My life, a montage of images.
In the lab, nuclear images –
heart scans
showing blood supply
after isotope injected.
First done when young,
career beginning,
initial success.
Now daily practice.
Many patients studied,
all awaiting answers,
some anxious,
some resigned,
some seeming not to care.
Images read,
reports written,
work done.
All the while
knowing little
of those imaged –
their families,
loves,
woes,
occupations,
their life’s poetry.
Will the tests trigger
new treatment,
concern, alarm,
fear or relief?
Days follow days,
pixels follow pixels
images follow images,
schedules filled and refilled.
Patients return to changed lives.
Unaltered readers remain in offices,
viewing more images
in two dimensions,
unaware of the humanity
behind each study,
quenching thirst
from half-filled glasses.
Nuclear images, my profession,
nuclear patients, my soul.