Everything Happens

By Mary E. Adair

Over before dawn to the city down the road
To find out the answers about my heart's load,
The travel was almost in glee -

But like the old song Sinatra would sing
Everywhere I go, seems trouble I bring,
"Everything Happens To Me."

First to arrive, the staff of choice,
A gentleman, next a teacher with soft voice,
The next one they would see was me.

They all were pleasant, reducing stress,
Helpful, direct, efficient, yes
Courteous to the n'th degree.

Reassured, joined comrades in the hall
All settled in chairs against the wall;
Nurses each busy as a bee.

Portals were placed in a vein on one hand
Like ID we had in our special land
And soon others joined the first three.

Alternating procedures, then wait
Allowed each to pass in through the gate
To the treatment sanctuary.

This way, we bonded, no one left out
And talk was building - never a shout -
Then more smiles we began to see.

The picture part was easy as pie
And afterwards I let myself sigh,
End of my worrying, you see.

My turn to have the Cardiolite,
And the testing seemed to go all right
I began to feel almost free.

But suddenly my mind seemed to blink,
And the staff acted quick as a wink,
Like it was normal for all three.

They said I must lie down on the floor,
I resisted - I've been there before
Getting up's not easy for me -

They laid me down, my feet on the chair
Though recently my seat had been there,
Put reverse meds in my IV -

Blood pressure cuff; bathe hair back from face
All that they needed was right in place
So again I felt more like me.

Embarrassed, I worried how to rise -
But they took care of that, no surprise,
Never even twinged either knee.

The rest of the tests went smooth as silk
I learned there'd been others of my ilk,
I'm not extraordinary.

I was out the door - back in the car
And driving home didn't seem so far
With tests over from A to Z.

Still find plastic, metal, adhesive
Which with my skin is quite cohesive -
"Everything Happens To Me."

04/28/09 Mary E. Adair
(Dedicated to Stress Test Dept West Campus,
Midland Memorial Hospital)