Letycia Nuñez Argote, MPH, CHP, MLS(ASCP) CM plus Jean Grey and Ellis Grey

I am Letycia Nuñez Argote, and my current role is as Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences (CLS) at the University of Kansas (KU) Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.

I was born in Mexico City and have moved back and forward between Mexico and the United States several times. I am a videogame enthusiast, with my top favorite games including Horizon Zero Dawn, Alice Madness, and Assassins Creed Odyssey (all games where you can play as a female adventurer). I am also crafty, with knitting and cross-stitching as my two main hobbies, and I love listening to audiobooks in my “spare time.” I am also a fan of Japanese anime and manga –so much so that I spent several years learning Japanese and can understand and hold simple conversations. Hopefully, one day I get to go to Japan for real.

I first learned about the laboratory profession in high school. My school had an advanced health science program to help students pursue medicine, nursing, pharmacy, or biochemistry. I did apply to two national universities in Mexico and got into one, but I had plans to attend college in the United States, and my dream came to be the summer I graduated high school. Truthfully, at 18, moving to a new country to attend university in a different language was a life-changing experience that you will have to wait until my memoir to learn more about (^_-). The short version: after two years of general college courses, I applied and was accepted into the CLS program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. There I had the opportunity to train under amazing and talented faculty, graduated with a BS in CLS, and began my career as a Medical Technologist. Since then, I have pursued graduate training in public health, and now I am very, very close to completing a Ph.D. in Healthcare Policy and Management at KU.

Working in the clinical laboratory, you can run into many strange situations. One funny learning moment I had in the laboratory was at the end of my shift in the blood bank. It was about 7 am when a group of 4 nurses walked to get a single unit of pRBCs, one of them showed the other three newly hired people around.

The work-up had been done the day before and had taken a long time because the patient had a couple of antibodies. As I proceeded to issue the unit, one of the new nurses asked, “so, where exactly is the antibody?” This made me look up just in time to see all four of them staring intently at the blood unit as if expecting to be able to see the antibody there. I don’t remember what I said exactly, but it was a brief explanation of how the antibody was not in the unit. They were satisfied and left, and then my lab pals and I had a bit of a laugh. But this incident made me realize that the work we do and the knowledge we have are vital for patients. Our job as laboratory scientists is to know about how clinical testing works, understand the science behind it, and do all that so other people can do their job helping patients. One thing I wish I knew then is the concept of interprofessional communication. If I encountered the same situation now, I would hopefully explain it better and be more confident that not everyone knows what I know, and that is okay.  

I have had many pets through the years, and currently, we own two cats. I cannot introduce you to just one of my pets because they go together like peas in a pod, so here is a bit on each of them.

First, meet Ellis Grey; he is a gray and white tabby. We adopted him in 2018, and he was my first genuine attempt at owning a pet in my adult life (having shared custody with my husband, who is experienced dealing with cats, has helped). Because he was born in a shelter down in Joplin, Missouri, he was very used to humans and quickly got used to us.

One curious thing about him is that his phenotype is part Manx, which means he was born with a short tail. Grey is my shadow and likes to hang out with me all the time. A crazy story I can share about him involves putting to good use my pet insurance. Grey had just turned one year old, and he started acting weird and lethargic. Then he was throwing up, so I took him to the vet to get him checked. They didn’t think much of it but told me if Grey continued to deteriorate, I should bring him back (medical care similarities between human and pets anyone). He was not improving, and less than 24-hours later, I was back at the vet. They finally took an X-ray and found a mysteriously shaped metal bit inside him. The image of a cat with metal inside is not good news. It turns out I had been cleaning out my closet and had left a bathing suit out, which has removable straps… Well, the dummy ate it, and all we could see on the X-ray was the outline of a cat with the metal part that connects the strap with the bathing suit. One emergency surgery (and a few thousand dollars) later, Grey came out the other end and is living happily. He has gotten himself into a few other life-threatening shenanigans that make us think his self-preservation attribute is probably low to non-existent. Grey’s funny thing is he likes to play catch; he will bring you a toy, and when you throw it, he will fetch and bring it back.

Summer of 2019, we decided that Grey needed a pal. We were fortunate to find and adopt an all-black kitten named Jean Grey. She was rescued near a road in Kansas City, Missouri, and we were delighted to take her in and help her get better. Skinny and scrappy, Jean behaves very much like a cat. At first, she did not trust us, but now she talks to us a lot and, especially after dinner, she demands playtime with her favorite toys. Jean is a very skilled hunter. Once, our neighbors were doing some construction, and an unfortunate little mouse decided it would be a good idea to relocate inside our home. Jean was not having it. She brought it to us (alive… to show off her skills, I suppose) and then helped us catch it inside a trash can. We relocated the little guy to a neighborhood park, and she was disappointed in losing her amusing toy.

Jean Grey and Ellis Grey are besties. They play together, sleep together, and keep each other company. They also tease each other and protect each other. They are very anti-social because, during the pandemic, we were unable to have visitors, and they were not able to be properly socialized to other humans. These two have taught me to let go of things I cannot control. They do what cats do; there is no bad intention or meanness to any of their actions. So, when they do something I don’t like, I have to remind myself they are under my care, and they are not trying to make me upset. I think living with Jean and Grey has helped improve my relationships with others. Pets are not for everyone but caring for these two has taught me to be mindful of my environment and be more forgiving toward myself when things do not go according to plan.