PCMC

Our team has created the first prototype of our instrument (and it's mostly working by some sort of divine intervention) and placed it at PCMC. (We sling this acronym around at work like a policeman slings his badge around on Law & Order type shows.)

Primary Children's Medical Center. I was so proud of this placement, they love having our machine at the microbiology lab there, it's much more effective and efficient than their current respiratory testing services. We were all feeling really great about this vainglorious day in our lives, or at least I was, until yesterday rolled around.

Yesterday, I walked in the overly-cheery revolving doorway at the children's hospital, and the truth and foolishness of my pride hit me straight in the gut. Children were pulled to and from hospital rooms in little red wagons rather than wheelchairs or gurneys; the walls were covered with pastel letters and thank you donations; a giant water-fountain up front had real moving parts and looked like something from Willy Wonka.... But none of that could shroud the fact that the building was full of children; sick and dying children. My heart caught in my throat as we walked up the staircase and looked at the list of departments. Does your child have cancer? Ear/nose/throat problems? Needs surgery?

I've never seen anything so horrifying and eye-opening.