First impressions are not everything...

Some months ago I scrubbed into a case for clinical rotations, and it was just a horribly off day for me. I was handing the surgeon all the wrong instruments, a sharp retractor snagged on my glove tearing a hole through both glove layers, and then proceeded to fly through the air and fall on the floor. So I'm contaminated and the instrument needed to be resterilized and they only had one of them, so the procedure was on hold for several minutes. As I'm changing out gloves, I accidentally touched my gown with my bare hand, so then I had to totally break out and go scrub in again... Things just kept going wrong for me. (the procedure went well, the patient was perfectly fine). But it was just a bad day for me. I felt horrible and fretted over it all weekend, replaying the day in my mind.
The next week at clinicals, I am assigned to the same surgeon doing the same procedure. I take some deep breaths and try not to panic as I approach the room. I'm expecting to get kicked out of the room and yelled at as soon as the surgeon realizes who I am, but I go in there and my preceptor introduces me to the surgeon again. He totally doesn't remember me. At all. I think he is even pronouncing my name wrong. But, since I was mildly traumatized by my shortcomings at our last encounter, I practically have the procedure memorized. I know exactly what he calls all of the instruments and exactly what he wants next and I have figured out how to pass that sharp retractor without stabbing myself. I get an amazing review for how well I'm doing, and that is how the surgeon remembered me for the rest of the semester.

6 months left until graduation!

I'm really looking forward to graduation. :) People keep asking me why I chose to be a surgical tech. I chose it for lots of reasons. I wanted a job in the medical field. I didn't want to be at a desk or sitting down all day. Surg tech has very little paperwork to complete. Nurses have hours of charting and paperwork to complete for each patient every day. Surg tech has decent hours. Most surgeries are scheduled weekday daytime surgeries. There is still some nighttime, weekend, and on call, but not too bad. As a surgical tech, I get to participate in the surgeries. I like being able to get in there with my hands on. I thought about being a doctor or a PA, but I'm ready to be out of school for a while. A year ago i was thinking about it and figured I could get a job I enjoy in only 2 years, and the cost of school would only be $3000 including tuition, books, and supplies, or... I could spend 4 years earning a bachelors at $20000 a year, and then spend 3-4 years in med school or PA school paying that huge amount, and then have internships and residencies for years, and then finally be able to get a job I want and start paying off loans. When I thought about it like that, the decision was easy. So far it has been one of my best decisions ever. I am loving it. I am amazed at what they can do in surgery.
I have touched brain, held a kidney, helped deliver a baby, remove countless gall bladders, replace knees, and so many other things.

Busy busy busy

Um, sorry I haven't posted anything in so long. Ive been busy with school, work, and karate. I am in Surg tech school and it is going well. I got to scrub in for the first time today. It would have been exciting but the surgeon was bitter about having a student in his room, and he said I had to stay up against a wall behind him. I couldn't see anything good. It was just an ingrown toenail removal. I've assisted with one of those before. The rest of the day was better. I didn't scrub in but I saw a shoulder replacement, an Achilles tendon repair, and a laproscopic gall bladder removal. I had good views of those surgeries. I have a lot of homework due Monday. That's it for now.

school makes me mad >:(

School's pretty crazy. I was supposed to start at UTD last fall, but due to a lazy academic advisor who wouldn't register me for classes or let me change majors because "it was more paperwork for her to fill out," my enrollment was postponed until January. The semester started out really well. Good classes, good schedule, good teachers. Everything seemed to be falling into place quite nicely. But then a few weeks ago, I found out that even though I already have an Associates degree in science, it will take at least 4 more full years for me to get a bachelors in any science major. Even if I change my major to something I don't like, the soonest I can possibly earn a bachelors is 3 full years, if I'm lucky and none of the classes I need overlap schedules. Surprisingly, UTD did accept all of my credits from the local community college. And, because UTD accepted all of my credits from the community college, they are also planning on doubling my tuition. Crazy. I know. I asked if they could somehow "un-transfer" some of those credits, and they said no. I am really not interested in paying that outrageous tuition rate for 3 years in order to get a bachelors. Right now i am in the process of applying to a surgical technology program at the community college (a surgical tech is the person in the operating room who hands equipment to the doctor and can close the patient when the doctor is done). I think I would do well in the program, and would really enjoy the job. It is a two year program. It is a hard program to get into because they only accept 12 people a year, and a lot of people apply.

