Earthquake!

This morning, we experienced our first earthquake (and by we, I mean our little family, not Seattle in general). It turned out to be just a very small 4.6 one and the epicenter was a bit north of here. I woke up with the bed shaking..just a little bit but enough to notice. I was half asleep, and I thought it was from Zac, that maybe he was kicking the bedpost while scratching or something. Then I went back to sleep and didn't even remember it. I read about the earthquake this morning on the Seattle Times news site, and thought wow we didn't feel it here.

Then Kelsey came home from school and asked if I felt the earthquake this morning. I said no, and she said it woke her up and her bed was shaking. Then I remembered that my bed was shaking too! So yes, I did feel the earthquake! No damage, no lasting effects, but definitely felt by at least me and Kelsey. Jason slept through it, and I haven't talked to Megan to see if she felt it or not.

So we've lived through our first earthquake. I hope it's the last :-)

Tales from the bus

I've been riding the bus a little more often recently because Jason has been working late. The bus home isn't too bad, it takes about 30 minutes, and since I get a bus pass from the hospital it is also free. When I take the bus, I really try to get the 73 instead of the 71. They're almost at the same stop except the 73 stops at the underground tunnel at 6:42 and the 71 stops at street level at 6:47. The 71 however makes a lot more stops on the way home and for some reason is usually filled withmuch louder and rowdier passengers.

I've been managing to skip out of work around 6:20 so that I can get to the tunnel in time to grab the 73. The bus stop is 2 blocks over and then 8 blocks down from the hospital. And I mean down. It is a fairly steep downhill grade on James St. and I wind up almost trotting the last couple of blocks because of it. On Wednesday though I didn't leave until amost 6:30 and I was pretty resigned to taking the 71 but somehow decided to run and try to get the 73 if I could. I ran almost the entire way to the tunnel, and ran down the 4 flights of stairs and got to the bus stop exactly as the same time as the bus. One more light on the way and I definitely would not have made it.

This was an interesting ride home because I learned of a new phenomenon taking place when the bus is crowded. And this one was very crowded for some reason tonight. Apparently it is now alright to enter a crowded bus and start bleating "Seat please, seat please" until somebody stands up and lets you sit down. I witnessed this with no less than 3 people in the space of 2 blocks. And it worked for each one of them, even more surprising. The first one I could understand, she was older and definitely in need of a seat since she could barely walk. The next guy was "special" if you catch my drift, so he got a seat. The third guy was maybe 50, but looked pretty spry and healthy to me, but he got a seat too, right next to me. Hey....my feet hurt and I just ran 8 blocks and I wasn't about to get up. I still don't think I would have been able to chase someone else away from their seat if I was the one that had to stand.

The "special" guy sat down across from me and immediately pulled two small green rubber balls from his pocket which he then proceeded to sniff repeatedly the entire way home. He would bring one of the balls up to his nose and just move it back and forth while he sniff, sniff, sniffed at it. Then he would switch hands and sniff at the other one for awhile. He was still sniffing when I got off the bus at my house.

Oh, and the other interesting thing which I don't remember happening before is that when the bus is that crowded, the driver just opens the back door as well as the front door, and if you use the back door, you don't have to pay. I wonder how many free rides the metro service is giving out each day because of that plan.

Clickety-Click

So it occurred to me today, well into January and the second quarter of my clinical rotation, that I think things have finally really clicked for me when scanning. These past couple of days I've been rocking the transducer and really starting to feel confident in what I'm doing. I will admit, sometimes during an OB exam, I still feel like I just "lucked into" a good shot of something, but more and more I'm really getting them on purpose. I did 7 sets of kidneys today, and I'll tell ya...by the last one, I was almost on autopilot with the images.

The most challenging to me are still the 1-2 year olds. They sure are squirmy, and I'm chasing them all over the exam table to get the shot I need. We bought a TV/DVD monitor for the young ones and sometimes Barney will get them to settle down but usually they're more interested in what I'm doing and they keep trying to grab the transducer from me. So I still have to work on that, and I still have to work on my trans-vaginal images, but I'm feeling pretty good about everything else. I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

Happy (5 days after) New Year!

