Mountain Imaging

Back

2010-07-13T13:14:00.005-07:00

Holy Hiatus, Batman! 1 year, 2 months and 2 days. That's how long it's been since my last post. Wow. Sorry to leave you all hanging.

I'm still working at the hospital here in Flagstaff and couldn't feel farther from being a student. Although this started as a student blog, I feel as though I have fully bloomed into a full on Radiologic Technologist and it feels good to have my student days behind me......at least for now.

I'm still working the weekend shift, which keeps me busy. The hardest part about my job at this point, is time management. There is a lot to do, little time to do it in and few people to help you accomplish it. But this forces you to rely more on your self and find ways to make the most of your time and skills. This I like, even though it can get stressful at times. My coworkers on the weekends are great. We are a pretty tight knit group and I feel I can really rely on them, as I hope they feel they can rely on me.

I think the part of my job I enjoy the most is doing just regular old x-rays. For the most part, I love to interact with my patients and use my "people skills" to make them feel comfortable and encouraged. You have the opportunity to meet some interesting and "interesting" people, if you catch my drift.

Anyway, I hope to update this thing more frequently than I have been. I hope you still come back from time to time to check it out. Good luck to all of those x-ray tech students out there. Although it seems like forever, your schooling will be over fast and you will be a bona fide Radiologic Technologist before you know it. Hang in there!

Thirty

2009-05-11T12:05:00.003-07:00

30. 30 years. 30 years old. I turned 30 in April. Does anyone ever really think that you will turn 30? Not anyone in their 20's, certainly. Your 20's are full of fun, parties, invincibility.....things like that. Your 30s....not so much. I've realized I've set out on the path to "domesticness"... wife, house, dog, kids....so far in that order, and I am COMPLETELY OK with that. Really, I am. Honestly. But I'm pretty sure no one really thinks they will ever get there......until you turn 30.

At 30 you take a look at yourself and you say, "OK, I guess I'm not a kid any more, but I sure as HELL don't feel like an adult, so what do I do." You either revert to acting like a 20 year old or you take some responsibility and JUST GROW UP. I plan to do the latter. And unfortunately, too few people do the former. I guess that's your prerogative. I mean we all wanna "rock and roll all night, and party every day", but at some point you have to actually remove your head from you ass and get your shit together. But, hey, that's just me......and what the hell do I know, right.

Edit: I guess this post doesn't have much to do with being an x-ray tech, but it's my blog and I'll abuse the rules if and when I wish....got it!

Full Time Position

2009-01-06T08:14:00.003-07:00

So, time for an update. At the time of my last post (May 2008), I was working per diem at the hospital here in Flagstaff and waiting for a full time position to open up. Well, shortly after that (in July) a full time position opened up on the weekend. Although it wasn't my first choice it was nice to get a real position and receive all the benefits that come with it (Health insurance, PTO, 401(k), etc.)

Since then there have been some big changes in my life. My wife and I wasted no time in buying our first home. We had been saving since I got out of school and in August we closed on our first place and we spent the next 2 months painting every room, replacing the carpet, landscaping, installing blinds, etc. We still have a lot to do on the house, but of course it will probably always be a work in progress. Another change is that, in Nov., we got an Irish Setter puppy who we named Curry. She is A LOT of fun, but also A LOT of work. Totally worth it though. Click here to see some photos of her if you are interested.

Since this is a Radiography blog I suppose I should talk at least a little bit about that. Working the weekend shift is pretty different than working during the week. On the weekend there are only two people working (counting me) from 7a-11a and usually one of them is in surgery for most of that time. So as a result you really have to be pretty self reliant to work that shift. Some days it's great, you don't have anyone breathing down your neck, but other days it would be REALLY nice to have at least one other person there, if for no other reason than to help you move patients. I work 7a-7p and 12 hours can get pretty long, especially for me with my back problems. My back will usually hold out for about 9-10 of those hours, but the last two are usally pretty painful. See my next post for an update on my back issues (again, if you're interested). But on the other hand, it is pretty AWESOME to only work 3 days a week and have the other 4 off. It also allows me to pick up extra shifts for a little extra money here and there. I like my coworkers on the weekend and I think we work pretty well together, which is important when it's really just the two or three of you most of the time.

Working by yourself has really forced me to "hone" my skills as an x-ray tech. There is no one there to help you or do an exam for you, so you have to be pretty good at what you do. I am no longer so intimidated by working the c-arm in surgery like I used to be (see some of my previous posts). I still get a little unsure of myself when I work with a new doctor, but I've realized that most of the docs at this hospital are pretty good and if you have a question about what they want you to do, you can just ask.

Right now is a pretty busy time in the ED at FMC since we just got a couple of big storms that dumped a lot of snow in town, so on the weekends there are a lot of people from out of town (read: Phoenix), coming up to go sledding and skiing/snowboarding at Snowbowl. And, surprisingly, 80% of the injuries are from sledding. In fact, last weekend we had no fewer than 3 fractured femurs from sledding. What I want to know is, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THAT YOU FRACTURED YOUR FEMUR!!?? My God!! The femur is the strongest bone in the body, and it takes an unimaginable force to fracture it. So I will be happy when the novalty of the snow wears off and people stop coming up here to go sledding. Aside from an unusual amount of femur fractures last weekend, the majority of the injuries we are seeing in the ED are wrist and ankle fractures (slipped on ice) and spinal compression fractures (from landing on their butt while sledding or snowboarding). I guess this is the time of year when all the ortho docs really make their money.

So, of course, since I'm posting I have to do the obligatory plug of my photography. I've added several photos to my collection since I last posted, so, if you are insterested, you can see some of them at the link below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dustinblodgett/sets/72157600270020947/

Take care everyone and I hope 2009 treats you well.

Update..........FINALLY!!

2008-05-24T11:14:00.004-07:00

Well, I imagine there aren't too many readers left for this blog and it's my own fault. But if anyone is still left out there, here's an update.

I graduated in late December of 2007 and took the registry exam 2 days later. Unfortunately, the results took a couple of weeks to get to me, but when they finally did, I found out that I PASSED!! I ended up getting a score of 96, not too bad if I do say so myself. I was hoping for at least a 90 and was VERY pleasantly surprised when I got the results.

A little about the registry exam.....It was very serious business. They fingerprint you before you go in to take the test and then scan your fingerprint again if you leave to use the bathroom and then again when you come back. You are monitored via cameras the whole time to make sure no one cheats. The online account that my school provided use for doing practice tests and for studying before the exam was very similar in format to the registry exam software, so it already felt familiar when I sat down. I believe you are allotted 4 hours to take the test but I finished in 3, even though I was shooting for getting done in 2. Other than that I can't really say much about the registry exam. It felt VERY, VERY good to get it over with and although I came out of the test not feeling very confident that I did well, I at least knew that I had passed. Our teacher had told use over and over in class that if you feel like you failed coming out of the exam it is actually a good sign and it likely means that you passed. It was true in my case as well as several other people from my class to whom I talked after taking the exam. Either way, I am very happy to have it over with.

The most annoying thing about it all was that it took several weeks (about 6) to get my actual license in the mail and unfortunately, in the state of Arizona, you can't work until you can produce your actual license for your employer. So I spent the better part of January at home on my butt, unable to work. But once I got the license I started work right away at Flagstaff Medical Center here in Flagstaff, Arizona. However, since a full time position was not open they hired me on a per diem basis, which means I am not garanteed any hours each week, but rather fill in for people when they are sick or on vacation. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for a full time position to open up but it has worked out fairly well so far. I have averaged about 28-30 hours per week for the past several months. However, it will be very comforting to finally have a concrete, full time position, which may happen in July sometime. Keep you fingers crossed for me.

So that's where I am now. I still love my work (most days! :-) and still learn something new each day. I am feeling much more comfortable in surgery, which was a weak spot for me for a long time. My skills were recently really put to the test when there was an 80 car pile up on I-40 just outside of Flagstaff and the ED was immediately flooded with about 50 injured people. The hospital called a Code D (disaster code) and called in extra employees from every department. It was amazing to see all the techs working so fluidly and it felt good to be part of that team.

Anyway, if there is anyone left reading this blog I thank you for hanging in there with me. I still plan to update it from time to time and let you know my progress in my career. My future plans involve landing a full time position (obviously) preferably on day shift, as well as getting cross trained in bone densitometry. After that who knows!

Another major change in my life is that my wife and I finally bought our first house. We close on it on July 31st, and can't wait to have a place of our own. Flagstaff homes are very expensive in relation to the average income, so getting into the market is very hard. Fortunately, because of the burst of the housing bubble, it's a buyers market and we were able to find a great house that was in our price range that we would never have been able to afford 2 years ago, even if I hadn't been in school. In short, 2008 is shaping up to be a great year. :-)

Morbid

2007-10-18T17:44:00.001-07:00

Our latest review section is actually full of some really morbid stuff. For example did you know that it takes more than 5000 rads of radiation to fry your central nervous system, with death occurring in 0-3 days. If I got blasted with 5000 rads I would be hoping for closer to the 0 day mark than the 3 myself. Yikes! Also, it only takes about 200 rads of full body exposure to destroy your bone marrow, circulating blood cells and lymphatic tissue, causing death in 10-60 days. Yeah, happy thought, huh.

Anyway, the moral of the story, kids, is PROTECT YOURSELF from radiation at work and clinicals. Granted the amounts of radiation we work with are extremely low compared to the numbers I quoted above, but.....Think of it this way, too much radiation protection can never hurt you, but too little protection sure can.

Also, the three body parts that are most sensitive to radiation are the lenses of your eyes, your thyroid and your gonads. So don't forget those lead aprons and thyroid shields when you're in fluoro. And why not pick up a pair of leaded glasses (or BCGs), you can even write them off on your taxes as a work expense. Something to think about. We wanna keep all you radiographers out there happy, relatively unirradiated and able to reproduce. ;-)

Review

2007-10-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

My whole last semester is review, which is good because I haven't thought about Compton scatter and the like since we first learned the material almost a year and a half ago. Our school has provided us with an online account that allows us to take practice tests that are set up just like the registry exam.

We can control how many questions there are on each test as well as which subcategories they come from (e.g. patient care, positioning & procedures, physics, techniques, etc.). It has been extremely helpful in studying for the Registry exam. I don't feel ready to take it yet, but I will soon. I just need to keep studying. Speaking of that, I better get to it. It seems to help if I take 1 or 2 30-question practice tests each night when I get home from clinicals. That way I've gone thru a large number of questions in a fairly short amount of time. Works for me!!

Me = Slacker

2007-10-08T17:56:00.000-07:00

SLACKER!!! That's the word to describe me. At least in regards to this blog. I cant believe its been so many months since my last post. Unforgivable! With that said, please forgive me!! I've been so busy with school, clinicals, summer travel, my photo blog and various other things that I have completely neglected this blog. Sorry.

In a nutshell, school is going well. I'm half way thru my last semester. I cant believe it. The other night my wife and I were reminiscing about how long ago it seems that I started my program. Its been less than 2 years but it feels like so much longer. I have seen and done so many things in that time. I've grown and changed as a person and done things I didn't think I could ever do. But having said that, I still have A LOT to learn. We all do, I guess. That is one of the things about radiography that really interested me in it in the first place. You never stop learning and experiencing new things. Some good, some not so good. But at least they are new.

On the school front I'm doing well. I have finished all my competencies. My last was the skull, go figure. I did a great job if I do say so myself. It was actually on a Behavior Health patient who was very unpredictable. I must have had a rapport with him though because he cooperated perfectly for me, even though I was half expecting him to take a swing at me at any moment throughout the entire exam. Either way I comp'ed and it was my last one. Yay me!

I'm becoming pretty proficient in surgery and fluoroscopy, which is good because in 2 months and counting I will be on my own on that front. I still need to get more experience with children though. For whatever reason, we don't seem to get too many kids in our dept, so I don't have a lot of chances to "practice" with them.

RT Wannabe

2007-07-16T18:29:00.000-07:00

Check out this blog, RT Wannabe, by a new Rad Tech student in the Southeast. Just two posts so far, but I have a feeling there will be many more to come. Show your support to a fellow RT student.

Goin' Good

2007-07-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! Sorry for the "Long Time, No Write" situation. Everything is going pretty well in my clinicals and I'm pulling straight A's in my two classes, Pathology and Film Critique. They are starting to let me do a lot more on my own at clinicals, which I really enjoy. It really gives me the freedom to solve problems on my own, instead of someone just telling me how to do something. Granted, I'm not as fast as most of the other techs, but my images sure are starting to look good.

