What we should be doing

They come to the Temple everyday
and seem delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous nation
that would never abandon the laws of its God.
They ask me to take action on their behalf,
pretending they want to be near me.
'We have fasted before you!' they say.
'Why aren't you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don't even notice it!'

I will tell you why! I respond.
It's because you are fasting to please yourselves.
Even while you fast,
you keep oppressing your workers.
What good is fasting
when you keep on fighting and quarreling?
This kind of fasting
will never get you anywhere with me.
You humble yourselves
by going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
like reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
Do you really think this will please the Lord?

No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you,
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.
Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

Isaiah 58:1-7

Better go and get your armor

The first fall semester of the program has gotten off to a rough start. We had orientation yesterday for a few hours which only succeeded in scaring me about this semester. I thought I might feel better about going to clinicals, but I don't. Not yet. And I've had a really busy weekend getting moved in and lots of other things going on so I'm already behind on my readings. But I will catch up soon! I still feel like it's not time to be back yet, and so my student-mind is nowhere to be found. Tuesdays are my worst day, with class literally from 8-5 with a lunch break. I have the same teacher for 6 hours. Today was definitely better than yesterday, but really, really long. I had pathophysiology this morning, and Imaging for the rest of the day. I start radiography tomorrow and I'm pretty excited about that class because it's stuff I know I like.

LDOC

We just finished up our Imaging Physics section, which turned out to not be as bad as I had thought it would be. It was a lot about what goes on to produce the x-rays, and how they form the image on the image receptor (IR). And technical factors that the RTs can control to control the image quality. Useful stuff. Not the nasty irrelevant physics in the intro classes. That exam was today and I think I did okay on it. We learned the differences between screen-film and digital imaging, and the two types of digital imaging - computed and...digital. With computed, only the processing of the image is different. The RT still has to put a cassette in the Bucky and then take it to a processor or reader, but it either has film or a photostimulable phosphor plate. With digital radiography (DR), the image data gets transmitted directly from the IR that's under the table to the RT workstation. It removes the step of going back into the room to get it from the table. And there's all sorts of technical things that go into how each of those 3 processes work. In lab last Thursday we played with screen-film imaging, which does not allow any post-processing by the RT to correct for brightness or contrast. What you put on the film is what you get developed. We played around with the technical factors to figure out for different anatomical structures what factors needed to be changed by how much. We got to take home an image, too, if we wanted to. It's on my parent's refrigerator :)

We also finished up our thoracic section in anatomy yesterday. We said goodbye to our cadavers, which the boys named Boris and Grandma Death. Most of the thorax is vessels and I don't like those. But they're kind of important. We had review for all 3 sections today during class. I'm nervous about studying for both of my exams, because there is so much information and so little time to look at it all! But I'm not really nervous for actually taking them, yet. I'm sure that it will come together by the time I sit to take it. But there's just so much to study!!

I finished medical terminology last week. I feel so much more intelligent about medical jargon now! In my classes, now, when the professor or the book says something that I wouldn't have understood, now I can tell you what it means. It's quite cool. Watch out for big words that are now part of my vocabulary!

We got our duke IDs on Friday. It's going to be fun (not really) to try to find my way there and around the hospital when I'm there on rotations. But it has to be done. Speaking of clinicals, I attempted to load the files for the clinical software our director wants us to use, and I was able to install it to my Blackberry, but I can't load images or get my tech to sign it, so I don't think the Storm is going to work. I am going to take it to him, though, before I completely rule it out. I do think that I'll end up using my iTouch, though, which is just fine with me! Especially since we just bought it. I would probably use it anyway, because I don't want my Storm to be all messed up on me.

I Dare You to Move

I found out something disturbing today, that I kind of already knew about, but hadn't actually realized. In NC to take an x-ray, you don't have to be licensed. This means that if you go to a 'doc-in-a-box' place as they're called, like a family practice or an urgent care practice, and you need to have a radiograph taken, the person actually doing that for you may not be licensed! It may be the nurse at the office, or someone else. Not someone who is an actual radiographer. It's not as dire as the practice has pulled someone random off the street to push the button, but these people may not have training in radiography and, though you may get a good image, will not give you the best care as a patient. They could over or underexpose you, or they could use the wrong mAs or kVp, and will not get the best quality image that you deserve! So when you go to the doctor's and they say you need a radiograph, you have the right to ask whether the person taking the image is a certified radiographer. And if they're not, you have the right to get your doctor to order a radiograph, and go get a radiographer to take it for you. AKA keep me in business. Dr. Noble said they have been trying to get a licensure law in place for a long time, but it hasn't happened yet. I tell you what, that is something I'm going to work on. If not before I graduate, definitely after! We are one of only 8 or 9 states that still does not require licensure. We are first in flight.....but last in pretty much everything else.








We started Imaging Physics yesterday. It's actually really interesting, so far. We've been talking about how xrays are made, and about the tube and the different components of that. We've also been looking at screen-film imaging and digital imaging. Most clinical sites have digital, but some still have screen-film, and other smaller practices still have screen-film, so they're both important. We have both in our lab. A lot of what we're doing in this second half of the intro course is just skimming over things we'll be doing our entire first year, so not much of it has been too in-depth (or so that's what they say...) and a lot of it, our professor says "We'll get into that more next semester" or "next spring." So basically it's just an introduction.

