Can't believe September is almost over!

Well, I can't believe it's fall and September is almost over! How did everyone survive the windstorm? We had several HUGE branches fall in our driveway and on our garage but didn't sustain any major damage. We were without power for 72 hours though! I tell ya, you don't realize how much you take electricity for granted until you don't have it anymore!

Nothing very exciting has been happening in CT as of late. I got more time down there than usual this week, x-ray, for once, was well staffed and I got to spend a whole extra night down there making three days this week instead of just two! Yay! Though it seemed like the whole night was nothing but routine heads and of course the token really intoxicated guy who gave us all a good laugh!

The one really interesting case I did see took the form of a kiddo that was less than 2 years old. He had a huge mass on the side of his neck that was red and really horrible looking. A soft tissue neck with contrast was ordered and after 3 failed IV's and two trips back and forth between CT and the ER, I finally managed, with the nurse applying pressure to the IV, to hand inject 10 mL of contrast. The scan of course wasn't that great but it was enough to determine the mass was either an abscess or swollen/infected gland. Let me tell you I have never seen anything like it!! The knot was almost as big as the baby's head!

I have also been very frustrated lately about the fact that some patients don't feel it is their responsibility to inform health care professionals of their entire medical history. I personally feel that if I was allergic to CT contrast, and had horrible reactions to it, that I would let my doctor know as soon as I was told the exam I was going down for. Maybe that's just me though! I can't tell you how many people come down for exams, Chest Angios in particular it seems, that end up having to have a Lung Scan done instead. It just seems to me that a lot of time and trouble could be saved if perhaps the ordering physicans would ask about contrast allergies before ordering exams! Oh well.

Another gripe (I have quite a few this week) is that no matter what, it seems like nurses will argue with you about the size/location of IV's needed in order to power inject. I feel like a need to make a gigantic, neon, flashing sign! Though for some reason, I still feel like that wouldn't be enough! I really sometimes want to tell them we aren't arguing just for the sake of arguing, it's how things have to be done!

Well, I guess that's all for now. Hope everyone is having a great Fall so far!!

What a night!!!

Wow! Last night was a killer!! We were absolutely slammed from the time I walked in at 3:00 until I left (an hour late) at midnight! I worked most of the night in x-ray but did get in a few hours of time down in CT so I would mention the interesting case I saw.

I'm not sure how much we're allowed to say on here because of HIPAA and everything so I won't mention the circumstances surrounding this patient's injuries, but I got to see something I'd never seen before. The patient's orders were pretty routine... I guess you'd call it our "trauma panel", a head and c-spine without and a Chest, Abdomen, and Pelvis with. I did the head and c-spine with no problem and as I was watching my CAP images come up so I could do delays, something caught my attention. I don't know how other scanners are, but after our scans are finished the images flash by at the top of the screen and something funny in the liver caught my attention. I wasn't really sure what I was seeing, though to me it kinda resembled how atrophy looks in the brain. Well I called the other tech (who's been doing CT for about 8 years now) over to take a look and it turns out it was a lacerated liver! Pretty cool! Well, not for the patient I guess but definitely something I'd never seen before.

I'm back in CT tonight so we'll see if anything interesting happens!!

Let Me Introduce Myself...

Hi, my name is Brandy Johnson and I am starting my first semester here at USI. I graduated from Owensboro Community and Technical College's Radiography Program in May of 2006. I started working at Owensboro Medical Health System in 2005 as a Tech Aide in the Radiology department and was offered a full time job as a Rad Tech right before graduation.

I currently work 2nd shift and just completed cross training in Cat Scan. I have to say I like it so much more than I thought I would! Cat Scan is a completely different world than regular x-ray. It took me completely out of my comfort zone and threw me headfirst into a whirlwind of new information. For the first few weeks I was afraid my head was going to explode from everything I was learning! I feel pretty confident with most exams but I have to say Chest Angios still make my hands shake!! It's so great though because I feel like everyday I'm learning something new!

Now, some more about me... I've been married to my husband David now for two years. We have a black lab named Zoey who we treat like our baby. We bought our first house here in Owensboro almost a year ago and like to spend our free time hanging out with friends and family including our 7 nephews!! We also like to do home improvement projects, the next of which is going to be putting tile down on our bathroom floor! I say "we" but mostly it will be David doing the work!

Anyway, enough blabbering for now. I'm looking forward to getting started this semester and want to wish everyone the best of luck!