I have to say I'm pretty lucky. From what I've read on other Rad Tech student blogs and heard from classmates, the techs at my clinical site are extremely supportive and patient with me. Even though I do complain sometimes (especially about surgery rotation), I'm really happy to be where I am and am looking forward to getting hired on there once I graduate.

As for competencies, I only have 1 mandatory and about 5 elective comps left to test off on. Unfortunately, my last mandatory comp is of the skull, which we very rarely get, since most head trauma patients go straight to CT. But I'm hopeful that sometime soon I'll get a nice juicy, walkie-talkie outpatient to do my first and last skull on. The positioning for the skull is actually pretty easy if you have a cooperative and fairly mobile patient. The routine positions for the skull at my clinical site are PA Caldwell, AP Towne, both laterals and the good ol' SMV. So cross your fingers for me that I'll get that soon.

Flagstaff Daily Photo

2007-07-07T17:29:00.000-07:00

If you're at all interested in photography, check out my new photoblog. It's dedicated to my amateur photography from in and around Flagstaff, Arizona. Here's a link to it:

Flagstaff Daily Photo

I hope you enjoymy photos. Please don't hesitate to leave comments on this blog or my photoblog.

X-ray Radiation vs. Visible Light

2007-06-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

Recently, a reader left a comment on my blog asking how visible light is similar to x-ray radiation. And being the big nerdy, bookworm geek I am, I got right to researching it. His or her question was a good one and got to the very basics of Radiation Physics. Most of my classmates hated the Radiation Physics class we took first semester, but I loved it and found that I was actually quite good at understanding it. So hopefully I’ll be able to answer this readers question here, so that everyone can understand.

Visible light and x-ray radiation are similar in that they are both composed of photons traveling in waves, but differ in the frequency and energy of the waves. The electromagnetic spectrum is made up of several different types of radiation. From highest energy to lowest energy they are: Gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet light, visible light, infrared light, microwaves and radio waves. The first three are what are called ionizing radiation. That is, the waves are so energetic that they can actually interact with and possibly destroy or alter DNA molecules in cells. This can result in the destruction of the cell, the organ or the creation of mutant forms of the DNA we call cancer. Hence, if you receive too many sunburns (caused by ultraviolet light from the sun), you may eventually get skin cancer. However, visible light, infrared light, microwaves and radio waves have such low energy that the waves are unable to interact with DNA and therefore have no effect on cell reproduction.

So in summary, all these types of radiation (x-ray, visible light, radio wave, etc.) are, in their basic form, the same thing. They are “packets” of photons that travel in waves. However, what makes them different is the frequency and wavelength of those waves (which is in itself a function of the amount of energy in the wave).

Having gone back and read the previous two paragraphs, I realized that I made x-rays seem like pretty scary and damaging things. In reality they are not. Not only does modern x-ray equipment use relatively little radiation to obtain a radiograph, but also, believe it or not, your body is mostly made up of open space, which the x-rays pass right through. Your body is also composed of lots of water and minerals (e.g. calcium) which are unaffected by x-ray radiation. While it’s obvious you don’t want to be exposed unnecessarily to x-rays, almost always the benefits outweigh the risks when getting an x-ray image.

I hope this answered the reader’s question and has helped you get a basic understanding of x-ray radiation, at least in its relationship to visible light and other radiation types on the Electromagnetic spectrum.

2007-06-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

Since I was born in Canada, I have sort of a soft spot for my brethren to the north. So when I found this video on YouTube.com I had to post it here.

I can really relate to all the stereotypes about Canadians that are mentioned in this Molson Beer commercial, because when I first moved to the US I got a lot of the same comments.

Anyway, if you are familiar with Canada or Canadians, this commercial will make you laugh.

Enjoy!

Surgery

2007-06-05T17:03:00.000-07:00

Yuck! I'm in surgery all this week. Not my favorite place to be. Although watching some of the surgeries like lap choles and IM roddings, I really prefer doing general x-ray exams or fluoro. As an X-ray Tech in surgery, you seem so removed and disconnected from the patient. For me, it also seems to be made up of long periods of boredom, broken up by short bouts of extreme nervousness and awkwardness on my part.

I'm not that great with the C-arm. I'll just admit it. And I think my CI knows that, so he keeps putting me in surgery every other week. I guess its good.....in a way. It forces me to get to know the C-arm and the quirks of each doc, and will ultimately make me a better tech, but man, do I hate being down there.

Firstly, I am stressed out the entire time, just waiting for the doc to get pissed cuz I did something wrong or I'm not doing something fast enough (e.g. I actually had the doc grab the head of the C-arm today and shove it out of the way, almost taking out a table to sterile instruments in the process! Jeez, ever hear of something called patience! I'm new here buddy!!).

Secondly, as you have all heard me complain about before, I've had chronic back pain for more than 7 years now, and wearing those lead aprons all day really takes a toll on the old "espalda".

Thirdly, F$%# it's cold in there. Why do they keep it so cold!!??.......Well, I know why....to keep down infection and all that good stuff, plus I think the docs get pretty hot in their sterile gowns. But could they bump the thermostat up a degree or two, so I don't turn in to a block of ice in blue scrubs?

Anyway, sorry for using this posting to complain so much. But it's my right, as a student, to complain, especially since we don't get a paycheck at the end of the week!! :-)

Pathology Class

2007-06-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

Having pathology class is pretty freaky. If you're not careful you could really become a major hypochondriac with all the information you learn in that class. Considering that our pathology book is just shy of 500 pages long, contains only pathologies that can be seen radiographically AND doesn't discuss some of the more rare conditions, it's enough to keep you up at night worrying about whether or not you have pleural effusion, renal vein thrombosis or a host of other weird pathologies.

The only thing you can do is, when you're not in class or studying, push that info into the back of your mind otherwise you'll never be able to get thru the day.

Returned

2007-04-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

Hello again, everyone. Thanks to all for your kind thoughts and prayers for the loss of my grandmother. We are all doing well and dealing with her death in our own ways. I was lucky enough to see her quite recently in March when she was healthy and still up and moving around easily. That's how I want to remember her. Thanks again to everyone.

On a radiography note, I found out that one of my past radiography teachers started a blog, too. Although he doesn't work at my school anymore he still keeps in touch with his old students. So I thought I would post a link here to his blog. It's called Topics in Radiography and it details some "tricks of the trade" that he has figured out over the years. Could be helpful for techs and VERY helpful to new techs or student techs. Take a peak when you get a chance. Just click this link ---> Topics in Radiography.

Loss

2007-04-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

FYI, I probably won't have a chance to post for a week or two. My grandma died a few days ago, so I have some family stuff to take care of. It was a my mom's mom, so my main concern right now is that my mom is doing ok and dealing with the loss. She was 94 years old, so she had a long, full life and didn't suffer in the end, which was important to me. She fractured her femur about a week and a half ago and quickly went down hill from there. She was already under hospice care, so she had the best people with her to make sure she was comfortable. It all went as best as it could of, I guess you could say.

Anyway, I apologize for the lack of future posts and I will do my best to get back here soon. Take care everyone.

Dustin

Factoid #1495

2007-03-31T21:43:00.000-07:00

Recent reseach has shown that playing your music real loud in your car with the windows down DOESN'T, in actuality, make you cool.

Invite to Joost

2007-03-31T19:20:00.000-07:00

Can anyone send me an invitiation to Joost? It looks great and I'd like to test out the Beta version, but I need an invite to Joost to be able to test it out. Can anyone help me with this? You can email it to arizonadb2005@yahoo.com.

Thanks guys!

Cars...Who needs 'em? Unfortunately, I do!

2007-03-22T19:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I think my car is finally starting to die. It only has about 115,000 miles on it, but about 45,000 of those have been put on in the last 8 months. I guess it has held up for me pretty well up to this point, but I was hoping it would last until I was done with school and actually had a job and could afford to buy a nice new one.

I'm trying to figure out a time I can get it into the shop without severely restricting my mobility for clinicals. I have to drive about 65 miles to clinicals each day and 150 miles to class in Phx on Mondays, so I rely on it a lot.

The place I take it to here in Flagstaff is one of the few places that don't screw you, so needless to say they are usually pretty busy. Which means I have to call ahead of time and make an appointment to get in. Crazy huh? Anyway, the logistics of it are a real pain in my arse, and I always dread trying to get my car in when its most convenient for my wife and I.

Anyway, that's what's going on with me. On a radiography note, I have been on the other side of the hospital all this week in the Out-patient dept, which has been a nice change. It gives me a break from all the stupid drama of the in-patient rad dept. Tomorrow I hope to get a chance to work in CT for a few hours. The CT tech who works on Fridays is a great teacher, not to mention a cool guy and he usually doesn't mind explaining things to me and taking the time to teach. We'll see how it goes. Fridays are usually especiallly busy in CT, so I better start lacing up my running shoes now. Have a great Friday everyone.

Changes

2007-03-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed the new title and banner for my blog. I have changed the title from Desert Imaging to Mountain Imaging, since I'm not down in Phoenix any more. The banner photo is of the San Francisco peaks which is a small mountain range just north of Flagstaff, Arizona, which is where I live, will be doing my last clinical rotation and hopefully get a job once I'm done with school.

Anyway, I hope you like the new look.

Clinical Challenges

2007-03-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

You would think that the hardest and most challenging part of a clinical experience would be learning new skills, interacting with patients and following hospital policy. But, as it turns out at least for me, the most challenging part is getting along with my coworkers.

All modesty aside, I would say that I'm a pretty smart person and can acquire new skills rather quickly if given the chance, and so the "skills" part of clinicals has not been especially challenging for me. And in general I almost always develop a good rapport with my patients, assuming of course, that they are not delirious or unconscious or something. But, for the first time in my life, I am having a hard time getting along with my coworkers.

I have been told that radiography generally attracts people with strong personalities, but it seems that my clinical site has taken that theme and run with it. I am, at least in my opinion, a pretty amiable person; I like to go with the flow and can make friends quickly, but I have had the hardest time fitting in with the other techs at my site. I try not to take it personally and tell myself it's because I'm a student and at the bottom of the heirarchy that no one asks my opinion or listens to my suggestions, but that will only take you so far, you know. Maybe I'm being too sensitive, maybe I should suck it up and stop caring what people think about me. This idea is all good in theory, but putting it into practice is another story.

I guess in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter. I will be leaving that hospital in a few weeks and never plan to return to it, but at the same time I do value peoples opinions of me and find it hard not to be taken seriously. I really hope, though, that it just happens to be this group of people and that at my next site and eventually where I work will have a more supportive, positive atmosphere. I guess in a few weeks, I'll find out.

Anyway, I'd like to hear from some other x-ray tech students or techs out there who have also had this problem. How did you get around it? All comments and suggestions are welcome.

Plateau

2007-03-14T18:31:00.000-07:00

January 3rd! I can't believe it's been since January 3rd that I have updated this blog. What a slacker I have become. But I have an excuse. 850 miles and 16 hours in the car a week, PLUS 32 hours at clinicals and 4 hours a class really cuts into your blogging time, you know. But alas that is no excuse to neglect my readers.......if I even have any left.

The last couple months have been rather "blah" for me. I guess I had hit a slump. I had kind of plateaued in my learning. I had learned enough to get by and, for whatever reason, I stopped challenging myself, stopped stepping out of my comfort zone. Call it the Winter Lazies. Anyway, Spring has sprung here in northern Arizona and I have begun to take a more proactive stance at clinicals.

During the last few months things had not been going well for me at my clinical site. My Clinical Instructor (CI) dumped me in February, so I had to scramble to find a new one to take me on, with no help from my school. Several people left the department whose positions had to be filled by some rather surly travel techs. And I had gotten pretty fed up with spending a good chunk of my day stuck in the car.

But luckily things have turned around. I have a new CI who is a great teacher and very patient with my questions and problems. I had worked with her before and was very glad that she agreed to be my new CI. Some of the travelers have left and the ones who have stayed I have started to get along with a little better. And I finally found out where I will be for my next clinical rotation and I was fortunate enough to get my first choice. It's a hospital in the town I live in and my 75 minute commute will turn into a 7 minute commute in approximately 36 days and 15 hours........not that I'm counting or anything. So, in a nutshell, things are starting to lookup.

I have to admit that I have gained a good base of knowledge at this first clinical site, but I am ready to move on and work with some new people and experience new challenges. My next clinical site will offer a lot more in the way of trauma imaging and OR experience, two of my more weak areas, so it will be good for the "learning process". I hope to update this blog more frequently in the next couple months, too, so check back often.

