Conversations

Everybody who knows me knows that I can carry on a conversation with a stop sign. I love to talk to people.

And you wouldn't believe how many people I've met in the past few weeks.

I always trade stories with the phlebotomists when they draw my blood because I was a phlebotomist during college. They always think it's funny that I was a phlebotomist and an English major. They expect me to say something in medicine or science.

I told one of them that I thought it was pretty ironic that taking blood was my job during college, but my husband is terrified of needles. She said, "That's when you keep a syringe at your house and if he doesn't take out the trash when you tell him to take out the trash, you say, 'Don't make me get my needle!'"

A pre-admission nurse and I were talking about how hard it is to get our husbands to take our cellphone texts and calls.

She said her husband never answers her, but if she doesn't answer him immediately, he gets frustrated. I told her Jeff puts his phone on vibrate and then wears baggie shorts so that when it does vibrate, it's not close enough to his body for him to feel it. "Men!" we both said at the same time.

One young woman's dad has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic heart defect I was tested for this spring and summer. I do have it, but it's not bad. I have to take a medication, and get checked regularly. Her dad didn't have symptoms until he was older, and the case was the same with my dad. Daddy was 79 last year when he had a stroke caused by HCM. That's what prompted me to talk to a cardiologist and get tested.

One imaging tech complimented me on the monogrammed baseball cap I was wearing at their office that day. She loves monograms, too, and we talked about how Southern it seems to be.

I told her that I saw a quote from Reese Witherspoon that said, "My rule is, if it's not moving -- monogram it!” I can support that.

At the place where I got the ultrasound on my breast, they required patients to wear masks they handed out. But as I wore mine sitting in the waiting room, my face started itching, and I started sneezing. So I got my own mask from my pocketbook and discreetly put my own mask on with the one they handed out on top. It was hot, but I was more comfortable and following the rules.

The ultrasound tech was wearing a different kind of mask that everyone else in the office. And she said those masks make her itch, too.

I take it as a challenge to smile at people and strike up a conversation. I love to see how fast I can make a connection with them by finding something we have in common or shared experiences. 

It makes me happy. I hope it makes their days better, too.

And just so you don't have to look it up, the heart on the left is normal, and the heart on the right has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It means that the wall between the ventricles has a bump on it. It can cause bad blood flow through the heart and a-fib. Luckily, mine isn't very thick, so a medication is all I need.