Echo

Echocardiograms are COOL. I just had to say it. I dropped my detoxing patient off for his Echo, and the tech invited me to stay, and showed me what all of the views were for, what to look for in the heart, and even gave me memorization techniques for visualizing cardiac anatomy. This came in REALLY handy when I was able to inform the doc that there had been abnormal findings in the Echo consistant with amyloidosis. As this was an incidental finding, not something they were looking for, I was worried that it would fall through the cracks.
Not that it would matter to my patient, on his latest of many strokes brought on by completely uncontrolled HTN, seizures, and cocaine use. He HAS insurance, but he chooses not to purchase his meds, as the 4 dollar scrip cost would cut into his cocaine budget.
And he smelled like a sewer, and refused my repeated attempts to clean him up. Honestly, I was going to be nice, and clean him, but Noooooo. That was just NOT cool with him. Instead, he wanted a second lunch, so that his wife could eat too, without buying food for herself. "nope!" i said, gave him a sub-Q injection, and left the room. With the side rail up, call bell within reach, like a good nursing student.