"Hand X-Ray"

Following negative blood tests for Rheumatoid Arthritis I was instructed by my GP to get hand X-Rays. Considering this is a chronic, lifelong and serious disease I was understandably nervous, especially being only young, with a baby.

The staff member called me through and as we were walking through the corridor, myself pushing the pram, I thought about where my baby would go. I said I suppose I have to leave my baby outside the room? Wondering if someone would be there to mind them while I was in getting my X-ray. The staff member responded, very bluntly in my opinion, no, my baby can't be outside the room. When we got inside the staff member showed me a screen where the pram could go behind. It was a bit of a tight squeeze but we got there in the end.

I had to put my hands in a variety of different poses and the staff member seemed to get quite impatient when I didn't put my fingers in the exact position first time. I felt very rushed through the whole process. The staff member was not friendly in the slightest in my opinion and felt like they just wanted to get it done and get me out.

Once the X-ray was over the staff member was finishing some bits up on the screen and telling me the results would be 24-48 hours. They confirmed it was testing for RA and then proceeded to say, it's a bugger of an illness that one, doesn't care how old you are. Their friend got it as a child and ended up in a wheelchair at 20. This shocked me and understandably scared and upset me. I felt it was a totally unnecessary thing to say and showed absolutely zero empathy towards me.

I'm not sure if this staff member has some sort of compassion fatigue or if this is just their personality or lack of training, but I believe it is unacceptable that they talk so flippantly about someone's health and possible future outcomes in this manner.