RIP Sushi

For the last three and a half years, I've had a beautiful blue/green beta fish named Sushi living in a fish bowl on my desk. Thursday morning, when I was about to feed Sushi, I discovered him pale and belly up at the bottom of his aquarium. After a moment of silence, I gave Sushi a burial at sea (*flush*). Even though I had cleaned the fish bowl less than a week ago, it smelled pretty nasty, so I rinsed it out a few times, scrubbed everything inside of it, and then filled it with bleach water and let it soak for a good 60 hours. Crazy as it may sound, the aquarium still reeked of dead fish. Soaking it in bleach had not made a bit of difference. I rinsed everything off again, and pulled out some lemon scented non-bleach disinfecting wipes. Individually, I wiped off the glass bowl, and the glass rocks from the bottom of the bowl, and finally the pink glow-in-the-dark plastic plant. I discovered that the glass bowl and rocks smelled perfectly fine. The stench was only coming from the plastic plant. Even after soaking it in bleach for 60 hours, and then scrubbing it off with a lemon scented disinfecting wipe. It still smelled. I gave up all hope of ever cleaning the pink plastic glow-in-the-dark plant when the thought occurred to me that I could probably buy a new plant for under $5 at Walmart. Probably even a better looking plant. And maybe a new fish.

3.20.09

grrr... We've had about 4 tournaments so far this year, and I haven't been able to compete at a single one. First I was sick, and then I tore a ligament in my finger, and now my ankle is busted. There is another tournament in about a month. Hopefully I will be able to compete at it. Right now I can barely practice. It makes me sad. I was going to write more, but the computer is starting to have issues...

2.16.09

We finally got our new team uniforms! YAY! We look awesome. Our first tournament is this coming weekend. Unfortunately, I will be missing it. I have been sick for the last few weeks (sinus infections... sore throats... very tired), so I haven't been able to train (but in early January I was doing amazing and running a 15 minute mile and a half!). I am also taking a history class late friday evenings, and that kind of gets in the way a little bit. Normally we leave Friday around noon to travel to the tournament city (like Houston, or Chicago) and then we spend a night in a hotel, and go to the tournament at 8am Saturday morning. Since I have that night class, I have to travel REALLY late at night or REALLY early in the morning in order to make it to the tournament on time. I am looking forward to graduating in May. I haven't decided what I am going to do in the fall. Anyway, for Valentines Day we had our first team fund raiser. We babysat kids from 6-11pm. Somehow I misheard the information, and I was told to come at 5:30 for some pizza. When I got to the karate school, the front door was ajar, the alarm was beeping, and it was totally dark inside. I didn't see any of my friends' cars in the parking lot. I turned off the alarm, and then went back to my car and started calling all the head instructors. No one would pick up their phone! I finally got a hold of the guy who was supposed to have locked the place up, and they said something about the alarm was going off when they left, but they didn't think it was a big deal (?!?!?!). About that time the cop showed up. I hung up the phone and told the cop that I arrived a minute or two before she did, and that I thought the alarm was going off because someone accidentally turned on the alarm while the front door was propped open. Then in the middle of talking to her, the karate school's phone rang, and I picked it up, and it was one of the head instructors (Great... Why couldn't he have answered his phone 2 minutes ago). I had to explain everything to him. So the cop took down my information, and then we searched the karate school to make sure it was safe. Half way through the search, one of the other instructors shows up and I have to explain everything to him. We finished searching the karate school, and nothing was missing, and no one was there, so the cop left and then the parents started coming and dropping off their kids. The rest of the night was a blast! I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures, but it was a lot of fun. We played new games with the kids and ate pizza and watched Kung Fu Panda. There were about 24 kids. We had no injuries, and all the kids reported having fun and not wanting to leave when their parents showed up. Yay! Good times!