Typical Day
It's a special day to be Brooke Lawrence. Today is her six-month anniversary as a cytogenetic technologist in the Merciful Heart Hospital's lab. By now, she's done every test twice over and feels comfortable with the lab protocols. After a twenty-minute jog, a quick shower, and a to-die-for blueberry muffin breakfast, Brooke drives to the hospital and clocks in at 7:55AM.
Just as Brooke is slipping on her lab coat, her boss, Rudy, comes strolling in, coffee in hand and looking ready to take on the world. "Good morning, lab rats. Let's make it a great day. Today, as every day, you'll be working on pairs, solo."
Brooke grins in spite of herself. "That must be the oldest genetics joke in the world. We're going to have to see if we can dig up some new material for you."
"What? Have I said that one before?" Rudy grins and heads for his office. While Brooke pulls a file and goes to the cooler to get the matching specimen, she's thinking how lucky she is to have a great boss who keeps everyone smiling. Even though cytogenetic technologists don't give patients the bad news from testing, it's still difficult when she finds something in their results. Having a goofy-but-brilliant boss helps.
Step by step, Brooke works through ordering pairs of chromosomes and imaging her work. This test is on an unborn child at risk for Down's Syndrome. As she completes the sequence of ordered pairs, Brooke spots nothing out of the ordinary. She wishes she could be there when the doctor tells the expectant mother her baby is perfectly healthy.
As Brooke finishes the test and goes to pull another, she waves at her co-worker Nate. His work style is completely different from Brooke's. While she listens to music on low volume at her desk, Nate jams out on his Bluetooth, streaming reggae from his phone and bobbing his head. He's been a cytogenetic technologist for a while, though, so who's Brooke to question his methods? As they cross paths, he gives her a wide grin, and of course, a head bob.
Next on Brooke's agenda is pulling a specimen from the freezer for a slice and dice. It's her least favorite kind of test—she didn't really get into this line of work to be slicing or dicing. This kind of testing takes a while, too, so after she's finished, it'll be time for a break to clear her mind.
Brooke and her co-workers spend their days doing some very tedious but necessary procedures in order to complete their work successfully. In order to keep their brains sharp, Rudy makes them take what he calls a "boss-ordered brain break." It might be a ten-minute walk around the wellness track, a couple of cat videos, or a game of Tetris. The aim is just to keep their minds fresh and focused.
After the ten-minute break, it's back to work. More samples, more tests. As she's bringing supplies to her station this time, though, somehow a pipette slips and shatters on the floor. Brooke hurries to place the rest of her supplies safely at her work station, then goes to clean up the broken pipette. Before she can get to it, Rudy appears with broom and dust pan in hand and cleans up the tiny shards.
"Hey, watch it—glass doesn't grow on trees, you know."
Brooke manages a little laugh and goes back to setting up cultures. She does that until 12:30PM, when she grabs a chicken salad croissant and fruit cup for lunch. She eats outside, enjoying the spring air, and is back at her station by 1:00PM.
During the mid-afternoon Rudy stops by to see how things are going. Brooke lists the tests she's completed, plus the ones she's culturing. Rudy randomly checks a few of her images, compliments her excellent work, and reminds her that even when cancer is detected in a slide, it just means a treatment path is now clear. It's sad to find it, but their work is also the beginning of the solution.
At 4:00PM, just an hour before quitting time, Rudy comes to Brooke with a folder and asks her to complete the requested test immediately. Brooke's a little alarmed—everyone knows there's no such thing as a rush job. This must be serious. She charts the week-old culture as fast as she can without doing a sloppy job. There's nothing amiss.
Brooke prints out her results, places it in the folder, and scoots over to where Rudy is talking with a couple of other techs. "Excuse me, Rudy. Here are the results you wanted. May I ask—why the rush?"
"Well, the cultures were finally ready and the producers of Maury called...they need their baby daddy info for a show taping. Producers don't like being told to wait their turn." Rudy heaves a sigh and shakes his head in a parody of sadness "It's really quite a shame they push us around like that and—"
The eye-rolls around the room are practically palpable. Nate, without his Bluetooth for once, pats Brooke on the shoulder and tells her that she's now a fully initiated member of the cytogenetic lab. Apparently, this is just part of Rudy's regular bag of tricks. Delightful.
After a long, but good, day at work, Brooke heads home to make dinner and binge-watch something on Netflix. Something, anything—except a medical show...or Maury.