Whoa...you'd think with all the free time we had over this Christmas/New Year holiday that I would have posted a lot more. I have been remiss. And by free time, belive me, I mean free time. First, since we did not go back East this year, we had an abundance of couch sitting opportunity which was only compounded by the snow that literally shut down our city. Oh, it snowed...and snowed...and then snowed some more. The likes of which natives say hasn't happened for decades. And Seattle being "green" and all, the mayor chose to plow only main roads with some kind of rubber scraper thing while putting down some sand, creating some hardpack icy nightmare. No nasty salt for us! And real plows hurt the road!

We did venture out for a lovely Christmas Eve dinner at Six Seven, which is downtown right on the water. It was nice, we all dressed up and pretended we were at the Duquesne Club in Pittsburgh. It didn't quite measure up, but it was nice to have a special dinner on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day was very quiet, and I don't think I actually even changed out of my pajamas all day. We got up and opened gifts while we drank mimosas, then we played some games, and then we had Christmas dinner early afternoon. We had invited Darci and Simon over for dinner but they, like most Seattleites, chose to stay indoors and off the roads until the white stuff was all gone.

Pajamas were the order of the day, as we may have bathed, but only to put on fresh PJs for the next few days. Saturday night Jason and I went out to the movies to see Gran Torino, then met up with Darci and Simon afterwards. We wound up at a country bar by Greenlake, then after that closed we tried to get some Dick's hamburgers but we didn't make it to the window in time, and they put the closed sign right in front of us when we got to the front of the line. Bummer. So we headed to the grocery store and loaded up on oven baked snacks and then back to the house where I can't quite remember what we did. Darci and Simon stayed overnight and the next morning we watched a lot of trash TV.

Monday was back to work for Jay and me. He only had to work Monday and Tuesday, but went in on Wednesday just to drive me (how sweet). New Year's Eve was incredibly quiet. Megan was out with friends, Kelsey went to the Space Needle for the fireworks, and we stayed home with the beagles. Of course, I fell asleep at about 8 and woke up at 11:15 in time for the celebration. Kelsey got home shortly afterwards with her friends. They decided they were bored downtown and came home to watch the fireworks on TV and drink sparkling apple cider. We had some champagne at midnight, gawked at what's become of Dick Clark and went to bed.

And so ended our Christmas in Seattle. The tree is down, everyone is back to work and back to school, it snowed again last night, and we're ready now for the summer. I hope you all had a fantastic holiday!

Candy Cane Tree

Last night Jay and I were walking to Safeway to get a few things to tide us over for the weekend (since we're getting a big storm tonight!). We were about a block from the house when we passed somebody's tree in their front yard that had candy canes hanging all over the bare branches. Among the candy canes was a small laminated sign that said Help Yourself to 1 or 2! You know, that little gesture really made me feel good. It was just so nice to be walking in the dark and the snow and come across a Candy Cane Tree, ripe for the picking. We did indeed help ourselves to a cane apiece. The girls also took advantage while walking to the store this afternoon.

The snow is really coming down here now. They actually forecasted about 8 inches of snow tonight here in Seattle. If 2 inches was enough to make this city crazy, I cannot imagine what 8 inches will do to it. With a well stocked fridge and freezer, and a stack of dry firewood next to the fireplace - we my friends, are in for the duration. Wish us luck!

Winter in Seattle

Oh the joys of snow in the city.





And I should clarify...this happened this afternoon after about a 2 inch drop of snow on the city streets. Unfortunately, due to no salting and little plowing and dropping temps, most of that snow is now ice on the steep and narrow city roads. There were two charter busses that tried to detour around a closed road, wound up careening down an icy patch and almost flying through the guardrail onto I-5 below. Luckily, nobody was hurt. The passengers all escaped out a back window and the busses are still hanging over the highway tonight while workers try to pull them back.

