down was my highest priority of the day.
           Now, if you have ever seen a movie or watched T.V., you probably have the same vision of a morgue that I did: stainless steel everywhere, coolers, gurneys with a decedent covered in a white sheet with just the feet exposed. That would be in Never-neverland. This, my peeps, was Wayne County.

Tagged as: diverticulitis, first impressions, histotech, job shadow, osteoarthritis, patella, pathologists assistant, rhuematoid arthritis