I hope everyone else who reads this blog is doing well in their classes/clinicals/jobs and please feel free to leave questions, comments or suggestions.

Good luck and be safe out there!

The Young Couple

2007-01-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

They came into the ED early in the morning. Before most of us have had our first cup of coffee. Their SUV had traveled at least 500 yards off the freeway by the EMT's estimate, rolling countless times. Neither had been thrown from the vehicle, although no one knew how, since the couple reported that seat belts were a distant afterthought for them. 22 and 23 years old, too young to spend a sunny January morning being extricated from a severely crippled automobile.

"I don't know how it happened," she told me. A typical response after a violent car accident. It usually takes time to process what happened. The EMTs and firefights who brought them in had some idea of what caused the crash. "See that bruising on her mid-thigh," an EMT said to me, "that's not from her seatbelt, that's from her jeans. They were halfway down when we found them in the car." "Seriously!?" I replied. "Yup, and her boyfriend here either forgot to get dressed before he left the house this morning, or some serious hanky-panky was going on in that SUV when they lost control, because he was totally naked when we arrived on-scene."

I tried to control my laughter, but it was a losing battle. Just moments before I had felt the unfairness of the situation; a young couple injured in a terrible auto accident. But as the real reason for the crash sunk in, the humor of the situation hit me and I had to leave the room so that the patients didn't see me laughing. Had their injuries been more severe, I would have felt guilty about my laughing at their situation. Inexplicably they sustained only minor cuts and abrasions, but left the hospital that day with severe bruising to their egos.

Top 10 Reasons to Date an X-ray Tech

2006-12-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

1. We do our best work in the dark

2. We can see through your clothes

3. We know all the positions

4. We are well developed

5. The chemistry is always right

6. We know what buttons to push

7. We have all the right techniques

8. We know how to warm up a tube

9. We know how to get the best penetration

10. When you need it now, we make it wet.

Thanks to Kristen from Kristen's Chronicles for the list.

New Rad Links

2006-11-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks! I've recently been alerted to some really useful websites relating to radiography and radiology. Links to these sites are below and have also been added to the side bar.

Radiology Ramblings

Dave's Places in Radiology

Dave's Radiology Student's Page

Please take a minute to check these sites out. They have tons of useful information for Rad Techs, Rad Tech students and Rad Tech students-to-be!

Happy TG

2006-11-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday weekend with friends and family. Eat some extra turkey and cranberries for me! :-)

Office Politics

2006-11-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

Office Politics! Man, I hate that sh!t! Even though we don't work in an office, per se, the politics are there, none the less.

Generally, I try to stay out of office politics. People playing each other off each other, mini vendettas, gossip, grudges; they all seem to get in the way of actually working and doing a good job, but always seem to worm their way in anyway.

Since I've been at clinicals for almost 3 months now at 32 hours per week, people are starting to see me as a coworker rather than a lowly student. So as a consequence, I'm starting to get included in conversations about how so-and-so is a lazy worker and should be fired or how such-and-such is her fault. I prefer to work in a team-oriented atmosphere and I'm starting to realize that that idea might be a little naive, at least at my clinical site.

For the most part everyone puts on a happy face and works efficiently together, if not completely amicably. But once a person leaves the group, they usually start talking about him or her and how they would have done such-and-such differently. I quietly listen and keep my mouth shut. People have a right to vent, but when things get personal thats when I draw the line. I am not there to bad mouth people or talk about how the director sucks, I am there to learn and be taught so I stay as far away from the gossip circle as possible.

The thing that really bothers me is that they usually talk bad about a person who is just having a bad day or even someone who has screwed up just once and had to repeat an exam. So that starts me thinking, "My god, I repeat stuff all the time. What must they say about me, the idiot newbie student." But at the same time I tell myself "Hey I'm allowed to screw up from time to time. Thats why I'm here, to learn. Even if that means learning from my mistakes." So in short, I try not to include myself when the group starts gossiping, and just hope that whatever goes around about me is minimal in its personal attacks on my character. What else can I do, right?

Retirement Plans

2006-11-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

Rumsfeld's plans for retirement.

Café

2006-10-31T18:35:00.000-07:00

If you're a coffee-aholic like I am, these cartoons will brighten your day. If not, you still might like 'em! :-)

Coffee Cartoons

Change of Color

2006-10-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

The fall colors are just about at their peak right now in Flagstaff and the city and mountain are gorgeous.

Because of our local climate (i.e. high elevation and very little precipitation), there are very few deciduous type trees that thrive here. Pondarosa pine is the most common type of tree, but the next most common is the aspen.

I love aspens. Not only are they very aesthetically pleasing (at least in my opinion), they also make a wonderful quaking sound when the wind rustles the leaves. Hence the name "quaking aspen", I guess. In the fall, the green leaves turn to a bright yellow color that, as the fall light filters through them, fills the forest floor with a warm, buttery light that keeps you warm even when the air is cool.

Unfortunately it won't be long until the wind and snows come, knocking the foliage to the forest floor. Luckily, we took a hike last weekend and were able to get some great pictures of the leaves. So I'll shut up now and post some pretty pictures. I hope you enjoy them.

Wet Roads, Traumas Arrive

2006-10-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

I saw and participated in one of my first major traumas today. It was not a very uplifting experience.

The hospital I'm at for my clinicals is pretty small and most major traumas are automatically sent to Flagstaff or Phoenix since both cities have hospitals that are rated Trauma 1. But today they sent us one for reasons unknown to me.

It was an 18 year old man who had been in an MVA. The poor kid had hydroplaned on some wet asphalt slid off the road and was ejected from the car. He had head, neck and abdominal trauma and was in pretty bad shape. They called us for a stat portable chest and pelvis x-ray and would later do a CT scan of the head and neck areas.

It was amazing to watch the docs and nurses swarm around him, all of them doing their jobs with infinite efficiency. I attempted to do my part, namely x-raying the patient's chest and pelvis, in as timely manner as possible.

Upon visual inspection it was clear the kid was in pretty bad shape and once we got the CT scan there was no denying his condition. The head trauma he had sustained had caused a massive bleed in his brain and he was more than likely brain dead already.

At this point they transfered him to Flagstaff since my hospital doesn't have a very advanced neurology dept. The news of his condition hit me harder than I would have expected. I thought about how his family's life would be forever changed by the events of that day. I did my best to continue on during the day, x-raying patients and keeping a cheery demeanor with them. But I kept thinking about when the doctor would finally have to break the news to the kid's family that he was almost certainly brain dead and would most likely not survive for many more hours. How would I react if I were given the same news about my brother, mother or wife? There is no way to know how one will react until one is put into that situation and with any luck I will never have to find out how I would respond.

My First "Tipping" Experience

2006-10-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting first experience today. One that most people will never get the opportunity to experience in their lives. I "tipped" a BE patient for the first time.

"Tipping" a patient is a nice way of saying that I inserted the tip of an enema tube into the patient's rectum and administered liquid barium sulfate into their colon. Nice huh?! I hope most of you never have to experience it.

And believe it or not the "tipping" part isn't the worst of it. In many patients the barium, and air that is added later, expands the colon and makes the patient feel like they are having horrible gas cramps. I have never had one myself, but from what the patients have been describing to me during the exam, I hope to never have to have one........or at least put off having one for many years!

BEs are often done in conjuction with or instead of a colonoscopy to look for problems in the large intestine like colon cancer, diverticula, polyps, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease or even appendicitis. Most of your organs are not visible on standard x-rays, so in order to visualize the colon a radiopaque material (in this case barium sulfate) is used to coat the inner lining of the large intestine and then air is injected to expand the walls so all parts of the intestine are visible on the x-ray image or under fluoro examination.

BEs are a very common exam and provide the doctors with a lot of good information about the condition of the colon.

Truthfully, I had been dreading my first experience tipping a BE patient. In school the instructors always tell horror stories about techs being pooped on by elderly patients who have not been prepped properly or of patients being unable to hold in the barium and letting loose all over the table. But so far I have not seen this and, although I am sure it happens, I don't think these problems are very common.

I guess I was most concerned with the rather intimate aspect of actually tipping the patient for the first time, but everything went well in this case. I explained to her what I was going to do and made sure she was ready before I did anything. Another tech was there to make sure I did everything correctly.

I'm actually extremely relieved that my first time is over and that it went so well. I know that they wont all go so well, but at least I can always look back and remember that my first BE tipping went smoothly.

2006-10-04T23:57:00.000-07:00

What are you Sinking about?

har dee har har!

HIV positive patient

2006-10-03T18:08:00.000-07:00

I had my first HIV positive patient today. It was a little surreal. She didn't fit any of the stereotypes of what one might have for an HIV positive person. She was young, healthy-looking, well-spoken and polite. She seemed like your typical college-age women from anywhere in the US. She wasn't the one to tell us she was HIV positive (it was evident in her chart) and we didn't talk about it with her. All she needed done was a simple abdominal series and single view chest x-ray, so discussion of her condition was not warranted.

On a lighter note, I did my first shoulder x-ray today. Not too exciting but the pictures sure came out pretty. The shoulder is a really strange and complex joint and it's a wonder more people don't have problems with it. The patient needed both shoulders radiographed (he had been bucked off his horse a few days earlier). The tech I was with did the first one, showing me his techniques for positioning, and I positioned the patient for views of the other shoulder. Unfortunately, I couldn't comp this time because I have to do at least one exam with supervision before I can actually comp on it, but I'll be ready next time.

Camping trip to Lockett Meadow

2006-10-03T16:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from my wife and my camping trip to Lockett Meadow, a few miles north of Flagstaff, AZ. The meadow and hills are full of aspen and in the fall the colors are amazing. Our campsite is at about 9000 ft asl, so the nights are already pretty cold....... like 25 degrees F cold!! But we brought plenty of blankets and the fire kept us warm until we headed for the sleeping bags. It was so cool to hear the elk bugling in the distance. They kept at it for hours. My wife was sure the male was looking for a booty call! :-) Anyway, enjoy the pics.

Our camp site

Becky looking at the San Francisco Peaks from Lockett Meadow

Me at a pulloff on our way to Lockett Meadow

Becky holding an aspen leaf

View from Lockett Meadow the morning after we camped

Yeah...........it was frickin' cold!!!!!!

Me contemplating the meaning of life or something just as philosophical, I'm sure ;-)

aspen

interesting plant

Becky holding some aspen branches

the Good with the Bad

2006-09-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

Working in a hospital is always interesting. You see things you would never see in other jobs. To work there, however, you must take the good with the bad. You are usually seeing people at their worst, most vulnerable point, and you have to be sensitive to that.

In the short time I've been working in the radiology department I have seen some great things, but, unfortunately, some not so great things as well.

For example, on Friday I assisted with an UGI Series on a patient who had been complaining of acid reflux and abdominal pain. During an UGI Series the patient swallows barium and we watch it pass thru their GI tract on fluoro. After we were done and the patient was changing back into their clothes, the doctor pulled me aside and showed me some of the shots he took of her stomach during the exam.

He pointed to a large, rough section of her stomach wall and explained that part of her stomach was being destroyed by cancer and could been seen on the film. Stomach cancer is one of the worst to get and metastasizes very quickly.

It was a strange and sad feeling to stand there and know that this person has cancer and probably doesn't have many more months of life left and she didn't even know it yet. Up until then I hadn't really seen too many major pathologys, just broken bones, diverticula and hiatal hernias, all of which are relatively benign compared to this patient's problem. I'm thankful that I wasn't the one to have to give her the bad news, but I'm also thankful that I was involved in diagnosing her problem, so that she may enjoy the time she has left.

Fortunately, I've also been there when patients have received good news. A couple weeks ago we had another patient in for another Upper GI series but this one also included a small bowel follow thru, where you follow the barium through the small intestine until it has reached the juncture with the large intestine.

In this patient's case, the exam was ordered because his doctor suspected the patient had a bowel obstruction, which is a simple thing in concept but can be very dangerous and life threatening for the patient. He drank the barium and we watched for over an hour (taking pics every 15 min) as it passed through his upper GI and into his small intestine. He had already had a barium enema a few days before so the doc knew that his large intestine was not blocked, so if he was obstructed it would have to be in the small intestine.