Curry Potato Soup

It's a rainy icky day here in Seattle. Jason is home sick and I'm still in pajamas at 1:00. Perfect day for some homemade soup.

I usually just make noodle soup when I make soup. Today I tried something different, it was totally yummy, and I'm in the mood to share. Enjoy!

3 tblsp butter
1 - 1.5 cups onion, diced into little pieces
1 tblsp mild curry powder
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 - 4 cups potatoes, peeled and diced into small pieces (I used about 6 small potatoes)
1.5 tsp kosher salt
14 oz can chicken broth
1 cup water
2.5 cups milk *
Optional: Hot curry powder or ground cayenne pepper, sprinkle of garam masala

Melt the butter over medium high heat in a large saucepan. Add curry powder and onions and saute until onions are soft. Add garlic and saute until soft. Then add potatoes, salt, a sprinkle of garam masala if you want, chicken broth, and water. Heat to boiling, turn down heat, cover and cook until potatoes are very tender. There should be little liquid left when the potatoes are cooked. Mash the potatoes (I used just a hand held potato masher and got a mostly smooth consistency, but if you absolutely can't stand lumps, use a mixer or puree in blender). Stir in milk, and add hot spices if you want some kick to the soup. Heat through until it just starts to bubble, remove from heat and serve.

* NOTE: I had some heavy cream so I used half a cup of that and then 2 cups of 2% milk.

This makes about 4 good sized servings of a rich potato soup with a hint of Indian flavor. Adjust the curry to your own tastebuds. We found a tablespoon to be a very mild curry flavor, and we added a little less than 1/4 tsp hot curry powder for a hint of heat. We also sprinkled bacon bits on top because everything is better with bacon.

Only how many more shopping days??

Schnikes, where did the days go? I don't know about your neck of the woods but the malls here are packed, economy recession be damned. Just the thought of having to go out and maneuver through the crowds makes me feel anxious. Oh, how I love the online. But even my beloved interwebs tell me that I only have XXX more days! Hurry!

Actually, I am almost done. I do plan on going out this weekend to finish up, but with small exceptions most of my stuff is in the mail or about to be. Just a few more tidbits to get done. I just hope I can get it all done by Sunday.

Today I had to do a presentation to the other sonographers at work, and the Seattle U student had to do some as well. She did so much better than me, but I don't really mind that much because they're not graded and I'm just glad to get it over with. I did my first pair of testicles yesterday! Wow..they were kinda just like the thyroid. Um, not. They all lied to me. But at least the first is done and now I won't be so nervous.

Also working on perfecting the TV exam this week. No, not television, for I would ace that. I'm talking the Transvaginal pelvic exam. Today when I did the first one on my own, I held the transducer upside down. No wonder the uterus looked backwards! The second one went much better :-)

Good to know you're not alone

Friday was the first CCD (Clinical Consortium Day) since we started clinical studies, and the first time I've had to reconnect with my classmates. It was so good to see everyone and to hear the stories they had from their clinical assigments. Some people are just flying by and some are struggling, and everyone could relate to the horror stories that each of us told. It was so good to see everyone again, I missed them all a lot. We met at 6:30 for breakfast and talking because we knew we wouldn't have that much time during the actual program to chat.

Friday night we had ice cream cake and pizza and Kelsey had some friends over to celebrate her 17th birthday. She opened presents that night and then on Saturday night we went to the Melting Pot, as per her request. We took Ayla and Chloe with us as well, and had a great time. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I would have liked because I woke up Saturday with a wicked headache that actually made me vomit a couple of times in the morning, and then kept me in bed until after 2:00 that afternoon. I was still fighting it off this morning but if did finally go away mid-morning.

