Retrospection

I often reflect on how weird it is, my path, how I got here. The other day, I was working my clinical shift, standing in an operating room, watching some getting a permcath installed in his chest, waiting to take an X-ray, so the doctor could visualize final placement. It wasn't too long ago that I was in a cath lab, having an cardio angio done, in preparation for my heart surgery that would follow within the next week.

What peaked my interest in radiography? It probably started when I was getting kicked out of the Navy. I had enlisted to be in the SEAL program and was sent to Orlando, Florida for boot camp. Before I graduated, they sent me to undergo repeated testing of my heart. They knew before they even shipped me off to basic training that I had a pretty severe heart murmur- why they let me in will always be one of the world's greatest mysteries to me. Perhaps, the government just needs to burn up some budget cash and to keep the head count up for military enrollment? I don't know. Every day I was sent to the hospital for testing. I had EKG's and lots of X-rays done, some even with contrast. I remember falling asleep to the sounds of my own heart during my echo-cardiogram sessions. All this imaging was really intriguing to me- I didn't know much about it, but found it fascinating nonetheless. In the end, the Navy found me unsuitable for service, so they sent me home. At that point, I had considered pursuing an education as an X-ray tech, but after further investigating, the commitment was just too much to fathom at the time, so I ended up in the technology sector.

Over the following years, I had to keep an eye on my enlarging heart with yearly checkups. We all knew that a valve replacement was inevitable- it was just a matter of when it would be. Meanwhile, I was busy getting kicked around in the tech world, watching the economy go sour. I eventually ended up in a thankless network job, where I was traveling 80% of the time- it was not satisfying. Then I had a revelation- I realized that although my wife and I had done every [conventional] thing we were supposed to do to have a descent retirement (which might've worked twenty years earlier), it wasn't going to be enough. And having ongoing health issues, it's a guarantee that I will need further heart surgery in the future. With the economy in the shitter, there's no good place to put your money to make your retirement grow. Very few companies give out pensions anymore- everyone just wants to contribute to your 401k, which probably benefits them more than you, or they want you to reinvest your pre-tax dollars in an employee stock purchase plan to pump up the value of their company, while reducing your overall salary. And when they're not exceeding their forecast of their bottom line, they'll cut you, all the while, your retirement didn't get much bigger than when you first started. So in hopes of a better life in my older age, I quit my job. Back to school I went.

One year ago, I was struggling through my physiology class, trying to muster enough prerequisite courses together, so I could even just apply to local radiography programs- my path was so uncertain as to where I might end up. At the end of the school year, I took enough courses to apply to seven programs around the Bay Area, achieving a 4.0 GPA. I had a great plan, but I would still need luck on my side, during the selection process.

After jumping through all the hoops, somehow I was lucky enough to get into this program. Twice a week, I show up at the hospital and X-ray patients. It's just so weird to think about it sometimes- two years ago, I was hating my tech job, installing Cisco equipment in hospitals and schools, and now, I'm actively radiographing sick patients. Hopefully, two years from now, I'll be licensed and gainfully employed.

Life In The (Not So Fast) Lane

There is absolutely no way I would possibly be able to do this program without my trusty motorcycle. With an 80-mile commute to school and a 76-mile commute to the hospital twice a week, if it weren't for the bike, I would be late every day for everything! Seriously, every morning I head to the hospital, somebody has to drive his car head on into the meridian of the freeway or take out three cars in the middle of the freeway- that is exactly what I saw this Tuesday and Thursday of this week. If I had taken my car, it would've easily have taken me two hours to get to work! Even coming home today was tough on the bike. It started to sprinkle, and if you don't know California drivers (most of which aren't from California), with any sign of rain, they completely forget how to drive! More accidents on the way home today! Geez!! I could easily estimate that I had to split lanes for more than twenty miles of traffic this afternoon! And that was tough!

Anyway, I am very thankful that I do have a way to address the traffic problem in my area. It's not easy, but it is a working solution. I just pray that I don't get whacked one day in the rain!

The Wear is Beginning to Show

We're six weeks into our hospital rotations. The wear and tear is starting to show on some of my fellow students now. A couple of weeks ago, my classmate quit the program by walking out of the hospital and now others are starting to voice complaints about how difficult the RT work really is.

One gal, who weighs about 100 pounds is wondering if she has the ability to actually perform the job after she had to work with a 300 lb. patient. Of course she didn't have to work with the patient alone, but the assistance she got was from two other females of about the same stature, who kept yelling at her, asking her if she was even putting any muscle into getting the patient out of the gurney! She's already talking about a switch to mammography or ultrasound, once she completes the base rad license, but she doesn't realize that you have to work in the field for a year first, before you can switch to mammo! Another student is also complaining about how tough the work is and she's even a big strong female! She has concerns about how long she's going to last as a rad tech. My question is...umm...didn't you know what you were getting yourselves into? You did do the volunteer hours for the prerequisite requirements to get into the program, didn't you??

Others are coming unraveled in the classroom. We just got done with another round of midterms. Me? I fared pretty well. For not studying much (due to a crazy exam schedule, plus having to take care of my wife and having to take care of her mother, who's taking care of my wife after her abdominal surgery), I received an 80% on my positioning written exam (75% is passing for the class), a score of 93% for my positioning practical exam, and a 96% on my physics midterm. Now I can coast for a little while. Daryl, one of my closest classmates didn't do so hot with scores of 65%, 88% and a 65% for the same exams I mentioned above. Even JP, my super-student buddy, who we used to call Mr. 100% is letting his grades wane. Shit. This is just the first semester! We got miles to cover! No doubt that this is a tough program, but you had to be sure that you wanted it, when you accepted the invitation into the program.

For this weekend, I've finally got a little break. No real exams or image analyses to speak of, just one teeny-weany quiz for Monday. This Saturday is the big CSRT annual conference and it's coming to the Stanford Hospital campus. Most of the students in my class will be attending. It'll be a nice change of pace, not to be held responsible for what we're listening to, but rather to just get a real-life perspective on the industry, rubbing elbows with the big boys. I plan to thoroughly enjoy this weekend, doing the conference, catching up on TV and playing video games. Time to recharge my batteries!