But as we watched the barium progress through his system it was clear that there was no obstruction, which meant he would not have to have emergency surgery as the doctor suspected. I still remember the look on his face as the doctor told him the news that he wouldn't have to have surgery. He was so happy and relieved I couldn't help but smile and congradulate him on the good news. It was a good moment for me and I felt lucky I could be there for it.

List of Stupids

2006-09-27T19:05:00.001-07:00

Below is but a short list of things patients have done to land them in our x-ray department.

- drive an ATV drunk......and at night.
- drop a box of frozen french fries on their foot
- jump off a swing
- tried to do a "wicked cool" trick on their skateboard
- slammed their elbow in the refridgerator door
- got out of a car wearing very high heels and turned their ankle
- got a bowel obstruction (OK, so this one isnt so funny)
- wiped out pulling a wheelie on their motorcycle
- hit a light pole while driving drunk (but decided not to come in for two days!!)
- got bumped in their recently operated on elbow by a waitress
- got pneumonia (Again, not so funny)

And my all time favorite...

- they put their leg down in an attempt to stop an 800 lb. ATV going 20 mph instead of using the break.

You would think that the last one would be an isolated incident, but unfortunately it is not. It happens all the time with ATV and motorcycle riders.

So do your best to avoid doing any of the above activities because I'd rather not see YOU at the other end of my x-ray machine any time soon.

Apologies

2006-09-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the lack of postings the last few weeks. The truth is I'm still pretty exhausted when I get home from clinicals at the end of the day and find it hard to form a complete, coherent thought much less attempt to compose a witty and entertaining post. Not that I have ever been successful at that in the past! :-P

Unfortunately, I no longer have the big, healthy doses of spare time I used to have while I was living in Phoenix and only going to classes. I now have to use what little free time I have for doing housework, running errands, spending time with my wife and the all important job of entertaining the cat.

I know, excuses, excuses, excuses. I don't mean to justify my relative absence to the blogosphere, but there are some good reasons I have not been around. I hope my loyal readers will not lose faith in me and go off in search of greener and more frequently updated pastures, and I hope my new readers, especially those of the rad tech student persuasion (you know who you are) will continue to check my site for my not-so-witty, not-so-entertaining updates. ;-)

And now, as I see the spaghetti water is finally boiling, I must bid you all a fond adieu. Enjoy the weekend and please do check back from time-to-time for updates on the life and times of X-ray Tech Student (Formerly) in Phoenix.

Poor Little Guy

2006-09-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

"Oowwww!!! Why are you hurting me!!?!?" he screamed in my face. "I'm sorry 'Jimmy'*, I know it hurts. Just be as brave as you can and we'll be done soon, OK?" I replied.

'Jimmy', the poor little guy, had fallen off a swing at the park and broken his wrist. How did I know it was broken? Well, it looked something like this. So, although I'm no doctor, it was pretty safe to say it was broken.

His parents brought him into the ED about 30 minutes earlier and the doc had ordered a stat 2 view order for his wrist, and with good reason. So I and another tech hurried to the ED to take the x-rays, develope them and get them back to the doc as soon as we could. 'Jimmy's' parents and the other tech positioned his arm, while I got the portable x-ray unit in position. We needed a PA and Lateral view of the wrist, so poor 'Jimmy' had to endure the pain as we switched cassettes in between x-rays.

Being seven isn't easy, but being seven with a severaly broken wrist really isn't easy. But he was brave and put up with our manipulation of his injuried limb with much less protest than I would have thought.

Once back in the rad dept, we developed the images and took a look at them to make sure the density and contrast was right and all pertinent body parts were in view. From looking at the image it was apparent that 'Jimmy" had sustained some major trauma to his wrist. He had broken his distal ulna and radius just below the head, and the bones had displaced and were no longer in line, hence the gruesome look of his arm.

It was a difficult situation. You're torn between getting a quality image that will give the doctor all the information he needs about the injury, but at the same time you absolutely don't want to cause any more pain to the pt, in this case a child, than is necessary. Overall, the tech did a great job comforting the pt and his parents who were visibly upset. I just hope that with time and "practice" I will be competent enough to do as good a job as this tech did.

*all names have been changed to protect patient privacy.

2006-09-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

Swallow Study

A swallow study being done using fluoroscopy, a type of moving x-ray.

2006-09-09T18:03:00.000-07:00

Battlefield Radiography

The above is a video produced during the 1940s about a new technology used to treat wounded soldiers on the battlefield. It seems to be similar to a mobile fluoro unit or C-arm that is used today in surgery.

Notice that neither the patient nor the doctors have shielding of any kind and are probably receiving very high doses of radiation. Oh how times have changed.

Surgery

2006-09-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

Today I had my first experience in surgery.

I wasn't in the door two seconds and L grabbed me and we were on our way to assist in surgery. The docs were doing a hip pinning and needed fluoro guidance.

We made our way up to the OR and went into the surgical prep room. L handed me a long white, paper suit, and told me to put it on. "We always have to wear the bunny suit in surgery" she tells me. "Ha ha" I thought, "lets make fun of the newbie student and dress him up all stupid-like." But as I watched she pulled one out for herself and started putting it on. "OK, fine" I thought "I'll put it on if she has one too. How stupid could I look, right?" Well, as it turns out pretty stupid, but at least I wasn't only one.

After that we made our way to OR Room 3 where the docs had already prepped the pt for a hip pinning. This is where they insert a few metal pins, although bolts is more accurate, into a bone to reinforce it. They needed us, or rather L, to run the fluoro machine so they could correctly position the pins in the pt's hip.

The mobile fluoro machine, more commonly called a C-arm, is a type of x-ray machine that creates real-time images. Instead of producing x-ray "snapshots" like a regular x-ray machine, it uses x-rays and a special sensor to send a live, moving picture of the patient's bones and/or organs to a TV screen. This allows the doc to see precisely where he or she has positioned the pins.

It was very interesting and I'm looking forward to getting back in there again soon. It's a bit intimidating, however, and I am already dreading the day I screw something up and get chewed out by the surgeon, but I think it will also be an amazing experience.

First Two Weeks

2006-09-06T18:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, folks. I really apologize for the relative scarcity of posts lately. Not that there are thousands out there hanging on my every word, but I know some people like to check out this blog on a somewhat regular basis and I hope I don't lose those readers. You know who you are! ;-)

Anyway, the past two weeks have been my first two weeks of clinicals in radiography. For those of you who have done clinicals, you know the first few weeks are the most challenging. Everything is new to you, there are about a million things to learn and more is expected of you than you think can be done in a lifetime. But so far I'm surviving and keeping my head above water, well most of it anyway. My chin and mouth sink below the waves from time to time.
At this hospital the Out-patient radiology dept is separate from the in-patient radiology dept. In fact they are on opposite sides of the hospital from each other. I spent my first week in the out-patient dept and was paired up with another rad tech. Let's call her L, for anonymity's sake. The out-patient dept is relatively slow I came to find out, although it didn't seem that way to me at first. In out-patient we do rather routine examinations like chest x-rays and x-rays of the spine, extremities and ribs, as well as mammography and DEXA scans (bone density scans). These are exams that are not emergent, don't require complex equipment or doctors and very little, if any, prep is needed on the part of the patient.

I was able to observe and take part in several exams. My first couple were for the L-spine, the pelvis and hip, the wrist and the foot and lots and lots and lots of chest x-rays. Chest x-rays are so common, in fact, that they have a room entirely dedicated to doing just chest x-rays. Chest x-rays are ordered for anything from shortness of breath (SOB) to pneumonia to suspected fluid in the lung. Luckily this is a fairly simple exam and I have already done several myself, with tech supervision of course. I suspect that a routine chest x-ray will be the first exam I "comp" on. (comp = competency, doing the entire exam successfully myself with no corrections from the supervising tech).

This week was different however, in that I wound up in the in-patient dept. Which means a whole new batch of procedures and exams to learn, and learn quickly. Luckily they partnered me up with L again (most of the time) and she is a fantastic teacher. She has only been a tech for 3 years, which helps because she remembers how overwhelming everything can be at first and how much there is to learn and how little time there is to learn it.

In the in-patient dept they take care of all the other imaging exams that the out-patient dept doesnt. This includes all exams ordered for pts (patients) in the ED (Emergency Dept), those staying in the hospital, the maternity ward, and the OR. They do procedures that require fluoroscopy and the portable x-ray unit, and procedures that are more "invasive" like BEs, UGIs, esophograms and IVPs. Nuclear medicine, CT, MR and ultrasound are also assocated with this dept, however, specially trained techs do those procedures.

I'm finding out that it's all a very complex operation and there are about a million little details to get right for everything to turn out correctly. I have seen and learned a lot in the 2 short weeks I've been at clinicals, but I still have a long road ahead of me. I hope I can make it. Wish me luck.

I Survived My First Day of Clinicals!!!!

2006-08-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

OK, sorry for the lack of posts the last few weeks, but I have been BIZZZZAYYY! Finals week drained me, but I survived. Then I had a week of vacation and my parents came into town for a few days and then all four of us (me, wife, mom and dad) drove out to San Francisco to visit my brother and his girlfriend. We had a great time and I will post some pics from our trip soon, I promise.

Then I got back and promptly returned to class, but luckily only on Monday. Then came today, my official first day of clinicals. Overall, it was a good day. I spent most of it getting oriented to the hospital, filling out paper work, meeting people in the dept and trying to find the cafeteria come lunch time. However, towards the end of the day I was able to assist another tech with x-raying two patients before the end of my shift came. Easy films, just a pelvis/hip and L-spine, but still a good first experience. The highlight was when one of the patients thanked me for helping her onto the table, the lowlight was when an old man coughed on the top of my head when I was helping to take off his pants. Oh well, I'll duck next time!

It's strange. I didnt really do much today in the way of seeing patients, but I'm still exhausted. Therefore, I don't have much to say right now. But stay tuned, I will do an update post this weekend and let you know how my first whole week at clinicals went. Wish me luck.

2006-08-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

bacon is the colour

No words, I have no words.

2006-08-28T15:53:00.000-07:00

Portable Riding

Apparently portable x-ray units can be used for more than just making x-ray images! Look out!!

US lags

2006-08-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Ignorance is bliss.........for the ignorant. For the rest of us, it's just embarrassing.

Wow, one above Turkey. What an accomplishment. ugghhh!

Virtual Surgery

2006-08-15T12:46:00.000-07:00

Forget going to school for 12 years to become a doctor, who has the time?! Now YOU, yes YOU, can perform a complete knee replacement right in the comfort of your own home. Just click here to get started!

Clinical Site Visit

2006-08-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

I took a tour of my clinical site on Friday. It seems like a nice place. Not terribly huge but busy none the less. I also met my clinical instructor, who seems nice. It didn't fill me with complete confidence when I heard she has never had a student before and also just started working at this hospital a few months ago, but she seems to know her stuff and has been appointed as interim director of the dept until they can hire a full time director, so she must have a lot of experience under her belt.

Pros
- good shift: 8am-430pm Tu-F
- medium size hospital
- friendly staff in rad dept (seems to be so far, anyway)
- experienced clinical instructor
- meal vouchers for students (YES, free food!)
- I will be able to experience several modalities (CT, MR, Ultrasound, Nuc Med, etc.)

Cons
- they still use film, no CR or DR, ugh!
- it's a one hour drive (65 miles) from my house in Flag, which I will have to drive twice a day, 4 days a week for 8 months
- outpatient rad is separate from in-patient rad dept.
- clinical instructor has not had a student before

These are some of the apparent pros and cons of my site, but I'm sure I will find more when I start clinicals in a few weeks. Notice there are more pros than cons, and the cons that are there I can certainly live with.

In other news, this morning I took my first final exam of this semester. It was the written exam in my positioning class. I blasted through it and only had a few answers I wasn't 100% sure of. And thanks to the power of the interweb, I already know my grade and I got 100%, 0 wrong. Not too bad. But then again, I studied my butt off last week, so it's not like I didn't earn it. It's nice to have it over with though and even nicer to know I aced it! We have our lab competencies tomorrow for positioning, in which we get 3 positions at random (out of the over 60 we learned this semester) and have to demonstrate them for the instructor. I think I'm ready but just to make sure I plan to spend a few hours going over all of them at the coffee shop (the perfect study environment, at least for me) later today.