Just in time for us to take a walk down to the fruit stand and pick up our Christmas tree. I think it's a perfect size and the girls decorated it quite nicely while Jay and I were at the grocery store. After we got all the stuff put away, we went out front to string lights around the front trees. It all looks very pretty, and is the first year we have had a tree since the first year we moved to Seattle. We'll miss everybody at Christmas, but I am looking forward to a quiet relaxing Christmas this year instead of the traveling we usually do.

I'm off tomorrow and I have to bake cookies for a cookie exchange at work on Tuesday, and I have to finish some presentations I have to make on Wednesday, and I also have to go to the post office and send some stuff that we sold on Amazon, and here it's almost 3:00 am and I'm not the least bit tired..and I'm quite afraid I'll sleep the day away tomorrow and not get anything done that I wanted to do. So I should probably try to go to sleep now that I've updated :-)

Thanksgiving and stuff

Lovely Thanksgiving meal. 6 pm, Turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, carrots, broccoli casserole, rolls, stuffing (2 kinds!), gravy, cranberry sauce (2 kinds!), pumpkin pie, apple pie, dessert cheese, whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, and much wine. Followed by Rock Band (1 & 2!), Scene It, and Left 4 Dead. No poker, but close :-)

We ate Thanksgiving dinner until Sunday.

It was nice having 5 days off last week, and hard to go back to work on Monday. This week has been pretty good so far though. I did about 5 baby heads almost all the way through on Monday, and today I did a renal and an OB complete exam all by myself, and my CI said I did a really good job. I'm feeling pretty good about scanning these days. My BCC instructor is meeting with my CI next week, and hopefully that will go well.

Megan is anxiously awaiting Friday when her school is done for the quarter, and then she has off almost a whole month! Kelsey is anxiously awaiting her 17th birthday, and dinner at the Melting Pot followed by a sleepover. I'm anxiously awaiting Friday and CCD day at school when I get to see all my classmates for the first time since we split up in September. Jason is anxiously awaiting the return of his XBox, which should be home from the XBox hospital tomorrow.

I made the girls reservations to go back to Harrisburg over Spring Break. They will get to fly right into Harrisburg this time, instead of having to go to Baltimore or Philadelphia, so that's a definite plus. The flights are pretty sucky though, but maybe they'll have a schedule change before then.

Happy Birthday Brittini!

Now I know why the bread is always missing

The Closest I Ever Want To Be

Today Jason and Kelsey and I went to the Southcenter Mall to shop for shoes for Jason. We'd never been there before, and it's down near the airport so not close by, but a friend at work said it was pretty nice and had lots of stores, so we decided to try it out.

Jay bought his shoes, we went to Borders and got some books and about 3:00 we were kind of ready to go so we wandered out to the car and took off.

At 3:45, THIS happened.

Holy crap! Turns out the people that were in the mall were like detained and locked down for hours until they were able to leave, not to mention the running and chaos inside.

Thank you Kelsey for being bored and ready to leave, because if you weren't there, I so would have still been in the mall when the shooting happened. Even though it's not like a maniac was loose and shooting up strangers, it's still pretty scary to think about being in a situation like that. I think we'll stick to the malls closer to home from now on!

Sunday eatin'

Since I've started clinicals, we find that we don't have the opportunity to eat together as a family like we're used to doing. We don't get home until 7 pm if Jay picks me up, and I don't get home until 7:30 if I have to take the bus. By that time, Megan is usually either at work or gone out, and Kelsey is about ready for bed.

So we decided that we would go out on Sundays as a family and have either breakfast, lunch or early dinner. We're not setting a time because that's too much pressure so we just let everybody get up when they want and get ready and then we head out. We're taking turns picking the restaurant, with the one rule being that it has to be someplace we have never been to before. That way we get to spend time together and we also get to try the many restaurants available in Seattle instead of eating at the same place over and over again.

