New Developments

My plate: XR (xray) CT (ct scan) & US (ultrasound)
and my score card: six daughters.

It has been a busy week around here lately.  I've blogged about our recent birthday party and coming home celebration for a friend.  The school year is in full swing and mom and dad's taxi service seems to be running 24/7.

I tweaked my schedule a tad to add a little extra income for our upcoming annual trip to Disneyland.  It means a little less time at home for me but guarantees the family will have an unforgettable vacation in The Happiest Place on Earth.  We are already getting excited as we talk about what we will be doing.

An unexpected new development occured two Saturdays ago when I inadvertently crossed the path of my boss while visiting a friend at work.  And when I say boss, I don't mean my Lead (Manager), or my Director...I mean the doctor that owns the hospital.  He invited me to the hospital cafeteria and treated me to a omelette of my choice.  While waiting for the food we had pleasant conversation.  It's always nice when administration acknowledges your existence.  Working the night shift for so many years, I sometimes wonder if admin even knows who I am.

As I shifted the conversation from hospital financials to gainful employment, I admitted I was considering returning to school to learn additional skills.  I had began employment at this hospital after completing my radiography rotation here and simultaneously learned computed tomography.  I continued to work full time as I returned to school for yet another two years from which I completed training for sonography.

Having these three skill sets, X-ray, CT, and Ultrasound, my employment outlook was just about as bright as it could be...or so I thought.  As I mentioned the idea of learning echocardiography to my boss, he, in turn, asked if I could learn magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. I mentioned echo training one more time to which he replied that he really needed an MRI tech on staff.  My previous Director had filled this position until his passing from cancer earlier this year.

Fast forward two weeks and I've been given permission to cross-train into the MRI department.  I now get called in to the hospital every time our PRN (part time employee) gets called in to do a study.  I started today and learned the protocol for performing an MRA Brain.  I will continue coming in and training every time an MRI is ordered until I am ready to perform the basic studies on my own.  Dare I mention (for fear I might wake up) that this is PAID training.

It became clear to me that our hospital is paying higher wages to PRN techs every time we get an MRI because we do not have a full time MRI tech on our staff.  Neither of our PRN techs can be hired full time (both have full time jobs already).  I hadn't really had time to think about all the possibilities of this new door I have opened until I received a text message from our Interim Director tonight.  He asked if I was interested in moving to day shift and becoming the hospital's full time MRI tech (after training).

Is this where I've been heading?  I've been on the night shift for so long...do I want to go back to days?  I passed on the news to Wifey.  She was quick to point out that with such a move: 1) I would be home every night, 2) we could sleep in the same bed at the same time, and 3) I would have weekends off to spend with family.  She was clearly leaning to one side on the issue.  I don't blame her one bit.

Strange the way things play out sometimes.  But I won't count my chickens before they hatch.  First things first, let's get the training under my belt.  Then we can negotiate hours and pay.  So I'll be a little more tired for the next few months as I balance working full time with random returns to work to learn another skill.  It will probably slow down my blogging a little but I'll still post several times each week. I'm dying to post an xray of a male patient we had with a foreign body lodged in his rectum.  Did I mention it was a baseball?  Anyway, darn hospital policies prohibit me from doing that kind of stuff anymore.  Now it just gets locked away inside my little mental rolodex.  Lucky me :-(

~OJD