ATV + 12 pack + 3am = Pain & Suffering

2006-08-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

Below is a quote from an email I got from my wife, a nurse on an orthopedic floor of the hospital:

"Last night work kind of sucked. My patients were all nice, but I swear, the hallway I had was road rash alley. My patients were all males, between the ages of 27 and 39 and one was an ATV accident, 2 MVAs and the last guy was a bike vs. car, and he was the bike. He was hit from behind by a drunk driver going approx. 55 mph. Lucky to be alive. So they were all nice but my god, the dressing changes and pain medication, it just never ended. And just a fun fact: the ATV guy just had a birthday the previous night and decided to drink a 12-pack, get on his ATV at 3:00 in the morning, and of course crashed. Man, we were still picking pieces of glass and gravel out of him. Yuck. So just remember, DON'T drink your 12 pack and then ride your ATV, ok? I know it sounds crazy, but it isn't a good idea."

Thankfully she still has a sense of humor after seeing so much pain and injury. It never ceases to amaze me the patients she gets. They sure do make for interesting talk over dinner at the end of the day.

2006-08-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

X-ray images from Thulium

Here is an interesting video clip that was recently posted to a radiography forum. It was produced by the British Pathe Co. in the 1950's and talks about a battle-field "X-ray" unit, which uses a radioactive material called Thulium to make an x-ray image. The
image is formed on a Polaroid style film and presumably processed by the old
Polaroid camera method. Although called an "X-ray Unit" it actually uses Gamma rays to produce the image.

Testsssssss

2006-08-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

Phewwwww! This week has been a bit of a killer. 4 exams, 3 of which were on pretty hard material and lots of it. So I haven't had much of a chance to post. Apologies.

Otherwise, not much interesting has been happening, schoolwise anyway. Just biding my time and letting the semester burn itself out. Next week is a review week for all of our classes, since the following week is Finals Week. Yippeeee (insert sarcasm here). 6 major exams in 5 days. Strike that! in 4 days since I am opting to take my Friday exam early so I can get up to Flagstaff a day early. My parents are coming to town for a visit, so I need some extra time to clean the apt before they get there.

Unfortunately, my wife has been called to jury duty selection next week. She is really hoping to get out of it and has put in a call to her brother, who is a paralegal, for suggestions on how to disavow herself of this "honor". I know they say its your civic duty and you are doing a service for the community, yada, yada, yada. But it couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time with our trip to San Francisco planned in a couple of weeks. I also don't have much faith in the "jury of your peers" method the American legal system uses either. If, God forbid, I ever find myself in court, I don't feel real comfortable having my fate decided by Billy Bob the mechanic or Martha the diner waitress. But, hey, that's me. I'm really hoping she can get out of it. I'm thinking the fact that she is a nurse will help, but we'll just have to wait and see.

I realize this post isn't too radiography-related, but there hasnt been much developing on that front lately. At least not much that is post-worthy. So just boring personal stuff about yours truely will have to do for now. Thanks for your patience.

How It Works - CT Scanners

2006-07-27T18:41:00.000-07:00

The next installment of my ongoing series called “How It Works” has to do with Computed Tomography, frequently referred to as CT imaging. Like conventional x-ray imaging, CT imaging uses x-rays to make images of the human body. However, CT imaging uses computers and a moving x-ray tube to obtain 3-dimenional, high-resolution, high-detail images of anatomical structures.

History

The CT scanner was developed and demonstrated by Godfrey Hounsfield, a British physicist working for EMI, Ltd. Originally developing the idea in 1967, the first working prototype was unveiled in 1972. Atkinson Morley's Hospital in Wimbledon, England was the first institution to use a CT scanner to scan a patient. The first CT scanner sold in the US was to Massachusetts General Hospital and George Washington University for $390,000.

CT Technology

The first CT scanners were very limited in their applications compared to those used today. Primarily used to scan the brain, the earliest scanners could only form axial (horizontal) images of the human body; that is, a slice from side-to-side, similar to a slice of bread (see picture below). Thus the name Computed Axial Tomography, or CAT scan, was used to describe a scan from this machine. However, this name is no longer accurate, as today’s versions make it possible to see almost every structure in the body in a coronal, sagittal or axial plane, often in a clear 3-D view. Therefore, the term Computed Tomography, or CT imaging, has been adopted.

Axial, Coronal and Sagittal planes of the body

CT - Axial View

CT - Coronal View

CT - Sagittal View

The CT scanner is a complex machine that relies on electronic/digital as well as mechanical equipment to make an image. The patient is placed on a movable platform that is raised and “inserted” into a short tube that looks something like a large donut. Within this tube is a revolving x-ray tube and image receptor (IR), or sensor. As the scan begins the x-ray tube begins to spiral around the patient emitting a thin curtain of x-rays as it moves. Directly across from the tube (on the other side of the patient) is a sensor that picks up the x-rays after they have passed through the patient, collects the data and transfers it to a computer. The computer then uses complex algorithms to form a visual image from the data and projects it onto a computer screen.

View of inner workings of a CT scanner; tube revolves around patient.

With conventional x-ray, different anatomical structures are superimposed on top of each other and often cannot be clearly seen on the x-ray image. However, with CT, because the x-ray tube and IR rotate around the patient’s body scanning it from all angles, it is able to combine all the data it receives from the scan into a comprehensible image for the doctor to evaluate. This is one of the reasons CT imaging is often considered “superior” to conventional x-ray imaging. However, there are some considerations to keep in mind.

A patient generally receives a higher dose of radiation when receiving a CT scan than a conventional x-ray. This is because the patient is being exposed to radiation during the entire time the CT is making its scan, which can last up to several minutes. However, with conventional x-ray the patient is exposed to just a brief emission of x-rays, often measured in just fractions of a second. This is why conventional x-ray is still used for simple imaging procedures such as a broken arm or finger or chest x-rays. Also, CT machines are not portable, so the patient must come to the machine, where as mobile x-ray units allow the machine to come to the patient’s room to make the image.

Conclusion

Overall, the computed tomography has proved to be an invaluable asset to medical imaging and has saved countless lives, whether from helping a doctor diagnose a brain tumor or allowing a surgeon to identify a brain bleed in a car accident victim. As technology advances it is likely that CT scanners will become faster, more precise and more compact, and will continue to allow medical professionals to save lives.

Grossness

2006-07-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

A quote from my positioning book in the Paranasal Sinuses chapter:

"Exudate contained in the [paranasal] sinuses is not fluid in the usual sense of the word but is commonly a heavy, semigelatinous material. The exudate, rather than flowing freely, clings to the walls of the cavity and takes several minutes, depending on its viscosity, to shift position".

Eewwwwwwww!

Patient Obesity Is Obscuring Medical Scans

2006-07-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

An article from Forbes online magazine. Here's the direct link to the article.

07.25.06, 12:00 AM ET

TUESDAY, July 25 (HealthDay News) -- In yet another example of how obesity is playing havoc with Americans' health, a new study finds that the number of inconclusive diagnostic imaging exams has doubled in the last 15 years -- a phenomenon experts attribute to all those extra pounds.

"Obesity is affecting the ability to image these people. We're having trouble finding out what's wrong," explained Dr. Raul N. Uppot, lead author of the study, and an assistant radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an instructor in radiology at Harvard Medical School, both in Boston.

"When they come to the hospital, people are so concerned about the disease they have that they don't realize that being obese could hinder the ability to deliver health care," he said.

In fact, it could hinder it considerably, given medicine's ever-growing reliance on imaging technology such as X-rays and ultrasound.

"In the past 10 years or so, medicine has become so dependent on imaging," Uppot said. "Instead of doing very meticulous clinical examinations, a lot of doctors now rely on CT scans, ultrasounds, etcetera, to tell them what's happening inside the body. What happens when you're too big to fit on a table? Or you can fit on a table but the image is poor quality?"

The new study is published in the August issue of the journal Radiology.

The findings did not come as a surprise to outside experts. "The study shows more systemically what all of us felt was true anyway," said Dr. Levon Nazarian, professor of radiology and vice chairman for education at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, in Philadelphia.

"Patients may not realize that there are two aspects to being overweight, one of which is the increased risk of a number of different diseases," Nazarian added. "They may not realize that once they actually get sick, their size is going to limit the ability to even tell them what's wrong."

According to official estimates, about two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight or obese, and the effect on individual health and the health-care system is considerable. Obese people are more likely to develop illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Hospitals have also had to "super-size" their wheelchairs and beds to accommodate the new generation of sick and overweight Americans.

To assess the effect of obesity on the quality of imaging exams, the researchers reviewed all radiology records from tests performed at Massachusetts General Hospital between 1989 and 2003. Specifically, they were looking at incomplete exams due to patient size.

"We looked at people who were able to fit on the imaging equipment and get the scan," Uppot said. "When radiologists read the film, they had trouble interpreting the film because the quality of the image was not very good because of [the patient's] size."

In 1989, 0.10 percent of inconclusive exams were due to patient size. By 2003, that number had almost doubled to 0.19 percent.

"What was most alarming was the increase," Uppot said. "The number itself was small."

Difficulties varied according to the type of imaging. By 2003, abdominal ultrasounds exhibited the most difficulty in giving a proper diagnosis (1.9 percent), followed by chest X-rays (0.18 percent), abdominal computed tomography (CT), abdominal X-rays, chest CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Ultrasound sends high-frequency sound waves through the patient, where they bounce off internal organs and come back, like a submarine's sonar. But the thicker the fat, the less able the waves are to penetrate. A similar phenomenon is at work with X-rays, the study authors said.

CT scans and MRI have a different problem -- weight limitations of the table that holds the patient and the size of the opening on the imager.

"Many manufacturers have started to address the issue by increasing table weights," Uppot said.

The weight limit for CT scans has been increased from 450 pounds to 550 pounds. For MRI, the weight limit went from 350 to 550 pounds, he said.

But that doesn't solve the bigger problem. "We are now able to fit people on the machine. Then the issue is, what do you do?" Uppot said.

The imaging power can be increased on standard X-ray and CT machines, but this leads to an increase in radiation dose as well, he said.

"What we're realizing is that not only do obese people have increased health problems but our ability to deliver quality diagnostic imaging to them is limited," Uppot said. "A large patient can no longer walk into a hospital and say, 'I want the best quality care, let me get imaged and operated on.' If you're that big, there will be issues."

The problems don't stop with diagnosis. "It puts stress on personnel," said Dr. Jorge Guerra, professor of radiology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "X-ray personnel will be more prone to injury. We receive patients who are 400, 500, 600 pounds. It paralyzes our ability to provide care for other patients. We need special equipment, special beds, the imaging is lower quality so it takes longer to complete." Size also affects interventional radiology, or procedures meant to treat a patient, which is Guerra's specialty.

And as the University of Miami builds a new hospital, it is having to take into account that more than one-third of the patient population will be more than 350 pounds, he said.

Seasons

2006-07-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

Summer in Phoenix reminds me of winters growing up in Minnesota. "What!" you say "How can July in the sun-baked desert of Phoenix, Arizona remind you of the frozen, wind-blown tundra-like environment of Minnesota in January?" Well believe it or not it does.

There are actually several similarities.

1. The weather is extreme: e.g. Minnesota in January = - 30 degress F, Arizona in July = 115 deg. F.

2. Everyone stays inside because it's either too hot or too cold to be outside for any length of time.

3. Energy usage hits an all time high for heating your homes in Minnesota and cooling them in Arizona.

4. Touching metal objects is a no-no and can result in either a nasty burn or painful frostbite.

5. Both cause me to question why anyone decided to settle here in the first place.

6. Nobody from out of state visits you.

7. You make trips to places with the opposite temperature: e.g. Mexico in the winter and Canada in the summer.

8. Plants and animals are doment and/or clinging to life.

9. Golf courses are suddenly empty.

10. You will refuse to go anywhere if the climate control is not working in your car.

So there you have it. Surprisingly there are several similarities between Minnesota winters and Arizona summers. Once you've experienced either one of them you are truely a survivor.

The poke heard 'round the world.......or at least in my apartment

2006-07-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

This weekend my wife was gracious enough to be my guinea pig for my very first attempt at venipuncture. What a doll!!

I had called her early last week, and requested that she permanently "borrow" a butterfly needle or two from work, so I could practice venipuncture on her over the weekend. She obliged and on Sunday night at approximately 5:32 pm I inserted a metal needle into a person's vein for the very first time.

It wasn't without problems though. As a nurse, she has had plenty of experience putting in IVs and the like, so she walked me through the steps involved and before I knew it, it was my turn to try. I did all the prep, applied the tourniquet, cleaned the area with alcohol, located the vein and then dove in. He shoots and........he misses! Damn! Just as I slide the tip of the needle under the skin the bugger of a vein decides to do a little shimmy to the left, my right! With some soft cursing and the draining of what little confidence I had, I withdraw the needle and take a breath.