Today was my turn, and I picked Lowell's restaurant, which is in Pike Place Market. They have three stories to choose from and the windows face the sound for a great view. Once we got there though, we wound up sitting on the opposite side, on the second story, which overlooked the market proper. It was actually pretty cool because we got to sit there and watch all the people shopping in the market below. I thought it would be a place that Mom would probably enjoy sitting at all day just to watch the comings and goings below us.

After we ate, we went grocery shopping, which is our other Sunday thing to do. I did great today, spending $70 at Albertsons but saving over $100! That was an awesome percentage, and included 15 pounds of boneless chicken breasts too. Then we went to Safeway and got the .27 per pound turkey for spending over $25, so I picked up a 20 pound bird for a little over $5. Albertson's also had this awesome sale where you buy one Sara Lee pie and you get a second pie and 2 quarts of Breyer's Ice Cream for free, so the turkey and the dessert is all taken care of for Thanksgiving :-) Now I just have to work on the side dishes, and we're all ready to feast!

Doctors for all

Zac had to go to the vet today because he's been having some moving problems lately. He won't walk up the stairs, he makes us carry him. He won't jump on the couch, but instead kind of pulls himself up with his front legs. When we take him for a walk he both cries and runs at the same time. Kind of pathetic. So I took him in today and he had a physical and some x-rays and they found....nothing. His spine looks great, he's at a good weight, finally. He's actually down to 38.5 pounds, and that's from 54 his last time at the vet, and 62 pounds from when we left PA. He even weighs less now than when we first got him! But the vet says he's at a good weight for his size, and he actually took some "human" years off. He's classified as an adult, and about 51 based on size and age. But anyway, nothing wrong and the vet gave me some muscle relaxers for him to take just in case it's some kind of muscle spasm that's causing him discomfort. I'm relieved it wasn't anything serious but at the same time a little upset that we came away with no answers.

Megan spent some time at the doctor today too. She already had an appointment for a cough she can't get rid of, but before her appointment she fell down the stairs at school and seriously hurt her arm. She went in for x-rays and may have a tiny fracture, so her arm is all wrapped up and her back is all scraped up and bruised, and she's feeling pretty sore.

The rest of my day was my ChaCha day. I usually work the ChaCha thang on Fridays since I don't have to go into the hospital and can pretty much spend all day on the computer. Generally I answer over 300 questions on Fridays and that's with lots of breaks. But today was bad, and I only got in about 150.

Seems like they've initiated a 20 question limit on their users, and it seems to have slowed down the questions considerably. But there were also lots of technical issues with their servers today and I'm hoping it was the technical issues that caused the slowness because that can be fixed. If the traffic is slowed because of the question limit, that doesn't bode well for my future income potential :-(. Oh well. I still made over $480 so far for the last three weeks, and that will at least pay for Zac's vet appointment today!

Sea Change

The word of the day. Election night, and it's looking blue - Obama blue! The whole family here in Washington has been glued to the results coverage. Except for the CNN coverage and the beaming of the holograms and stuff...WTH? Thank god that 8 years of Bush is almost over, and we're looking to make history. It's almost exciting enough to make a girl want to blog!

So, it's been a while. Needless to say I've been super busy and have neglected my blogging duties. I'll try to be better in the future, but clinicals kind of wipe me out. I've been struggling in the real life scanning arena, but I think I'm turning a corner. At least I feel better about it. I have a really hard site - supposedly with the highest standards of all the sites we use. The girl that was there last year, and graduated in August says that site on my resume will definitely be a plus. But it's tough, and I won't lie - there have been tears. I keep telling Jason to buck up, it'll be fine, but he's so emotional :-) Ha. In truth, Jay has been extremely supportive and even has let me practice my scanning on him after hours.

He's busy too, working on lots of deadlines. Also, Fallout 3 came out last week so that keeps him busy when he's not working. Looks like our XBox isn't up to snuff though and we have to do something to it to keep it from crashing all the time. In the meantime, he's borrowed one from work so he can keep playing. One of the benefits of working for a game company.

