Ultrasound Tech

by Samantha Myers

It was a Saturday afternoon among many, and I slowly made my way to the second floor of Our Lady of The Lake Hospital. The radiology core was my destination as always to observe and learn as much as I can. I come here every Saturday with only a few things in mind: watch, listen, stay out of the way and; if there is time, ask questions. There’s a lot I do not yet know about all the different fields of radiology and what all the different techs do. But Mrs. Kyrie Caster stood out to me. A few weeks had gone by, and I finally had an opportunity to ask if I could shadow her as she worked, and she obliged. The following Saturday was the day, and I happened to be nervous. I did not want to be in the way as Mrs. Caster worked her way around her "office."

I walked into Ultrasound 1, and the room was dark with a little golden light shining in the corner. The bed was made up for the next patient that was to come in to have images taken by Mrs. Caster. She was the only tech that morning, and somehow her ultrasound rooms were not cold like the rest of the hospital. When I walked into her ultrasound rooms, it felt warm and inviting. It didn't feel as sterile like the rest of the hospital. I could see that she went the extra mile to help her patients relax while in her care. Mrs. Caster was sitting at the computer looking over her list of patients that needed to be taken care of and welcomed me with a big smile and asked me if I was ready. I nodded, and she got up and said, “Let’s get started!” and off we went to the patient transport room.

We walked into the patient transport room as she greeted the clerk and commenced to having a conversation about lunch and told the clerk, "You will never get my dumplings!" Kyrie is apparently serious about the dumplings. I laughed internally, understanding the importance of specific foods myself. They laughed with each other and Kyrie said to let her know when her patients arrived via transport and then said bye to the clerk, and we walked back to Ultrasound to be greeted by the transporter who had the patient that would change everything about how I saw Kyrie.

She wheeled the big bed into the small room through the small door frame. She said, “the beds keep getting bigger and wider, but the doors are never adjusted so you better make sure their hands are not on the side bars.” She then asked the patient what her name was and the usual questions that need to be asked for verification purposes. Kyrie had the biggest smile on her face and asked the girl if I could join them, and she said "sure."  She began the procedure while talking to the patient, asking, "So, how are you feeling today?" The girl responded with, "I am doing ok actually." Kyrie said "Do you have any pain?" The woman said, "No, not really. My boyfriend said something didn't feel right so here I am." Kyrie was able to take the photos while keeping a smile on the woman's face the entire time. I was amazed at how funny and quick Kyrie was and how easy it was for her to keep the conversation flowing.

Little did the woman know, Kyrie found something on those images. After the exam she kindly wheeled the patient to the patient transport room, and we walked back to the ultrasound department for Mrs. Caster to work on the report for the radiologist. I asked her if the girl would be alright, and she told me that she hoped so, but she told me, "that's not my job, ya know to read them, the scans. I can still see them (the scans), and I know. But I can’t say anything because it’s not my job. I try harder to be nicer to them because they do not even realize at that moment what's going to have to happen next. And that's the hard part." I asked her what does she do when she sees a scan that she sees something bad. She said, "I go in that room over there (the small office or walk through to Ultrasound 1 and 2) and I shut the door, and I cry. I cry for them and pray for them because that's all I can do." She said, "I'm not a nurse, and I do not want to be, I am right where I need to be and these patients are the reason I come to work every day, and I don't always get patients that something is wrong and for that I am grateful." She said, "sometimes I get angry when the patient tells me through my questioning process for my report that the lump has been there six-plus months. I want to ask why did you wait so long but I smile as if everything is just fine because I have to.” Kyrie does everything she can to cause the patient to have less discomfort even while scanning and after.

Mrs. Kyrie Caster did not always want to be an ultrasound tech. She wanted to be a photographer when she was twelve years old. She knew early on, and I quote, “I sucked at it.” She said that the only way to go into photography to develop film in Mississippi was to go through journalism school, and she said that it wasn’t for her. So instead she left school and started working at a doctor’s office for her family OB/GYN as a receptionist. Many family members and friends kept telling Kyrie that she would find her perfect job in the medical field. But she knew that nursing just wasn’t for her. With working for the OB/GYN clinic, she had found her itch but had to see exactly where that itch was. The doctor had an ultrasound tech that came in three times a week, and she was able to observe but was still skeptical. She tried medical billing and coding and realized that too was not for her. She needed to be around patients. She decided to go back to school because the doctor said she would pay for books and tuition. She quit her doctor's office job and cleaned houses on the side while raising her son as her husband lived out of state for work. It took Kyrie six years to finish her degree. That showed me her real dedication to her craft. She researched ultrasound and wanted to make sure that she could grow in the field. She then transferred to Baton Rouge Community College to get into the ultrasound tech program and to live again with her husband.

The first day of class she said, "What did I get myself into?" But little did she know at the time she had started her vocation. She through that training would find her itch. She also said, "I wanted to take pictures of people when I was younger from the outside, and now I just get to take pictures of people but from the inside."

Ultrasonography is a difficult field to work in, but it can have many rewards not only for you as the tech but also for the patient. Take Mrs. Kyrie Caster, for instance; she knows exactly how challenging and rewarding it can be. Mrs. Caster has been an ultrasonographer or ultrasound tech for two and a half years and understands that ultrasounds can be an essential key to successful patient care. I am glad that I could meet and then shadow her and that I will not soon forget. I hope that I have as much love and compassion in my soul as Kyrie Caster when caring for my patients. "Even if you are not with a patient long, every second you are with them matters." Even though Mrs. Caster has not been working in the field very long, she has made an impact on several of people that surround her to include her patients. Even though being an ultrasound tech can be difficult emotionally for Mrs. Caster she said, “There is absolutely nowhere else I would rather be!”