"It's OK," she tells me, "That happens a lot, just try to hold the skin tighter with your other hand so the vein can't move around." Infinite patience, this woman has. So I reprep, pick a different vein in the same hand and gear up again for insertion.

Holding the skin tighter so the vein has no where to go, I slip the needle under the skin in as smooth a motion as I can. It feels the same as before and I am just about ready to begin with the soft curses again, when I feel a light "pop" and a flash of blood appears in the clear tubing attached to the needle. I'm in!! Success!! I ask her how she's doing and she says "fine", although her face looks a little whiter than normal. I secure the butterfly portion of the needle with some tape, like we have to do for the comp test, and sit back and admire my work.

"Great job," she tells me, "now can you take it out, I'm not feeling so good." I glance up at her and her face is completely ashen. I quickly get to work removing the tape and then the needle. I tell her to put her head down between her knees, of which she is already in the process. She is a nurse after all. I have the needle out and am holding the gauze tightly against her hand when she sits back up and I can see some color returning to her face. "It's a lot easier when you are on the other end of the needle," she says, "now I know how my patients feel."

She's a little embarrassed about getting woozy, so I try to distract her with all my stupid stories about passing out at the doctors office when I was 16 after getting my first Hepatitis shot, and about going completely white and scaring the phlebotomists the first COUPLE of times I gave plasma. Within a few minutes she looks and feels better and tells me that her hand doesn't even hurt where I put in the needle. I take this as good news and explain to her that it's probably because of my unmatched, inherent skill at doing IV injections. She doesn't buy this for a second, but lets me believe it at least for a while.

A few hours later she suggests I try it one more time before I head back to Phoenix, just to make sure I have the process down. Once again I do all the prep. I take her other hand this time and insert the needle and get flashback right away. Success again. This time she doesn't watch or talk during it and just lets me do it all myself. I think this helps, because this time she doesn't get woozy at all and says that she only felt a slight pinch right when I put in the needle, but after that no pain. I guess my practice is paying off.

What a sweetheart letting me practice venipuncture on her. However, she has already told me that when it comes time to test off on administering Barium enemas, I will have to find myself someone else to practice on. Can you blame her?

Favorite Photos

2006-07-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

Check out some of my favorite photos that my wife and I have taken. What do you think? Maybe a new hobby?!

Radiologic Technologist, X-ray Tech, Rad Tech, Radiographer, Medical Imaging

2006-07-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

If you are considering a career as a Radiologic Technologist (aka X-ray Tech), have I got a page for you. Please check out Desert Imaging II: A Blog for Prospective X-ray Technologist Students. It provides some basic and not so basic information about the job of Radiologic Technologist.

In the blog, I talk about the educational background you will need as well as things to expect when you start the job. Also, there are many useful links to webpages with additional information on medical imaging.

Please take a moment to check it out if you are interested in becoming a Radiologic Technologist.

T is for Technologist

2006-07-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

TECHNOLOGIST v. TECHNICIAN. What's the difference, you ask? In radiography circles, the difference is huge!

For many years the term X-ray Technician, or radiology technician, was used to describe the healthcare worker who was in charge of creating x-ray images of sick or hurt patients. They had little, or no, formal education, were trained on the job and were not licensed or credentialed in any way.

That has all changed. Although still misused by the lay-person, and even some people within the healthcare field, x-ray technician is no longer an accurate title for the personnel who are involved in creating medical images.

Currently, we are in a period of transition. Although the term technician is no longer used, a solid, universally-accepted title has not yet been estabished. I guess the most commonly used title in the US, and one endorsed by our major certifying organization the ARRT, is Radiologic Technologist. The title is right there in their name (American Registry of Radiologic Technologists). After taking a nationally recognized exam administered by the ARRT, a student becomes certified as a Technologist, is registered with the ARRT, and can later take another exam to be licensed in the state in which the tech works.

However, that's not to say other names are not used in everyday conversation. X-ray Technologist is still common, as is Rad Tech and RT. Radiographer is commonly used in Great Britain and is likely derived from our common use of the word photographer (a person who make pictures with light rather than x-ray radition). Imaging Tech is more general, including techs who work in CT, MR and ultrasound, and more accurate in that these modalities all produce images of the human body, but they do not all use x-ray radiation to do it.

Presently, radiology departments are employing a level of imaging worker that is similar to the antiquated X-ray Technician, called a Practical Technologist or X-ray Tech of limited scope. This position requires less education than an Radiologic Technologist and is much more limited in their scope of practice, as the name would imply. They are certified to image parts of the distal extremeties, the shoulder girdle, the chest, skull and spine. They are NOT able to image the GI tract, the pelvis, the reproductive tract, the urinary tract or work in Specials. Also, they can NOT use fluoroscopy, CT, MR or bone densitometry. And because of their limited capacity this position is being phased out in many of the hospitals around the United States.

Still a little confused? One way to look at it is comparing a Radiologic Technologist to a Technician is like comparing an RN with an LPN or a physician with a physician's assistant. While all positions in healthcare are important and worthy of respect (right down to the guy who mops the floors), there are often vast differences in education, experience and scope of practice between the different branches in the healthcare hierarchy.

Another way to look at it (and I can't take credit for this, since it's something my instructor told us) is that:

A Technician is TRAINED
A Technologist is EDUCATED

or

A Technician can push the button
and a Technologist knows why.

I hope this information has helped clear up the difference between a technician and a technologist. Keep in mind terminology and practices differ from region to region and between institutions, so this information may not be entirely accurate in all instances. But in a general way it should help you to realize that a difference exists between the two terms and it is important to use the correct one when referring to a Radiologic Technologist.

Factoid #1548

2006-07-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

If properly motivated, I can eat an entire box of Krispy Kreame donuts and still resect myself in the morning.

3-D gaming tech used to train Radiographers

2006-07-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a BBC News article on how 3-D gaming technology is being employeed to train student radiographers on patient positioning and other aspects of radiography. Check it out!

Update

2006-07-07T10:55:00.000-07:00

Re: the "Hardest Test EVER" test

Well, I guess it wasn't so hard after all since I apparently got 99%. Don't ask me how though. :-)

Hardest test.....EVER!!!

2006-07-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

OK, maybe not the hardest test EVER, but pretty hard anyway. It was one of the most difficult tests so far in my radiography program. It was in Radiographic Techniques, and although I think I did pretty well, I left the classroom brain-fried.

It was one of those tests with questions like:

"If you increase focal spot size how does it affect image detail?", "If kVP is increased by 15% what will happen to image density?", "When you increase OID what happens to radiographic contrast?" "If the patient is larger than average how will the increase in patient thickness affect image density and detail?" yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah, etc., etc., etc.......

A lot of if-then statements.........YUCK!! There seem to be endless variables you can change when making an image of a patient, and we have to know what will happen to the image if one or more of those variables are changed. It's a lot to keep straight in your head without having any experience in making x-ray images to use as a reference.

Our instructors said it will come together during clinicals (we shall see!), but for now we essentially had to memorize a + and - chart which tells us how one variable is affected if another variable is increased or decreased. For example, if you increase the mAs (which stands for milliamperes per second) you are basically increasing the amount of radiation leaving the x-ray tube. This increase in radiation means that more radiation will penetrate the patient and pass through to the other side, which in turn exposes more of the x-ray film making it appear more dark or have a higher visual density (degree of blackness).

Here's the chart, in case you're curious.

+ = increase, - = decrease, O = no change

Fun stuff, huh!?

Pigg-o-stat

2006-06-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

Well folks, meet the Pigg-o-stat. Also known by its more PC name, the Pediatric Immobilizer and Positioner. Although it looks like some kind of Medevil torture device, it's actually used to "immobilize" squirmy, wiggly little ones while we attempt to get a chest x-ray of them.

It's interesting to note the look on the kid's face in the pictures. I assure you they don't often look like that in real life. Most of the time they are screaming their little lungs out (which, consequently makes for a better chest x-ray) with snot running down their face.

Luckily, the whole procedure takes about as much time as it takes you to tie your shoes, but that doesn't mean the first sight of the thing doesn't scare the hell out of the kid, or the parents for that matter. For obvious reasons it's only used as a last resort, after all attempts to manually immobilize the child have been exhausted. Also, the children it is used for are often so small/young, they wont remember the whole traumatic experience and soon after being liberated from the dreaded apparatus are back to happily sticking legos up their noses as toddlers have done for centuries.....well, decades anyway.

Usually, the parents are asked to don lead shield aprons and sit with the children for reassurance during the exam, but ultimately it rests on the radiographer to make the patient as comfortable and non-traumatized as possible. I am not looking forward to the first time I have to put an itty-bitty patient in one of these contraptions. Let the screaming commence.

VVMC

2006-06-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

Verde Valley Medical Center. That's the name of the site for my first clinical rotation!!! VVMC is in Cottonwood, Arizona, a sleepy little desert town of about 10,000 people located in the high desert of central Arizona. Although the city itself is small, the hospital services much of the rural population of central Arizona.

View from Tuzigoot Monument near Cottonwood, AZ

I can't believe how everything played out. As I have explained before, the way the draw worked is that the names of everyone in my Outer Site group (i.e. sites not located in the Phoenix metro area) were put into a bowl and our instructor pulled the names one-by-one at random. As each name was pulled that person got to choose which clinical site they wanted from a predetermined list of hospitals and clinics that our instructors gave us. As luck would have it, I was the FIRST name pulled. Can you believe that!!! I never have that kind of luck.

Unfortunately, the day before I had found out that Flagstaff Medical Center was not accepting students this semester, so I had decided my second choice was Verde Valley Medical Center in Cottonwood. So of course I jumped on VVMC and am now officially assigned to that site. Cottonwood is about 65 miles or an hour's drive from my apartment in Flagstaff. So, althoug it means a lot of driving, I will be able to live at home in Flagstaff with Becky and Imara again. Yay!!!

In a few weeks, I will be contacted by my clinical instructor and will have to visit the hospital for an orientation meeting. I can't wait to get started. I wish I didnt have to wait until mid-August for clinicals to start. :-(

I apologize for keeping you all hanging regarding which site I got. Its just that I was sick for a few days after the draw and spent most of the time in bed, then we drove out to Santa Fe, NM this weekend for a friend's wedding, and I just got back last night. Santa Fe is a beautiful city and I hope to post some pics soon. Stay tuned. :-)

Clinical Site

2006-06-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

Most people look forward to the end of the day. They long to flop into bed, ready to say hi to Mr. Sandman. I do too. Or at least I did until last week. I havent slept more than a few hours each night for the last several days. I lay my pretty little head down at night and sit and stew. I worry about where I will end up for my first clinical rotation.

I just found out today that Flagstaff is not accepting students this semester for clinicals, so that choice is off the board. My next choice is a hospital in the small town of Cottonwood, AZ, which is about 65 miles from Flagstaff, just close enough for me to live at home in Flagstaff again and drive each day to clinicals. Sure it means a lot of driving, but if it also means I get to live at home with my wife and cat, not pay two rents each month and have one food bill, then so be it.

Unfortunately, I am not assured this site. The way our system works is that everyone's name is put into a bowl and our instructor pulls the names from the hat one by one and that is the order in which we get to choose our site. A so-called "random" drawing. Not so random for me since I have just about the worst luck with this kind of thing as any human on earth living or dead.

Anyway, I'm in competition with at least 10 other people who want the same site as me. Granted I have 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th choices, but I would rather not fall back onto those, as they would entail endless driving, double rents, and a prolonged absence from my family (family = Becky plus cat), who I have grown quite fawned of as of late.

For these reasons, I have found it difficult, if not impossible, to get to sleep and stay that way for the last week or so. I know its silly because there is nothing I can change until the day we draw, which is tomorrow by the way, but still my little brain gets to working, and worrying, and I run over all the scenarios in mind until I'm so worked up sleep is not even on my radar anymore.

At least by lunch time tomorrow it will all be over one way or another. I just hope my historically bad luck takes a turn for the better and I get the site I want. I really need some stability right now, and actually living at home again would really provide that for me.

So if you happen to see a falling star tonight, please keep me in mind when you do your wishing. I will probably be up all night anyway, and I plan to do a lot of wishing of my own.

Word of the Day

2006-06-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

Defecography!!!

Defecography is a functional study of the distal colon, which includes fluoroscopic or radiographic imaging during defecation and is used to evaluate fecal incontinence and other functional problems of the lower GI.

