I was sitting in a very uncomfortable plastic chair in the hospital beside my university. Beside me was a door, with a sign beside it reading Dr. Tomlinson - Cardiology. I'd never seen a cardiologist before so I was a bit unsure what to expect.
The door opened and I heard a thick accent. There was a brunette guy in a white coat standing in the doorway. "Ay-" he started. I looked up at him and smiled. "Aoife?" I asked assuming it was me. "That's the one," he said grinning. "Come on in".
"Alright love, I'm Louis and I'll be your cardiologist today," he explained. "Now let me get this right before I embarrass myself again, ee-fa?" I nodded and smiled. "Where's that from?" Louis asked. "Ireland" I said. "Should've guessed, you sound Irish". I was glad that Louis was super chatty and friendly, it made me feel a bit more at ease. "Yeah, I'm just over here for uni at the moment. My course requires I get a cardio exam so here I am."
Louis nodded at me, seeming interested. He turned to his computer and started typing away and searching through files. "Alright so you've done all of the paperwork online, will you just have a look over this for me to make sure it's all correct?"
He ushered me to come closer to his desk. "Last thing you want is your uni sending you back out because a bit of paperwork was wrong". He scrolled through everything. "Yeah, that all looks right" I said. Louis saved the file as I sat back down.
"You nervous?" he asked, looking up from the computer. "What gave that away?" I smiled a little. "You're fidgeting angel". I quickly pulled my hands away from each other, I didn't even realise I'd been fidgeting with my hands the whole time.
"Cardio exams don't hurt at all and I promise I'll be gentle, okay my love?". I nodded feeling reassured that Louis would take good care of me. "Jump up on the bed for me when you're ready," he said. "We're going to start really easy, just looking at your hands".
I was a bit puzzled and Louis caught on. "I'm going to check your cap refill," he explained. "All I'm going to do is push on each of your fingernails, and this will show us how well the blood is pumping around your body".
I held out both of my hands. Louis pressed down firmly on each of my fingernails, watching the colour return to them. "Perfect" he said, placing my hands back down by my sides.
"Next I'm going to check your mouth, it also tells us a lot about the blood pumping around your body." I gulped. I'm guessing I started fidgeting again or gave Louis some sort of sign that I was nervous because he softened his tone a little. "I know it can be uncomfortable having a stranger poking around your mouth, I promise I'll be gentle angel". I smiled at him, I didn't want to be difficult.
"Okay darling, say ahh for me". I opened my mouth. Louis tilted my chin up a little and brought a small penlight to my mouth. He looked at the insides of my cheeks. "That's it, you're doing great sweetheart". He looked around a little more and then let go of my chin.
I felt bad for being such a hassle when Louis was being so kind. "Sorry for being difficult, I'm like a big baby sometimes". Louis shook his head, "You're nowhere near difficult my love, I know it's scary having a stranger do a load of weird tests on you".
"Okay, I'm going to have a listen to your heart now," Louis explained. "Can you lay down for me love?". I did as he said even though I dreaded this part. "Can you roll your top up a little for me, that's it". He took the stethoscope from around his neck and placed it in his ears, laying the cold metal on my chest. "Deep breaths angel".
Louis pulled the stethoscope away from my chest. "Your heart rate is quite fast, do you think we could leave that on you being a bit nervous or is it something you want me to look into further?" I shrugged my shoulders, sitting up. "Aoife love, you know yourself better than anyone else, so what do you think?" he continued.
"I guess I'm feeling a little bit scared" I admitted. Louis nodded and gave me a warm smile. "Don't be afraid to tell me if you're feeling nervous, my job is to look after you, okay angel?" Louis put his hand on my knee. "Is there something specific bothering you?". he asked me.
I knew I was better off telling him the truth, I did really trust Louis after all. "Well, the other people at my uni were talking about how bad the cardio exams were and how rude the doctors were". I added in quickly "I ended up with a really lovely doctor," I gave Louis a smile "but I built up so many nerves about coming and it's difficult to shake them off".
Louis nodded along as I explained. "I appreciate you telling me that love, I promise you you're doing really well," he said. "All we've got to do now is something called an ECG". He ushered me to lay down again. "This is just a little reading of your heart, all that we have to do is put a few monitors on you, which are just stickers". I was a bit relieved, this sounded easy.
Louis pulled the sticky monitors out of the door and gently pressed a few around my arms and legs. "I need to put these ones around your chest, is that alright with you love?". I nodded and rolled up my top a little bit. Louis put the last few stickers on my chest and turned on the ECG.
"Alright, all we have to do now is wait a couple minutes". Louis started making some small talk. "So what are you studying at uni?". This was going to be a bit embarassing. "You'll laugh at me". He smiled "It can't be that bad, go on". I looked up at him "Cardiac nursing". Louis grinned. "Embarassing?" he asked me, surprised. I explained "Well it's a bit embarassing when you want to be a cardiac nurse and you're shaking the whole time during a cardio exam".
"You should've told me angel, I could've explained a bit more". I laughed "I was nervous enough, didn't need to make it worse for myself," He smiled at me. "I'm only early into my course anyway".
"Alright sweetheart, your ECG looks perfect," Louis said, taking the stickers off me. "Your BPM slowed right down too when you started to relax".
Louis moved the ECG machine out of my way and I stood up off of the exam bed. "Thank you so much Louis" I said, kind of upset that I probably wouldn't see him again. "No problem love," he said, patting my shoulder.
"Come to think of it, you're not studying at University of Manchester, are you?" I nodded. "I'm gonna be mentoring a cardiac nurse from there this semester, and I remember her having a name starting with A that looked a bit Irishy". No way, not only had I ended up with the best cardiologist but he was also going to be my mentor?! "That's me, I'm the only Irish one in the course" I said smiling.
"I guess I'll see you soon then angel" Louis said as he showed me to the door and I walked away with a smile across my face.