Harry Potter tonight!!

We've been living with our eyes half open

I took 2 exams this past week, on the Abdominopelvis and Catheters/Tubes/Lines/Positioning. And I did very well on both of them! I have an exam tomorrow on Radiological Health and that's all for this week (since when does that happen?). Though that may seem all good, it just gives me time to get ready for next week....(are you ready for this?)...when I have 4 exams. Yes. 4. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. And that's probably only because Wednesday is a reading day. My final exams are Thursday and Friday. And then summer school is over!! It really has gone by so fast.

First of all, I'm having Ireland withdrawals. It's been 1 1/2 months since we got back. I miss it.




This is the view from the top of the Hill of Tara, where the Lia Fail sits.


This week we started our Thoracic unit in Anatomy, and Radiological Health in the other class. We start Imaging Physics tomorrow, after we take our Radiological Health exam for the first half of the class. Not much else went on in classes, since we had two exams AGAIN this week.

However, we did have a BS RadSci pizza lunch on Wednesday! The first and second year students and the professors all ate in the lab, and hung out. It was fun, except the second year girls ate all together, and that left the guys to talk to us. And the guys....weren't all that helpful. They told us that we shouldn't study all that much and all the shortcuts they took, which may or may not be helpful, but I feel like this program needs a lot more work than what they say they put into it. Maybe after my first year I can say the same as them, we'll see.

Now it's time to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It's Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family. I just got really excited about the midnight premiere a few minutes ago. I can't wait! :-D

there are no boundaries

I still haven't got my grade from the Patient Care/Isolation Control exam back yet. We are supposed to get them tomorrow in lab, so hopefully there will be good news! Last week was a short week because we had Friday off for the fourth of July. It really messed up my motivational equilibrium. I'm not okay with having two exams again this week. Alas, it is not my choice. I have an anatomy exam on Wednesday and an exam on Catheters/Tubes/Lines and Positioning on Friday. We've been looking on the cadavers at the abdominal region, and today we started looking at the pelvic region. This unit is a lot harder than the first one, in my opinion. Maybe because I don't want to get too close to the cadaver so I can't really have as much time with actually touching and reviewing as I did before. But in order to see the pelvic region better, and to have sagittal views of the structures inside the region, our professor bisected the pelvis. Meaning she sawed it in half. We now have a three-piece cadaver. Two legs/hips and from the ribs up. It's quite interesting...

We learned about positioning today, like how to name positions and projections and views. And different names for different positions, like the Trendelenburg position, the Sims' position, Fowler's position, etc. All used for different purposes and for different views of the anatomy. It's actually interesting stuff because I will be using it everyday. Tomorrow in lecture, however, we start Radiological Health and Imaging Physics. I haven't done the reading for that yet so we'll see how it goes................

If you WANT to see kind of what our cadavers look like, go here. Ours, however, has two separated legs and most of the stuff in the abdomen is missing, so we can see the posterior wall and its structures.

Here to There

Friday was supposed to be a short day, with class only from 9-11 but we had anatomy review in the room with the skeletons and bones from 1-3, for extra time with it. But it paid off! I studied a bit over the weekend, though not Davis Library kind of studying. And I made an A on my first exam! Bones just come easy to me now, for some reason. I don't have the same feeling about this next section, but I do feel better about it now that we are a couple days into it. I did get up an hour early (6:00!) to go early and study, but it turned out well. However, Monday was such a long day because I did get up early, I had my exam, right after the exam we went to the cadaver lab for the first time, had class from 1-3, and then CPR training and certification from 3:30-7! But I can save your life now, if you happen to fall out while I'm around. We even learned how to use the AED (automatic external defibrillator). It was such a long day, all I wanted to do when I got home was veg out. Which kind of happened while I was trying to read for Tuesday's anatomy class. But once I got through that, I started reading about Positioning Principles! That is some stuff that I can get into, because it actually will apply to my daily life.

The cadaver lab was something...We were only in there for about 15 minutes, because we had just taken an exam. My body didn't like the smell, though. I was fine, until the professor said that if you feel faint, just sit down or you can leave. Right then, I felt faint and lightheaded. So I got a stool and sat and was fine after that. I still refused to touch it or get extremely close to the cadaver, though. Today was much better! We were in there for a little over an hour, and though I still didn't touch, I did get pretty close and the smell didn't bother me too much. Except the male cadaver. Today we did the female first, and she was fine, but then we moved to the male to check out the pelvic region and he was kind of rank. In all seriousness. I do have to admit that it is fascinating, but maybe we can invent a way to do it so their smell is contained and I don't have to touch.

We had our first exam today in Patient Assessment and Care, Infection Control, and Medications and Contrast. I wasn't sure how I felt about it before we went in, but while I was taking it and right after I felt really good about it. But then I realized I think I was the first to leave. Which may not matter but I don't ever really like to be the first to leave. But I was. Whatever. Hopefully we'll get those back soon. After the exam I bought some scrub bottoms from the heatlh affairs store (carolina blue!) to wear to the cadaver lab. I don't do laundry enough to wear jeans there everyday! And in doing so, I think I might have found the style and size I need, and I can order my scrubs from allheart.com! I'll do that soon because I have to get them embroidered with the RadSci logo.

I'm going to veg out now, until 6:15 when I'm going to Zumba!!!