If you can't tell, this chapter in positioning has to do with imaging the upper and lower GI (Gastrointestinal) system and there are several new procedures we have to learn, one of them being defecography.

Defecography is not an uncommon procedure and it can be performed at most hospitals and imaging clinics. However, in my opinion, the way they go about getting the images is a bit.....ummm odd.

In order to visualize soft tissue (e.g. parts of the digestive tract), a contrast material must be used. A contrast material, often just called contrast, is a substance that is radio-opaque, or does not allow x-rays to pass through it, and shows up as white on the radiograph (aka x-ray image). The contrast material most often used for contrast studies of the GI system is barium sulfate. Barium usually comes in liquid or semi-liquid form and generally has the consistency of pepto bismol, so that it coats the walls of your GI tract and also does not pass through too quickly. It's administered either orally or via a barium enema.

Defecographs are different in that they are a functional study and the actual movement of the colon is observed using fluoroscopy, a sort of live, moving x-ray. But for the colon to be able to act on the barium contrast in order for the radiologist to observe function, the contrast must have a thicker consistency than a pepto bismol-like liquid.

Here is where it gets interesting. A common practice among radiographers is to mix the regular barium liquid with freeze-dried instant potato flakes in order to obtain the proper consistency. Of course, other substances have been tried, but most don't offer the proper consistency, even dispersion of barium and "cost effectiveness" as simple, over-the-counter instant potatoes.

So if you ever have the need for a defecography study, just know that somewhere in Idaho a farmer worked very hard on his harvest just so the doctor could get a good look at your large intestine in action.

2006-06-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

the average adult human's digestive tract, from the mouth to the.....err ah...other end, measures about 30 feet long. That's about the length of a school bus from bumper to bumper.

Update: Flagstaff Wildfire

2006-06-15T21:57:00.000-07:00

Taking advantage of the cooler temps and higher humidities during the night, fire crews were able to get a handle on the Woody Fire buring southwest of Flagstaff. Below are two links to articles about the fire.

Wind-whipped wildfire forces evacuations

Fire Update 1:30pm Thursday - Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff newspaper)

I'll post more updates as I know more.

2006-06-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

Wildfire in Flagstaff, AZ

Video of smoke from the Woody Wildfire 2 miles west of Flagstaff, AZ.

Wildfire in Flagstaff

2006-06-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Well, it finally happened, a wildfire started in Flagstaff. Its called the Woody Fire and it started yesterday morning right next to I-40 about 2 miles west of Flagstaff, which is about 1 mile west of OUR apt!! I wasnt up there but I've been able to get a lot of info thru the news and from Becky.

As of last night it had burned a 1 mile stretch of ponderosa pine forest from I-40 up to West Route 66, and was expected to jump across 66 as it moved northeast. Several areas were evacuated by police and fire crews north of the fire including 3 trailer parks and the Lowell Observatory.

They blocked off Route 66 and with all the gawkers, traffic in town was in chaos. Becky took some pictures and video of the smoke as it rose up over the city. Here are some of the pictures she took.

Smoke as seen from our apt parking lot.

View from intersection of Woodlands Village Blvd and West Route 66 in Flagstaff, AZ

Same view as previous picture after smoke has moved.

Helicopter works at dropping water on the fire as the sun begins to set.

Map I made in Google Earth showing the location of the fire in relation to where our apt is

Unfortunately the weather is prime for starting and encouraging fires right now. Flagstaff has sustained winds of 25 mph and the humitity is around 5% with a dew point of 2 degress (i.e. VERY dry!) The temps are starting to rise too and are expected to hit 85 degrees today, which doesnt help any.

They called in fire crews from around the state in a hurried attempt to control and beat back the fire and keep it from moving toward town. The latest news says that the fire is progressing at a surprisingly slow pace for the conditions which has allowed the crews to keep it from crowning, which is when the fire moves from the forest floor into the tops of the trees. As you can see in the pics the smoke is a light, white color which means the fire is on the forest floor. when the smoke turns black it means that the trees are starting to burn, which usually leads to an increase in the speed of progression.

Its pretty scarey. We arent directly threatened at our apt, but it isnt too far off. fires like this can really take off fast and get out of control in a very short amount of time, especially in these conditions. Luckily Flagstaff had instituted the practice of forest thinning and deadfall removal in the forested areas in and around the city, which helps control or at least slow down the spread of fire. The states fire commissioner says that is a major reason the fire has not grown much in the last 24 hours.

I will try to keep up on whats happening up there, although its hard from Phoenix.

Wish us luck.

Open mouth. Insert foot.

2006-06-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

Open mouth. Insert foot.

Video of Bush making fun of a reporter for wearing sunglasses on a cloudy day. He later finds out the reporter is blind. oops.

¡Que idiota!

2006-06-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

The 3-second rule does not apply in the operating room.

Culture Clash

2006-06-05T15:23:00.000-07:00

Eve at RN2B1Day brought up a good topic recently on one of her posts. This is a quote from her site that sums up the main idea if the post:

“we were told that we had to be careful of how much eye contact we made with other people because it could be intrusive and/or a sign of disrespect. The explanation was that some cultures do not like eye contact and that we had to be weary of this. A couple of instructors said eye contact made them nervous or that they thought it was rude.“

She was confused by this, because she had been taught her whole life that making eye contact was a sign of trust and interest in the other person. Which I completely agree with.

However, it’s important to realize that not all cultures interpret certain behaviors the same way. This is very evident for me because I live in the city of Flagstaff, Arizona, which is right next to the Navajo and Hopi Reservations in northeastern Arizona. Understandably, there are sometimes “misunderstandings” when people from the Navajo or Hopi cultures interact with “white/Western” culture, and vice-a-versa when tourists travel through the reservations.

I've had some experience with cultural differences. When I worked at a museum in Flagstaff, I often worked very closely Navajo and Hopi volunteers. When I would first meet them they would be very reluctant to shake hands and if they did they almost never made eye contact. I later learned that (traditionally) in their culture making eye contact is often perceived as an aggressive or overly personal behavior. Once I found this out, I had a better understanding of my volunteers’ behavior and didn't take it personally.

Working in medicine can be an especially slippery slope. Often medical workers need to ask patients very personal and private questions and sometimes perform very invasive procedures on the patient’s bodies. This can be traumatic and off-putting for anyone, but especially those who have never had experience with Western medicine.

In my opinion the best thing one can do is realize that these differences do exist and to be sensitive to them. It is likely that if a person is being treated in an American or Canadian hospital they are at least somewhat familiar with our basic cultural norms and will have some idea of what to expect. At the same time, you should keep in mind that most patients (from this culture or any other), are sick and scared and wanting to be anywhere else at that moment than stuck in a hospital bed in your hospital. Try not to take it personally.

PS a great book to read on this topic is one called "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" by Anne Fadiman. It is the story of an immigrant Hmong family with a very sick child and their experiences with Western culture and medicine.

Factoid #1769

2006-06-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

How to Contract TB: Go to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ride public transport. Repeat.

Frickin' HOT!!

2006-06-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well, the big news in Arizona right now (besides the first wildfires of the season) is the HEAT. They are issuing heat advisories for Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma and several other lower-elevation cities. Below are some screen captures I took from the Phoenix news today.

The temp at the time of broadcast (5:15 pm)

The high today. WOW, we matched the record, lucky us! (note the sarcasm).

The projected lows for tonight. Still frickin' hot. Notice Flagstaff though,
comfortable 45 degree, ahhhhhhh!

The projected highs for tomorrow. Thank god I'm in Flagstaff this weekend, a perfect 85 for us!

Look what I have to look forward to, yippee skippy. (again note the sarcasm).

I hope I survive the week and don't end up as a big, fleshy puddle on the classroom floor, ewwwwwwwww!

I suffer from Golf Balls

2006-06-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

A man entered the bus with both of his front pockets full of golf balls, and sat down next to a beautiful - you guessed it - blonde. The blonde kept looking quizzically at him and his bulging pockets. Finally, after many such glances from her, he said, "It's golf balls". Nevertheless, the blonde continued to look at him thoughtfully and finally, not being able to contain her curiosity any longer, asked "Does it hurt as much as tennis elbow?"

Cheese

2006-06-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

I've thought about it and, if it didnt involve massive weight gain and eventual death by malnurtition, I would subsist on a diet composed entirely of cheese and cheese related products.

Some day I hope to make it so.

CPR Certification

2006-05-31T13:49:00.000-07:00

Hi again! Its been a while since I posted, I've been out of town for a wedding, but I'm back now!

Over the weekend I flew to Minneapolis, MN and drove with my parents from there to Appleton , WI for my brothers wedding. It was great to see all my family again. Its not as easy to see them as it used to be, now that I live about 1500 miles from my parents and 800 miles from my younger brother.

As for school, we had Monday off, of course, for Memorial day. Tuesday started up again with a new chapter in Positioning class on Abdomenal (aka KUBs), esophagus and UGI (stomach and duodenum) positioning. All very interesting. One big change with this chapter is the administration of contrast material for esophograms and UGIs. In this case, the contrast is barium sulfate taken orally. Air is also sometimes used for a double-contrast image.

We also did our CPR/BLS certification class on Tuesday after Positioning. I had been certified before when I was a lifeguard in college, so I knew what to expect. Our instructor was someone from a different dept at the school and I am very thankful she is not one of our regular instructors. She was a psycho!! She started the class by bitching about how we sit in the hallway during our breaks and how it is a fire hazard. Great first impression on the class. She then proceded to give one of the most inconsistent, disjointed lectures on CPR that I have ever had. I was counting down the minutes to the test at the end of class. Luckily I passed, so I never have to see her again. I dont have my official card yet, since they are on back order, but they should be arriving soon.

So thats whats been happening. Nothing too exciting. Just life in all it glory. I hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend.

Factoid #1256

2006-05-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

Scientology is a religion, like bowling is a sport.

X-RAY DAY FOR ELVIS

2006-05-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

An X-ray of Elvis's chest will be put on sale at auction next month.

It was taken when he visited a Las Vegas doctor in September 1973 suffering from chest congestion.

It is expected to sell for up to £1000 at the internet auction hosted in New York's Planet Hollywood restaurant on June 17.

Also on sale will be an X-ray of Elvis's head taken in 1971.

He died from a heart attack in August 1977, aged 42, after being found on a Memphis bathroom floor.

Find the original article here.

Newest Photos

2006-05-23T07:41:00.000-07:00

Click the below links to see some photos I recently posted to my online photo album. All others can be viewed by clicking on the link on the side bar of this blog entitled "My Online Photoalbum".

Las Vegas Trip (2006)

Spain Trip (2002)

Wikipedia search

2006-05-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

I did a search for my first name in the online encyclopedia called Wikipedia. And this is what I got:

Dustin the Turkey

Weird huh!!??

Do a search and see what your name brings up.

Wise Words

2006-05-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

Everybody is somebody else's weirdo. A lack of leadership is no substitute for inaction. Be content with what you've got, but make sure you've got plenty. Creditors have better memories than debtors. Don't bite the hand that has your paycheck in it. Appearances are not everything; it just looks like they are. An ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure.

Project management is like pushing a wheelbarrow full of frogs to market. A disagreeable task is its own reward. Beware of those wearing suspenders with belts. Do whatever your enemies do not want you to do. Bureaucracy: a method for transforming energy into solid waste. Rule of Defactualization: information deteriorates upward through bureaucracies. All great discoveries are made by mistake.

A good slogan can stop analysis for fifty years. Error is often more earnest than truth. An original idea can never emerge from a committee in its original form. Blessed is he who expects no gratitude, for he shall not be disappointed.

Don't permit yourself to get between a dog and a lamppost. A little ignorance can go a long way.

By the time you have the right answers, no one is asking you questions. Complex problems have simple, easy to understand, wrong answers.

Even paranoids have enemies.

Always remember to pillage before you burn. Creativity is no substitute for knowing what you are doing. Anything is possible, but nothing is easy. A short line outside a building becomes a long line inside. Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by hitting back.

Pick good people. Talent never wears out.

Everything in moderation, including moderation. Adding manpower to a late software product makes it later. As they say in Beirut, Shiite happens. Everyone hits a brick wall now and then: The trick is not to do it with your head. Don't be so open minded, your brains fall out. A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to put in his mouth. Even if the grass is greener on the other side, they, like you, still have to cut it. Anything that doesn't eat you today is saving you for tomorrow. Easiest way to figure the cost of living: take your income and add ten percent. Don't get lost in the shuffle, shuffle along with the lost.

