Hi guys,
Well I didn't make it on here yesterday to let you know what mammography was like as I lost track of time and needed another early night so thought I'd combine the two. So yesterday morning I was in mammography and I'm not going to write to much about it because there isn't really too much to say.
When I was applying to uni and reading about the things radiographers can specialise in mammography was the first thing I thought of followed by nuclear medicine. I didn't know too much about mammography other than when my mother-in-law had a bit of a breast cancer scare and I had to take her in for a biopsy the staff were fantastic with her. I quite liked the look of the department and the thought of maybe working somewhere like that and having the same kind of impact on someone as the staff had on me and my mother-in-law. It was years before I applied to do the course but I always remembered it so when I saw mammography was also something radiographers do it stood out.
I don't really know what I was thinking or what to expect but I didn't enjoy it as much as the other modalities I've been to this week. It was the first time I really found myself clock watching and I was only there for the morning. It's not that it was a horrible job or anything like that but it was sooooo repetitive and I almost felt like it was a bit of a conveyer belt which I didn't like. Each appointment was only a few minutes long and I dunno, it just seemed very rushed and I felt a bit like I was intruding with some patients who were understandably very nervous.
Saying that, it was good to actually see what happens and look at the images and what they should include and things they are looking out for etc. They take four x-rays, two per breast. One is a CC (cranio-caudal) view and the other is a MLO (medio-lateral oblique) view. An awful lot of skill was needed to position the patients and help put them at ease and I must admit I thought the radiographer was absolutely fantastic in the way they communicated and positioned the patient and I learned and lot just by watching and listening to how they were with the patients. It is certainly something to aspire to anyway and I hope some day I am half as good with patients.
I think realistically though mammography is not really something I could see me doing in the future because I wouldn't enjoy it. It is unbelievably repetitive which is the main reason and I could see me getting bored of it rather quickly, unless it was mixed up with a rotation between that and general x-ray or something similar. Yes the hours are likely to be better as it's more Mon-Fri 9-5 (that is the impression I was getting at least), but personally I would prefer to have a job I really enjoyed and work irregular hours than a job I hated just because it meant I had my evenings and weekends free. But that's just me. I know I just wouldn't be happy living like that so I think I'd have to rule it out for the future. I also noticed that it is pretty hard on the back. As it is quite awkward to get ladies into position, the radiographers were having to bend and twist in all kinds of awkward looking positions.
I only got to see screening, but apparently there are also clinics for symptomatic patients who come in for biopsies and so on so I was invited to go back tomorrow when there's a clinic on to so I can see those being done. I am going to try and take them up on their offer but I will have to see how I get on. I'm back in sonography (ante-natal) in the morning and then I have some mandatory training to do in the afternoon as well as getting a Hep B blood test to make sure all my jabs have worked so quite a lot to fit in! Also need to try and sort out images and so on for my case study before the day is out as it is probably one of the last chances I'll get before I go back to uni and I need to get cracking with it. So we shall see what happens tomorrow.
As for today, I spent the whole day in nuclear medicine. They were running stress tests today for the heart which I have seen done before when they needed someone to help with the patients. I always like going to nuclear medicine. The radiographers are great, you get more time with the patients, the atmosphere is a lot more calm and relaxed so it feels like you're in less of a rush and in less of a pressured environment. I also just find the whole nature of it quite interesting.
So with these stress tests a doctor is always present as well as a physiologist who monitor the patient. The patient's heart is looked at at rest and then compared to when the heart is stressed which takes place at a later date. The images are then compared to see if there are any issues with blood flow which from what I've been reading can be determined by comparing the amount of uptake of the isotope when in rest and in stress.
It was mainly observation again today but I did get to position the patient and the gamma camera for a few of the tests as well as dealing with patients before and after their tests. It was good to see it again and I asked more questions this time since I feel I've got a bit of a better understanding of what's going on and we've had lectures on nuclear med at uni. I wanted to be able to follow what was going on a little better and check my understanding of the procedure was correct which thankfully it was which was encouraging. It would have been nice to see what else happens in nuclear med as I think they do all sorts or tests. Hopefully I will get another chance to get another visit at some point.
Anyway, enough of my ramblings for one evening. Hope I've made sense as I'm pretty tired tonight. Time to get some sleep x
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