Sharon had been an x-ray technician for about 6 years.  She worked as a general radiographer in a suburban Maryland hospital.  Little did she know that a full-moon Friday night would bring in the “crazies”.

Sharon enjoyed taking x-rays on the 3-11 shift.  The morning barium studies and fasting gallbladder exams were all completed by noon.  Most of the surgery cases that required x-ray confirmation were near completion.  The fun stuff usually occurred in the evening.  Fun stuff for an x-ray tech is utilizing ionizing radiation in a not so routine manner.

Sharon arrived at the hospital at 2:45.  She donned her crisp white lab coat and reported to her supervisor for her first assignment.  Jesse sent her to relieve a day shift tech that was due to leave for the day.  Sharon finished x-raying the elderly patient with a sore back, who kept complaining that the bed was too hard.  Sharon’s favorite retort was to say okay Goldilocks let’s try another bed and with that slide the patient onto a soft cart that would transfer them to their room.  They would usually thank her for getting them off of the hard bed.  The rest of the afternoon proved to be unremarkable. Mostly, heads, shoulders, knees and toes.  Sharon took her dinner break at 5:00.  She returned to the x-ray department at 5:30.

There was a 4-year old girl sitting in the waiting room clinging to a doll.  She was crying.  I looked at the x-ray request that said Amy had fallen and hurt her arm.  Her doctor noted that he was pretty sure the little forearm was broken.  When I called her name the crying got louder.  The patient’s mother confirmed that she had fallen and landed on her arm.  The mother tried to take the doll from Amy. She tightened her grip on the doll with her good hand.  Sharon asked the little girl if she would like to take the doll in the x-ray room with them.  She nodded yes.  She also asked if the doll had fallen when the little girl took the tumble.  Again, she nodded yes.  Sharon told Amy that she had better x-ray the doll’s arm, too.  Amy seemed to think that was a great idea.  So off to the x-ray room they went, Sharon, Amy and the doll.  Sharon showed Amy the x-ray machine and the cassette that held the film.  Amy laid the doll on the film and Sharon took an image of the doll’s arm.  Next, Sharon laid Amy on a cassette and brought the x-ray machine over the table.  Amy was told to hold still just like the doll did when she had her x-ray.  Amy did exactly what was needed to confirm the diagnosis of a fractured radius and ulna.  The developed doll x-ray was given to Amy to keep.  Amy could not stop talking about the doll x-ray.  In fact, she hadn’t even cried since the doll had been radiographed. Amy’s mother thanked Sharon for the great way she had treated Amy.  So far, it had been a good Friday night.