Human Blend by Lori Pescatore Page B

supplies.
“Follow me.”
    They entered the first room. “Good morning,
Mr. Frankel. How are you feeling this morning?” Joy greeted.
    “Oh, no... Not you again,” the patient
grumbled.
    “Yes, it's me again. Aren't you happy to see
me?” Joy asked.
    “Not when you've got that basket full of
pointy things. I know it means you are gonna stick me again,” Mr.
Frankel replied.
    “I'm gonna have to start concealing my stuff
better. You have me all figured out,” Joy teased. “I've brought
someone with me this time,” Joy added.
    “What? Reinforcements?” the patient asked.
Joy gave a look to Julie, and Julie got the hint.
    “Hi, Mr. Frankel, my name's Julie. I'm a new
volunteer here,” she greeted. The patient turned his head towards
Julie who was on the other side of the bed.
    “Oh, hello,” Mr. Frankel raised his hand.
Julie grabbed it and smiled. “Glad to see they finally got some
pretty young things working here,” he said to her.
    “Why, thank you, Mr. Frankel,” Julie replied
and continued to make small talk while Joy readied the patient to
draw some blood.
    Julie could tell that most of Mr. Frankel's
discomfort was normal due to the fact that he was recovering from
valve replacement surgery. He was well on his way to recovery, so
Julie just took the pain he was feeling from the aches he had from
post surgery and being bedridden for so long. “All done,” Joy said.
Julie released the patient's hand.
    “Wait... what? I didn't feel a thing,” Mr.
Frankel said, looking down at the small bandage Joy had placed on
him.
    “Guess you were distracted,” Joy said, with a
wink to Julie.
    “Well, I'll be,” he remarked. Julie made sure
she had rid the pain from herself as well before she started for
the door behind Joy.
    “You take care, Mr. Frankel,” Julie called as
she left.
    “Well, I'll be,” they could still hear him
mumbling.
    They stepped outside in the hallway.
“Whatever you did, keep doing it,” Joy said and Julie laughed.
“That man always gives me trouble before, during, and after,” Joy
added. Julie just smiled and followed along with Joy on her
rounds.
    The rest of the morning went pretty
similarly. One thing that surprised Julie was that most of the
patients were well on their way to recovery. She pointed out that
fact to Joy. “We are lucky to have one of the best pulmonary care
units on the east coast,” Joy bragged. “Our Chief of Surgery, Dr.
Elsworth, is amazing. People seek him out from all over. Not to
mention he is tall, blond, and extremely good looking. He is
single, to boot,” Joy embellished. “He is very serious, though; you
can't joke with him. In fact, today's his day off, but I bet he is
here somewhere,” Joy finished.
    “Maybe that's why he is single,” Julie said,
making Joy laugh.
    “Good point.”
    Joy had Julie doing various jobs, such as
running blood down to the lab and picking up prescriptions from the
hospital pharmacy. Julie's favorite part was tending to the
patients.
    “Break time,” Joy announced. It was already
noon, the morning had flown by. “You get an hour. It goes by quick,
go relax,” Joy instructed.
    “Don't you get a break too?” Julie asked.
    “I do, but later. I'm actually working a
double shift today,” Joy explained.
    Julie decided to grab a multi-grain bar from
the vending machine and explore the rest of the hospital. She
remembered that Pediatrics was on the fourth floor. She took the
steps down one floor. Her eyes were greeted with the wonderful
colors of the children's unit. Julie checked in at the nurses
station and got approval to visit with the children. One area of
the children's ward was a big room, with a play area in the center.
The edges of the room were lined with beds.
    Julie walked over to the first bed that held
a sleeping child. The child was buried under the covers, with only
a hairless head sticking out. The child had several IV's hooked up
to her. Julie recognized the drugs; the child was being treated