Megan is working hard, and doing well in school still. She has a new boyfriend who seems like a really nice guy. They cohosted a Halloween party at his house last weekend. She went as Little Red Riding Hood and looked really cute.

Kelsey had her own little Halloween party with three friends, who all slept over and watched scary movies and ate junk and fed the 6 trick-or-treaters that we got this year. Jay and I went to dinner with Simon and Darci and then to see Zack and Miri at the movies so we would stay out of the way of Kelsey's moviethon.

Oh, and our wine and cheese party was totally awesome and we had a great time. We had plenty of wine, plenty of cheese, lots of good food and a nice little group of guests. It was tons o' fun and we got lots of great compliments on it. But now we've settled in to the start of a Seattle winter, a little cold, a bit wet, and early dark. I should have plenty more time to blog now, though, right?

I'm with Stupid

Officially the end of the 4th week of my internship and I feel dumber every day. Every single person is different than the last, so it's like getting totally reoriented to something new every hour. The only thing I think I have down pat are the procedures, the paracentesis in particular because we do a lot of them. That's the only thing that I can actually scan by myself because it's just 5 or 6 pictures.

Even today, I scanned a patient to rule out ascites, and I had to scan the patient's bladder. I see this round thing in the middle of the bladder and I'm thinking "holy cow, this guy has a big cyst!" I'm wondering if I should measure it, when my CI comes in and says that's a foley catheter. Duh.

I think I'm getting just a teensy bit better though - I'm certainly scanning a lot more each day. They let me start the exams on my own now, and then they come in after about 10 minutes to finish up. The good thing is they can watch me on the monitors so if I'm really struggling they can come in right away.

So, tonight Jay and I were watching House Hunters because we not only enjoy the show, but tonight's was about Seattle so we were anxious to see what neighborhoods they showed. At the very end of the show the couple who bought the house were having a party and announced they were pregnant, and then the camera shows all of their friends who were there celebrating....and holy crap! It was Darci! A quick stop, rewind, pause...and there she was, no mistaking it. So of course we had to call her right away to tell her we saw her on TV. She's like..oh yeah! House Hunters! She wanted to know if she looked fat :-)

That was cool...a totally unexpected sighting of someone you know on your TV. How often does that happen?

Unexpected Moolah

So last Friday I was fooling around on Amazon Marketplace, kind of wondering how it worked and what the fees were and stuff for selling books. I put in one of my old textbooks and set up my account and did all the stuff they wanted me to do, but for some reason the credit card I chose to pay the Amazon fees was an old one. It didn't work and they popped up a message saying I needed a valid credit card. Since my wallet was ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE ROOM, I just exited out of it and totally forgot about it.

Until today, when I got an email saying my book had sold. Hmmmm....okay. So I get $50 after Amazon's totally unreasonable fees and after I put in a valid credit card to pay said fees. Still, more than I paid for it so yay. Maybe all those failing banks and mortgage companies should start going through their office and selling stuff. Oh yeah...they're selling themselves.

Hawaii already?

This weekend was taken up by two things for me, and by two things for Jason. For both of us it was Book Sale time again so me, Jay, Kelsey and Ayla worked the Saturday 9-1 shift and Kelsey and Ayla worked again today 11 - 4. This was my first time working strictly as a volunteer and not in charge of the volunteers, so it was fun for me...all I had to do was count books. The hours flew by since when I got my first customer about 20 minutes after the doors opened, I never stopped until I left at 1:00. Jason did his usual bulk counting job (once you do something one time, you really get pigeon-holed at the Book Sale), and moving boxes when there wasn't bulk counting to be done. Kelsey and Ayla counted today, but yesterday spent their time directing the line to the proper check out person.

After the sale, Kelsey's friend Chloe came over to work on their Physics project, and this is where Jason spent the rest of his time. I'm not exactly sure what they were trying to accomplish - I thought they were supposed to make a clock but not use any electricity or batteries to do so. But what they wound up with was some type of water wheel doohickey that pushes a wheel with spokes made of halves of credit cards. The water turns the wheel and then after that, I don't know what it does.