Anything is easier to take apart than to put together. Anyone can admit they were wrong; the true test is admitting it to someone else. People can be divided into three groups: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.

Any wire cut to length will be too short. Everything should be as simple as possible, but no simpler. Any change looks terrible at first. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. All work and no play will make you a manager.

A well-adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous. Those who complain about the way the ball bounces usually dropped it. Producing a system from a specification is like walking on water; it's easier if it's frozen. Say no, then negotiate. According to official figures, 43% of all statistics are inaccurate. Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk. That which cannot be taken apart will fall apart.

Excellence can be attained if you care more than others think is wise, risk more than others think is safe, dream more than others think is practical, expect more than others think is possible.

The best way to realize your dreams is to wake up.

Take from an article in the Daily Sun Newspaper

2006-05-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

lol, Internets!

2006-05-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

it is estimated that 1 teaspoon of water contains more molecules that the Atlantic Ocean contains teaspoons of water?

Bed Bingo

2006-05-17T15:02:00.000-07:00

On Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Plasma Center they do something called Bed Bingo. Every hour they have one of the donors pull a numbered slip of paper out of a hat. The person in the bed with the same number as the slip of paper wins an extra $5 for their donation that day.

Yesterday, I was the winner of Bed Bingo. Yippee......right? I was pretty happy walking out of the place with an extra $5 burning a hole in my pocket. However, on the ride home I got to thinking about what $5 can actually buy you these days, and I realized it wasnt much, at least not any more.

I remembered back to when I was in 3rd grade and found a dirty, wadded up $5 bill on the play ground one day. I thought I had hit the jackpot. In 1988, $5 could buy a kid a pile of earthly delights. And by that I mean CANDY! I ran to the nearest convenience store, poste haste, and bought them out of Jolly Rangers, Laffy Taffy and Atomic Fire balls faster than George Bush can ruin a speech.

Fast forward a few years. I have my license, I have a car, if you can call a 1987 Dodge Omni a car, and $5 could buy me a half a tank of gas with which to drive around town looking for chicks (NOTE: there was a lot of looking, not much finding), and still have enough left over to buy myself a sody pop!

Not today. $5 will get you just over 1 gallon of gasoline, a large mocha skinny hold-the-whip latte at Starbucks, 3 green bell peppers or 2 AA batteries at Target. None of which excites me nearly as much as my unforgetable candy orgy of yore or the hours I spent "cruising" with my buddies back in 1995. This is not to say I didnt take the extra five bucks. I took it and I ran, but its just unfortunate to come to the realization that things just dont stretch like they used to; that good times and great memories are so much harder to come by as you get older, $5 or no.

But I try to keep it in perspective. I try to realize that these times are good too. I will look back on them in 10 or 20 years and remember a time before kids, before mortgages, before college savings accounts, and think what a simpler, easier time I had of life.

There is one thing I do still know though. That no matter how things change, no matter what difficult challenges I face in my life.......I still get one hell of a good time from a simple piece of Laffy Taffy candy.

Jealousy ain't just a river in Egypt.....

2006-05-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

Oh man!! I am so jealous right now. I just got done getting caught up with all the nursing blogs I normally read and it seems like everyone is graduating except for me. boo hoo! :-(

I apologize in advance, for I see a short pity party in our near future.

Lately, I have really been jonesing to get out of school and start work. I realize I still have" lotz o' learnin' to do", as my instructor tells us, but I'm tired of doing the whole school "thing". I'm good at it, I wont deny that. I can take a mean test, study in record time and write a paper that would make Franz Boas proud, but academia (not to mention no paycheck) is getting old.

Unfortunately, I made some bad decisions in my early career as a student and ended up spending 7 or so years in "higher" education getting a degree for a career, it turns out, I didnt even like or would afford me a stardard of living above, say, a 17th century coal miner.

So now I'm paying for it. Most people my age are buying houses, having children and saving for retirement. I, on the other hand, am selling plasma to help pay for gas to drive to visit my wife on the weekends. sad, sad, sad. I considered prostitution briefly, but I didn't see too many opportunities for advancement in that particular profession.

I know I made the right decision leaving my other career for a new one in radiography. Within 3 weeks of class, I KNEW I had found something that I would enjoy and would be good at, but hauling my butt through school will be the real test.

I wont lie, its hard being away from my wife. I rely on her a lot for support, both financial and emotional. Probably more than I should sometimes. Its hard being in a strange city with no friends or family around to talk to or be with.

What I really need to do is keep it in perspective. It is only 2 years out of my life. 2 years which will give me the foundation to be able to get a good job, support my family and be happy in life. But its hard to get above it all and see it that way when you are in the trenches in the thick of it.

I guess the best I can do is bide my time, study hard, get good grades, learn as much as I can and before I know it (hopefully), I will be living back home and working as an X-ray Tech like I dreamed of so few months ago.

Thanks for listening. The pity party is now over.

Skull Positioning

2006-05-15T16:41:00.000-07:00

Factoid #1902

2006-05-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

Secrets make little baby Jesus cry.

Squaw Peak Trail

2006-05-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend my wife and I hiked to the top of Squaw Peak, also called Piestewa Peak. It was recently renamed after a Hopi soldier, Lorie Piestewa, who was killed in Iraq, although most people still call it by its old, and less PC name, Squaw Peak.

Its a sharp peak within a wilderness reserve right in the middle of Phoenix. Its one of the few places you can go in the city and actually feel like you are in nature. It was a pretty difficult hike, I thought anyway, and took us from about 1400 feet above sea level to about 26oo ft asl in a little over a mile (e.g. straight up with many switchbacks).

It was a pretty hard hike but we were rewarded with great views of the city and surrounding mountain ranges at the top. We even got to see a rather rare lizard for this area, a Common Chuckwalla. Below are some pics from the hike.

A view of downtown Phoenix from the Summit Trail trailhead.

View of the ridge next to Squaw Peak and red rocks
of Camelback Mountain in the background.

View of Phoenix from near the top.

View from top of Squaw Peak (aka Piestewa Peak).

Becky at the top of Squaw Peak with Phoenix in the background.

Me at the top of Squaw Peak.

A Common Chuckwalla lizard we saw on the way up to the top.

View of the Chuckwalla from the back, he was big!

View of daytime moon between two saguaro cactus.

Cinco de Mayo

2006-05-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

New Banner!

2006-05-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

So what do you think of my new banner? It took me a few hours to get all the settings right so it looked how I wanted it. Leave me a comment and let me know if you like this one or the old one better.

*New One

Old One

*And no I didn't take the photo in the banner (I wish I could say I did). I scanned it from an issue of Arizona Highways, a magazine about the state of Arizona which features high quality photography from around the state. I believe this picture was taken south of Phoenix near Tucson.

Classes this Semester

2006-05-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

Just in case you're curious, these are the classes I have this semester. They seem like they may be a little more difficult than last semester.

Radiologic Positioning (Lecture) - This is a continuation of the same class we had last semester. Last semester we covered positioning for the upper and lower extremities, the shoulder girdle, the pelvic girdle and the lumbar spine. This semester we will continue with the thoracic and cervical spine, boney thorax (ribs and sternum), internal chest viscera (lungs, heart, trachea, etc), cranial bones, facial bones, sinuses, Upper GI, Lower GI, KUB (Kidneys, Ureters, Bladder) and specials (angiography, CT, MR cardiac cath). A lot on our plate.

Radiologic Positioning (Competency Lab) - where we actually practice and test off on all the different positions mentioned above.

Essentials of Radiation Biology and Protection - in this class we learn how radiation effects the body and how to properly protect oneself and one's patients from unnecessary exposure.

Patient Care - here we learn a lot of the "hands on" aspects of caring for patients such as how to set up and maintain a sterile field, how to catheterize, how to insert an IV, how to administer contrast drugs, how to give barium enemas and of course a refresher in CPR.

Radiologic Techniques - this class teaches us how, based on patient size, age and gender, to set the proper radiation values when making an x-ray image (i.e. how much radiation to use and how much "force" to give the radiation).

Radiation Physics - this class gives us a basic understanding of the physics involved in producing x-ray images, such how x-rays are produced, how they interact with different forms of matter and how to control the radiation so as to produce a quality image but with as little exposure to patient as possible.

So this is what i have ahead of me this semester. Truthfully, some of the classes seem a little daunting, but i am sure that if i work hard, i will learn all I need to and get good grades in the process. Wish me luck.

Comments from Class

2006-05-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

WOW, has it really been 2 weeks since my last post?! I guess its to be expected since, although I was on "vacation", I was super busy during the last couple weeks. We took a camping trip to Wet Beaver Creek (no kidding, that is the actual name, can you believe it?!) and then spent several days in Las Vegas, which was a blast. It was my first time there so there was lots to see. We stayed at the Stratosphere Hotel, which I highly recommend to anyone on a budget, and also saw a Cirque du Soleil show called "Zumanity". It was awesome!! A little risque though, which didnt bother me a bit! ;-) ha ha

Anyway, I thought I would post some of the comments I heard come from my fellow X-ray tech students during the last semester. The following are actual comments made by my classmates:

"I'd like to palpate her pubic symphysis!"

"The worlds population is now past 600 billion because of the lesbian couples who are being artificially inseminated."

"Buddhism has given me a wonderful basis for a career in radiography."

"I used to work with a Dr. Kevorkian. She changed her name. Guess why?"

"It's good that you should pee after sex to reduce your risk of a UTI. Most of my sexual encounters require a lot of drinking before hand anyway." said outside of class

"This is the Anteroposterior Missionary position."

"The CR (Central Ray) beam should shoot right up the crotch area."

"Who's gonna be the Enema Captain this semester."

"I'll take Anus for $400." during a Jeopardy game in our A&P class

"I respect your body parts."

The collective intelligence of the class isnt always at its highest, as you can see. With the coming semester I am sure there will be many more conversational gems uttered, so stay tuned for future class commentary.

Peace.

Returned comments

2006-05-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hey Theresa, Eve, Kristen and Nicole.......check out my return comments to you under the post with the Manatee.

Finals Week!!! (cue dramatic music)

2006-04-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

This coming week is finals week for me, so you may not hear much from me. If I do somehow find some spare time, I will try to post something. Have a great week everyone and wish me luck on my finals.....all 7 of them!

Factoid #1732

2006-04-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the earth and moon are actually related. Although they would never admit to it at a party.

Dark Times

2006-04-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

Below is an article sent to me by my brother-in-law that I found interesting. My thoughts on it follow.

In November 2000, the United States held a presidential election, and nobody knew who won, so we just kind of made up an outcome and tried to act like that was normal. Less than a year later, airplanes flew into office buildings, and everybody cried for two months. And then Enron went bankrupt, and the U.S. started acting like a rogue state, and "The Simple Life" premiered, and gasoline became unaffordable, and our Olympic basketball team lost to Puerto Rico, and we reelected the same president we never really elected in the first place.

Later, there would be some especially devastating hurricanes and three Oscars for an especially bad movie called "Crash." Things, as they say, have been better. I'm only 33 years old, so I'll concede that my life experience is limited. But the past five years have been an especially depressing stretch to be an American, and I don't think many people of any age would disagree with that sentiment (except for maybe Kelly Clarkson ... things seem to be working out OK for her). If it's the era of anything, it's the Era of Predictable Disillusionment: a half-decade in which many long-standing fears about how America works (and what America has come to represent) were gradually -- and then suddenly -- hammered into the collective consciousness of just about everyone, including all the people who hadn't been paying attention to begin with.

I have actually been thinking along the same lines as this article for a while. In my opinion we are kind of in a dark time right now in the country and world. Not only are all the natural disasters wreaking havoc on many parts of the world, but political correctness and bipartisan politics are skewing peoples views and taking us farther and farther from the "Truth".

Also, I have noticed that there is a marked lack of creativity in most of the common artistic medias (film, music, TV, liturature, advertising). All we see are sensationalistic CGI imagery, catchy jingles and manufactured not-so-real reality TV. Less and less thought is put into producing TV, movies and music, so we end up with cardboard versions of whatever fad happens to be popular this week. Have you noticed how most of the movies coming out lately are remakes of older movies, TV shows or books? No original ideas.

And although technology is advancing steadily, we have yet to find many good uses for a lot of it. Sure the iPod and cell phone are fun to play with, but do they really serve any useful, real purpose. I am hoping that maybe the next generation will bring a fresh perspective and we will begin to see some new, innovative ideas that will change our society for the better, not just entertain us for a moment or two.

Anyway, my two cents.