My Stethoscope Has Seen Things

If my stethoscope could talk, it would need therapy.

It's been dropped in toilets (not by me... okay, once by me). It's heard breath sounds that shouldn't exist. It's witnessed codes, miracles, and everything in between.

The Sounds You Can't Unhear

• Stridor. The first time you hear real, severe stridor, it stays with you. It sounds like a horror movie and it means someone can't breathe. Your adrenaline spikes every time someone can't breathe.

• Absent breath sounds. Sometimes silence is the scariest sound. When you expect to hear something and there's just... nothing.

• The death rattle. I won't describe it. If you know, you know. If you don't know yet, you will. And I'm sorry in advance.

The Weird Stuff

Lung sounds that sound like Rice Krispies? Yep. Wheezing that sounds like a kazoo? Heard it. Somehow a perfectly musical note coming from someone's chest? That happened once and I still don't understand it.

The Emotional Weight

Your stethoscope has listened to the lungs of people on their worst days. People who are scared. People who are dying. People who are fighting like hell to take their next breath. It's also heard the first breath of premature babies. The improving sounds of someone coming off the vent. The clear lungs of someone going home after pneumonia. Or the first breath a newborn takes.

It's More Than Equipment

Your stethoscope becomes an extension of you. You learn its quirks. You panic when you lose it. You get weirdly attached to it. Also, clean it. Seriously. It touches patients all day. Alcohol wipes are your friend.

The Stories It Could Tell

Every RT has stethoscope stories. The time it got tangled in a vent circuit. The patient who thought it was a snake. The confused family member who thought it was a needle.

Mine once ended up in a patient's bed pan. (Long story. Involving a code. Don't ask. But it also died, with my patient) But mostly, it's been there for every learning moment. Every time I've gotten better at my job. Every patient who trusted me with their care.

It's just a tool. But it's also a witness to everything this job is.

<3