We tried to contact Jonathan for advice yesterday, but he was busy swimming and hiking and biking and generally being much more active than anyone has a right to be on the weekend.

I spent the rest of my weekend working on finding accomodations in Kauai for 16 - 18 people over the course of two weeks next August. Yeah, it's early. But I'm not one for last minute stuff if I can help it, plus I needed to jump on the award tickets through Alaska Air. Hours and hours of searching through rental web pages and craigslist and TripAdvisor and I came up with an awesome house that's fairly close to the beach and has a pool and tons of space for everyone. So I booked it today and now we're all set on housing. I think I'll stop the planning for a while, because frankly it's making me not quite as excited to go anymore :-) Kidding, still excited. Just a little sick of it right now.

Kelsey hits the college fair downtown tomorrow. She likes to prepare early too, bless her little ready for college heart. I'm awfully excited for her, and for Megan to start at UW as a junior hopefully next fall.

Tonight - The Amazing Race!

Good Karma

Today I was reading about an organization called Modest Needs. This organization takes requests or petitions from people who needs just a little hand up...not huge amounts, but maybe a utility bill paid or a month's rent or new tires for the car or something that they just can't cover. The Modest Needs organization does vetting on each request to make sure it's legit, and then they post it to their website.

When you donate to Modest Needs, you can pick where you'd like your money to go. You get "points" for your donation amount, and you can allocate those points to one or multiple requests. Most of these people are living below poverty level and are one step away from losing their job or their house or their car, and are looking for just a small bridge to get them over the hump.

Anyway, we think it's an awesome organization and we like the idea that our money goes directly to the creditor the person owes, so we know the money is going directly the cause we think it is. You can do a one time donation online, or you can send a check, or you can even sign up for a monthly pledge like we did, and that way they double your points with a matching funds grant - so your money goes twice as far!

I'm particularly impressed with this organization because I know several people who have been in this situation, where they just need a little help until their next paycheck kicks in or until their new job starts. And sometimes just a little help is all that is needed to get somebody back on track for good. So dheck them out - maybe you know somebody who could use this organization, or maybe you might want to make a small donation yourself. Everyone can use some good karma!

First Day is Done

My first clinical day is officially over and I can stop being nervous. Actually, I think it went really well. I worked with a girl named Leigh who was a real sweetheart and the day was not overwhelming - we only had 5 or 6 exams scheduled, I forget exactly how many. It seemed to go rather smoothly with no big problems coming up. The rest of the girls seem nice and we got to talk a little at the end of the day since the last patient went home by 5:30 and most people were working until 6:30.

I got up early and made dinner in the crockpot for Kelsey and Megan, then Jay and I drove in together which worked out great. I got in at 7:45 so lots of time to spare. I get $6 a day in the cafeteria so I don't have to worry about packing my lunch. Picked up almost right at 6:30 and with the light traffic on the way home we were back by like 6:45.

I saw a couple of renal exams today and also 3 or 4 OB exams at varying stages including some transvaginal exams which were interesting since they were my first. I won't get to scan this week but should be able to scan some kidneys next week. I'm going to read up on the protocol for that but it seems pretty straight forward. The setup at the hospital is pretty cool, and more high tech than where I job shadowed. Where the old place used to record exams on VCRs and take pictures which they would then show the radiologists, at Swedish everything is digital and real time. Images are saved automatically with the patients file, and the radiologists suite has a bank of monitors where they can watch each exam as it is occurring. When the sonographer goes over the exam with the radiologist when it's over, they have two big monitors there will all the exam pictures on them which they can just page through and zoom in on things and really get a good feel for the exam. That's just so cool and so much better than VCR and pictures! There are 6 exam rooms and they use 2 types of machines, neither of which I have used before but I got to practice on both of them a little bit today to get used to where the controls are before I actually start scanning.

I'm just glad the first day is over! Only a year to go!